The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-05-08
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WLOuIS JOSEPH VANcgA III
co11

Mrs. Bellamy Bruce. Rather a
mouthfuI, that
rs that why you make a face
over it7'
Didn't expect me to relish it, did
You, cinda.
I'm afraid / wasn't thinking of
You at all, Dobbin, when I took it .
Meaning, il you had been, you
might have thought twice before
takingr
NO fear; was too madly In love
with Bel"
"Was?"
"Dobbini"
"Sorry-didn't mean to be imper-
tinent- / only-well, naturally,
wanted to know whether Or not
your matrimonial incubation had
taken.
Il think one may safely say it
has. I've grown so old and wise in
marriage, it really seems funny to
remember / was ever an innocent"
Its seemed a long time to me
Cfnda-five years since these eyes
were last made glad by the sight of
you"
"At least, time hasn't impaired
your knack at pretty speeches"
Nor your power to inspire them. s"
I'm not 50 sure. To myself l
seem ever so much older" Lucinda
bruce turned full face to the man
on her left, anxiety feigned or real
pickering the delicately pencil1d
brows Doesn't it show at all, Dob
bin, the ruthless march of advanc-
ing years."
The man narrowed critically his
eyes and withheld his verdict as if
in doubt; but a corner of his mouth
was twitching.
You are lovelier today than ever,
lovelier even than the memories of
you that have quickened my
dreams"
Truly, Dobbin, you've lost moth
ing of your ancient eloquence. That
last speech quite carried me back
across the bridge of time to the
days when, more than once, you all
but talked me off my feet and into
your arms"
PITY l ever stopped talking"
How direct and persistent you
are It's only fair to tell you, the
traditions of our kind to the con-
trary notwithstanding, I'm still in
love with my husband"
For a moment Richard Daubeney
was silent, staring at his plate.
Then he reused with a light-hearted
shrug and smile.
TITS like you, Dobbin, to start
making love to me all over again,
precisely as if my being married
meant nothing, in the first minutes
of our first meeting in five years,
without offering to tell me a single
thing about yourself
Nothing much to tell. Everybody
knows, when you engaged yourself
to marry bruce, l rode off to the
wars"
I'VE heard you'd later taken up
ranching in the Argentine, and
made a tidy fortune"
Il didn't do badly, that's a fact
But what is a man profted If he
shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul?"
rs one to understand you lost
your soul in the Argentine? 1t
sounds so amusingly immoral"
81 realized down there my soul
was in a fair way to prove total
loss. So l sold out and shipped for
home"
Hoping to find me unhappy
enough with Bel"
That's unworthy Of you, Cinda.
No: simply to be in the same world
with you"
After a little Mrs. Bellamy bruce
said severely: "Dobbin, if you keep
on that track, you will make me
cross with you How does New
York look to an exile of long stand
ing? Much changed? ?"
"Oh, / don't know. Skies and
morals a bit higher, jazz little
more so, prohibition just what one
expected, society even more loosely
constituted vast influx of new
people. don't know half these
people. Astonishing lot of pretty
girls seem to have sprung up since
my time Who's the raving beauty
on Bill Sedley's right?"
"Amelie Severn, Amelie Cleves
that was before she married. Surely
you remember her"
Good heavensi she was in long
dresses when / saw her last"
Pretty creature, don't you
Think"
Rather. Can't blame the chap
next her for his open infatuation. ="
Laughter thrilled in Lucinda's
reply: why, don't you recognize
him? That's Bel"
AS if the diminutive pronounced
in the clear accents of his wife had
Carried through the murmur of
talk, Bellamy bruce looked up. Per-
ceiving Lucinda's smile at the end
of an aisle of shaded lights, he
smiled in turn, but with the mus
cles Of his face alone. And look
ing from him to the flushed and
charming countenance of the young
woman on his left, bending low
over her plate to hide confusion
enyendered by Bells latest audac-