Beverly banner., 1925-06-05

But it has been long time" Bre,
ma said, as If cross-examination might
bring clarity to displace her puzzled
mind. 'You did not
"Come back?" he asked. mo"
Outside the plate glass window the
rising wind tuned mournfully.
"You are very young he said. "You
would not foresee as l foresaw that l
could not see you without starting the
tongues of scandal. You are penniless,
young, working. | am rich, worldly,
conspicuous. / should have liked to
send you extravagant presents. You
would not have understood. You
would have thought l was an old fool
trying to be a lover. was not that,
but the others would have said even
worse of me. So waited, clinging to
a single strand that brings us to.
gether."
"Us!"
"Yes sympathy. Because you saw
In me the one thing left that you might
cause am man and you are a wom-
an but because l am human being
and you, who can see with vision of
the gods, saw in my ashes one un-
burned thing"
"You knewl"
Eyes, | knew" he said sadly. mo
one else could see. Underneath there
is something left-a kind of tenderness
for humanity. 1t is to fan this spark
that want to buy you"
Brena said nothing; he had made
good his promise that he would tell
her something she had never heard of
before.
Il do not want a wife," he said.
''That would be the title, but do not
want wife. 1t is too late. / want
mother. want you to make my spirit
clean and white as it was when was
ten"
"And yet" said Brena, you do not
think of me-"
Suddenly this unhappy man rose to
his feet trembling, intense, gesticulat-
ing.
Think of you," he said. How can
you say that I have not thought of
you? Is this thing propose so un-
natural as the foolish world has said
Of it? Is it base of me to want to
take a diamond from the mud where
no one else has seen it? Is 1t an ugly
thought that feel repulsion when /
see you, who are made of the rarest
materials, wasted upon cheap labors
and cheap, garish surroundings and be-
ing worn down like fine, wonderful
machine, abused by coarse use? Am
l fool to believe that with the only
contacts available to you, you will
only meet the vulgar men you can
never marry? Did / not see that you
had vision as from Olympic heights
which was being blinded in this rou-
tine of middle-class horrors?'
Brena's face, upon which the last
light fell, was white and frightened as
If she had seen ghost. 1t was enough
to tell him that she knew that he
spoke truly.
Il do not ask you to give anything
to me except your help to make me
new again." he said. Il do not ask
young love. / have none to give /
cannot take you away or keep you
near me without marriage. 1t would
blast us both. But If you marry me
you shall be made free whenever the
day comes that you wish to 60. ask
no promises
Brena got up and stood looking out
the window. The tall Office building
overlooked not only the old center of
the city and the red angular prisms of
brick and the square roofs laid out
like fields upon level farmland, but
also the distant stretches of rolling
prairies. There was an impulse to go
over that distant horizon: the same
strong impulse of youth, adventure.
ambition that runs like a current In
the blood Of animals and men. To be
free! To grow TIC, range! To know
To be emancipated from the sordid
round of daysl
DO not answer now," said Parma
lee. Il have said all can. 1t has
taken me several weeks to plan how /
should say this. have said it all in
cold, fair statement. No one could
say I had made love to you, Brena."
She took his hand; it was as cold as
ice.
Write me-" said he brusquely.
A week later he got her letter: 1t
was on his desk apart from the busi-
ness envelopes. He tore it open.
Nothing you said to me can be de-
MED" she wrote. .'You have inquired
about me; have no hesitation in tell
ing you that / have inquired about you.
do not feel that have gained any
thing by my inquiry, for it is true that
there comes to me at strange moments
clear vision and an insight. l think