Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1922-04-14

| buHNH 10 ACduy.
"We jumped up like two school
boys released from detention and
went along in. More mystery. Lunch
at Sabre's place was always a beau
tifully conducted rite, as was ac-
customed to. Well, there were
places laid for two only and ram
shackle kind Of cold picnic scattered
about the cloth. Everything there,
help yourself kind Of show. Bit of
cold meat, lump of cheese, loaf of
bread, assortment of plates, and so
on.
Sabre said, oh, by the way, my
wife's not here. She's away
81 murmured the polite thing. He
was staring at two places, frown-
ing bit. 'half a minute he said
and hoped off on his old stick. Then
heard him talking to this mysteri-
Gus girl. At least heard her voice
first. oh, / eant!I ean'tp
"Then Sabre: Nonsense, Effie.
You must. You must. | insist. Don't
be silly
Presently in comes Sabre with the
girl. And the girl with the baby in
her arms. Sabre said in his ordinary,
easy voice-'This is very retiring
young person, Hapgood. Had to be
dragged in. Miss Bright. Her fathers
in the office. Perhaps you've met
him, have your"
"Well, | don't know what | said,
old man. l know what / thought.
thought just precisely what you're
thinking. Yes, had furiously vivid
shot of recollection of old Bright as
I'd seen him couple of hours be-
fore, of his blazing look, of his ges-
ture of wanting to hurl the Table of
Stone at me, and of his extraor-
binary remark about Sabre-I had
that and did what you're doing: |
put two and two together and found
the obvious answer (same as you)
and jolly near fell down dead, did.
jolly near.
But Sabre was going on, pleasant
and natural as you please. Miss
Bright was here as companion to my
wife while | was in France. Now
she's staying here a bit. Put the
baby on the sofa, Effie, and let's get
to work. I'd like you two to be
friends
"The meal wasn't precisely ban
quet. We helped ourselves and
stacked up the soiled plates as we
used them. No servants, d'you see?
That was pretty clear now. No
wife, no servants, no. wedding ring;
nothing but old Bright's daughter
and old Bright's daughters baby
and-and Sabre.
Once the baby whimpered, and
she got up and went to it and stopped
over it the other side of the sofa
from me, so | could see her face. BY
CAD, If you could have seen her eyes
then! Motherhood! Lucky you weren't
there, because if you've any idea of
ever painting a picture called moth
erhood, you'd ha' gone straight out
and cut your throat ON the mat in
despair.
Well, anyway, the banquet got
more and more awkward to endure
as it dragged on, and mighty glad
was when at last the girl got up
without a woodland picked up the
baby and left us. We were no more
chatty for being alone, can promise
you.
Then all of sudden he began.
He fished out some cigarets and
chucked me one and we smoked like
couple of exhaust valves for about
two minutes and then he said, Hap
good, why on earth should | have to
explain all this to you? Why should
~
Il said, a tiny bit sharply was
getting a bit on edge, you know
said, We'll, haven't asked any ques-
tions, have ~
Sabre said, No, | know you
haven't asked any, and Pm Internal
ly grateful to you. But l know
you're thinking them-hard. And /
know I've got to answer them. And
l want to. | want to most fright
fully. But what beats me is this
internal feeling that | must explain
to you, to you and to everybody,
whether l want to or not. Why
should /? It's my own house. can
IL n ,,,hn I "a