Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-07-12

~ - - s
Etc. ~ s.
The guilty conscience thrives and fat.
tens on such encounters for it finds
in them the stimulus Of endless con.
tention and the unfailing solace Of
concentration. Not SO the mind I'M
burdened with knowledge of ~offense;
confronted with its idle monitor 1t car
only cry, What on earth is there to
talk about? The sight Of you bores
me. Please go away"
And Andrea's soul wouldn't go! II
sat there, staring vaguely thus way
er sorry figure. In the hrst place, il
was rather undersized and distinctly
u~ndeveloped; in the second, it was in
sufficiently clad, even for a spirit. and
Lseemed to shrink and shrivel at the
mere thought of getting out into the
rain. 1t realized that she was right:
1t had nothing whatever to say to her
anu III III WIzCLcV 1dCc C6Ilc u lOOh
of self-commiseration at the thought
that Andrea was entirely to blame for
its own 'd~abbiness. How could q
trainer who was never called upon
even for a massage treatment be ex-
ipected to keep in trim?
That look on its face exasperated
Andrea. She got up from her chair
and undressed rapidly. When it came
ito putting or her pajamas. hot tears
rlYchoN To hnr o1voc 1IoN han~< 0Nyo1t-
ed in hopeless rebellion. She didn't
want pajamaS tonight. She wanteu n
of her own dearest nightes: soft crepe
de chine with a maidenly narrow bor-
lder Of lace insertion run through with
fresh blue baby ribbon! She looked
at her cot INC rebelled at that, too.
She wanted her own bed with its ove
~ linen. her " o with its cur
tanned windows and its CLEAN of
mahogany and chintz under the dy-
ling glow of an open fire!
With a childish gesture of despair.
she crept into bed. curled up with her
face against the pillow and Wept The
more she cried, the more it rained;
the more it rained, the more she
lcried. There was no end to that-no
end-no- Sleep did its best to take
uncertain and long before morning it
saw defeat coming and made 4 das-
tArdly retreat
Andrea awoke. not slowly. not
through drowsy s~radat,ons, but sud
denly with q swapping of the eyes
wide open on \ great. emptiness She
was alone. terribly alone. and hope
lessly awake. She lay staring up at
purposely left burning. Its chimney
was smoked. Through it's veil the
flames stared at her out of a single
ba1eful red eye. Outside, rain still
poured.
She decided to cry a little moro and
found h couldn't Tears had with
drawn before an Intellectual rage. Her
face hardened. Well. if she couldn't
cry. something nus happen; IL not
on its own. then it must be forced. She
wondered what the white man was
doing Perhaps he was sound asleep:
perhaps he vas ever snoring! What
did b know about this man. any
way? Was he human? Had he live
points of contact Of was he an i'm
palpable creation of her sick brain?
Perhaps she wasn't here at all! If
come running in or Her eyes, fol-
lowing the sequence of her thoughts.
fell upon the barred door.
She arose. put on her slippers and
her bathrobe, walked deliberately to
the door, grasped the bar with two
trembling hands and threw it up with
all her strength. The clang II the
far-away gong rang out above the din
Of h droning rain. Following it in
stantly came h thud of a falling
chair. The door, released, swung
slowly open with a long-drawn creak
Of unoiled hinges. Andrea was sud-
denly frightened. She shrank back
against the wall of the hut, gathered
the two loose braids Of hair that hung
over her shoulders and crushed them
to her, as though to smother the loud
beating of her heart.
Coming through the covered way
she could hear the swift crush OF hur-
rying steps. M'sungo. fully dressed,
shot into the center Of her room and
whirled. In his hands. held at the
hip, finger on trigger, was a villainous
sawed-on shotgun. Only his long
training to look twice before he fired
saved Andrea when his eyes brought
him the startling conviction that be-
sides himself she was the only other
living thing in the room. She stared
at him, wide-eyed and trembling. She
saw his figure, keyed to one sort Of
combat, relax only to grow slowly
tense again. He turned, laid the shot
u aside n ZANE toward her with
swift sure strides. FOR an Instant his
eyes wavered but a. no drew nearer
they steadied to transfx and hold har
pinned against the wall.
She felt herself struggling a.
against an unjust accusation. Under
her trembling hands, her heart boat
with great irregular throbs. A lump
rose in her throat and It seemed as
though it must strangle her II she did
let 1T out. In her desperation she
hurled herself forward. threw her
arms about M'sungo's neck, pressed
her face against him and sobbed.
"Oh. White Man." she gasped, IT
was so lonely-1 am 70 lonely"
The embrace Of a woman Is one
thing; the clinging Of a child quite
The sternness in M'sungo's
eyes died suddenly; the hard look in
his face faded. vanished and gave
place to n of great tenderness. He
gathered Andrea up in his arms and
carried her quickly through the COW
cred way. He told himself there was
every reason to hasten, for he could |
feel her soft warm body, shaken with
sobs, wrapping itself round his heart
and crushing 1t beyond repair. He
laid her on the couch in his room.I
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