The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1921-07-19
THE DAILY
[sE10:'R!.: STORY
"A Romance 81 Mud
sy MARTHA gMecULLocH.
M WILLIAMS.

ltss. ~ sSNgMopARdE3 EGIHQlCabGsl
~ 10 hard to find yourself forced
10 choose between running your
best girls amiabIlity or your
tapd.pew ear. Linton's heart sank
rs bio realized the imperative fact.
Cicelys mind was set on going 70
the golf tournament by the road
That ran past Banksbuah, where
abode her dearest enemles-and he
knew actually by yesterdays ex'
pefiehce that the road was unfit
for any civilized tires 10 press,
storm water had channeled It
deeply. ripping up the surfacing
md laying bare big powders left
earelessly in the bed. Further the
bitches were quagmires, crawling
ifi4stretches with sticky mud, in
kother stretches utterly stagnant
and flooding the road surface, II
surface It could be called. Yet
when he had tried 10 tell Cicely all
about II she had shifted and said,
looking straight ahead: i've heard
YOU say often real chauffeur
could 80 wherever he had mind,
tinieass.t were up a brick wall"
The brick wall might be safer,
6ke easier, Linton had thought, but
had not dared to say. Affairs be.
twiSt him and his sweetheart were
IN q hair.trigger state. He had a
mated fival--two Of them. indeed,
also the rivals were ahead Of him
+ Vi the good graces Of Mrs. Gray.
eicely's widowed mother. AS, an
tfset, both were so near to power
~ their 1oyemaking had always
been careful, not to say thrifty.
Nobody could say they had made
heroic efforts to 'loye where mon.
eylwas.a
cicely had scads OF it-worse
luck for Linton-unlntentionally he
was well nigh as rich as she. II
was hard work living down his for.
tune-he did not despise money in
the least-but oh, how he hated
what iits possession wrought in half
those hs encountered. Supple fawn.
iIigs finttery absolutely barefaced
% pseudo:t oughness masking as
Independence were hard to endure.
He Got all those things from men
OF aorts; but enduring them was
less irritant than the knowledge
that men and women he would
have cared to make friends with
RAISED by on the other side, In fear
81 being ranked with the fawners.
Cicely ignored her money, any.
body money, in way that ap:
preached high art. 1t was indeeo
almoet her greatest charm. Fur.
thery she chose her friends as Mrs.
Rrimros did her wedding gown,
tor qualities that would wear we'll.
Witness the McGraine twins and
their blind father-real gentleHolk
yith darcy enough to live on. But
M choosing enemies she was reck.
lessotherwise shes would not
have been SO high and naughty
VIII the Bankses each and several,
who at first eager TO kowtow to
hef, now missed no chance OF serv.
Ing her Ill. They had come near
% separating her from Linton.
With TWO daughters out and two
others crow ding their elders, tile
BAnkses; pater and mater, felt 1t
Ehe part Of social duty to let no
rich man escape. Sophie. eldest OF
the flock, had been especially
aimed at Linton. She might pos.
stbly have hit the mark had she
been less obviously thrown at his
head Lulu, younger and less
nsggressive.. had for a, while been
near tturning tho trick. Linton,
sore and angry with Mamma Gray,
Jealous inevitably Of the brilliant
panpefs forever Id Cicely's train,
adsroused to his danger barely in
time to escape the toils-and then
only at the prise Of wintering in
Egypt
Hence he understood and, after
soft, symr athized with Clcely's
discrimination to flaunt him IN
Banks faces, roads to the contrary
notWitt standing, The price OF the
eaf didn't matter-it was the We
hiele itself. He had had It built
tpoEder, putting In several features
Specially designed for Cicely's
pleasure, also for setting of her
ch1rnas. He had been days pictur-
ing their arrival at the Country
club All their world would be
there for the final golf fixtures. He
wanted to roll up, spotless, noise.
less sitting high and serene as a
god from Olympus, with Gicely be.
eide him at her queenliest best. To
get there drabbled, llmping. maybe
TOO late for everything, would be
q blow but nothing compared to
the risk Suppose there should be
er-anything might happen
with the road surface wholly un.
knoWnt Suppose they stuck past
moving and had to wade out
through mud mIdleg deep! Sup.
Srose also skidding, blowouts-all
fheHworst In the auto calendar of
harms? But Cicely' had decreed
the way past Banksbush, so he
headed into 1t, his teeth set, his
heart pumping like trip.hammer.
m Roads, exc women, are full Of
Guile This special road had moth.
Ing worse than mudflakes all
though the first mile. A quarter
more and Banksbush would be
/. past Linton breathed freer, not.
withstanding he knew the worst
was 10 come. A hundred yards
ftiftler on the washouts had barred
many sharp.angled bowlers, 10 get
4 lsst which he must dare the clay
ooEe spread by a choked ditch. One
ditch bank was mushy, the other
/. reasonably firm. It might hold up
under d crawling car-but here the
need was not caution but power.
So he & hraced himself firmly, NUT.
feteds Hold hard!" TO Cicely and
set be beauty car straight at II.