Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1912-04-05
His Arms Went Out and Around Ae..

back on him. He sat up suddenly.
No. he had gone back on 1t. He had
gone back on himself. He had gone
back on Dede. She was right, a thou-
sand times right. and she had sense
enough to know It, sense enough to
refuse to marry a m~oney-slave with a
whisky-rotted carcass.
He got out of bed and looked at
himself In the long mirror on ths
wardrobe door. He wasn't pretty. This
old-time lean cheeks were gone. These
were heavy, seeming to hang down By
their W weight. He looked for tina
lines OF cruelty Dede had spoken of,
and he found them, and he found tbs
h~arshness In the eyes as we'll, thu
eyes that were muddy now after all
the cocktails Of the night before, and
OF the months and years before. He
looked at the clearly defined pouches
that showed under his eyes, and they
Shocked him. He rolled up the sleeve
OF his pajamas. No wonder the ham
mer-thrower had put his hand down
Those weren't muscles. A rising tide
OF fat had submerged them. He
stripped off the pajama coat. Again
he was shocked, this time by the bulk
OF his body. 1t wasn't pretty. Th&
lean stomach had become a paunch
The rigid muscles of chest and shouk
ders and abdomen had broken down
into rolls of flesh. And this was age.
Then there drifted across the field al
vision OF his minds eye the old mar
he had encountered ct Glen Ellen,
coming up the hillside through the
fires of sunset, white-headed and
whlte-bearded, eighty-four, in his hand
the pail of foaming milk and in Bis
face all the warm glow and content
of the passing summer day. That had
been age. Yes stree. eighty-four, and
spryer than most" he could hear tbs
old man say.
Next he remembered Ferguson. the
little man who had scuttlej into the
road like a rabbit. the one-time man.
aging editor Of a great newspaper,
who las content to live in the chapar.
raj along with his spring of mountain
water and his hand.reared and mani.
cured fruit trees. Ferguson had solved
a problem. A weakling and an aIco-
holic. he had run away from the doc
tors and the chicken-coop of a city,
and soaked up health like a thirsty
sponge. He sat down suddenly on tho
bed. startled by the greatness OF The
idea that had come to him. He did
not sit long. His mind, working ii ito
customary way. like a steel trap. can
vassed the idea in all its bearings. II
was big-bigger than anything he had
faced before. And he faced it square
ly, picked it up in his two hands and
turned it over and around and looked
at l. The simplicity Of 1t delighted
Hun He chuckled over It, reached his
dec sion. and began to dress. Midway
in the dressing he stopped In order to
use the telephone,
tnede was the first he called w.
FONT come to the office this morn
ing, he said. I'm coming out to see
you or a moment"
II called up others. He ordered
his ~notor-car. To Jones he gave in
stru, tons for the forwarding of Bob
and Wolf to Glen Ellen. Hogan hs
surprised by asking hun to look up
The eed of the Glen Elen ranch and
mak, out a new one in Dede Masou's
nam. "Who?" Hogan demanded.
"Dede Mason" Daylight replied I'm
pert rbably-"the phone must be IN.
distir ct this morning. D-e-d-e Mason
Got ="
He { an hour later he was flying out
70 T rkeley.' And for the first time
the lg red car halted directly before
the ouse Dede offered to receive
him n the parlor. but he shook his
head and nodded toward her rooms,
"ln there" he said. mo other placs
would suit"
As the door closed, his arms went
out sld around her. Then Re stooA
with lis hands on her shoulders sss
lock 8 down into her face.
GO BE CONTINUED