Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-04-09
By Lillian Gill

had felt like eating beefSteak and fried
potatoes. and had crudely insisted on
having them served at the initiation.
the maitre d'hotel would have taken
his order with a cold French disdain,
q subtle, spiritual closing of the door
against the barbarian. In some way
known only to the Gallo mind, he
would have contrived to shut OIL from
such an outsider even the violet twi-
light, the silver green descending lines
of the olive trees below the terrace,
and. farther down, the wide fading
blue.
AS it happened. neither Billy Matt
land nor Brad, his wife, were in the
mood to oppose the maitre d'hotel or
the even more hierarchic wine steward
who followed him. This one, with
the hush of the evening, bent over
monsieur in a conference of passionate
solemnity. No more than in the mat
ter of food had the American any
choice, but his necessity was tempered
for him by a pretense of free will.
Billy had a lifelong attachment to
France; that was why he had brought
his wife to the Mediterranean in Au-
gust, to avoid the winter crowd Of
Americans and English.
1t was not their honeymoon, but it
was the trip they had dreamed Of at
that time, a year ago, and, unlike most
deferred dreams, it was turning out re-
markably well. Perhaps because neither
of them expected much of life, life
was being very kind to them beside
the inland sea. Passed sorrows had
never seemed S o completely wiped out;
those to come were in allegiance, pow
erless to invade these olive grown
shores. Billy and Brad were both very
old, very d~isenchanted until they met
each other; both had been divorced
and both we're twenty-seven.
The re-enchantment which had hui
miliatingly fallen over these two caustic
spirits was wrought again. deepened,
by the purple air, the lights coming
out on the cliff high above them, the
darkening sea, and the Chateau Yquem
which the wine steward poured in a
generating silence.
Unconscious of its primeval feminini-
ty, Brad asked her husband a queS-
ton. (Her maiden name had been
Sarah Bradley, and she was always
known as Brad.) What are you
thinking off"
II was thinking of hairdressing."
why hairdressing? Why not mani
curing or chiropody?"
We'll, I can't see your feet, and the
least interesting part of your hands
is the pink stuff they put On your
nails. 1 can see your hair unusually
well, for that lantern up there on the
tree shines right down on it and makes
it look even colder than usual"
Golden Glow Wash"
Nonsense. But what I was think
ing Of was the way you brush it back
so plainly and honestly. I like this
present style. It's a protest against
mere 'prettiness'-against softening the
actual. You have two lines across your
forehead and you show them; you have
tragedy in your eyes and you don't
veil it by f1ufing your hair all around
them; you leave bare the hardness
there is in your face-the audacity-
the-the-oh, hell! I don't know. I
only know the effect is like a bright
keen blade which pierces the heart.
She looked at him and her express
sion was not hard. When he said
things that moved her she never knew
what to answer. Billy sometimes ex-
planned that Brad didn't know how to
talk and that was why he had married
her.
One of the things she did know how
to say rose to her lips at this moment:
my God!"
"What?" he asked sharply, for her
eyes were fixed beyond him on some
thing that seemed to hold them fas-
cinated.
Don't turn around, Billy. Don't
look now. I don't want them to notice
us if we can help it,"
"Who?"
my husband-my ex-husband-and
Claribel, his fool of a wife"
II knew something like that was 60
ing to happen" said Billy calmly. q"
knew we were too happy here. For the
last week, at Sanari, I've been sus-
pecting some kind of a trick"
They told me she had red hair and
I'll say she ~has-fiery. She's standing
right under a light. Oh" violently,
"the robber!"
Billy went pale. do you feel ike
that about her?"
They're moving away. He never
likes the first table he's shown to.
They're going over behind the orange
grove. They're gone. I can't see them
any more"
Eyes, but you will see them all the
time and if it upsets you like that
there's only one thing to do. We've
got to clear out of here"
"Oh, but l don't want to, Billy!
Beaumont is the place of all others
you've talked Of showing me ever since
I first knew you. And I love it here
it's heavenly"
or