around, his bald head bobbing against
Peter's chin, his little arms twisting
and turning. Sandy was working like a
dog to get up his burp for Ptter.
Marcia said lightly: "Try hard. Sandy
darling." And Sandy burped. Ha
nearly took off the roof.
Marcia laughed. "Well, Sandy, 1 can
see you haven’t been reading your book
on etiquette.” And Peter laughed, too.
He said: "Nice going, old man! You
couldn't have done better if there had
been beer in your bottle."
Back in the kitchen Marcia closed the
door gently and leaned against it. Her
young heart ached. “This is like bemg
married," she thought. “To Peter. Din
ner cooking. The baby." For one mo
ment she buried her face in her palms.
Then the coffee boiled over and Marcia
ran to it, and presently Peter came into
the kitchen. He said tenderly: “Sandy’s
asleep.”
He stood close, looking down into her
eyes. She didn’t move. In that one short
second she saw her future pass before
her; the brittle, crystal future that
had no place for Peter; the future her
mother desired for her and which sha
was obediently following like Grace
and Gwenn. She saw a baby, too. A
nurse would have it all day and she and
Ed would be so busy climbing, meeting
the right people, that days would go by
before they even stepped into the
nursery.
Grace and Tony had a baby, too.
Grace was always writing: “We go to
Florida, and when we come back si*
months later we wouldn’t know Junior
to be our own child.” She and Ed would
be saying that. She and Ed!
BUT Peter didn't take her In hie
arms. He looked away from her
and Marcia knew, with a sinking feel
ing, that he had no Intention of taking
her in his arms. So he didn’t care. He
had found that he could get over being
in love with her, after all.
And she knew with something almost
like shame that if Peter had taken her
in his arms she would have returned
his kiss; she would have cried a little
with this sudden happiness, and tomor
row there would have been a short
notice in the paper saying that Misa
Marcia Davis’ engagement to Captain
Edward Stafford was broken. The mail*
would have been crowded with wed
ding presents being returned to the
donors. »
Peter said awkwardly: "Ah. coffee 1 . .*
And she thought, miserably, “He’a em
barrassed. He knew I wanted him to
kiss me and he couldn’t because he
doesn’t care any more."
She said gay!* ’■Coffee!" and then
the doorbell shrieked. Peter cried:
"Heavens, that would wake up the deadl
OBEDIENT MARCIA - MKiSS
■■■’i&rags H&/ W&ISsgKU J&&M
1 fjmljL P t t
:' v \ v.,. M.M- MfflLt JFjF ■#
very new, not very big, not very full of F
Ras But we could make It. How does f M jgV
9 K t * I I * I ' ***\ 4
can’t. I’m with Ed Stafford.” /
Sandy Uses a
Thoroughly
Baby-Like Way
to Bring Two
Hearts Together
<<TT WOULD taka a galvanic vitality
to keep up with Washington and
Ed Stafford," Marcia thought as sha
advanced slowly in line at the Demar
ests’ reception. She ached all over.
Her feet had been trod upon that after
noon at a tea-dance; her ribs ached
from elbows ramming her at the Egyp
tian Legation's celebration; her tummy
ached from the Bourgouignonne entree
at the Lloyd’s dinner, and her heart
ached because last night Ed Stafford
had taken her in his arms, had kissed
her and she had said she would marry
him Not loving him. Not even quite
liking him.
Marcia glanced at the tall, dark Ed
hovering behind her: Ed, one of the
big patronage men in Washington. She
had met him in the Autumn at a Fort
Myer Drill when her mother had come
streaking across the crowded gallery
with him in tow and had presented him
with an air of offering a rare diamond
She had said: “Marcia, darling— this
—is Captain Stafford!” Each pause
pregnant with meaning. They had said:
“Marcia, get him! He's rich. Remember
the beating Dad took in the crash ”
Obediently, Marcia had flashed her
blue eyes, had smiled, languorously
Southern. Then Mother’s little bird
like face had turned on Ed, and her
robin's breast had fluttered. Ed was
beaming. Ed was going to be a push
over.
Ed had been a pushover. Almost too
easy. From the beginning he had sent
flowers, candy. He had taken her to
cocktail lounges, the theatre, the movies.
Then, finally, he had introduced her
to his friends. The Right People:
Ambassadors, Ministers, Senators, high
Government officials, rich cave-dwellers.
At first it had been vastly exciting
for the little Kentucky girl who had
crr*t r to Washington with her ambitious
mother and her job-seeking father
almost lor got it was Ed who was taking
her about, that It was Ed whn was