Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 7, 1928 — page 104: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

244 seemed somewhat displeased; but she was also amused and perhaps her eyes were clearer. Henry sat her down with a brutal thud and stood over her. “Now, then! Out with it! How much more stuff did you guzzle?” Laura blinked at him and reached for the dry end of the towel. “T've told you—two cocktails. All the women were drinking them and— and they were awful, Harry. [I still feel as if I’d swallowed a cupful of chain lightning!” “And the next time it will be three and the next time four and—” “There isn’t going to be any next time,” Laura sighed. “I don’t like that sort of thing well enough. Oh, the club itself—yes, the club’s just wonderful. But not the liquor; there wouldn’t have been any this time if I hadn’t watched Mrs. Harrison drink about a quart of the mess, Hal. It had no effect on her at all.” Henry folded his arms and studied her with somber eyes. If ever the time had come to point a lesson, this was the time. “No wonder the kids were wild!” “With a mother like me?” “With a mother like you!” “Well, that’s plain ridiculous!’ Laura said warmly. “ We’ve been buried a long time, Harry, and I like people, and if I can see something of them, I mean to. But I assure you that I didn’t come home this time blind drunk, if that’s what the tragic pose is meant to indicate, and I assure you that I'll be a total abstainer hereafter. That’s a promise, if you want one. ’m not a bad moral influence on the chil- dren, though.” “‘T—I didn’t say just that?’ Henry stammered. ‘‘I said—why, Laura, I don’t see how you could do a thing like that!’ “Was it any more ridiculous than being drowned by main force in a wash basin?” Laura demanded. “ Well—well, maybe it wasn’t. May- be I got excited when I caught that ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. breath and—say! you're not going to be able to go down for dinner, are your” Laura laughed helplessly. “Yes, you poor old ninny, I'll be down for dinner as soon as my hair is dry,” she said. ‘‘ Will you please give me another Turkish towel from the closet-—the big drawer? And you might start the electric fan. I'll not be long. “And when you go down, tell Ina to mash the potatoes and heat the pot- roast. The gravy is on the bottom shelf of the icebox, in a blue bowl, toward the back.”’ Well, at least she was herself again! Henry left her and, for the benefit of his menaced, innocent children, forced a smile of terrible calm as he descended. But the shock had been terrific; the shock had rocked him and racked him, and it was still doing both. Other women, like Mrs. Harrison—yes, naturally ; they were that sort of wom- én. Dat Eatral . Even when he went to bed, he had by no means recovered from the shock. His physical cranium no longer shook visibly, but his mental head, so to speak, wagged at regular intervals; he couldn’t understand it, and he couldn’t seem to get over it, and he couldn’t sleep, although Laura seemed to be sleeping restlessly. Long after two, when William had returned to the parental roof and settled down for the night, Henry did drowse off; but he woke again with a start, to find Laura’s arm about his neck and Laura crying on his shoulder. “T don’t mean to be such a beastly idiot, Hal!’ Laura sobbed softly. “I’m so ashamed of myself!” Henry cuddled her close to him and heaved a great sigh; half asleep as he was, he could still recognize true repentance. “Well, don’t do it again, kid! he mumbled. “Don’t you ever do any- thing like that again!” After that he slumbered deeply. COPMICLOOKS (C@)