San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-03-09
THE MARRIED LIFE
of
HELEN AND WARREN -
A POIGNANT DRAMA AND ITS MIDNIGHT SEQUEL THEIR
HOMEWARD
Bv Mabel Herbert Urner

There was no response from the
stewardess. she stood poised for
flight, her face concealed by an en-
veloping scarf.
With yelps of joy, the dog was
leaping against the bars.
"Sh-sh! Sh-sh." She was now by
the cage.
As the dog ecstotically licked the
silencing hand, Helen caught the
CLEAN of diamonds A slim white hand
NOT the hand of a stewardess.
Then she knew!
Mrs. Carlson.7
A moments throbbing silence. Then
the woman, crouching before the cage,
broke into smothered sobs.
mo one shall knOw-not from me, !"
Helen was kneeling beside her. :.
"Oh, l shouldn't have come up :!
But the stewardess said Teddy's been
crying all day. He's the only thing
that loves me- had to come to
him."
"The stewardess? Then stewardess
knows?"
"Yes, Mrs. Pringle. our stewardess.
She's asleep now, so l slipped up here.
She's kept me in her room. Tomorrow,
after the passengers land, she'll SNUG
gle me Off"
sand you had all this ,planned?"
disillusioned as she thought of the
note left for Mr.. Carlson.
mo. Mrs. Pringle caught me at the
rail. She was up all night with SICK
passenger and saw me steal along the
corridor to the deck"
The dog was still licking her hand,
whimpering with JOY.
ave didn't think of this deception
when she carried me down to her
room. But before she could get the
note I'd left in the state room, he had
read it and given the alarm. l don't
know how it happened - he never
wakes in the night"
"He felt it," breathed Helen. "Those
things charge the air."
AFTER that, what could l do! 1T
would've been too humiliating. L
couldn't face all these passengers.
But you'll never attempt anything
like that AGAIN." tensely.
mo, wouldn't have the courage,
with shudder. II don't know why,
but / wasn't afraid then. But, oh, L
have been ever since! / never want to
look down into that black water
again."
you'll let him-Mr. Carlson
know after you get to New York;"
"Not for a long time-I couldn't
see him now! I'm going West to an
aunt-where I'll be away from every
thing. After this, / don't want to see
anyone I've ever known"
She had the dog out of the cage
now.
wont you take him home with
you?" putting him into Helen's arms.
keep him until l can send for him Z"
"But Mr.. Carlson? Will he let me!"
81 think he will. Ask him. Anyway,
take Teddy tonight" -,
Then, convulsively, as she gripped
| Helen's arm.
II must trust you! Yes, feel that
1 can. / couldn't live through the
humiliation of anyone knowing now :"
The next moment she had disap-
peared down the companionway.
Holding close the soft, trembling
bundle, Helen CROPPED her way down
the steep steps, through the still-de-
serted corridor of Deck A.
Cautiously she opened the door OF
their stateroom, where Warren was
still asleep. -
With the rare instinct of dogs. Teddy
seemed to know he must be silent, for
he curled up on. the rug at her feet
without a betraying whimper.
Still pulsing with the poignant
drama of the last half hour, Helen lay
in sleepless turmoil.
She pictured Mr.. Carlson pacing
the narrow confines of his stateroom.
The impulse to go to him, to tell him,
e.tr Int 81
betray Mrs. Carlson's trust,
What would be the end? Sooner
or later he would know. What would
be his reaction?
Would he think that from the first
she had intended to deceive him? That
she had had no thought of self-de-
melodramatic trick? 4
Or would he believe her? And would
his grief and his anguished remorse
have a salutary effect?
Something warm and furry against
her hand Startled. Helen sat up.
"No, no, not on this silk comforter.
You must stay down on your rug. Are
YOU cold?" as the dog shivered plead
ingly against her. "Then I'll cover
you up. There now!"
"Eh?" an inrascible grunt from
Warren's berth. wake up there.
Talking in your Sleep"
"Oh, dear. I'm sorry if woke you.
I wasn't asleep" thoughtlessly. II
was just talking toto myself"
His berth creaked under his irate
flop.
"Talking to yourself. Ell? That's a
new turn. You chew the rag enough
during the day. Give your trap rest
For the love of Lulu, don't start spill
ing any midnight monologues!"
Copyright, 1924, by Mabel Herbert Harper.
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