New Britain herald., 1926-07-06

thing that had Happened to him, as he might have been about a ride on Ia rcller-coaster. There was no mark of tragedy on him-no mark of sorrow, either. The phrase he comes up smiling described him perfectly.
 Sylvia wondered if they had told him about Ba)s' death, as she stood looking down at him.
 She finally decided that he could mt know about 1t and still be as cheerful as he was.
 "Theyle going t3 let me out of this prison next week." he said, looking around him at the pale green walls of his hospital room. That's why l sent for you"
 For me?" she faltered. Why where do you expect to go when you leave here?"
 CHAPTER LXVI
 Where do I go from here?" Ranny repeated, "Is that what you mean"
 Sylvia nodded and shrugged her shoulders.
 What else could l mean?" she asked.
 Her voice was low and flat, and almost without feeling.
 She was doing her level best 10 betray no feeling of any kind. She had steeled herself for this last meeting with Ranny. Armed her self with indifference.
 She Wa. sure that he had sent for her 10 ask her if she was going ahead with her divorce, and she was going to answer his questions as tersely as possible and get away.
 Inwardly she was praying:
 "Oh. God. help me not 10 cry. Don't let me try. no matter what happens"
 didn't ant Ranny 10 have his last memory of her an unhappy one. She didn't wan him 10 know that. in giving him his freedom, she was breaking her own heart She want ed 10 do the thing as bravely as possible.
 About your divorce--' she began and stopped 10 try to force back the lump that kept rising in her throat.
 Somehow the sight Of Ranny sit ting in that wheel chair, with the sun on his close-cropped blond hair and in his eyes, was making 1t aw- fully hard for her to go on.
 For his illness had made him thin, and h looked absurdly young and boyish, sitting there with the collar Of his hathrohe turned down like the collar of the tennis shirts he used to wear years ago.
 He seemed suddenly like the old the one who had mar ried her and forsaken her time after time. but the one who had wooed her. The one who used to lie with his head in her lap on summer aft ernoons and tell her that she was the prettiest thing this side of King dor. Come. The one who used to kiss her until she was d-wy-eyed and breathless. and tell her that he was going 10 marry her and making her the happiest woman this side Of Come.
 She shut her eyes for an instant, and shut out the old memories from her inner eya at the same time.
 When she opened them again she saw Fanny as the man he Was-the man who had left her for Barbara Delano. The man who had run away from her, after he had told her he would never live with her again If she was the last woman on earth.
 "Tve been to See a lawyer about getting a divor Q, just as you want me to- she began again. And again she couldn't go on.
 Sho clasped and unclasped her hands on II foot of Ranny's bed, but beyond that she showed no emo ton. She seemed only to be slowly choosing her words.
 The dark blue dress that she wore made her eyes more deeply violet than usual. But there was no more expression in them than there is in the wide-open eyes of sleep walker.
 Her lips opened and closed, form ing mute words.
 Sylvia" Ranny exclaimed, half rising from his wheel chair, you don't want to do this thing!"
 Then he stopped and looked be- yond her at the doorway, where Lolly and Nj ther Phelps, laden with of all shapes and sizes had appeared suddenly,
 Well, for cryin in low." cried LolIy. when she saw Sylvia. What 1 Is this? fa,Aily council, or what? | Are Mother and l in the way"
 NO, indeed!' Sylvia answered, more quickly than was necessary, as she jumped down from the foot of the bed. "I was just telling Fanny what you people hnow already"
 "Oh. about the divorce, you mean" said Lolly, opening a box Of little cakes and passing them around as if she were at an afternoon tea. Yes. the Phelpses are getting to ae awfuIly modern and fashionable. Having a divorce in the family n everything. NO one can say we're not Il" 10 date" ...-.. %.
 She chatteref on in her high. Sil very soprano. And although Sylvia didn't hear a word of her prattle. she was glad of this bre; thing space.
 She would wait until Lolly and Mother Phelps got up to go, and hen she would ask them to drive her home.
 Then. just as they were leaving, she would run back to him for a second-just long enough to tell him she was --N.ng 10 free him after all.
 It would be over in an instant. Just a couple of crisp. short sen fences. and then she would never have to go through this exquisite agony Of set' lg him again, so long IS she lived. Yes, that was the way 10 do if, she made up her mind.
 If she stopped to talk it over she was sure to break down and cry. I,,r,f ;,4 ,n :, ,,,l,i1,