The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1926-08-13
''Busiiness Kisses !"
By BEATRICE BURTON
."
Author of Gloria, The Flapper Wife"
BIZ BEATRICE BURTON
The names Ia this story are purely
ferring to any particular person. psce
CHAPTER LX1


CHAPTER LI
In the sunshine of late afternoon
the hospital seemed an almost cheer
full place when Mary Rose and her
mother came into it.
1t was 8 o'clock and the supper
trays stood on their wagons in the
wide Railways. Nurses fitted here
and there in their cracking white
and blue uniforms.
One or two of them looked Gu
rfously at Mary Rose as she and
Mrs. Middleton followed Tens father
up to Room 81. They had all heard
the story OF the wedding last night,
of course, and wanted to see the
bride who was soon to be a widow.
The white door Of Toms room
stood open and a band Of slanting
sunlight lay across the bed where
he lay. He looked better to Mary
Rose than he had last highland
she wondered If he really were
dying.
HIS face was not so gray. his
eyes were almost unnaturally bright
and the sheet rose and fell with his
breathing. Then Mary Rose saw
that it was rising and falling much
too quickly and unevenly,
And as she bent over him she
could hear a queer little grating
noise in his chest, She wondered
what it could be-
He looked up at her and his lips
moved as if he were trying to say
something.
do you want me to-kfss your"
she asked, her voice breaking, She
knew that he did.
Il want to kiss you" she said,
and laid her lips for an instant on
his that were parted with the ef-
fort Of his quick and tortured
breathing.
''Old boy" she went on, and she
knew from the look in his eyes that
he could hear every word she said,
"old boy, we did get married, after
all, didn't we? And I'm glad OF it. ;"
Z She put her arms around him. He
closed his eyes over the look Of hap
piness that was in them.
The minutes licked by. outside
the windows that faced the west the
sun was setting in a glory of gold
and scarlet. It's banners trailed
along the horizon like the banners Of
a great army.
The words Of Henleys poem writ.
ten in a hospital came to Mary Rose
as she stood there holding the dying
man who loved her.
SO be my passing!
My task accomplished and the long
day done,
NY wages taken, and in my heart
Some late lark singing!
Let me be gathered to the quiet
west,
The SHUTDOWN splendid and serene.
Death"
Outside the windows the sunset
was growing more splendid and Sc
rene as. it faded. Above it a sickle
moon had come out in the pale sky.
And. glancing down at the man on
the pillows, Mary Rose saw Sudden
ly that he had stopped breathing.
The grating noise in his breast was
stilled.
He had been gathered to the
quiet west as the sunset died.
And from far away across the
roofs of the town the first Of the
Christmas Eve church bells pealed
out into the evening air. They
seemed to toll in Mary Roses heart
like a dirge.
She laid her hand, with its we'd
ding ring shining on it, against the
face of the man on the bed-the man
who had loved her all his life.
so long, old kidr' she said, and
she was sure that somewhere, he
heard her say it to him.
The week that followed was slow
horror to Mary Rose.
She went to the funeral-and sat
through it dry-eyed, wondering why
people made so much fuss over the
dead body, when the soul that they
had loved was gone and far beyond
their ken.
But afterward. when she and her
mother came back to the little brown
house, she broke down completely
She cried and cried and could not
stop.
You see, you cared for Tom a lot
more than you knew you did, Mrs.
Middleton told her. She was sorry
for Mary Rose, but she was the hon
est sort of woman who couldn't help
speaking her mind when she was
moved.
"I'n-not crying-b-because I
didn't know how much loved him."
Mary Rose sobbed on. 'I'm-crying
b-b-because l didn't love him as
much as he wanted me tor
Mrs. Middleton shook her head
You are talking wild" she said.
You are tired out. You come up.
stairs and get right straight into
your bed-and I'll give you some
hot milk to make you sleep! Now,
come on'
She half-dragged Mary Rose IN