Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1917-10-11
CHAPTER xxv-continued.

loop7lisht i0la The Bobbs. Merrill 0onpaayl
CHAPTER xxv-continued.
IT.
It was good while before Rose got
the key to his preoccupation They
had turned into the park ut Sixty-sixth
street. and were halfway over to the
Fifth avenue corner at Fifty-ninth, be.
Gore he spoke out.
"On a day like this" he said. ito
have sat there for two or three mortal
hours arguing about stale ideas-when
we might have been out here, being
alive! But it must have seemed nat
ural to you to hear me going on like
that" And then with burst, before
shc could speak:
"YOu must remember me as the most
blindly Optnionnted fool in the world ~
She caught her breath, then said
very quietly, with warm little laugh
in her voice: "That's not how I re.
member you, Roddy."
She declined to help him when he
tried to scramble back to the safe
shores of conventional conversation
That sort Of thing had lasted long
enough. And when they stopped and
faced each other in the gray brick en-.
france to the building where Roses
apartment was. it was at the end Of a
mile or more of absolutely unbroken
silence. And facing each other there,
all that was said between them was
her:
eyes"
But the gravity with which she'd
uttered the invitation and the tense.
ness Of his acceptance of 1t. the square
look that passed between them. marked
an end of something and the begin
ming Of something new.
She left him in her sitting room
while she went into her room to take
off her hat and Jacket and take q
glance into her mirror. When she
came back she found him standing
at her window. looking out. He didn't
turn when she came in. but almost
Immediately he began speaking. She
went rather limp Mt the sound of his
voice and dropped down on an otto.
man in front of the fireplace. and
squeezed her hands together between
her knees.
II don't know how much you will
have understood" he began; "prob.
ably good deal. What hope YOU
will have guessed is that I wouldn't
have come except that I'd something to
tell you-something felt you were en-.
titled to be told. But felt-this is
what you won't have understood-If felt
that I hadn't any right to speak to you
at all. about anything vital. until I'd
given you some sort Of guaranty until
I'd shown you that was person II
was possible to deal reasonably with
She smiled, then pressed her hands
suddenly to her eyes. II understood
she said.
"Well then ;" But he didn't
at once go on. Stood there a while
longer at the window. then crossed
the room and brought up before hel
bookshelves, staring blindly ut the IT,
ties. He hadn't looked at her even as
he crossed the room.
"Oh. It's presumptuOus thing to try
20 say" he broke out at last, "a pitiful
~ unnecessary thing to say, because
you must know it without my telling
you. But when you went away you said
you sud it was because you hadn'
my-friendship! You said that was tn,
thing you wanted, and that you wer,
going to try and earn it. And you TOLD
me that I'd never be able to see tina
the thing you were doing there was {
fine thing. worth doing. entitled to m!
respect. But what I've come down her,
to say isis that now, at last-I d.
see it."
She would have spoken then If sh,
could have commanded her voice. ant
ms 1t was. the sound she nude con
veyed her intention to him, for h
turned upon her quickly as If to inter
rupt the unsp0ken words, and went OF
with an almost savage bitterness:
"Oh, I'm under no illusions about II
i had my chance to see. when seein
would have meant something to you
helped you. When anyone but tn
blindest sort Of fool would have seer
I didn't. Now, when the thing is put
ent for the world to see-now tina
you've won your fight without an
help from me Without any help
In spite Of every hindrance that m
idl0cy could put In your way! Nov
after ALL come and tell you tina
you've earned the thing you've set GU
70 get"
There was a little silence after tina
She got up and took the post he ha
abandoned at the window.
"Why did you do 1t, Roddy7' sh
asked. Il mean, why did you want I
come and tell me?"
"Why, in the first place." he sai
II wanted to get back q little of N
self-respect. I couldn't get that uni
I'd cold you"
This time the sileace was longe
what else did you wantf' 81
asked. "What-in the second place
II want to earn your friendshi