Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-04-18
A Gay Romance Of Philandering Low
BY BERTA RUCK

the wide, mysterious colored, magic
| landscape of a dream.
| The feeling between them this
| evening was neither the comradeship
of the first nor the quarrel of the
| second. Something waited. watched,
| followed upon their heels; some
| thing impended like a towering cloud
blowing up over the sea-presagtng
/ storm.
! The 'good-evenings' exchanged
they walked. Inland, toward the
| sleeping moor that had been shot
| over today. For a mile they were
silent. Then young LaVerock,
abruptly. as if he still spoke out OF
the mist OF yesterdays conversation,
| began:
Talking about being engaged to
be married-D'you mind telling me
| why you broke your engagement
| ofr:"
Her engagement, her engagement.
1t was becoming an obsession to
| him. Why should he mind about it,
lie asked himself. Then, continued
to mind" He minded, more than
anything that had ever happened
to him in his Rover's life until now,
the fact that she had once said she
would marry another man-that she
sweetheart. 1t hurt and hurt,
1t was intolerable.
For. indeed, it now seemed to the
man who had been the Rover that
all his life he had waited to bring to
this one girl an untouched heart.
ParadoSical, IL he came TO examine
lt-but le was in no mood TO ex-
anime anything. He was Just sore.
So badly it ranked and hurt that he
who had had nothing that counted
in his life until now-should go mad
ior a girl who had been engaged to
another man. Another man. II
didn't make it any more bearable
that he wasn't here now. There
had been another man-she'd been
engaged.
The hated thought settled down
upon him like the gathering night.
She took his question as If ii had
been an accusation, Plenty of
people break their engagements off.
what Is the sense of being engaged
If you don't want to be: It's like
like sitting in the concert hall for
hours after the concerts all finished
and the muSic's all over and tho
lights are out and the seats arc all
covered up again with those brown
holland shroud things. How could |
go on?"
Archie Laveroos. after q rapid I'M
spoken whirl of thought, asked in
tcntly, Was it like that, to you?"
Yes. If you must know" she
cried sharply.
A second later she seemed 20
plead. How can girl feel madly
fond of somebody who's SO utterly
devoted to her.
"How-cant she? I don't see
that"
Men don't see much. In love they
see nothing" she declared breath
lessly. III the man does all, all the
devoted caring, it doesn't give the
girl-well, room to breathe. There
no fun, TO some of us, in being just
cared for. It's likc--like going TO a
dancc-and only watching. But
then-pcrhaps if you're the wrong
person you simply can't do anything
right
1t seemed to Archie Laverock that
he was attentive!y listening, not only
with all his ears but with every
inch of his body. Listening, not
only to what the girl said but to a
hundred voices that filled the soft
cleaning.
q Through these he responded quite
frosaically. why did you get en-
gagged to the fellow"
oh. How should | know" she
cried, exasperated as If over some
age-gone irritation ard WEAKNESS.
perhaps 1t was a wet SUNDAY after
noon and / couldn't play bridge"
she cried recklessly, land because
there seemed nothing else to do at
the time"
Archie, intent--"Then-thcn il was
always one-sided show"
He waited for her answer. He ex-
pected that she would admit, Yes;
always"
Somehow-urreason ably, of course
no felt that he would be sorry if
she did. He ought to be glad.
But her answer rang out unex-
pectedly "Oh. no. Oh, no. wouldn't
say that she declared. her voice
rich and full. of a generous contri-
ton, sorrow, tenderness. 1T wasn't
always a onesided show. / won't
let any one think so. | think that's
mean. | think that's abominably
ungrateful, d'you know. to pretend
a thing wasn't wonderful once just
because it isn't wonderful now.
That's unworthy. Nobody ought to
he like that. II ought not to have