New Britain herald., 1927-06-22
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7m mC0U\C 0uOOU be so. could not ask you to share it with me. for I must not keel from you that fact that although am very fond of you. yet Phillip will always come first"
 But, dearest Anne. what If yor find your son perfectly well? Dc you not know that some time. soon- CT or later he will leave you for some young girl? Anne. you have been alone all your life. and yet you are the one woman have ever met who enjoys-yes, needs-com- ranionship most.
 Darling, don't send me away from you again. I know I can make you happy"
 ! Major Aukland had been holding her in his arms as he would a child. i Her head was on his breast. Now he laid her back gently and pulled | the covers up under her chin. 1 Anne found his care and sympa- thy very comfortable. With a sigh almost of content she cuddled down into her pillows.
 Major Aukland sat down beside her bed and took the one hand which was lying inertly outside the coverlet in his.
 Then. dear. I can begin to make arrangement to leave on the Mau- retania the last of next week. With me to take care of you on the trip across. I know you will be well enough to go. I'll see the doctor now"
 He started toward the door.
 Wait, Jchn," Anne's voice, though weak. was decisive. The man came back to the bed and stood looking down upon her.
 T hope I will be we'll enough to start across the last of next week. but John, dear John. please do not press me for my answer until have seen Phillip"
 You do not care for me. Anne?"
 Yes, dear, I do. but neither you nor I would be happy if Phil did not approve"
 He has no right to object" broke in the major. hotly. For 20 years you have given up your life for him. Now you owe something to yourself"
 T am not quite sure. John, just what you mean by you owe some thing to yourself Do you mean that I must try and be happy? You should know that I could not be even content if I were estranged in any way from Phil. No. I do not mean that exactly. for I may not approve of his opinions or his ac- tions in the future any more than l have done in the past. but I prob ably will not let him know 1t.
 Tn the short time I was married to his father I made the mistake of letting him see that I disapproyed. 1 have come to the conclusion that even now, after the war. we women must still get from the men we love the things we want by our person. ality-which am hearing great many people call our sex appeal or by our diplomacy-never by the reason and righteousness of our desires.
 John, this little visit we have had this morning has been rather tragic. for it has shown me. and it must have shown you also. that we are old.
 When one reasons over the right or wrong of love. one is too old to love singly-or if young. it shows one is not interested.
 If We had been young, you would have picked me up and car ried me away by sheer force of your passion instead of talking 1t over with me as you have done. Get me the tickets for the trip. dear John, but let it be on some boat which sails day or two after the Mauretania. We will meet in Paris"
 And I shall lose out. dear Anne. with the son. as I did years ago when we were young-with the father. However. I'll do as you wish. dear. and if cannot have you for my wife, I will never put any other woman in the place have always wanted you to fill"
 John Aukland bent over Anne and lightly kissed her hair and left the room. AS Anne turned away that the nurse might not see her face, she thought. "Oh, John. ] wish you had kissed my lips and taken me in spite of any objections I might have made"
 CHAPTER XII
 A Thrilled Moment
 That evening Mrs. Tracy sent a telegram to Natlee. Am leaving the last of next week for Germany to see if can find Phillip. Will you come over before I leaveo He will want to know all about you.
 Anne Tracy"
 The next day she received the rather cryptic answer: T am not so sure that you are right about Phils interest in me and my affairs, but I will come to see you, my dear Mrs. Tracy, on next Sunday.
 'Natlee."
 Phil's mother had not seen Natlee for any length of time since he had gone to the training camp. and she found that the Natlee Jones she had known and remembered since her childhood was very different from the young woman who was usherAd into the sitting room of her suite at the hospital.
 In the first place. she rather dis approved of the short skirt Natlee was wearing, especially ss the girl