Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-06-11
THE GIRL WHO
SMILED THROUGH
By Marion Rubicam.
Corvn0nt. George Mattnes Adams
HAPPY PLANS.
Chapter CVII.

So Alice and David sat together on
the couch under the living room window
while the breath OF the roses was blown IN
TO them. But neither was actually CON
scious of the great fragrance OF the after
noon, for David was looking at Alice, his
ewes taking in every detail Of her face with
increasing delight and Alice forgot every
thing except that her hand was tightly
held IN both OF his.
When did you get Lawrence's let
ter?' Alice asked.
Five minutes before / sent nv tele-
gram to vou-no. lets see. - minutes
Bob-thats the chap | was camping
with-and |. tramped over To q small
mining town where he had directed mail
TO be sent. The telegraph Office. post
Office and railroad station were all in the
same room. They sold the groceries there
too.
Alice laughed a little her ewes. deeply
blue from happiness watching the lights
and shadows in her lover hair.
1t took Is minutes 10 find out about
trains east" he went on. The one time
table was little moth-eaten and We were
afraid il was out Of date as well However,
I chanced il, and having worked out the
fact that ] could get the next train from
there-which was next morning. could
20 on TO Butte. and there catch iast
train through. Well. Bob and hiked it
back to camp for the night and tramped IN
again to get the early morning tram. Then
] had to wait over IN Butte night. and
] didn't make as good connections al
Chicago as ! wanted. thought ! might
get here by Saturday night and surprise
YOU. but | couldn't. II made Bob feel
badly to be left so suddenly, but he sug
gested / bring you back on our wedding
trip
Our wedding trip echoed Alice.
'Oh. that sounds 80 wonderful. But
We cant be married right away
Why Alice Why not" David agreed,
reluctantly.
That is-we should wait we'll, you
see. Lois died only a few months ago,
Alice turned red from embarrassment,
and did not know how TO word her sen
fences. And we couldn't rush right of
and be married i would look well, il
wouldn look right
Il don't see why not David answered
suddenly. Everyone knows we weren
together for-well; almost from the begin
ming. As far as she is concerned ! had no
wife for much more than year
Il know" Alice gave a helpless little
sense and conventions. In spirit she never
was your wife-in spirit always was
Yet have to 60 through marriage cere-
monv, and you have TO wait fairly decent
period before YOU can have another wife
She laughed q little, an unsteady laugh.
Its so wonderful to have YOU bacl.
sgain-lts just as it was before, she
said. oh, David, We been so unhappy
Dear little girl, SO have |, David 5
arms went around and held her tightly
Il think | must have felt even worse
than YOU. for / knew the whole wretched
business had been my fault and the result
of my weakness. And / knew | was hurting
you by II, too"
He broke off to kiss her and went on
again when Alice had contentedly tucked
her face against his shoulder
''lf you had stopped caring for me.
If you had even been angry at the thing
] had done, and had found happiness
with another man, it would not have
been so bad-in a way. | would have
felt then that | deserved the punishment
| was getting
"And if Lois had really cared for ME,
| would honestly have tried TO make her
happy-to make our marriage as much IF q
success as possible But she didn't care.
she never did she only wanted power,
and q good time
Don't" Alice said gently. raising
her head. After all, she is dead She
won't stand between lis any more. Poor
little LOIS | am sorry for her now but !
think / must have hated her terribly while
she was living, and when she took you
away"
But lets don't talk sad things, she
added quickly. ''The past Is All over and
it doesn I affect US from now on, except