The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-10-27

maybe she meant that you wanted hel
TO go herself no, she said, a note
would do
II don't know what you're talking
about! y Alix said, puzzled.
your notei" Martin explained.
what note | didn't write any note
Cherry telephoned-"
NO. he said. patiently and per
functorily. you wanted-Cherry-to-
say = good-by = to-those-people-
Misunderstanding. That was all
She wrote it; it got there in time. |
guess. Anyway. | heard the girl say
to rush it to the boat!
"Oh 7" Alix said. oh she added.
Her tone betrayed nothing. but she
was thoroughly at sea. did l ask
Cherry TO say good-by to any oneF
she asked herself. going back to the
beginning of the long day. Instinct
warned her that nothing would be
gained by sharing her perpiexity with
Martin. 81 give you my word that she
hasn't been five minutes alone with any
one but Peter and me-" she said.
frankly. looking into Martins eyes
Now, are you s~atisied?"
"Sure, I'm satisfied" he answered
'rll take your say-so for it" lie
yawned. Trouble with Cherry is. she
hasn't enough to do" he finished sapi-
emily.
I'm a poor person with whom to
discuss Cherry!' Alix limited, with an
unsmiling 0 for goodnight.
And she looked at Cherry's corn
colored head, ten minutes later, with
a thrill of maternal protectiveness.
Cherry was evidently asleep, buried
deep under the blue army blankets.
But Alix did not get to sleep that
night.
She did not eve undress, For II
was while sitting on the side of her
bed, ready to begin the process, that
through her excited and indignant n
whirling thoughts the first suspicion
shot like a touch of flame.
'IIl tell Peter all this when Martin
has gone" Alix decided. He'll be
furious-he adores Cherry-he'n be
furious-he thinks that there is no one
like Cherry
The words she had said came back
to her, and she said them again, half
aloud, with a look of pain and almost
of fear suddenly coming into her
eyes.
peter adores Cherry"
And then she knew. Even while
the sick suspicion formed itself,
vague and menacing and horrible, in
her heart. she knew the truth of it.
And though for hours she was to
weigh it and measure it, to remember
and question and compare all the
days and hours that she and Peter and
Cherry had been together; from the
moment the thought was born she
knew that it was to be with her an
accepted fact for all time to come.
For a few seconds Alix felt i'll,
dazed, and shocked almost beyond en-
She sat ~immovable, her eyes
fixed, her body held rigid, as a body
might be in the second before it fell
after a bullet had Clearly pierced the
heart.
Then she put her hand to her throat,
and looked with a sort of terror at
the silent figure of Cherry. Nobody
must know-that was Alix's first clear
She was breathing hard, her
rising and falling painfully,
and the blood in her temples began to
pound her mouth was dry.
With a blind instinct for solitude
she went quickly and silently from the
porch, and into the warm sit
ting room. For a few minutes Alix
stood, with one foot on the chain that
linked the old brass fire dogs, her ell
DOW on the mantel, and her cheek
against her arm.
me- she whispered, almost audi
mot can't be that! 1t can't be
--.H- xHLkI