San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-18
A Woman's Battle Against Great Odds for the
Heart and Honor of the Man She Loves

She went back to her breakfast Cold
tea, Ieathery toast, fruit that tasted of
nothing; she ate and drank for no reason
at all, for she had finished her meal be-
fore-before. Her mind staggered, avoid
ing for little longer the brunt of thought.
Instead, she considered the tea and toast
and fruit.
When was it that she had left her break
fast untouched and alarmed Mrs. Acklin
so? Yesterday? No, yesterday she had
been hungry, scOrning herself for her
healthy appetite and laughing at her own
sCorn. Why shouldn't you be hungry even
in you were fathoms deep in love? The
very sun-sparkle on the silver had laughed
defiance of the love-sick maiden myth and
she had eaten all the honey and played
with her dreams as a child plays with
bricks; building them dwelling-place out
of little shy imaginings- Stacey, you
look loveIiest in the morning, after ALL
Do you know it? Do you do you?"
andL"Peter darling ivy is your .r, coffee s:
such a wonderful home as this Monks
Yielding of ours in all the world?"
She put her hand out sharply, as though
she brushed toy to the floor.
The Notwithstanding thought per-
sisted. When was it, then, that she had
not eaten enythng at all but gone
All, yes, the day before Yesterday Peters
wireless and the urgency of buying Peter
his home-their home-oh, poor fool,
poor fool and the blazing sunshine out
side the office in Bedford row.
A clear echo cut across the memories that
were only two days old and seemed to be
of another life. 81 will give you eleven
thousand pounds for the place.
Twelve thousand"
A voice with a little flute note in it
that accorded oddly with the precision of
the offer and even more oddly with the
suspicion that the offer must have been
based on information obtained from Len
pile-that odious little man.
eleven thousand. . Twelve thou
sand" The rhythm of it linked on to
that other iingle-Comstock, Brummel-
ton, ore; Comstock, Brummelton, ore.
And diamonds. Peter had raved of dia-
monds. eleven thousand. Twelve
thousand" Strange, the certainty that
the one jingle could solve the other, II
either were worth the solving.
"But of course none of it is worth solv-
ing" said Stacey aloud in harsh voice
that she did not recognize as her own.
"Peter has made such a colossal mistake
somewhere and somehow he's bound to
find it out in time. FACTS will straighten
themselves out through their own weight;
and then suppose he will come and cX-
plain and grove and ask me to dinner
again. And | shall tell him that ! took
the option because he needed the five hun
dred pounds so desperately and that |
bought Monks Yielding so that he could
buy it back from me in his own time.
And | shall go to dinner"
She took the deed of gift from her
bosom and folded it again and again until
it was narrow as a closed fan.
Such an explanation to Peter would not
cover her secretiveness about the purchase
of the house nor her lie about Mr. Soanes,
nor her refusal to show the document that
could have cleared her from the first.
No doubt further fabrications would save
her there; but would they be worth IN
venting?
Everything was smashed now that Peter
however colossal his mistake-had come
to believe her vile.
With a stab of understanding that was
sheer agony, she faced the wreckagc.
yesterday, when he told me he was
married, hadn't lost him; I'd only lost
my own vain illusion about him. But now