The Lambertville record., 1923-07-13
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obvious effort, the man resumed with
awkward carelessness:
"Ah--it seems too bad for you to
miss your moonlight dip, when you
enjoy 1t so-merely on account Of the
behavior OF an alcoholic cad. l was
about to say-rll paddle you over to
the Pulpit myself"
She eyed him qulzzically and all az
once was aware Of the beating Of her
heart!
The two stood close together, In tho
darkness and beauty of the woods.
The mans ponderous dignity was man.
ifestly little strained. Why? For
a long time past. indeed, 1t had been
evident that she had undermined his
case in their relationship For weeks
she had been conscious. in her with
drawals and through the silences
that she had made so common be-
tween them, that he regarded her with
new attentiveness But he had
stopped there; his pride--or some
cowardice perhaps? s?-had restrained
him from word or act. Was 1t the
romantic solitude now. and the sud
den sight of her in her wood-nymph's
guise? Was IT the thought OF those
kisses she had just taken from an
other? What? Into her husbands
eyes had come a look she had not
seen these three years; and she wsn-
dered suddenly II, here and now. be-
yond all calculation, her great mo-
ment had come at last.
But do YOU think that she would
yield anything to him? Not she.
Ironically grave, she answered:
"You are always kind. Horace. But
of course ia not dream of imposing
on you that way"
sNo imposition st all. I'd enjoy 1t.
We find ourselves deserted-each by
our own choice-what more logical
than to join forces, ehY'
Logical"
"And-and pleasant" said he with
his labored lightness. "why net7 Or
If you don't care to Join the party
now--after what happened--why, we
might just paddle about for while.
The night--the nights fine" said
Horace.
Canoeing in the moonlight with
ones husbandl My dear man, do you
want to make me the laughing stock
Of the countyi'
Her laughter, thrilling unexpected
ly, took him quite aback; stung him..
too. as she saw with pleasure
"A very little OF that sort OF thing"
said she, "and gossip would soon be-
gin connecting our namesi
II don't think you run many risks
of that" he retorted, with marked
stiffness. "And I wish you'd cease
this-this extravagant way of talking
Its provoking. Now come along.
I--well enjoy IT,"
ION the contrary, should die Of
shame"
You're being absurd. Gomez
"A thousand thanks, but no."
There was silence. The breeze
fluttered her long hair.
II see YOU actually prefer the So
ciety Of drunken male fiirts TO that
of And this is typical, too"
He finished. all but impulsively Tor
him: "i'm sure you can't realize,
Laurel, how little wA actually see OF
each other-these days"
All, but did she not reallzel
She leaned back against the slender
bole OF white birch and stared up
at him liquid eyed.
How littlel Why. Horace-good
grsciousi That's literally all | can
sHy--good gracious Seven days
week under the same roof. hut sep
arated a single day in"
II know, ] knowl' he said in an
other tone. embarrassed III seems
odd own--rd hardly think IT was
possible And still was of
course sure you weren't conscious OF
1t, but
He hesitated, peeriDg AT her with
his short-sighted eyes; and then the
natural man let 20 little more Of
the unnatural constraint.
"Why, Laurel You go out some
where every evening. with or without
me, or II you don't go out, you have
people in. At odd moments, when
there are. in the little between times
as 7 might term them, you're always
reading. or studying. or practicing
something, or else you're writing let.
ters or you have a headache. Satur-
days and Sundays and usually week
days, too, you have people staying in
the house, all over the place. Noise
and dancing and parties and rushing
, about-never a quiet moment of--of
lust the domestic sort"
"You certainly make II sound dif.
ferent from the home life OF our dear
Queen I'd no idea IT was so bad rs
that"
~ understand IL, If anything. But
well, we won't 60 into II now. NY
point is. here. by chance, we have
quiet hour for once-charming nature
and no noise--no drunks. Well. don't
let's spend il standing on these rocks,
when the lakes right there. Come 7"
She shook her head in silence faint.
ly smiling. Gently, she released the
hnnd that he had abruptly clutehed.
She thought that his massive face
paled n little then.
From far away over the water came
the faint muffled echoes Of song the
sound but accumulated the peFyasive
stiffness. On the solitary trail the
husband and wife steadily eyed each
other. and she was thrilled with the
knowledge of her unreasonable vic
tory. In that second, her minds eve
flashed backward; she thought of An
ders Carthew, and the time and scene
which had been the turning point Of
her life.
When she had married this man,
glowering at her now in the primal
woods, he loved her madly, and she,
as she had soon understood, was ac-
tually all but Indifferent to him.
Within six months her interest in him
had become acute and. constant; while
he. incredibly, was detected in rerur.