The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-10-07
Down Madden
Lane
tcopyright.3
By JANE OSBORN


Her sister Julie, sitting beside her
before the spacious fireplace pouted
by way of answer
DO have to goY' she asked at
length
Certainly" was the elder sisters
decision. Jim Mapes will be there,
and everyone will say you didn't come
because you didn't have anyone to
come with. If Bert weren't going to
work all the evening. I'd get him to
go with you"
"As il I'd go with brother-in-law,"
scorned julie "Tll go by myself-in
Bert's runabout, if you don't mind I'll
get there early SO no one will espe-
cially notice that / have come alone,
and there are always loads of the men
who come stag and before the dancing
has begun I'll have my dances all
promised won't give one to
jim"
few hours later Julie, charming
little figure in pink chiffon, paused to
bid her sister good night.
you'll dodge lot of traffic If you
go right down Madden Lane" Dora
told her.
So Julie started out, and as she sat
there with her wee golden slippered
feet and cleaning white hands regu-
lating the speed and direction Of her
brother-in-law's car she wondered to
herself just why she had come. She
felt supremacy miserable. Jim and she
had been engaged for several weeks.
Then, when some rather trivial ques-
ton had come up about the announce
ment of the engagement, Julie had
taken offense and. without quite know
ing how it had happened, she told
Jim that she felt she could not marry
him.
Down Madden Lane sped Julie and
her car. cautiously keeping to the mid
die Of the road to avoid the soft sand
at the edges which, since a recent
rain, was heavily water-soaked. For
short stretch the road was wide
enough for only a single car, but it
was unfrequented, and Julie had little
thought of meeting craft coming in
the opposite direction. Suddenly at a
curve in the lane Julie heard what she
took to be sounds of approaching traf-
fic, and without waiting for further
developments she swerved to the
right AS she did so she felt the
wheels softly skid in the sand for a
few inches. Then she stopped and
waited. What she had heard had been
only a remote railroad whistle. Julie
tried to go forward into the firm part
of the road, and then she tried to
make it by backing, but whatever she
did she seemed to become hopelessly
involved in that soft, rain-soaked
sand Even if she had some burlap,
which she hadn't, how could she get
out and remedy matters dressed as
she was?
1t was while she was still making
such plans that she heard sounds of
an approaching car coming from the
same direction that she had come. and
then she saw the car which stopped
at sight of her plight.
I'm stuck in the sand" she said,
hailing the stranger, then, when she
saw the lone masculine figure, she won
dered whether she ought to ask him
to give her lift to the nearest tele-
phone. The stranger proved to be
Jim, who seemed at first quite elated
at her predicament. Jim said he would
turn about and go to the farmhouse
to tell them they were leaving car
on the road and then they could go
on to the dance together. But Julie
stoutly refused to go with him. So
Jim went. little forward to make his
turn, stopped short, made few false
starts and declared that he, too. had
stuck in the sand.
What happened seemed rather abb
surd as Julie reviewed it later. Jim
carried Julie back in his strong arms
to the farm There she sat in the
dimly lighted, stuffy farmhouse par
Tor Z while Jim talked to the farmer,
who subsequently went forth saying
that he would try to drag the cars out
of the sand with the tractor After
three-quarters of an hour in which Jim
and Julie sat together quite shyly, the
farmer returned and announced his In
ability to bulge either of the cars.
Then Jim went to another room to
telephone for help and shortly came
back with the information that the
telephone seemed to be out Of order.
Julie suggested that the farmer might
drive them to the dance and the farm
er informed them that the tractor was
the only motor conveyance he pos
sessed. His son would be back with
car along toward midnight he said.
So Jim and Julie sat in the little
parior alone, and before midnight
came they had made up so satisfactor-
lily that Julie forgot how the spat had
begun Then Jim led the way, not to
the supposed car Of the farmers son,
but back to his own roadster With a
rope he had brought from the farmer
I he tied jules car to his own and side
by side, they drove home to jules
sisters In Jin's car
/ my car was not stalled. really" he