The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1919-04-21

peeling them.
And then, halfway through her sec
ond potato, she heard Il step OIL the
stairs. :. 1t wasn't Alfred. 1t .couldn't
be- 1t wasn't time-not for fifteen
minutes. But it was he! Didn't she
| know his step! He was coming up
tired
She dropped her knife and thesfork
| that empaled the potato, and put-her
face down in the crook Of her-arln.
She was so limp she was sure she
couldn't stand up. But when SHE heard
the door open she did, and from the
doorway of the kitchen she saw him
standing in the other.
She saw his gaze travel. daZedly.
with strange unrealiZing wistfulnesS.
! from one object to another about the
rOom-frOm the bright stove with its
glowing doors, to the big hollow easy
chair, and the little spring rocker with
it's fringe trimmings opposite it. to the
table with the lamp in the middle.
and the red checked table-cloth. 1t
| was coming around to her now. But
before it reached her she saw his eyes
fill up with tears. =
That was the last thing she saw She
heard him saying her name, just as her
| voice broke over his, and then, some
how. they were IN each others arms.
Tighter" she said. &c
They had their talk. to be sure, but it
| wasn't until good deal later. You
can compute roughly how much later,
| frcm the fact that the potatoes We're
stone cold, and had to be warmed up
in the frying pan before they could
begin their supper; that they ate at
last. in the inconstant and preoccupied
| manner Of honeymoon lovers. and that
they washed up the dishes i'll the same
way.
| But after all that, and after they had
rectified. temporarily. Celia's total
omission to provide curtains or shades,
with sheet pinned up over each of
| the two front wOndows they got down
to a bathrobe aud bedroom-slipper
basis. settled together in the big hollow
chair. and told each other all about
everything: what they'd really meant
by things they'd said and omitted to do,
and what each had thought the other
meant. and what Il pair of Stiles they
had been. And Celia wound it UP by
narrating, though not just as have
done here. how she'd spent the time
since Thursday morning.
AT last, blissfully content, and a little
! drowsy. she began asking him ques-
tons; if he was glad that it had all
/, happened just as it had. down to the
| very least particular She was, she
said. There was nothing, not the small
est thing, that she would want changed.
| She couldn't get him to go as fast
| as that. There we erthings said to
you that night" he insisted, land
things l. couldn't quite deny I
meant that I'd give good deal to
wipe off the slate"
oh, but that" she said. sitting mp
suddenly. sis the very best part Of it.
That's what's done it all, don't you
see? We might have gone on for years;
and never-never really been married
at all, If we hadn't, in our rage. turned
in and torn the-the husks off each
other, SO that we could see what we
really were. You were right about me.
you know. horribly right. That was
what made me so furious. And it was
true that you weren't the man l mar
ried. Oh, but it's all right. silly, don't
yOu see? Because I'm not the girl
you married, either
He protested ut this. She was the
same Celia( only now, for the first
time. he saw her with open eyes.
But she. quite dispassionately. stuck
to her point. Surely ought to know"
she insisted, sitting mp straight and
rubbing her sleepy eyes, I remember
tfat girl well. / remember how an
nOyed and shocked SAes agas when she
t6Qnd ~ ~. glii - me, sou