Stanley was waiting on the edge of the curb when she drove up beside
him.
"Get in a minute," she said. "I want to talk to you ... or rather, I
want to ask you something? Were you out driving with Myra Gail
yesterday afternoon? ... Now answer me, quick! Just like that! Yes,
or no?"
Stan shook his head. But his cheeks were mantled with a dull red
flush. Gloria was sure that he was not going to tell her the truth.
"Of course, I wasn't," he said. "Let's see, where was I yesterday
afternoon? Nowhere in particular, I guess..."
He broke off and took her hands in their driving gloves in his. He
smiled down into her clear, amber eyes.
"What a jealous little thing you are!" he said. "I wonder what you'd
be like if you were married to me. Would you be jealous then?"
"Would I?" Gloria breathed. Stan's touch, even through her gloves,
was comforting. "I'd camp on your trail.... I'd be so jealous! I
wouldn't let another woman look at you or speak to you, even!"
"Do you feel that way about Dick?" Wayburn asked. He was vastly
amused by her fury.
"No, I can't imagine being jealous of Dick, I wish I were," Gloria
said.
She did honestly wish that she were jealous of Dick ... that she
cared for him wildly and longingly, as she was sure she loved Stanley
Wayburn.
... It must be wonderful to marry the man you loved! To be not only
his sweetheart, but his wife, his pal and his partner ... to have all
of him, his moods, his tempers, his worries, as well as his love!
To have the right to smooth away the tired lines around his eyes with
your fingertips--to be a haven of rest and peace for him at the end
of his long workday!
For Gloria could see that this was the way to be a wife, the kind of
wife she had never been to Dick. Poor Dick! She had given him
anything but rest and peace....
"It's getting dark. I'm going to kiss you," Stan said abruptly.
But Gloria turned her head away from him.
"Here's what I wanted to give you," she said wanly. She handed him
the bottle of brandy. "I won it playing cards."
"Some prize, I'll remark!" Stan said with enthusiasm.
He took her face between his hands and kissed her savagely, again and
again.
"Don't!" Gloria cried. "You mustn't kiss me! We're forgetting I'm
married!"
"Good Lord, how I want you!" he muttered in a thick voice. And then
he was gone.
Gloria rubbed her bruised lips with her handkerchief.
... What did Stan mean when he said he wanted her? That he loved
her? Surely, he must! ... If he didn't, would he kiss her that way?
And with the memory of those kisses on her mouth, Gloria went up to
Dick's offices.
In his private office Dick was dictating to Miss Briggs. The door
stood open.
Gloria didn't go in at once. She tiptoed over to the mirror that
hung above Miss Briggs' desk, and looked at herself in it. She
wondered if Stan had mussed her hair or knocked her hat awry when he
kissed her.
She powdered her little nose carefully and drew a moistened finger
tip along her eyebrows.
Then, all at once Gloria became aware of Miss Briggs talking in a
voice that was strangely loud for her.
"Please let me telephone for a taxicab to take you home!" she was
pleading with Dick.
"No, no, my wife's coming down for me in her car," Dick answered
shortly. His voice was muffled. "I'm just dizzy ... be all right in
a second."
Gloria went softly to the door between the two rooms, and looked into
Dick's office.
He was bent forward over his desk, with his head on his folded arms.
Beside him stood Miss Briggs.
One of her hands was almost on his shoulder. But she did not quite
touch it.
Even as Gloria watched her, she drew it away and picked up a pencil.
Then she backed away from Dick.
"Look here, Mr. Gregory," she said sharply, "it's none of my
business, I suppose. But have you had a doctor? You know, you've
had three of these spells in a month..."
Dick raised his head. His eyes were dark and circled with pain.
"Oh, don't keep talking, Susy," he groaned. "My head's thumping like
a trip hammer...." He dropped it into his hands again.
Susy! So that was what he called her when they were there alone, was
it?--Gloria thought. Not even Susan ... but Susy! The sedate Miss
Briggs!
And she had all but patted Dick's shoulder, when she had hovered over
him a moment ago! Was she in love with him ... this "day-time wife"
of his?
Probably she was, Gloria decided.
A tiny pin-prick of suspicion stabbed her. And then it was gone,
almost before she felt it.
For Dick was a one-woman man, Gloria knew. And she was, for him, the
One Woman!
Why worry about Miss Briggs, when Gloria was sure that Dick wouldn't
have looked at a prize beauty when she, herself, was in sight?
Sometimes Gloria wished that he would look more often at other women.
It would give her more freedom....
She pushed the door wide open with her foot, and walked into the room.
