Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-11-09
LET'S LIVE.!n ~! 81! 2 ?. ! l. !.
Q 1878. cEsrRAL PRESS ASSN INC

of gauze through the atmosphere.
From behind the heavy. brocaded
hangings at the window came the
low hum Of voices. now cajoling. now
teasing, now debating.
India and Larry were pcrched
knees TO chins on the windowsill.
which was wide enough to make
quite comfortable but very danger
Gus seats.
Somehow the idea Of Larry sitting
there. where one little, unconscious
movement might send him headlong,
paraiyzed Byrd. She must warn
him.
On some pretext. she must get
him cut of there.
TIN going % take your advice.
Chef She brought out his name
hesitatingly. rs ii terrible for q
married woman to call a young man
whom she has just met By his first
Manner
Sounds wonderful to nc. Byrd
he laughed.
well. I've changed my mind, and
III take n highball. Will you gct
- lOE IAt hAEA ElAAAGl Of HttAiN
orchly. but all the time her thoughts
were behind those curtains.
Yes, indeed, she'd be a good sport.
even at the risk OF bringing Larry's
anger down upon her head. but not
to please Larry, was she being one.
"A good sport" she unused TO
herself.
The voices behind the hangings
had suddenly stopped. Then midas
nervous words tangled against her
ears.
THAT little wife Of yours, o%il-can.
may not smoke or vamp or even
| chew tobacco, but you're wrong
about her not drinking. | just heard
her ask for a highball.'
Suddenly, without warning, Byrd
| slipped inside the curtains. India
looked up at her blankly. then her
face assumed a slightly mocking eA-
preston. She continued that low,
rather remarkable laughter that had
the strange, musical quality of an
oboe in il, with beautiful. minor
nuances running up and down like
the chromatic scales.
Byrd saw her for the first time as
n very attractive creature, one Of
those slim, Cleopatra-like figures. in
t~ensely alive and mobile, with smol-
dering eyes that gav proof or the
fire which was banked underneath
the embers. Her nose spread eager
n~ostrils cver a red mouth. And they
called her "Wild cat"
II suited her. Nivacious, stormy,
listless. scornful. n hundred moods 70
tantalize her victims. Byrd found
herself staring at her openly
She was so beautiful and so ter
rible.
Byrd suddenly realized that she
was standing there. white, stricken,
tonEue-tied. unable 10 tell them why
she had entered this way. A 6alous
wife they were thinking. Her head
was whirling. and she was petrified
ut the temerity, M her nerve in
rushing in upon them.
There was contempt and pity in
India's eyes.
"Oh Larry" Byrd suddenly
found her voice. She seized his
hands in hers. az really wasn't
watching YOU but I heard your
voices, and suddenly realized how
dangerous il was for you to sit on
this ledge with the window open"
Suddenly India's loud. strident
laughter broke shockinEly over their
heads. People turned to look. Peo-
PIE came to see what was the matter
"Why, she's afraid / might push
her husband out of the window"
India laughed again, unr~estrained-
~. helplessly, cruelty.
Larry" said Byrd. desperately
"You know that isR't true! You
know that | was only thinking that
an accident might happen to both
Of you. I wasn't eavesdropping-
Byrd was almost in tears.
Larry looked no her cody. Why II
thunder did she have 70 make such
y damn fool Of herself in front 81
India? In front of everybody? BYRD
tried TO clutch Larry's arm, but h
shook her off.
She felt completely alone. a
binding flash struck across the sky
from one end Of the horizon TO the
other. Like n flashlight from AZ
enormous camera. the world Seemed
70 have zone up in smoke. IL hac
bean wiped out in a single blaze.
Then. after a century had passed
che seemd 70 float IN n the light
y from the darkness below. She saw