The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1920-04-01

murmured. Something Under tire.
pounds. / suppose"
Undoubtedly a hit but also ignored
by Trevor. whose mind was intent on
far more weighty affairs. He
shrugged his shoulders and pointed to
her but with his chin, an expressive
but most r~eprehensible adoption of ga
tive habit. She took the hint, never
theless, and as she started he said,
please remember. Please don't show
yourself this time. will your" The
tone Of his voice was a great improve
ment on all that had gone before. She
threw him a smile over her shoulder
and proceeded to cross to her hut on
exaggerated tiptoe.
Trevor did not bother TO awake his
guests; he went straight to his room
and gave himself up to n lo~ng-drawn-
out orgy Of tea hot bath, sharp razor
and clean clothes; to say nothing of
the cleansing, amounting and bandag-
ing of his many burns and wounds.
When, hours later, he had completed
the complex operation to the best Of
his ability If not entirely to the salts
faction Of his vanity he opened his
door a crack and looked out. The
three guests were awake and reading.
They seemed quite comfortable as well
as quite at home. a bottle and three
glasses having magically accrued to
the table I'm their midst. 1t seemed a
shame TO disturb them at that par
ticular moment and Trevor decided not
to. He closed the door, barred 1t, dis
connected the alarm gong and left his
Don by the covered way.
1t is a matter of record that while
this same inclosed alley was certainly
not over thirty PAGES in length and
could have been traversed in half as
many seconds, II took him exactly
thirty minutes to get from his end of
the passage to Andrea's door-and
knock. She opened to him at once
and the sight of her made him tremble.
Never before had she seemed so al
together adequate to every demand Of
life. He looked upon her lovely tuni.
bled hair that was still laughing from
its bath; on her deep blue eyes, each
cuddling a devil of mischief; on her
adorable nose, always shifting for trou-
BILE; on her red lips, ready to call a
man on and on her hard fists, backed
by sturdy youth, still more ready to
keep him off, and felt the bones of his
determination turning to water. She
stood with her feet slightly %straddled,
her hands stuffed in the side pockets
of her khaki jacket-a pose often as
sumed by professional fighters. He
glanced nervously about her o and
deciding that he would feel more at
home and perhaps more secure In his
own, asked her TO precede him there.
She consented and upon arrival made
naturally for the couch.
81 think" said Trevor hastily, "you
had better sit here-for a change" he
drew out a straightforward chair by
the table. She cast him an inquirtng
glance but sat down without remark.
Trevor did not sit; he paced up and
down before her till she could stand 1t
no longer; then she said brightly,
snow / know how our old cat used to
feel, watching the canary swing on
his trapeze."
"Extraordinary inverted coinci.
dence," remarked Trevor. II feel like
the canary"
Both pondered on this rejoinder for
some moments; there was something
about 1t that reminded Andrea of
first blood" Finally she realized that
II was her turn to speak. "Tll let that
go for the present" she said with
dignity. Suppose you say what you've
got to say"
The nan stood sQuarely before her.
'AIl right" he said. For a second he
hung on the verge of further speech
as though he were counting zone. two,
three-go;" then he plunged: "Will
you marry me?"
Here was a game that Andrea knew
from Its infancy to It's old age. The
first move on its checker board was
as fixed as 1t was easy. "No," she
said promptly and automatically and
glanced up with a half bored look that
said: "Your turn to play"
That look was destined to die a sud-
den death. ''Thank God ]" said Trevor,
f~ervently. apparently looking into
space, but in reality taking in her gal
yanized start through the corner OF
one eye. "You see" he continued. 1--WE
come to my senses and begun TO get
your point OF view. It's still true
that you asked me 10 bring you, but
it's no less true that you thought you
were just going up for a morning
breeze, while ! knew that once you
were in that flying machine it vas
good-by to a world. If I'd told you that.
of curse you wouldn't have come"
"Of course" said Andrea. family.
Her heart was aching and inside of
her It's pulse was drumming an old ia
miliar childish refrain of helpless rage.
"He didn't play fairl He didn't play
fair !"
Under the circumstances and ac-
knowledging my fault, l could do no
Iacc thar off~r - -.orrx- -axr t. .D&k.