Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1920-03-05
lRYLAND. FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 5, 1920.

between dream day in May and
stark midwinter blizzard.
Her parents were dead; serious, pur
poseful, she had made few light friend
Ships outside her work Frank Sud
bury had filed her existence for years.
She found herself now living in
spiritual vacuum. A vast, resentful
unrest filed her. She became afraid
of her own rebelllous thoughts.
In this mood Fenton Pelly supplied,
in some unaccountable way, a link
with her dead happiness. She had
not liked the man too well, but he
had been there in the last terrible
scene-and he had tried to save her
lover.
AS the weeks passed she admitted
him to some share in her life, as he
had been sharer in its tragedy. And
Pelly, with tactfulness and delicacy
beyond what she had deemed him ca
pable of, found ways of making him
self well-nigh Indispensable. He was
with her great deal,
He had decided to stay ashore, he
said. He had saved some money and
was looking into the garage business.
At last Pelly poured out his heart
again. Constance, softened toward
the man and thinking of herself as one
whose wrecked life could thereafter
yield some shreds of content only in
giving happiness to others, did not def
initely deny him. II was too soon, she
said, for such thoughts. AS for the
future-who could tell?
At the end of four months, because
he had been cautious and discreet and
very kind, and devoted himself to her
wholly, there came an evening when
the time seemed ripe to Pelly to clinch
his chain. They stood at the gate of
Constance's boarding place. Pelly,
with world of Difference and an OBJ
vious struggle to muster the needed
courage placed his hand over the slen-
der one that lay upon the plckets.
Constance" he sald az you can't
live in sunshine, why not at least take
shelter from the storm?"
Why not, indeed? why keep on
with this life of raclllng torment all
so hopelessly useless, when there lay
at hand peace, security, usefulness
perhaps cOntent7
The girl, hesltatlng for an answer,
gazed far off down the quiet summer
street where the whispering naples
cast pickering shadows across the form
Of the only wayfarer IN sight, man
Just passing hurrledly under the cor
ner arc lamp. Suddenly Constance
form stlffened.
A strange, wild, eager light sprau
into her eyes. "Frankl" she cried, and
instantly was gone, running like
child down the street and into the vcrg
arms Of the Oncomer.
When, in their mutual Joy and In
the girls tumultuous resurrection Of
happiness. they reached the gate Fen
ton Pelly was not there. Constance
never saw him again. It was very
strange she told Frank over and over
again, that their good friend should
have so unaccountably disappeared.
And though Frank told In clrcum-
stance the miraculous story OF his res
cue from n huddlc Of ships Joiner
work that he had grasped In the nick
Of tlme-how he had been picked up
by fore and-aftcr bound from New
Orleans to Good Hope, and started
back within the hour, and with no
chance TO cable on n tramp that car
ried no wireless and had reached port
only three hours befOre-thcre was
one thing she did not tell Constance till
after they were married.
Pelly's story was true save I'm one
detail. 81 was the last man to try to
get into Pelly's boat" said Frank, "and
| could have made II, for had grlpped
the gunwale with both hands and was
not exhausted. But he beat my hands
with the butt of n pistol that he al
ways carried Mt sea. and I had to LET
go. l knew why, Of course It was be-
cause he wanted you. And the reason
didn't wire from New York today
was because I didn't want him to get
AWAY; wanted to put him over the
jumps for what he did. But when !
got home and you met me the way you
dld-why, Pelly might have stayed
right here for all Of me. He's pun
ished worse, far worse, than the law
could ever punish hlm-having you
know"