The minute Dick saw her his face changed. His eyes lighted up and he
grinned.
"Hello, old lady," he said.
Gloria did not so much as glance at Miss Briggs. She walked coolly
past her into Dick's waiting arms. As he bent his lips down to hers,
Gloria heard the secretary closing the door behind her. Secretly,
she smiled.
She would show Miss Briggs how little any woman meant in Dick's life
except herself, Gloria!
Some women might have to worry about their husband's stenographers,
but not she! That was for unattractive women, middle-aged women ...
not for Gloria Gregory, with her face that was like a pansy!
And yet ... Dick had called Miss Briggs "Susy" ... intimately, almost
as if she had been his wife! The memory was most disquieting to
Gloria. While she was not actually jealous of Dick, she didn't want
him to care the least little bit for anybody else ... and especially
for Miss Briggs, who perhaps loved him!
"Let's stay downtown for dinner," Gloria proposed suddenly. "It's so
dull at home. And you and Miss Briggs have been working late. Why
don't we ask her to have a bite with us?"
"Gosh, I'm pretty tired. I'd rather go home," Dick answered. "But
... ask her if you want to."
Gloria danced out to Miss Briggs.
"We want you to come out to dinner with us. We're going to stay
downtown," she said with the petulant sweetness of a spoiled child
that will have its own way or know the reason why!
"Oh, I can't go--not in this old dress!" Miss Briggs replied,
flushing. "And my face is dirty, too."
"Oh, fudge! You look lovely," Gloria insisted. She took Miss
Briggs' coat and hat down from the hooks on the wall.
"You and I ought to have a chance to get acquainted," she went on
with gay spitefulness. "We hardly know each other, and we really
should be great friends. After all, we're both interested in the
same man, aren't we?"
Miss Briggs didn't answer. She drew in her breath and gave Gloria a
sharp, searching look. Her lips tightened as with pain.
Gloria returned her look with innocent eyes. But she had found out
what she wanted to know in that second ... that Miss Briggs was in
love with Dick Gregory!
Dick came out of his office carrying his hat and overcoat.
"Ready?" he asked.
Gloria did not notice how sick he looked.
"I think so," she answered.
Miss Briggs lowered her eyes. With one hand she braced herself
against her desk.
"It--it's just lovely of you and Mrs. Gregory to ask me to go to
dinner with you," she said, "but I can't. I'm not dressed, for one
thing. And I promised Mother we'd go to the movies to-night ... and
besides, you're too sick to go anywhere but home, Mr. Gregory."
She turned to Gloria with distress in her voice.
"Really, he's been sick all day," she said.
Dick looked at her gravely.
"I'm sorry you can't go," he said. "We both are. Perhaps you'll
come with us some other time."
Miss Briggs gave him a wistful smile. Her blue eyes were troubled
above the sudden flush in her cheeks.
It was then that Gloria saw that Miss Briggs had a certain beauty of
her own. Not the beauty of coloring and features, but of inner
warmth and radiance! ... The beauty that, for lack of a better word,
we call "charm."
After she had gone, Gloria turned furiously to Dick. "You know, of
course, why she wouldn't go to supper with us, don't you?" she asked.
Her voice was accusing.
"She thinks I'm sick ... that I ought to be home in bed," Dick
answered simply.
"Oh, piffle!" Gloria sneered. "The woman's in love with you. And
you know it! She wouldn't go because she can't bear to see us
together.... It pretty nearly killed her a minute ago when you
kissed me! I know! I saw her face! ... She's jealous of me!"
"Cut out the movie stuff, Gloria," Dick said gruffly. "Miss Briggs
has worked for me for years and years. She's all wrapped up in her
job. It's her lover and her child ... her whole life. She never
gives me or any other man a thought!"
"Is zat so?" Gloria said babyishly. "I'm glad you think so.... Come
on, let's go."
Late that night she lay in bed watching the tossing branches of the
trees outside her window.
She was thinking of love ... that maze where all of us wander and get
lost, searching everywhere for the one person who was meant for us....
She thought of Dick, who loved her. And of Miss Briggs, who loved
Dick.
She wondered if Dick knew that his secretary cared for him. Gloria
was sure he must know it. Why, any one could see it, from the very
way that Miss Briggs looked at him, the tones of her voice when she
spoke to him! ...
Gloria raised herself on one elbow, and spoke into the darkness of
the bedroom.
"Dick," she said, "why do you call Miss Briggs 'Susy' when you're
alone with her, and 'Miss Briggs' when I'm around? ... Dick, why do
you?"
There was no answer. Dick was asleep.