Dewey County advocate. [volume] (Timber Lake, S.D.) 1910-1913, 1912-04-19
His Arms Went Out and Around Her.

back on him. He sat up suddenly.
No, he had gone back on it! He had
gone back on himself. He had gone
back on Dede. She was right, thou
sand times right. and she had sense
enough to know 1t. sense enough to
refuse to marry a money-slave with .
whisky-rotted carcass.
He got out of bed and looked at
himself in the long mirror on the
wardrobe door. He wasn't pretty. The
old-time lean cheeks were gone. These
were heavy, seeming to hang down by
their own weight. He looked for the
lines Of cruelty Dede had spoken Of
and he found them. al he found the
harshness In the eyes as we'll. the
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,
merthrower 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. The
lean stomach had become a paunch.
The rigid muscles of chest and shout.
ders and abdomen had broken down
into rolls of flesh. And this was age.
Then there drifted across the field Of
vision Of his minds eye the old man
he had encountered at Glen Ellen,
coming up the hillside through the
fires of sunset. white-headed and
white-bearded. eighty-four. in his hand
face all the warm glow and content
Of the passing summer day. That had
been age. Eyes stree. eighty-four. and
spryer than most" he could hear tho
old man say.
Next he remembered Ferguson. the
little man who had scuttled into the
road like rabbit. the one-time man
aging editor Of a great newspaper.
who was 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 a1co-
holic, he had run away from the doc
tors and the chicken-coop of city.
and soaked up health like thirsty
sponge. He sat down suddenly on the
bed. startled by the greatness of the
idea that had come to him. He did
not sit long. His mind. working in it,
customary way, like steel trap. can
vassed the idea in all its bearings. It
was big-bigger than anything he had
faced before. And he faced 1t square
ly. picked It up in his two hands and
turned it over and around and looked
at 1t. The simplicity Of 1t delighted
him. He chuckled over 1t, reached his
decision. and began to dress. Midway
in the dressing he stopped in order t.
use the telephone.
Dede was the first he called up.
Don't come to the Office this morn.
Ing" he said. I'm coming out to see
you for a moment"
He called up others. He ordered
his motor-car. To Jones he gave in
structions for the forwarding Of Bob
and Wolf to Glen Ellen. Hogan he
surprised by asking him to look up
the deed Of the Glen Ellen ranch and
make out a new one In Dede Mason's
name. "Who?" Hogan demanded.
"Dede Mason" Daylight replied i'm
perturbably-"the phone must be In
distinct this morning. D-e-d-e Mason.
Got IT."
Half an hour later he was flying out
to Berkeley. And for the first time
the big red car halted directly before |
the house. Dede offered to receive |
him In the parlor. but be shook hts
head and nodded toward her rooms.
I'm there" he said. mo other pla0 |
would suit"
As the door closed. his arms weM |
out and around her. Then he stool
with his hands on her shoulders an
leoaing down into her face.
I'm m C0AfTxEUEDl