The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-10-09
Married Life
the Second Year
Ry MABEL HERBERT URNER.

the slow regular StroKes-t"el'e, II
was midnight.
Fol three long hours she had lain
there tossing feverishly. Her head
ached, her eyes burned, and the throb-
bling pain in her heart seemed unbear-
able.
To the telegram she has sent War
rem yesterday there had been no reply.
All night and all today she had waited
quiveringly for an answer-but none
had come. What could it mean? Surely
he must be ill-very i'll. or he would
have answered.
How much longer could she bear
this suspense.
Through the open window came the
sounds of the crickets and tree frogs,
and the night air was softly fragrant.
She drew a kimona about her and
went over and knelt by the window.
The moonlight was almost as bright
as day.
There was a sudden rustic among
the lilac bushes under the window and
Rover sprang out and ran across the
yard.
Here Rover, Rover" Helen called
softly that 1t was hardly more than
whisper. But Rover heard and came
running back under the window. He
looked up at her with eloquent eyes
and waving tail. And then as though
he felt the witchery of the night and
the moonlight. he lay down and rolled
over and over on the soft grass.
THE NIGHT WALK
IN THE GARDEN.
Yielding to a sudden impulse, Helen
threw a heaview wrap about her, ST.
lently stole down stairs, unlocked the
front door, paused for moment on
the uncovered porch and then went
cut into the yard
Rover came bounding toward her.
"Hush-hushi No, no, you mustn't
bark, and Rover, seeming to under
stand, contented himself with low
whine of delight as he leaped about
her.
Unheeding the dew-wet grass which
soon drenched her bedroom slippers,
Helen walked slowly about the yard,
blindly seeking relief in motion from
her tortured thoughts.
What could it mean? Why had he
not answered her telegram? Oh, why
had she come on this trip. Surely it
would have been better to have stayed
and endured his GOODNESS than to have
come out here and suffered this anXi
ETY.. Should she throw her pride to the
winds and go back tomorrow?
And then came the thought so fear
full that she hid her face in her hands.
What if he should not want her to
come back? Was that what he was try
ing to show by his silence? Oh, no, no;
she knew it could not be.
And yet, just the thought had so I'M
nerved her that she sank down on a
bench under the lilac bushes and Sob
bed convulsively. Rover, with his
paws in her lap, gazed up at her with
eyes full of distress. She put her
arms about him and rested her cheek
against his head.
"Oh, Rover-Rover, what shall do?
What shall | do?
And Rover could only whine in ans
wer.
At length Sc turned slowly back to
the house. AS she stole through the
dark hall, feeling her way along the
wall with her hand she accidentally
touched the telephone, causing a faint
stir of the bell.
THE LONG DISTANCE PHONE.
The telephone! The telephone! The
same telephone that was in their
apartments in New York, where War
rem was now sleeping. In few min
utes she could be talking with him!
She was leaning heavily against the
wall. Why had she not thought of that?
In this way she could end her sus-
pense at once.
The cost, But what difference would
that make if she could only hear from
him! If she could only know what had
happened
Without stopping to consider, just
following the wild impulse that led her
on. she felt for the receiver and took
it down.
"Hello!". gazing in the darkness be
fore her.
rs this long distance telephone:
Can | speak to New York from here?'
ITO New York;" the operator
voice answered sleepily. Yes, all the
phones are long distance"
How much will it be-"
Something like six dollars, think
Hold the wire, II look it up" A pause
Yes, siX-fifty for three minutes anC
two dollars for each additional minute
or fraction thereof" evidently readins
from the rate book.
But if l shouldn't get the party,
asked Helen.
Then it doesn't cost you anything
We'll, | want to try" desperately
But don't charge this to my father
Dr. Allen. I'll come down in the morn
ing and pay you. Now will you try t.
get New York? Will it take long,"
Not very. What's the number of tn,
phone and the name of the party?"
Riverside 2603, and the name i
Warren E. Curtis
"All right, I'll call you when l max
the connection"
"Oh. no, l don't want you to rim!
this phone. l don't want to wake an.
one up. Can't l hold the receiver"
why, yes, you can. But it will b
some time"
That doesn't matter. I'll hold tn
phone. Just make the connections a
quick as you can"
WAITING FOR THE
DISTANT VOICE.
With every quivering nerve straine
to the breaking point, she stood Their
in the dark, leaning against the wal
the receiver in her hand.
What would be the result of thi:
What would the next few moment
mean? What would they bring next ?
The wires buzed loudly. She coul
hear the mingling of distant voice
with occasional words. st. Louis
New York" And then at last she hear
some one give the number 'Riversid
a6O3!. She was cold all over nov
and trembling so she could hardly hol
the receiver,
Another wait that seemed an etc
nifty, then