The Pulaskian., 1919-04-18

had returned. Each time her tele- phone rang, it was his voice she ex- pected to hear. She began to read a meaning into his silence. She could thlnk Of nothing else than the strange coincidence that had brought their lives again close. Or was it a coinci- denee? That idea sent her thoughts far afield.
 She was thinking too much of him, for peace of mind, those days of wait ing, but the return of the old lover had made q wonderful break in her life. Her eyes were brighter; her smile was less forced. She spent most of her days at the sewing machine. A lot of lace was whipped onto lingerie frocks of pale colors. She was dis ciple of an Eastern esthete. "Women," he had said. "should buy lace, not by the yard, but by the mile"
 As her fingers worked among the laces and soft mulls, her mind royed down avenues that should have been closed to her, wife. She would have protested, had anyone accused her of infidelity in those days, yet day by day, she was straying farther from her hus- bands side. She convinced herself that Toms gibes and ill-humor were 1 getting harder to endure.
 It was inevitable that the woman of harem training should relive the Law renee days. The enmity of those two men, both her lovers, was pregnant with romantic suggestion. The drama of desert and river centered now in the story of Gerty Hardin. Rickard, who had never married! The deduction, once unveiled, lost all it's shyness. And every one saw that he disliked her hus- band
 She knew now that she had never loved Tom. She had turned to him in those days of pride when Richards anger still held him aloof. How many times had she gone over those unreal hours! Who could have known that his anger would last? That hour in the honeysuckles his kisses None of Hardin's rougher kisses had swept her memory of her exquisite delight-de- lirious as was her joy, there was room for triumph. She had seen herself clear of the noisy boarding house. Her. self, Gerty Holmes, the wife of pro lessor; able to have the things she craved, to have them openly; no longer 1 having to scheme for them.
 It was through Richards eyes that 1 she had seen the shortcomings of the college boarding house. She had ac- ouired a keen consciousness of those ouizzical eyes. When they had isolated her, at last, appealing to her sympa- l thy or amusement, separating her 1 from all those boisterouS students, her dream of bliss had begun.
 In those days, she had seen Hardin i through the eyes of the young instruc- tor younger by several years than his nuniI. Her thud of disappointed anger of dislike, when the face of Hardin neered through the leafy screen! To have waited, prayed for that moment, and to have it spoiled like that ,! There had been days when she had wept be- cause she had not shown her anger How could she know that everything would end there; end. just beginning Her boarding-house training had toupht her to be civil 1t was still vivid to her. her anxie-y, her tremu- lousness-with Hardin talking forever of a play he had just seen; Rickard growing stiffer, angrier, refusing 10 look at those lips still warm with his kisses
 And the next day, still angry with her An. the puzzled desolation or those weeks before she had salved her hurt: with pride, and then with love !! Those days of misery before she couiu convince herself that she had been 1n Hove with love, not with her fleeing lover! Hardin was there, eager 10 De noticed. That affair. she could see now. had lacked finesse.
 Ric,Sard had certainly loved her, or why had he never married? Why had ho loft SD abruptly his boarding house :, ,,idterm? Doesn't jealousy confess love? Some day, he would tell ner ,,.ho+ hideous mistake hers had ,.oon, She ought not to have rushed into that marriage. She knew now IL bod always been the other. But IAe was not finished. yet
 The date set for her summer ..r,dowbood,' had come, but she hn- gered.. Various reasons splenuio anu