The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-02-19
Published by Special Arrangement With
The Chicago Daily Tribune
In Two Parts-PART TWO
THE STORY SO FAR

AAAsY III the tuS when the laLLeE WAS out
a small unimprOved frontier village. He
was Of a disconnected, frOntier-lOving
disposition. He was an ardent and
indulgent lover, while she was a dreamer
Of romantic dreams. Shortly after their
arrival in their new home, they are
blessed with a daughter who is named by
her mother, Geraldine. Geraldine's child
hood is not overly eventful. She came to
wOmanhOOd, She had taken drawing les
sons from the time she was ten from an
Italian by the name of ROssi. When she
reaches the age Of seventeen, she longs for
the opportunity to go to Paris and take
up art. The doctor frOwned on this and
as the result Of forced compromise, they
went to Chicago wheer the fair was then
in prOgress. Gerry was on fire with her
artistic ambitions, and upon her return
home she got out her water cOlOrs anR
completed her first masterpiece, Roses
in a blue vase" At 20 she meets Joe
Burch, recently returned from the from
tier, glad to get back to the prairie cOun-
try. He finds Gerry a dissatisfied lit
tie creature, harbOring dreams of Paris,
France, longing for the symmetry Of fin
ished things.
And, Now, the story
mo, no." she said. Why was it that she
had never noticed what white teeth he had?
If he only wouldn't smile as if he had won
her already! If only he wouldn't be so sure
of herr
wen have a farmhouse, Gerry, out
here. A storm roof with Il peak. y porch
facing south. A big kitchen. Right here,
where we are now, on this rise Of ground.
Can't you see your house, Gerry? Feel it
growing up out Of the earth? A cellar,
then the first floor, and the second, and
the roof, and the ~chimneys! Isn't that
better than Paris, France? Why, France
isn't yours, Gerry. II never can be. It
isn't real. But I'm real. And I'm asking
married or you were not.
She shook her head
Within her there was a conflict, sharp,
blind, terrible. between her two unde-
velOped and antagOnistic selves, between
Gerry the woman and Gerry the g%eniOuS.
She stiffened. She must fight. She was
chosen. Il hate you! / do! Let me go. l
don't want to marry anybody"
Slowly he loOsened his arms. His face
grew white; his mouth twisted in a curl
And most desperately she wanted him back.
For now, turned away from her, hers no
longer, he was not Il man, but n child,
not to be feared, but cOmfOrted, not to
run from, but to cherish. She sat stiff
and alOOf at his side while he turned the
PAGERS around and drove toward Paris. She
lOnged to call him back, to say: Il was a
fool! / love you" They did not speak. The
horses, indifferent to what had happened,
wOve the curious pattern of their gait
along the dusty road and the sun sank,
bringing the cool shadows of late after
noon. IF / should speak, now! If l should
tell him! ~ But she could not bring herself
to look at linn. Even her tears were held
back; they would not overflow from her
heart and spill out of her eyes.
Joe Burch left her at the Doctors door
William Reynolds. Office Hours Twelve to
One, Three to Five in din gold upon
rusty black. lie drove up smartly, handle
Gerry down, tipped his hat. "GOOdby, Miss
Gerry. It's been n pleasant drive"
She passed the open door of the doctors
office and had a glimpse Of her father, a
StethOScOpe to his ears. his white head
bent, listening to the heartbeats of some
stranger. She ran upstairs. How funny her
room looked! Unreal. And going to the
mirror. she stared at herself. That's me
Joe BuTch asked me to marry him. And
never will again! Never will again!"
She took off her hat and put it in its
round paper box. She folded her dress,
placed it neatly in its accustomed place.
She unpinned her hair. 1t was thick,
coarse, lustrOus, and it tumbled in a cas-
cade over her shoulders. Then she knew
what she had lost. Then she knew what
she had lost. Then Gerry cried.
Joe Burch kept away from the Reyn-
OldSeS. Weeks and weeks passed. and every
time a carriage ratified by Gerry's heart
contracted as if it were never again going
to let go, as if a hand were squeezing,
squeezing.
lie did not come. Funny. Joe Burch
hasn't been around. Gerry. Nice fellow.
They tell me he's going to buy Fillmore's
acres and build"
So Gerry went back to her laurels.
When she was twenty five no man would
have been moved to imagine her with hel
hair down. She wore it uncOmprOmisingly
back, even when Gibson was insisting up.
on the part, the soft wave and the loose
knot. Gerry was an old maid in a period
or our social history when to be an ole
maid was to be deSpiSed and scOrned OF
man. The new woman had not penetrated
to Paris, although there were intimatiOni
of her arrival in Chicago. Either you werl
you to marry me-"
Gerry had to see her contemporaries, on.
by one, enter the mysterious portal, linger
ing on the threshold, engaged, passin!
through into matrimOny. emerging again
SNUG, Self-satisfied settled down. Wives
She had to submit TO their smugly com
placent pity and to know the bitterness o
being left out because latter all, Gerry
you don't belong in the married set" Sh
had to pretend an enthusiasm she did no
feel when a%ccosted by mothers with per
ambulatOrs. Isn't he a darling. Gerry? @
Gerry, what an awful pity
After all, Gerry's debut had not beeI
hailed with enthusiasm. It had been, frs
and last, Maisie's triumph. But Gerry al
ways said, Perfectly darling!" And allow
ed herself to be pitied, because she kney
that when these women were workable
and callOused, she would be in France. TIL
dream persisted. She cherished it. huge
1t to her breast. It was her compensation
When VIII died, she was twenty-eigh
lie said to her, that last morning, every
thing I've got is yours. This house. Th
furniture. Ny books. All the Outstandin
bills. Only don't collect from the Keyon.
They haven't a red cent" He CROPPED 70
her hand; You're a good girl, Gerry.
hope you'll marry.
She did not remind him that she was
genius and that art would claim her. Sh
kissed him and cried as If her heart wouI
break.
After the funeral she thought, "Now
can go. There is nothing to hold me-"
} The doctor had always forgotten what
ever had no Importance for him. The hons
Gerry discovered, was mOrtgaged. The ful
niture was worthless. And since Will ha
never kent track Of his affairs, there wei
. no Outstanding" bills.
SO Gerry went to work at the publ
3 library. Out OF pity, remembrance. perhar
, OF Will Reynolds thirty years Of servic
an office was created for his daugbte
, This could not happen in cities larger an
l less pitiful than Paris. It is even pOssib
. that 1t could not happen at all, anywher
today. Joe Burch, the Kennedys. the Sal
Z ford brothers we're members of the librar
board. They put their heads together an
= offered Gerry the post Of art curator an
Lecturer.
? She had an office Of her own,a desk:
potted plant in a petticOat Of green tissJ
paper added a feminine touch. Prompt
= at nine. wearing brown pOngee with
: brown lace cOllar. she reported for wOr
y This was the period Of princess dresse
! tight fitting from throat to ankle. bone
about the neck and flOunced about the fee
But Gerry chung to the dear, glamOrOl
styles Of her youth. She would not mo-
with the times, because to do so was
! subtle admission that time had passed. N
& must be twenty, no more, when her drea
came true. She saw herself swaying alOr