The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-11-05

life before you." he said. halt.
ingly.
TO give voice to his love was
harsh straining with him. Such
words did not come easily to his
lips and there was an innate
bashfulness that choked IN his
throat. To tell her he loved her
was like hurting a missile at her
head.
soh-teIl me the TRUTH she
said, with franlsnessN that be-
wildered him. II have sense
enough to know that 1t was I'M.
possible for you to have kept
away from girls. You have that
something that draws them. In
New York you must have known
lots of them and i wonder what
they were like"
Sure, I knew lot OF girls
but they didn't mean thing
He spoke with conviction. II
didn't know what 1t was all about
until that day saw you riding
past me in the road when was
sitting under q tree. 1t hit me
with q Wallop all Of sudden.
Since then I've changed, =
But that isn't telling me about
the other girls"
They never meant thing to
me- he insisted. The way I
felt toward them was just
mistake. It was just playing
you never told j girl before
you loved her?'
II never did,
His mind turned back to the
passionate, dark-eyed Bernice
Veressi. and he realized as never
before that her sinister attraction
for him had appeal only to some
unguarded and Wanton phase OF
his nature-that his body might
have been drawn to her but that
she had never commanded any
tenderness nor respect nor humil-
ity from him. And as for the
other girls, II was almost i'm.
possible to cOnjure up their faces
or names or forms. When he had
kissed Marian Thorndike there had
been emanations from her that
had vibrated to the very core of
his being. He had been exalted
and carried up to the highest ito
think OF anything else under the
name OF love was an impossibility.
am sorry you care for me.
she told him, softly.
II was almost challenge and his
spirit rose stubbornIy to meet IL.
It don't make any difference
how you feel about it, he said.
with quiet firmness. IF / never
saw You again after tonight
would still be ahead Of the game.
With me, now have something
to look up to. It's like looking up.
at q star. / don't know where on
earth got the nerve to talk this
way and tell you these things: but
sooner or later they would have
come out. II ! have to, can wait
years and years. "
There was no elouuence in his
speech: the words came with ner.
vous jerks as he was aware that
he was lacking in the power of
any spoken romance that would
warm her heart. Merely, In his
stumbling fashion he was trying
TO set before her the one fact that
obsessed him.
Nor was he disappointed that
she did not love him. An easy
victory had been no part OF his
expectations. Her lips, warm and
quivering upon his, had not seemed
like the lips of other girls and he
was not disappointed into think
ing that a kiss, however ecstatic,
bridged the gulf between them;
but his mind held resolutely to
tho conviction that behind her
ethereal beauty and poised culture
she was fundamentally human and
that, in time, he might become
worthy in her eyes. This, he re.
allied, was sheer stubbornness of
purpose on his part, but without
IT, all life would be a barren
vacuum.
You seem so terribly sincere
that you make me ashamed of
myself" she told him. "Of course
the whole thing is an irnpossibiIity
and always will be-that's why /
feel so badly"
1T might be impossible If what
I felt wasn't permanent" he re-
sponded, But 1t is--the way feel
about you is indestructible and l
don't believe would have a feel
ing like that il 1t meant nothing"
His thoughts were carrying them
into region so purely speculative
that Marian felt a necessity of re-
turning to the purely practical.
You've got to get this out of
your head or it will do you HARM"
she said. You'll be better off il
You forget all about it."
1T won't do me any harm and
l can't forget about it," he
told her, firmly. IF you don't
want to hear any more about it
I'll keep still"
II think that might be bet.
ter she said, slowly. "Still
we could be friends, perhaps"
And how" he declared, with
q flashing return of his New
York vernacular.
But not" she added, If it
Is going to put both of us under
a strain. I'll always feel guilty
when look at you and I'll
know that you are carrying
around sort OF love.deIusion
In your mind. I'm afraid, Eddie
Regain, that we've got ourselves
into hot water"
Il like It," he said. "And
look-tell me honestly--it doesn't
make you exactly miserable, does
It. to know that there's guy
IKE me worshiping your"
For the first time she spoke
to him sharply.
I'm through talking about IT,"
she declared. II want you to
get the idAa Ant ~ Oo,,y haaA