Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-05-08

1S IL all rlgnt 1or TWO pe0pAe VINO
are not Christians to live together &C.
cordfng to their creeds?"
SLOW do You mean?"
swell, the people who lived before
there were any Christensen people
who never heard of Christianity-was
it all right for them to marry?"
"Of course"
tits not any one formula, then, that
makes marriage all right?"
"Of course not, it's the-the-"
"The love?"
II think SO. It's hard to explain"
Everything is, isn't It'll"
TERRIBLY"
There was nor silence. He took
a cigar from his pocket, held it be-
fore her for permission. She said,
"Please." He struck a match. She
glanced at his face in the little lime
light of the match. 1t was very hand
some. A pearl Of drowsy luster
cleaned in the soft folds of his tie.
The hands sheltering the match were
splendid hands.
She watched the cigar fire glow and
fade and the little turbulent smoke
wells float into the air and die. One
Of them formed a wreath, a strange,
frail, writhing circlet of blue filaments.
It drifted past her and she put her fin
ger into it-her ~ring-fnger by some
womanly instinct.
"Now you're married to me-" said
Duane.
There was a sudden movement of
his hands as if to seize upon her. She
recoiled a little; his hands did not
pursue her. They went back to the
steering wheel and chung to it fierce
ly. She turned from his eyes, but he
gazed at her cheek, and she could feel
the blood stirring there in a blush.
"If you loved me, would you marry
met" he said.
I'll love I'm going to marry
somebody else"
When?'
"Some day"
"If you're not happy with him, will
you leave him?"
"Oh, but I'll be happy with him."
$50 many people have said that!
You've seen how seldom it worked.
If you ceased to love him, or he you,
would you leave himp
"Tf' is a large order. Maybe"
wouldn't it be wiser if two people
who thought they loved could live to-
gether for a while before they mar
ried?"
She felt her muscles set as If sh,
would rise and run away from sucl
words. "Mr. Duane! I don't think it's
nice even to be talking of such things.
Besides, it's growing late"
"It's not SO late as 1t would be If
you married a man and found that
your marriage was a CHASTITY mistake"
Hadn't we better start back?"
"Please don't leave me just yet.
This is very solemn to me. I've been
studying You a long time, trying to
get you out of my mind, and only get
ting you deeper in my heart. / love
you"
II don't believe it."
IL know it."
"Then you oughtn't to tell me-"
mot tell a woman you love her7
Not try to save her from wrecking her
life and my own"
SLOW w%recking my-her life?"
II believe that if you marry Clay
Wimburn you'll be unhappy. He can't
give you a home. He can't buy you
clothes. He can't support you"
"That's not his fault, just now
with the hard times and the war.
Please let's go home"
"To my home?"
That insolence was too appalling tc
answer, or W to gasp at, or protest
against. 1t stunned her. He took adj
vantage Of her daze to explain, hur-
riedly:
you're not going to be one of those
silly, old-fashioned idiot girls that a
man can't talk to earnestly and frank
ly, are you now? Of course you're
not. You're not one Of those poor
things whose virtue consists in being
~insulted every time anyone appeals to
their intelligence, are you? No, you're
a fine, brave soul, and you want tc
know the truth about truth, and so do
/.
I'm a decent enough fellow at
heart. I want to do the right thing
and live squarely as well as the next
fellow. I've got a sense of honor, too,
Of a sort, and l take life pretty seri-
ously.
Il tell you, the world is all turned
topsy-tarvy the last few years. The
old rules don't rule. They never did
but people pretended to believe in 'em.
Now we're not so afraid of the truth
in science or history or religion or
anything. We want to know the truth
and live by it.
CTo BE coNTINUED.)