The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-05-13
Two Loves and
aHate
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By H. LOUIS RAYBoLD


/ loves recently acquired, and hate
Of long standing. The objects Of his
affections were-well, it's hard to de-
eide which one should be mentioned
first as the more important of the two.
Presumably, however. it was Marylyn
Holmes, his sisters new friend. home
from school And yet it may have
been the long, underslung maroon
roadster which he had recently pur-
chased. Certainly he was quite wild
over both Of them.
Jerry had introduced them to one
another on the very day of Maryiyn's
arrival and after that he was to be
seen frequently at the wheel with
pretty slender figure snuggled beside
him as they swung through the town
to the state turnpike where traffic POI
licemen were rare.
Lon Dennison halted to watch them
one morning as they slid by. carefree
and absorbed in one another.
Darn snoblp he muttered. Just
because he's got his fathers money.
Can cart his latest flame around in a
thing that cost fortune while Cal
and can't raise the price of three
room fat"
Lon was Jerry's hate Of long stand
ing. And Lon knew it. The two boys
had fought one another In grammar
school and would have kept on fight
ing except that their ways had part
ed when Lon went on to the local high
school and Jerry went to prep. And
Lon hated Jerry accordingly, nursing
mean grudge and an intention to get
even sooner or later. Just one of those
senseless antagonisms which develop
from trifies but are seldom cured as
the years go by.
The last time that Jerry had so
much as noticed Ions existence had
been when he threw him casually
curt nod as he drove his roadster out
of the garage where Lon was one of
the two poorly paid mechanics There
had been a bit of welding to be done,
but John, the other fellow, had handled
it. Lon had sayageIy told himself
that he would have botched the job
and be hanged to his position-which
he would have counted well lost for
revenge.
He was thinking today as he gazed
after them that he would gloat I'M
mercifuly over any misfortune which
should befall Jerry. Loss of money,
family disgrace, being Tilted by the
superb Miss Holmes anything
Moodily he plodded on his way to
the garage to don his greasy overalls
and spend his hours replacing burned
hearings, grinding worn valves, doctor
ing sick engines generally.
1t was early in the morning and
neither the manager nor the foreman
had come in when the telephone rang.
Lon waited to see if John would an
swer it. Then, as he saw that John
paid no attention, he slowly wiped
his hands and sauntered over to the
office
"All right" he was saying carelessly
moment later. "rll find it. BY the
Putney farm Sure !" Then he turned
to John. "TeIl the boss when he comes
I've run the wrecker up on the pike
way. Smashup or something"
He backed rapidly out of the garage
and swung west. Wrecks were a part
Of the days work, so common an oc-
currence that he had grown callous to
them. They were sometimes bad, some
times not, but invariably they meant a
garage job.
Yet this morning as he came sud
denly around the curve above the Put
ney farm and saw ahead of him an
overturned maroon roadster. Ions
heart ieaped to his mouth. Jerry
Crowder's car And beside it he saw
kneeling a slender figure with clasped
hands.
Just moment, Jerry. Oh, just
moment now. Here he comes and will
get you out. Hold on minute. just
minute longerl''
Lon found that Jerry was pinned
above the. knees beneath the frame
of the car but that otherwise he
seemed uninjured. Gamely he was try
ing to calm Marylyn while waiting to
be released.
By means of the derrick. Lon raised
the chassis, then stopped over Jerry.
"Can you stand up?" he asked.
Just about. WINGED the other. Legs
are pretty numb" But he managed it,
standing with one hand on Ions
shoulder and with Marylyn's arm
about him.
Something snapped under the car.
and the front dropped" said Jerry
''Then the steering gear went flooey
and we sideswiped the state fence at
something under forty per. It's won
der that we weren't both killed" He
gazed at Marylyn with his heart in his
eyes.
But Lon hardly noticed A different
sort of emotion was struggling within
him. He knew, as mechanic, that
what must have happened was that
the job of welding had not held proper
ly. Suppose he had had that job and
had Intentionally botched it? Suppose
| that one or both of Them had haan