El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-11-28

The diner was flooded with sunlight,
and the smiling official pulled out the
chair at the table they had occupied
the night before. The sun glInted on
the snowy cloth. and there was pleas
ant buzz of conversation in the air.
Somehow the entire effect was cheer
ing. and Helen could not help Keeling
I that everything must be all right after
Warren had spoken With nasty look
she glanced up and down the car The
girl and her companion were nowhere
to be seen. She had avoided Warren's
eyes and now that he had given the
order 10 the waiter he looked at her al
most compellingly-
Helen, her gaze turned out OF the
window. waited, and finally Warren
spoke
7 suppose acted queer last night"
he began. 1t was hard for him to con-
fess a part in the wrong, but Helen said
nothing to help him, she was too mis-
erably hurt
nm ashamed of myself" Warren
continued, looking away from 6elen
level glance uncomfortable. But in
a way I was justified III tell you
why If YOU like"
He waited as though he had asked
her a question. Shall y" he asked
after he had seen that she did not in
tend to answer.
Certainly, If you want to- she said
indifferently-
was Virginia Evans. Warren said as
though he had decided to plunge in
without stopping to lead up to the sub
5ect.
The Reason Why
Helen looked up in amazement
Virginia Evans" she repeated, why
I thought she was blond"
she used to be-" Warren returned
bluntly. but black hair seems to be
more fashionable of late"
Helen did not respond. she was too
surprised, too thunderstruck: she SIM
ply waited for Warren TO tell her more
of the story
7 met the man she is travelling with
out in the smoker" Warren continued.
land he told me that the girl wanted
to speak to me. so [ went out to the
observation platform to see her. She
asked me il YOU were my wife, and If
YOU knew about her. of course I told
her you didn't and then she said she
would like to meet you Of course
saw her game right away. and I re-
fused. whereupon she began TO act sar-
who was the man2- Helen asked
quietly. rs she married 10 him2'
NO. OF course not he's her vaude-
Vile partner and they are booked for
a tour through the west You didn't
know she'd gone on the stageg. did
yOu2 Neither did l."
Helen said nothing and Warren went
Warren Confesses.
The fellow is rather q decent sort.
and he suggested a drink when he saw
that the girl was going to make il IN
pleasant The upshot Of II was that I
drank with them out there until il was
too late for the girl TO see YOU And
when I came in 1 don't know what
happened"
Helen sat perfectly still She Won
dered vaguely If this confession was
&c make any radical difference in her
love for her husband. We're ali men /
as weak as he Was2 It seemed to her
then that she could have met hun
dred girls like Virginia Evans, il only I
Warren had not taken the way out that
he thought best
What are you thinking" he asked
finally
Helen looked up. "oh. I was just
thinking what a small way that was
cut of a difficulty. Did YOU think il
would be better for me TO see YOU as
YOU were last night, and have YOU talk
10 me as YOU did. so that 1 was in !
deadly lear that you would wake I'D
the whole car. or to hear what this
SRI had 10 say2 Remember. I knew
al about her 1t couldn't have hurt me /
any more TO talk with her than to |
learn your relations with her that |
awful time"
Warren sat silent. and nothing more
was said Helen gulped down some ]
coffee. realizing that she ought to take |
something She even managed to swal- j
low some scrambled eggs and a little
toast The situation was almost more I
than she could bear. and most of all she !
mated to have her people meet them /
with so radical a difference between /
herself and Warren For the first time !
in her life she didn't know what to /
do Finally she turned to him with a
visible effort.
For the present, Warren" she said !
evenly. wen drop the entire subject
Let's try to act as if nothing had hap
pened while we are out here. There
Is nothing else 10 be done I wouldn't /
have them know that anything like
this has occurred between US for any
thing in the world. If you can act a !
little bit for the time being. I can and :
afterward. perhaps. We can think of a [
way out"-Copyright, 1916. Interna-
tional News Service.