New Britain herald., 1928-11-09

Il told you ! took her home that
first day-that 10. ! drove home with
her In her car" he answered. And
when ! saw where she lived-and
found out that she knows a lot OF
people that l know-why. natural
ly-"
you told her your right name!"
Emmy finished his halting sentence
for him. i See. And now you're
afraid that I'll tell her that knew
you as Jim Spaulding and that you
met me Just as you met her. You're
afraid she'll get the impression that
you're the kind of man who goes
around flirting with girls in public
places"
Her voice was so soft and her eyes
so calm and candid that young Mr..
Baldwin did not see how angry she
was. He thought that she under
stood him and his way OF looking
at the whole affair.
That's it. You've got the idea"
he said. Il can see that I've wran-
gled things UP pretty we'll" He
stopped and turned his head to
watch Emmy as she left him and
walked out OF the drug store between
the counters heaped high with pow
der and soap and magazines ana
chest protectors.
She opened the door and the rain
took her. II seemed to close around
her like quiet walls and she was
thankful for 1t. 1t sang on the pud-
dies as she started home. She walk
ed the four miles to Flower street.
and all the way there something her
mother once had said to her kept
coming back to her to beat against
her brain:
Don't ever make yourself even a
little cheap and common. Emmy.
Remember that when men are
babies they start crying for the
moon, and they keep on wanting 1t
all their lives. The moon-out OF
reach"
1t had not meant much to Emmy
when she said 1t to her. But now
! she understood exactly what she had
meant. If she had been the moon
out OF reach" she never would have
had her feelings trampled upon the
way Jim Baldwin had just trampled
upon them. She never would have
spoken to him In the first place. II
she had not made herself cheap and
common by riding home with him
| that November day. this would never
have happened to her.
HE got a wrong impression of
me first at the rink" thought En-
my. flying along through the winter
rain like lost redbird In her scarlet
oilskin "slicker." And then when l
jumped into his car as II 1t were
nothing to me to ride with strangers,
and he brought me to Flower street
and saw the awful place where
lived. he just made up his mind that
he didn't ant to have a real friend
ship with me-" she went on figuring
it all out. He decided l was the
kind of girl who wouldn't expect to
know his right name-the kind
who'd 60 to meet him in public
places"
She remembered how he had gone
to the rink calmly expecting her to
come there to carry on their flirta-
ton. and he had met Mariana tn
stead.
Il ought to go straight to MARI
anna and tell her the kind of cad
he Isl" Emmy said hotly to herself.
But, after all. what was the use
OF stirring up trouble? And
anyway. Mariana was certainly
more than able to look after herself,
especially where men were concern
ed. Better to be silent and lock her
humiliation in her own heart
| Flower street was black with rain
and darkness that night. The down.
pour of days seemed to have washed
all kinds of stale and woolly odours
out of the mud and the dead leaves
in the cutters.
In spite of herself Emmy found
herself seeing the place as it mus,
have looked a month before to the
critical and snobbish eyes of jim
Baldwin on the night when he haG
brought her home.
We'll, In another month I'll b.
out OF 1t anyway" she told herself
iii l have any luck at all in landinl
job"
Through the gloom and the raj,
she could make out a faint glimmel
of white ahead of her. As she cam,