Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-12
CHAPTER y

CHAPTEk n
TT WAS strange how Granvilie
rrcscnce in her life changed Laurel
Cor time from n self f-reliant young
,,snancr woman to- questing little
~, She was content when she was
',.,b him to drift. to let him do things
Cor her. to have him plan for her pleas
no Of course, it was only phase,
hu. II was an interesting one and show
od mainly how much She cared.
The night he asked her to marry him
.bov had come home from some affair
snd he had come upstairs with her--a
h;ro hc rarely did. Winona had gone
w he theatre. and the little apartment
u'os vorv ouiet. 1t was warm night
wa" Ond tho late May breeze blew in the ruff
aoJ cmrtnins. Outside the city hummed.
hnt from a distance in East Eleventh
nu, .troot tho sound was blurred and muf-
fed -, .,o,,. o,d
r,t down in the big armchair. Her
hosrt was beating so that it seemed to
sbake her body. She could not think
omite c"ih, clearly. He had flung his light
coat and his hat down on the couch,
and hc drew chair over beside her.
His first words were simple an were
NOT those of man carried away by
passion.
'You know that l want to marry
vou. don't your he asked
Laurel's cool fingers moved restlessly
IN his. and she did not answer. In
thc dmncss of the room his splendid
head stood out clearly. She noticed
thc way the light .glistened on the
smooth hair over his temples. She
could not see his eyes, those steel gray
ewes that made her catch her breath
when. unwarily, she looked into them.
bnt hc was leaning close to her and
suddculy he lifted her hand to his lips.
Laurel"
II was the first time he had called her
that. :,
''I can make you happy
= Happy, She could have laughed al
that, Why, no one in the world could
give her happiness if he could not. Moth =
inc would be left to her in life if he
went out of it.
was soft in the room. He stood up
suddenly and drew her out of the chair
into his arms. She stood straight as
fame in his embrace, and she threw
back her splendid young head. with
its ruddy aurcolc Of hair, and looked al
him.
Love is something that cannot be
easily defined. Love casts aside all
caution it is quite deliciously mad, and
vet it is the sanest madness in the world.
Courtship to most men is time OF
famine. To Granville Burton is was
nothing Of the kind. He was not woo
ng Laurel he was in way making
good business deal. He wanted her
youth. her freshness, in his home, not
in his heart, as part of his regime,
mot for himself alone. And Laure
wanted nothing in the world but him
She wanted him in that divinely selfish
way that lovers have wanted each other
from the beginning of time. The very
fact that Burton knew exactly what he
was doing when he held Laurel in his
arms proves exactly the state of his
feelings. She was in his arms. held
close against him. A faint perfume
stole up from her hair-all the delicious
youth of her, everything that was
his for the asking The Coda were
holding the cup to him filled TO the
brim and running over. and tho feeling
uppermost in his heart was one of sane
satisfaction. He released her and askec
her when she would marry him.
''Thcre is no reason for delay was
his argument.
If Laurel thought that his hurryinG
of the marriage was due to his i'm
patience. she was mistaken. 1t was
because he was eager to have the thing