The Dolores star., 1924-03-07

And there's no harm. done, yet It's
string we can't play out. You
don't want to make fool of your
husband. and neither do |. And do
want to be friends with you-the 9TH
er way. l want You for friend, FOR
Beatrice And this would spoil all
that. We can't have 1t both ways.
And we can't go halfway and stop.
It's got to be all or nothins-with US
I'm not saying It's easy" His voice
rose and his grip on the wheel tight
ened. Its n HI Of thing-the way
it-jumps on you, out OF the bushes.
But it's not the only thing in the
world"
She turned upon him, now, and the
movement brought his eyes round to
her for the first time since he'd begun
speaking. She was still trembling.
and her eyes were bright, but with a
furious anger. "Oh. you're-unspeak-
able !" she cried.
For telling the TRUTH
The TRUTH Rage made her al
most voiceless. Il wouldn't have
listened as long as did II I'd under
stood what you meant. The beastly
thing you meant"
I'VE meant the same thing, for
minute or two" he told her, bluntly.
at shocked you to realize 1t. Well,
1t shocked me, too-though you may
not believe it. And thought the only
way for us to get back on the other
basls-as friends"
Frantically, she snatched the word
away from him. Friends? With
youp L,ter the-beastly things you've
done-aao .aidT'
IT'S the saylI.g that's the crime" he
commented, grimlS. what we did
wouldn't have mat'CI'1i, to you, |
guess, If we'd pretended 1t was moth
ing Aren't you any realer than
that?"
IF you speak to me again." she de-
clared. wildly, "I'll get out OF the car.
I'll wade in the mud till find some
body who'll come back and" She
shrank away from him, leaving the
threat to be guessed at, buried her
face in her hands. and began crying
like child.
He clenched the wheel again. fight
ing down the impulse to take her
up In his arms again. He knew what
would happen II he did. She'd strug-
gle for minute, and then go soft
again-and they'd be back where they
were before. The old Adam in him
was grinning at him for fool to have
taken her so seriously. Even n pru-
Dental consideration whispered that
she'd be less dangerous-less trouble
some, anyhow she couldn't be danger
ous-so dealt with, than as now. But
he sat still, and the wave passed,
leaving him cool, unmoved, as If the
storm had never been.
Outside, the storm was, he finally
decided, thinning He looked cautious
ly round at Violet. Shed about
stopped crying, too, though her face
was still buried in her hands. ''If you'll
let me out he said, ''I'll see what can
be done about getting started again."
She stepped down into the road
without word or glance at him.
When he came back, twenty minutes
later. with some boards he'd found,
she was at first nowhere to be seen,
but presently he made her out by the
faint daylight that was returning as
the sky cleared. up on the bank lit
tie distance away, looking down the
road. He gave no sign of having seen
her. but when he went to work jacking
up the wheels and sliding the boards
under them she came down and asked
him, composedly enough, II he needed
her help. She remained nearby, Just
the same, when he told her he did not.
and even volunteered remark about
the weather. She suggested taking
the curtains of before they started on
again, and something peremptory in
her voice when she said 1t was all that
slanted in any way toward what had
happened between them. She took
her place beside him with no appear
ance Of hesitation.
They had a wild mile or two sllther-
ing over those inclined planes of clay
which made what was supposed to be
a road. Repeatedly they began sliding
toward one of the bitches or the other,
and it wanted all his skill and some
times most of his strength to avoid
disaster. She said very little, but she
showed perfectly normal concern for
his success, and by the time they were
safely upon gravel again he felt that
she was, in balance and tone, much
the same person with whom he'd left
Hickory Hill. But of her intentions
toward him, the sort of modus vivendi
If any. she meant to offer him, he had
no inkling whatever.
He was conscious Of growing in
tangibility about her as she became
more at ease. Indeed, 1t struck him
amusedly, at something she said. that
she'd have said just that thing, and iI
just that tone, to jeffrey, her chauf
feur. But his last impression Of hel
that day was to be Of different sort
They had slowed down for right
angle turn In the road when stimuli
| taneOuSly they saw the other car