The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1919-07-05
CHAPTER XIII.
The Wrong Man.

Mrs. Hardin heard from every
source but the right one that Richard
had returned. Each time her tele-
phone rang, IL was his voice she ex-
pected to hear. She began to read
meaning into his silence. She could
think of nothing else than the strange
coincidence that had brought their
lives again close. Or was 1t a coinci-
dence? 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 a 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 roved
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
| getting harder to endure.
1t 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 conferred now in the
story of Gerty Hardin. Richard, who
had never married. The deduction
once unveiled, lost all its 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 Richard:
anger still held him aloof. How man!
times had she gone over those unrea
hours! Who could have known tina
his anger would last? That hour II
the honeysuckles his kisses! None o
Hardin's rougher kisses had swept he
memory of her exquisite delight-de
lirious as was her joy, there was room
for triumph. She had seen hersel
clear Of the noisy boarding house. Her
self. Gerry Holmes, the wife Of pro
fessor; able to have the things sh
craved. to have them openly; no longe
having to scheme for them.
1t was through Richards eyes tina
she had seen the shortcomings of tn
college boarding house. She had az
Quired a keen consciousness of thos
quizzical eyes. When they had isolate
her, at last, appealing to her sympa
thy or amusement, separating he
! from all those boisterous students, he
I dream Of bliss had begun.
In those days. she had seen Hardi
through the eyes Of the young instru,
Z tor, younger by several years than HI
e pupil. Her thud of disappointed ange
of dislike, when the face of Hardi
peered through the leafy screenl I
: have waited. prayed for that momen
!. and to have 1t spoiled like that Thel
!. had been days when she had wept b
!. cause she had not shown her anger
4, How could she know that everythir
would end there; end. just beginning
Her clearinghouse training hs
taught her to be civil. 1t was ST
y vivid to her. her anxiety, her trem
\ lousness- Hardin talking forev
a of a play he had Just seen; Rickal
4 growing sitter. angrier, refusing
look at those lips still warm with b
kissesi
% And the next day. still angry wi
- her. All, the puzzled desolation
% those weeks before she had salved h
a hurt; with pride. and then with Low
n Those days of misery before she cou
g convince herself that she had been
% love with love, not with her feel
70 lover! Hardin was there, eager to
n noticed. That affair, she could S
10 now. had lacked fnesse.
ID Richard had certainly loved her.
A. why had he never married? Why h
IL he left so abruptly his boarding hou
Is In midterm? Doesn't jealousy confe
DR. love? Some day, he would tell he
,e what a hideous mistake hers h
Is been! She ought not to have rush
It. into that marriage. She knew now
III had always been the other. But l
he was not finished. yeti
Id The date set for her SUNNI
q. ''widowhood" had come, but she l
gered. Various. reasons, splendid q