Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1919-04-11
CHAPTER VII-Continued.

The windstorm the previous weel
had made q sickening devastation OF
her labors. The morning glories alone
were scatheless. A pink OleandeI
dropped many broken branches from
which miracles of perfect flowers were
unfolding. The prettiest blossom to
Hardin was the gardener herself. She
was vivid from eager toll. Hardin
looked at her approximately. He liked
her khaki suit. simple as uniform
with its flowing black tie and leather
belt. She looked more like herself to.
day. She had bleached out, In Tucson.
She had been letting herself get too
tanned, running around without hats.
Sunbun paled the value of those
splendid eyes Of hers. He could always
tease her by likening them to topazes.
His eyes ran over the pink and pur-
pie lines Of cord-trained vines which
made floral screens for her tent. Free
Of the strings overhead. they riOted
over the ramada, the second roof, of
living boughs. He acknowledged their
beauty. They gave grace to bare ne
cessity; they denied the painting.
thirsty desert just beyond.
He remembered his own ramada.
Gerty had hated 1t, had complained Of
It 20 bitterly when she came home
from New York that he had had It
pulled down and replaced by v roof
Of pine boards. glaring and ugly. Gerty
was satisfied. for 1t was clean; she no
longer felt that she lived In q squaw
house. Let the Indians have ramadas |;
there was no earthly reason she should.
He had urged that the desert dwellers
had valuable hints to give them. But
what was . remada to him. or anything
elsef Hardin turned to leave.
She did not want him to 60 90 soon.
She pointed out new vine to him.
Che had brought Il from Tucson;
'Kudsu." they called It; Z japanese
vine. And there was another broken
rooe. quite beyond the help Of stripped
handkerchiefs and mesquit splints.
He followed her around the tent, her
prattle falling from his grim mood. He
was not thinking Of her flowers except
- . mocking parallel. The desert
storm had made havoc Of his garden
"A sorry botch Of his life. He and
lines had been trying to make a gar
den out Of desert; the desert had
houted them. It was not his fault.
Something had happened; something
quite beyond his power. Luck was
turning against him.
lnnes, why. she was playing as with
q toy. 1t was the natural instinct of q
woman to make things pretty around
her. But he had sacrificed his youth,
his chances. His domestic life, too
he should never have carried a dainty
little woman like Gerty into the des-
ert. He had never reproached her for
leaving him even last time when he
thought 1t was for good. The word
burned his wound. Whose goodf His
or Gerty'sf Somehow. though they
he always knew 1t would
turn out all right; life would run
smoothly when they left the desert.
But things were getting worse; his
mouth puckered over some recollec-
lions. Yet he loved Gerty; he couldn't
picture life without her. He decided
that 1t was because there had never
been anyone else. Most fellows had
mad sweethearts before they married:
ne had not, nor a mistress when she
left him, though God knows, It would
have been easy enough. His mouth
fell into sardonic lines. Those half !
breed women! No one, even when a !
divorce had hung over him. Oh. he |
knew what their friends made of each |
Of Gerty's heightened flights; he knew
But that had been spared him. that |
vulgar grisly spectacle Of modern life |
when two people who have been lovers |
drag the carcass Of their love over the |
grimy floor OF curious gaping court.
He shuddered. Gerry loved him. Else.
why had she come back to him? Why |
had she not kept her threat when he |
refused to abandon his desert project
and turn his abilities into a more |
profitable dedicationf He could see
her face as she stared flushing up into
his that nIpping cold day when he had
run Into her on broadway. He remem-
bered her coQuetry when she suggest.
ed that there was plenty of room in
her apartment! His wife! She spoke
of seeing his pictures in the papers.
He had grown to be a great man."
That piquant meeting, the week fol.
owing had been the brightest of his
lie. He was sure then that Gerry I
owed him. The wrangles were only
heir different ways of looking at
hlngs, or course. they loved each
,theu But Gerry couldn't stand pio-
,eer 30ke. She had loved him. or she
would not so easily have been per-
Iuaded to try 1t over again. She
learned to make him comfortable, she
aid. So she had gone back, and pulled
|own his ramada. and put his clothes
q the lowest bureau draweri
1T wasn't either Of our faults" he
animated. ut was the fault Of the In
titution. Marriage itself y failure.