New Britain herald., 1926-07-30

when she tasted her coffee, sl
 shuddered as if it were bitter med
 cine.
 "Ugh!" she said, and then a at once she began to laugh.
 Well, what did your friend Tub
 by, have to say when I went upstair
 last night? I took the wind out 0 1 his sails, all right. all right. al right! Didn't F" she chortled.
 The telephone rang again.
 Its Fatty on the line, again,
 Mons reported, when she had an
 swered it. You may as well tall
 to him, Merry, or he'll ring thu house down."
 Merry made a little face anc
 got Up.
 Hello" she said, picking up tht receiver, what do you want ?"
 You" Bills voice came to her Not the matter-of voice she had come to expect from him. But the wooing, persuasive. smooth voice he had used in talking tc her when he first knew her.
 T want you to hop in the taxi cab I'm going to send out there for you," that silky smooth voice went on. T want you to come downtown for me. I'll be waiting for you at the corner of Fir street and Eighth"
 What do you want with me ?" Merry asked
 But Bill refused to tell her, She would know when she got there, he said.
 , All right" Merry answered in differently. I'll try most any thing once"
 She ran upstairs to get dressed.
 She did not try to make herself as she usually did. The desire to please was gone from her. She didn't care how she looked for Bill Erskine. Not even to the extent of reddening her mouth, or bathing her tear-swollen eyes with boric acid solution.
 In her old tan coat and her old felt hat she ran down the stairs when the taxi honked out in the rainy autumnal, dimness of Chester street. .
 Mons and Lille were still at breakfast. She could hear their gossipy voices through he closed door of the dining room.
 "Goodby," she called. "Goodbt, Mons" and Mons came swiftly nto the hail.
 Why. Where are you going" he cried, looking out into the street where the taxicab stood and shaking. You -oing to meet Bill somewhere ?"
 The girl nodded and gave her a Lutiful kiss on the cheek.
 Next tune you see me, l may | e q married woman,' she said as he started down the front steps. | She gave a little bitter laugh as he said it.
 What do you mean?" she asked | everely. T hope you're not think ng of doing anything foolish! Re member how you felt about Bill | lrskine last night! You couldn't ear to have him in the house."
 Merry looked down at the wet GOT of the porch. T had the jim k ans last night" she said. T idn't know what I was saying or oing. T."
 Just the same" Mons inter lpted anxiously. Just the same, Iary Ann Locke, want you to ,lemnly promise me you won't do nything rash this morning"
 Merry looked up at her then, and le sea-green eyes were full of locking laughter. Laughter that had no merriment in if. You don't call getting married a ,sh act, do you?" she asked ghtly, and before her mother ould stop her she was gone. The allow cab started away and the ray curtains of the rain hid it on Mom's sight. As it jolted along through the lddles Merry began to count up l the reasons why she ought not
 marry Bill Erskine. First-she didn't love him, Not e way a woman should when she yes herself to man.
 Second-he was twenty years der than she was, at the very ast. Third-he didn't want to marry l IT in the whole-souled way that I man should want to marry his oman. He loved to make love to r, and that was all. \ He never wants to know what f Il thinking about. We never have good talk about anything" she z Id herself truthfully. | She knew exactly what it was $ at Bill loved in her. He was in q 7e with her beauty, and with the q Till that her beauty gave him. , was in love with her youth, her [ and the ''confe hither' k 'k in her eyes. a If I had a brain," she said to f rself, Bill never would know it. f, girls just 8 toy-just an anu e. h