Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-01-12
CHAPTER Y
The Night Ride
~ GORGE waited on the Williams porch
I T for little over ten minutes, and then
Welding to a sudden impulse. he went

! TEORGE waited on the Williams porch
7 for little over ten minutes, and then
yielding to a sudden impulse, he went
around to the garage to get his car. If he
had the car waiting when the two girls re-
turned he could get rid of Harriet immedi,
ately, inasmuch as there were just two seats
in the roadster
In five minutes he was back at the house,
and just as he Ieaped out of the car Harriet
and Fay came down the street.
cts so hot, l thought it would be nice to
take drive" he said eagerly, eyes only for
Fay as the two girls came up to him.
Fay turned lightly to Harriet.
do you mind, dear? 1t seems a shame to
leave you at home.
Harriet shook her head "Of course I
don't mind" But as George helped Fay into
the car, threw in the clutch and started the
engine, Harriet, standing on the curb watch
ing them, was troubled. She had tried to
sound Fay out, but with luck at all. Fay
refused the bait, she parted Harriets re-
marks lightly, she refused to discuss George,
and Harriet could not even discover whether
she really liked him or whether she was just
playing.
While Harriet was thus troubled and Gail
was weeping her heart out in the friendly
darkness of her room, George was steering
the car toward the outskirts of Dalesburg. He
wanted to get out into the open country, and
as he drove he was strangely silent.
Fay noticed this silence and stole glances
at him from under her lashes. Usually, in
her experiences with men, silence of this
kind presaged trouble. In the game of love,
when things had progressed a certain dis
lance one Of two things happened. Either
it was possible to tantaIize man to the point
Of Madness where suddenly and recklessly
he caught her in his arms regardless of conse-
quences, or he took it seriously. made up his
mind as to what he intended to do, and asked
her deliberately to marry him.
The idea of George Hartley asking her to
marry him was ridiculous to Fay, but he was
showing all of the usual symptoms. If she
had known he would be in this mood, she
never would have consented to go driving
with him. 1t would have been easier to keep
control of the situation ifthey had been sit
ting together on the Williams porch than it
would be out alone in the car with him.
Nevertheless, she was not afraid, and a
little smile curved her lips as
this thought crossed her mind.
Hadn's she been rather foolish to start this
affair with a country pumpkin of this type!
If it hadn't been for the fact that she was
bored with Dalesburg she would never have
descended to it, but, Of course, it was too late
to think about such things now, she was in
for it, and she would simply have to make
the best of the situation.
They were out in the country now speed
ing along and as George slowed down his
engine Fay began to tease him lightly.
you're not very pleasant companion
this evening. I'm used to being amused, you
know and, by the way, I'm dying for a
cigarette"
Georges face Immediately lighted up, and
he drove the car to the side Of the road and
stopped. A moment later he was producing
box of cigarettes of the brand she liked;
his fingers. none too steady, were holding the
match, and his eyes, filled with quick desire,
were fixed hungrily on her charming face as
the Pickering flame lighted up her features
How adorable she was, and how much d
woman of the world The very way she
smoked was Fascinating. She held the cigar
cite daitly she waved it about careessly as
she talked, but she drew the smoke as deeply
into her lungs as any man.