Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-05-07

luncheon, and felt tired and dizzy,
She turned toward q, downtown lunch
room, and was held at the crossing of
Fifth avenue and one of the thirties
idly watching the crowd of cars that
delayed her when she saw Warren in
his car.
He was or the cross street. and so
also stopped, but he did not see her.
Martin was at the. wheel, Warren but.
toned to the neck in = gray coat. his
hat we'll down over .his eyes, alone in
1.-The back seat. He was staring stead
lily, yet with unseeingt eyes, before
him. and Rachael felt a sense of al
most sickening shock at the sight Of
his altered face. Warren. looking
tired and depressed. looking discour.
aged, and with sone new>Apok of diff
dence and hurt. besides all these, in
his face! Warren Old! Warren old:
Rachael felt as if she should faint.
She was rooted where ! she stood.
Fifth avenue pushed gayly and busily
by her under the leaden sky. Furred
old ladies', furred little girls. lmeesen-
ger boys and club . jostlinE. eos
1siping, planning. Only she stood stilli
And after a while she looked again
where Warren had been. He was
gone. But had he seen her? her
heart asked itself with wild clarnor.
Had he seen her?
She began to walk rapidly aud
blindly, conscious of taking a general
direction toward the Terminal Sta.
ton, but 50 vague as to her course
that she presently looked .bewildered-
ly about to find that she was in
Eighth avenue and that, standing alb
solutely still again, and held by
thought, she was being. ~curiously re.
Earded by a policeman. She gave
the ma 4 da1ed and sickly smile.
+ i am afraid I am p little out Of my
way" she stammered. II am going
to the station"
He pointed out the direction. and
she thanked him. and blindly wento on
her way. But her heart was tearing
like a living thing in her breast, and
she walked like a wounded creature
that leaves a<trail Of life blood.
Oh, she was his wife-his wife-his
wife! She belonged there, in that
empty seat beside him, with her
shoulder against that gray overcoat:
What was she doing in this desolate
street. OF little shops, faint and heart.
sick and alone! Oh, for the sec1rity
of that familiar cal again! How Oft
en- she has sat beside him. arrested
by the traffic. content to placidly
watch the shifting crowd, to wait TO,
the shrill little whistle that CAV.
them the right Of way! If she we're
there now, where might they be go.
ing? Perhaps to a concert, perhap.
; to look at a picture in some gallery
but first of all certainly to lunch. His
first question would be; Had your
lunch and his answer only a salts.
fed nod. But he would direct MARTYR
} to he first place that suggested It.
self to him as being suitable for Ra.
chael's meal. And he would order it
no trouble wa too much for her,
nothing too good tor his wife.
She wa not beside him. She wa,
still drifting along this hheous street
battling with faintness ana ,headache
) and never perhaps. to see her. hus
band again. One Of her sons wal il
! the city, another miles away: TO he,
+. horror she felt herself beginning I.
cry. She quickened her pace, ant
: reckless OF the walters concern. en-
: tered the station restaurant and, or
dared herself . lunch, But when
. came she could not eat It. and sh,
J was presently In the train, without
: book or magazine. still fasting excep
. for a hurried half cup OF tea, ant
: every instant less and less able to re
sist the coming food OF her tears.
All the long trip homo she wept
quietly and steadily, one arm on tn,
. window sill, a hand pressed agains
her face There were few other pas
fengers In the train. which was to,
{ hot. The winter twilight shut dow
I early. ana at last the storm broke
not violently. but with q stern an,
, steady persistence. The windowg ~,
= rain. and were blurred with stsan,
1.-the dArkening Landscape swept w ~
slider dsluEe. when the frai,
Q stopped at q station. 1 rush of We
ain mingled with the odors 8
r~aaekintoshes and the vet leather 3
9 motor cars. carne In. Rachael woul,
look Y TO 70 meetings. lautarns an,
4fltesneeeaasssumhrsalss Arappsns oya
!. sss.s s.s..1 !,