Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-11-09
LET'S LIVE! n a.: Il! 2 ?: LAM! l: !.
G 1928. CENTRAL 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 perched
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.
paralyzed Byrd. She must warn
him.
On some pretcxt. she must get
him out or there.
I'm going 20 take your advice,
! Chct." She brought out his name
hesitatingly. is it terrible for a
married woman to call a young man
whom she has just met by his first
name?"
Sounds wonderful to me. Byrd
he laughed.
well, I've changed my mind. and
Ill take a highball. Will you get
IL LOT iuG DNTu SINiitu at Hlins
archly, but all the time her thoughts
were behind those curtains.
Yes, indeed. she'd be a good sport.
even az the risk Of bringing Larry's
anger down upon her head. but not
to please Larry, vas she being one.
"A good sport she unused to
herself.
The voices behind the ~hangings
l Lrl wvII-.I.- .w uHa-, IrIr.fw
nervous words tangled against her
ears.
THAT little wife Of yours. o~il-can.
may o 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 bIankly, then her
face assumed a slightly hooking ex-
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
a very attractive creature. one of
those slim, Cleopatra-like figures, in
tensely alive and mobile. with smol-
dering eyes that v proof of the
| fire which was banked underneath
the embers. Her nos spread
nostrils over a red mouth, And they
| called her "Wild cat"
1t suited her. Vivacious, stormy,
listless. scornful. a hundred moods to
tantalize her victims. Byrd found
: herself staring at her openly.
She was so beautiful and so ter
rible..
Bid suddenly realized that she
was standing there, white. stricken,
tongue-tied, unable TO tell them why
she had entered this way. A jealous
wife they were thinking. Her head
was whirling. and she was petrified
at the tcmerity. mt 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. II really wasn't
watching you. but / heard your
voices, and suddenly realized how
dangerous il was for you to sit on
this ledge with the window Open"
Suddenly midas loud. strident
laughte broke shocklngIy 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. unrestrained-
ly. h~elplessly. cruelty.
Larry" said Byrd, desperately.
"You know that isn't true, You
know that | was only thinking that
an accident might happen to both
Of you. I wasn't eavesdropping-"
Byrd was aim ost in tears.
Larry looked ut her cody Why in
thunder did she have to faake such
n damn fool or herself In front Of
India? In front Of everybody? Byrd
tried to clutch Larry's arm. but he
shook her off. N.
She felt completely alone. a
binding flash struck across the sky
from one end Of the horizon TO the
other. Like a flashlight from an
enormous camera. the world seemed
70 have gone M in smoke. Il had
bean wiped out in a single blaze.
Then. after n century had passed.
she scemd to float un TO the light
from the darkness below. She saw