The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-12-26
MARRIED LIFE.
Helen Calls Warren on the Long Dis
lance Telephone at Midnight.
BY Nobel Herbert Urner.

Helen gazed sleeplessly out of het
moon-lit window. From below came
the fain striking of the dining room
clock. She counted on the slow reg
ular strokes-twelve, it was mid
night.
For three long hours she had lain
there tossing feverishly. Her head
aehed. her eyes burned, and the
throbbing pain in her heart seemed
unbearable.
To the telegram she had sent War
rem yesterday-there had been no
reply! All last night and all today
she had waited quiverly for an an
swer-but none had come. WHAT
could it mean? Surely he must be
ill-very i'll, or he would have an
swered.
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 kimona about
her and went over and knelt by the
window. The moonlight was almost
as bright as day.
There was a suddenrustle among
the lilac bushes under her window
and Rover sprang out and ran across
the yard.
"Here Rover, Roverr' Helen called
softly that it was hardly more than
a whisper But Rover heard and
came running back under the win
dow. He loked up at her with elo-
| quent eyes and waving tail Ahd
then as though he felt the witchery
of the night and the moonlight. he
lay down and rolled over and over on
the grass.
The Night Walk in the Garden.
Yielding to sudden impulse,
Helen, threw a heavier wrap about
her, silently stole down stairs, un-
locked the front door, paused for a
moment on the vine-covered porch
and went out into the yard.
| Rover came bounding toward her.
"Hush-hush! No, no, you mustn't
bark, and Rover seeming to under
stand, contented himself with a 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? Whv 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 suf-
her pride to the winds and go back
tomorrow?
And then came the thought so
fearful that she hid her face in her
WANT HER TO COME BACK !?
Was THAT what he was trying to
show by his silence? Oh, no, no;
she knew it could not be.
And yet, just the thought had so
unnerved fher that she sank down on
a bench under the lilac bushes and
sobbed convulsively. Rover, with his
paws in her lap, gazed up at her
her arms about him and rested her
cheek against his head.
ooh. Rover-Rover, what shall
do? What shall I do?"
And Rover could only whine in
answer.
At length she turned slowly back
to the house. As she stole through
the dark hall. feeling her way along
the wall with her hand. she accident
" touched the telephone, causing a
faint stir of the bell.
The Long Distance Telephone.
The telephone! The telephone The
same telephone that was in their
apartments in New York, where
Warren was now sleeping. In Al few
minutes she could b etalkng with
with him!
She was leaning heavily against
the Wall. Whv had she not thought
of that? In this way she could end
her suspense 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 consIler, just
| following the wild impulse that led
her on, she felt for the receiver and
took it down.
sHello!' gazing in the darkness
| before her.
as this long distance telephone?
| Can speak to New York from
| here ?"
"To New York;" the. operators
voice answered sleepily. eyes. all
the phones are long distance
Glow much will it beg"
Something like six dollars,
think. Hold the wire, n1l look it