Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-12-28

Pat but it was some effort living
with her.
She and Larry were alone in an
adorable little house.
"All set," she said e1ultantly.
for life!'
She Just knew that when Larry
vas away from Jack Duncan's bad
Influence in a business If his own,
he would settle down. without
Jacks casting a continual get-rich-
quick glsmor over every investment
they handled, Larry would soon come
q know that his business, like any
other. had TO be built up slowly, care
fully ard honestly.
With that sudden thrilling warmth
that always surged through her blood
when she thought of Larry, she
thought eagerly Of his homecoming.
She wished he'd surprise her. And
something told her that he vas COM
ing ocner than she expected!
As Byrd walked s.ros the PARK
ing space toward her car, her at
t%ention was drawn 10 two figures. a
man and a woman, vino had some
thing familiar looking about them.
Disturbed by their resemblance 90
Larry and India, she sat in the car
trying 10 get n glimpse Of their
faces. How absurd, thought Byrd!
Often you mistake people for people
you know. She had often run down
lind the person was q total stranger.
She started her car resolutely try
ing 10 dispel the suspicion.
Just then a taxi swocped down
in front of her. the full glare of
the lamps stripping away the
shadows from their faces and reveal
Cd Larry ard India!
They stood a minute in the fatal
light, laughing and talking while the
driver took Lsrry's two bags and
opened the dor for them.
"A strange numbness ran through
Byrd's body.
A network OF thoughts that had
really nothing TO do with the situa-
ton. seemed to obsess her mind for
in eases of great shock the mind oft
en- registers nothing but the unim-
portant details.
She remembered years afterward
the filmy quality Of India's SHIN
mering evening dress under her par
ty coat that hung around her loosely,
the straight lacnuercd sheen Of her
black hair cut close to her shapely
head. Larry's business suit and light
overcoat. the flash OF his white
teeth in the last smile az he got
into the cab and the dark shadJw
after their departure.
The air seemed TO culver all about
her with sudden heat as If the moon
had suddenly dropped very near TO
bathc the world in its yellow fires.
The station sank back into an
abyss leaving q blackness in which
she saw nothing but two faces that
stood out like great white blossoms.
Suddenly she felt very chilly. IL
was rs if death and life were ore
and she hardly cared which. She
gr5ped for the pedals with her little
feet and for the little billiard ball
that formed the knob of the lever.
She started the car but she seemed
to he driving into n strange. new
world which was all topsy-turvy.
Things swung past her on the way
home. houses that tilted crafty and
dark figures that doomed until they
drowned the houses.
She was conscious Of letting her
self into the house through the front
door. She always did this because
she disliked going into a darkened
house through the back door.
She wondered il she had better call
Mandy and tell her that she might
n we'll pack up her things and 20.
How silly that would be, to rouse
her in the middle OF the night. she
thought.
She walked about as IL in a dream.
and turned on all the lights. She
walked mechanically from room to
room. looking at every piece Of fur
niture as " under this bright illum-
nation she vas seeing IL for the
first time. But she had no emotion
over them. Just as curiously thet
all these things so lately purchased.
should all have 70 20 back again.
Or 20 somewhere else. She was too
tired 10 care.
Something in her had crashed. and
'ie i-ncw that the end ~ the world
was here.
But she was too tired TO care.
She would v csrs about any
thing Let happen what voald'