The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-11-10

IlfScS time saw yOu--l MduICu
70 see you again and ALI tho
time / knew j shouldn't. Do
you remember that night at your
house?"
M "I,ll. never forget 1t as long
rs i've" he declared.
II never dreamed until then,
when you kissed mewhen I
kissed Ayou-that ] could be so
taken out of my usual self. II
1t could be like that all the
time. I would know for certain
that it was love"
1T must be love-" he insisted,
with as much bewilderment in
his voice as there was in hers.
IF it's not love what is it?"
She was silent for long time.
II don't know. I've had brushes
on men-all girls haVe-but it
was never anything like this. They
never appealed to me. liked
them but they never spread an
overpowerfng weakness through
me. If l allowed myself to drift
with you--I would be almost in
q swoon in your arms"
Its got to be love-" he told
her. TREMENDOUSLY. II know it.
can't be true-it's too wonderful
for me to believe-but a girl like
you couldn't feel that way uIl-
less
Her eyes avoided him.
"If it's not true love" she said,
''it's cheap imitation and don't
want anything like that.
He laughed nervously. "A funny
fhing--it sort of makes me afraid.
It's something gigantic"
20 Yes, it is that way. It's all
new to me-this feeling and
somehow / feel ] ought to fight
against II. Why do you make me
90 helpless"
II don't know" he admitted.
maybe it's because I've loved you
20 much and wanted you so hard
that Il finally broke through and
got to you--hke radio waves
pounding through rain storms and
erioW. =, Maybe love is something
like that.
sse"I think If it really was love,
wouldn't be in any doubt about
3 IT. she objected! Love isn't a
thing of the body-a physical SEN
sation--it's a background of all
. feeling. You affect me so pOtently
!. that am not myself, yet can't
picture myself married to you and
sharing all your life. I've had the
vague ideal of man in mind all
my life-and you're nothing at all
like / thought he would be. Tell
me about yourself, Eddie.
You might not like the story"
II want to hear it," she urged
him.
- Hesitation halted his speech.
The swift. dangerous thought ran
through his mind that if he told
her the truth she might be fright
e1ed away. His background had
been so utterly different from her
and cluttered up with all manner
Of debris that would be repeIlant
to a girl so acutely sensitive, so
lfigh-br and fine.
Suppose she knew he had been
Associated with the Big Guy and
the criminal gang in New York
that he had just fallen short Of be-
ing criminal himself. Those
things, possibly, she might forgive
but there were worse details.
How would it affect her IL she
: knew his arms had embraced a
girl like Bernice Veressi-that the
KANE lips that had kissed her so
warmly had been pressed with
equal firmness against the carmine
mouth of the black-eyed girl in
New York whose career was al
most that Of courtesan? There
had been cosmic Sdifference-but
could she understand it? The
Eddie Regain of New York had
been a child of the streets. An
unfettered and untutored youth
who had absorbed his standards
Of conduct from the underworld
people around him. True, he had
thrown off his environment and
had struggled out of it-but did
not some indelible stain attach it.
self to him?
To tell her the truth might be to
lose her. 1t would be so easy to lie
and cover up the facts-there was
not chance on earth that she
would ever find him out. The one
true and uncontaminated fact in
his life was that he loved-nay
even worshipped her-as though
she had been q saint. That was
the eternal indestructible truth
and before 1t all else faded into
insignificance.
Very slowly he made his de.
cision. He told her the truth
about his past.
Silently without looking at him
she listened to the whole danger.
Aaq story. When he had finished,
he stopped talking and waited; APP
parently she had nothing to say to
him.
I've put all my cards on the
table" he said finally. What's
the answer?'
y Eddie's bewiidered surprise