The Dolores star., 1924-07-18

ed and rise to power and influence
| upon them. He would be kind, he
would be generous. He would make
her proud of him. What more could
| she want?
mat was Just 1t. There were dark
moments when she felt that surely
there must be something more than nil
TINS. She did not know what II was
she could not analyze her thoughts or
give them definite form-but In these
dark moments she feared that she was
being tricked, that the whole thing
was sham which she would discover
when 1t was too late. She did not
suspect her mother, or her father. or
Transley, one or all, of being parties
TO this trick; she believed that they
dld not know it existed She herself
did not know it existed. But the fear
was there.
After week she admitted, much
| against her will, that possibly Dennl-
son Grant had something to do with
| 1t. She had not seen him since she
had pressed his fingers and he had rid.
| den away through the smolle-haze of
| the South f.D. She had dutifully tried
to force him from her mind. But he
! would not stay out of 1t. 1t was about
that fact that her misgivlngs seemed
most to center. When she would be
thinking of Transley, and wondering
about the future, suddenly she would
discover that she was not thinking of
| Transley, but of Dennison Grant
| These discoveries shocked and humill-
ated her. 1t was an impossible posi-
ton. She would throw Grant forcibly
out Of her mind and turn to Transley.
And then, in an unguarded moment,
Transley would fade from her CON
seriousness, and she would know again
that she was thinking of Grant.
At length she allowed herself the
luxury of thinking frankly about Den
nison Grant. 1t was luxury. 1t
brought her secret happiness which
she was wholly at n loss to under
stand, but which was very delightful,
nevertheless. She amused herself with
comparing Grant with Transley. They
had two points in common: their ply
steal perfection and their fearless,
self-contident manner. With these ex-
ceptions they seemed to be complete
contradictions. The ambitious Trans
ley worshiped success; the phIloso-
phical Grant despised 1t. That differ
ence In attitude toward the world and
Its affairs was n ridge which separated
the whole current Of their lives. It
even, In a way. shut one from the view
of the other; at least 1t shut Grant
from the view of Transley. Transley
would never understand Grant, but
Grant might, and probably did, un-
derstand Transley. That was why
Grant was the greater of the two.
She reproached herself for such n
this stranger on the Landson ranch
was a greater man than her husband
to-be. And yet honesty-or, perhaps,
something deeper than honesty-com-
PEELED her to make that admission.
She ran back over the remem-
bered incidents of the night they had
spent together, maroOned like ship
wrecked sailors on rock in the foot
hills. His attentiveness. his courtesy,
| Ills lIetuplu llOIH any re-
straint his manly respect which was
so much greater than conventional re-
straint-all these came back to her
with n poignant tenderness. She pic
tured Transley in his place. Transley
would probably have proposed even
before he bandaged her ankle. Grant
had not said word of love, or even
of affection. He had talked freely Of
himself-at her request-but there
had been nothing that might not have
been said before the world. She had
been safe with Grant.
After she had thought on this theme
for while Zen would acknowledge to
herself that the situation was absurd
and impossible. Grant had given no
evidence of thinking more of her than
of any other girl whom he might have
met. He had been chivalrous only.
She had sat up with start at the
thought that there might be another
girl Or there might be no girl.
Grant was an unusual character.
At any rate, the thing for her to do
was to forget about him. She should
have no place In her mind for amy
man but Transley. 1t was true he
had stampeded her, but she had ac-
cepted the situation In which she
found herself. Transley was worthy
of her-she had nothing to take back
she would go through with 1t.
On the principle that the way to
drive an unwelcome thought out of
the mind Is to think vigorously about
something else, Zen occupied herself
with plans and day-dreams centerng
about the new home that was to be
built in town. Neither her father nor
Transley had as yet returned froin the
trip on which they had gone with n
view to forming partnership. so
there had been no opportunity to dis
cuss the plans for the future. but Zen
took 1t for granted that Transley
would build In town. He was 81 en-