The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1923-12-14

anu Sdlu he must De OH. Sne rose, tOt
they had the room to themselves
just then-and for a moment she
stood before him, breathless and lit
tie flushed. Then she flung her arms
around him, tight, and kissed his
mouth. He gathered her up in his
arms, and tears. utterly unwonted and
amazing, filed his eyes.
1T was your beard / was afraid of. .
she murmured. "But I guess I like
it."
He let her go. abruptly. for there
was another damned echo in that. II
was thing that had been said to him
before.
Then he dashed the unwelcomed
memory out Of his mind. Look here r.
he cried. slow long viii It take you
to dress7 If you'll be quick, I'll wait
Take you downtown with me to the
Office. want 'em to see you. Besides,
it's the place you'll have to come when
you want money"
"I'll fly" she said.
The tears she saw In her fathers
eyes. when she'd kissed him over their
first breakfast, obliterated the fear
that she'd be shipped back to Pasa-
dena as unsatisfactory as his for
bearance. the evening before, had
made It plain that she wouldn't have
to run away from him. They'd get
on" all right And the menage she
! found him In. as we'll as the place he
seemed to offer her In II. was far be-
yond the widest Of her hopes. The
good fiat" and the two cars he had
mentioned in his letter had suggested
no such establishment as this.
Arson = dignified, inscrutable, so
phisticated, and. implicitly at least,
under her orders-was as Incredible as
If he'd come out of the movies. And
Burns, the chauffeur-her chauffeur.
in effect, since her father seemed never
to require his services by day-was as
good-looking and jolly and serviceable
to her caprice as any of the young
princes of Hollywood who sometimes
disguised themselves In Jobs like that,
for a lark-or a purpose.
The car she elected to do most Of
her driving in was not the sumptuous
monster In which Joe had taken her
down to dinner on that first evening,
make. Her first edIct was that sh be
allowed TO learn to drive 1t. They
made daily cruises, she and young
Burns, of uncounted miles and I'M
reckoned hours. She even liked the
country. The color and freshness and
variety of the foliage excited her, ac-
customed as she was to the palmetto
punctuated monotony of southern Cali
fornia.
Most of the time during those first
few days she felt like Ali Bahia when
he had first said, "Open sesamei" But,
again like ALI Bahia, she was to expert |
ence no comfortable security in the |
possession Of her treasure trove. There |
were enigmas about her fathers life |
she couldn't solve; alarms that kept |
her constantly on the alert.
She'd stumbled upon the first of |
these the morning Joe took her to the |
office. He'd introduced her round |
promiscuously, during the ostensible |
process of showing her over the place.
to all sorts of people-draftsmen
clerks, stenographers-usually in a
perfectly one-sided manner: "This is
my daughter, Beatrice; of course, it
didn't matter to her who they were.
But to this procedure there had been
striking exception. On leading her up
to one young woman-a creature with
some pretense to looks and a lot of
red hair probably some sort of head
since she seemed to
have an office of her own-her father
had said, Beatrice, this is Jennie
He'd said 1t, too, on
different note, significantly somehow,
and the significance seemed to be that
here was somebody who, for an I'M
guessed reason, did matter. He add
er. as If to put it beyond doubt, II
want you two to get acquainted"
Beatrice. startled and feeling herself
lushed, managed a rather cavalier nod
ind an abbreviated How do you do"
md then, though she hadn't meant to,
extended her hand.
The woman didn't act snubbed at |
Ill. though the intention, Beatrice
bought, had been plain enough. Her
ook was penetrating and deliberate.
We're very glad you've come" she
aid. Then, turning to him-her EN-
'loyer, Congratulations !" She didn't |
merely say 1t, either; she put some
hing into it, some special meaning.
There'd been Observation-Disclosures
d. rather at random-after this;
uestions about the sort of trip she'd {
ad across the continent; a brief ac-
cunt of what they'd done the night I
efore.
At last she said, amazingly, There's
othing much here this morning, Joe.
Why don't you take the day OFF,
Though he vetoed the suggestion, {
ruskly there was something he par
culady wanted to get at-he didn't
sem to feel that there'd been anything |
ficlous about it. And the Joe"
either of them seemed to have been
onscious of at all. Evidently II was