Evening star., 1934-06-30
CHAPTER XXXV.
car seemed to bore endlessly
and forever through black vel
net shnt Mifh tiny gilt stars

| ~E1C Cdl oCCHICu w bOiC SAANiSopss
and forever through black vel
vet, shot with tiny gilt stars.
i Past bare trees, standing
stark, with uplifted, naked
arms raised to a moonless sky. Past
snow-burdened fences. wandering
snakelike into the gloom. Past farm
houses, huddled into mounds of snowy
silence, deserted and still under the
stars. Past the little cottages firing
ing the villages on the way a
blur of winking Christmas tree shin
ing dimly through the frosted windows
into the night.
hind-the county road, the smaller
towns along the way, receding by the
| minute in the rear.
Jeffrey Therrold, his mouth tight
ening grimly even as he propelled her
toward the door, had listened without
questioning to the story Rose had
poured forth. There was no mistak-
ing the CONTINGENCIES, the authen-
ITCHY of Lottie's tale. Even jeffrey
with the events of the Summer be-
fore his minds eye-granted it no
shadow of doubt.
Barbara. he thought. spinning the
wheel through the crunching snow
:. Barbara, sore at heart at the first
rebuff life had meted out! Childishly
bitter against her small world. strik-
way she knew
1t was his fault-his stupid, blum
dering, masculine lack of tact. . .
You're sure Lottie said-the Main
Hotel?" he muttered without turning
his head. Conscious, even through
the black pit of his thoughts, of every
movement Of the plant shoulder so
near to his own
Yes Rose huddled restlessly fur
ther into the seat. Pity and a con-
fused numbness in her heart, yearning
over the pain in his own.
IF only they haven't gone on to
| New York; God! don't let them have
left the county seat before we ar
rive!" Haste and a murderous fury
raging f1ercely through the mans
veins. Babs! sang the crunching
swimming tires. Little Babsi cried
the voice that beat against his brain.
His mouth twisted again into tor
turing line of pain. She couldn't
she wouldn't. do this to her mother.
to him! Why, only the night before
he had gone on this trip she had sat
close beside him on the porch. Sat
without talking, he remembered that
now. When would he hear her speak
again?
| Shutter flashes of her came to him.
dancing crazily against the blur of
lights on the road. Sweet little
Barbara. in brief skirts and mildly
blouse and tam. fighting the battles Of
the spoiled baby Harvey against Ur-
sula's childish meannesses and small
woes. Ursula had always been n
tattle-tale-but Babs-Babs had a fine
scorn for pretenses even then. Babs,
with her fine courage, her sportsman
ship, her strong will; that time she
had broken her arm and, to save her
mother a shock, never told. g. Proud
Barbara, willful, lovable Barbara,
humbled now. broken. disillusioned-
oh, it couldn't, mustn't be! {.
Tender, foolish, splendid Barbara, who
had never known anything but luxury
and care and love. =.
Rose, sitting bolt upright now, two
blazing spots Of color in her face,
stared miserably out at the flying
road. A curious weakness assailed
her. a dim sense Of cropping through
fog. She pushed the cloud of soft,
dark hair out of her eyes, steadying
herself against the lurching drive of
the car. Feeling, for the first time
in the long. desperate week, a relief
from the tension that had dragged
at her mind; an odd sense of shifting
the burden to the shoulder by her
side
Yet, paradoxically enough. the
thought of again facing Deering gave
her sick sense OF falling through
space. Those light, derisive eyes, in
the expressionless r,ask of his face,
that purring, menacing voice saying
words that would scar forever into her
brain. What would he do-what
would Barbara Therrold do. seeing her
in the company of JEFF Therrold,
knowing she must have been back of
his presence In some way?
She wondered. with a cropping, be-
wildered sort Of perplexity, how a
girl like that could do what Barbara
had just done. Entirely without ex-
perience with life though she was;