Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1935-12-20
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SECOND INSTALMENT

SECOND INSTALMENT
Gloria regained control of herself
with an effort and her flower-like
face broke into a smile. "I1n be pa
tient. Only don't let anything hap
PEN"
AS he left the house, Donald told
himself with a pang that he had a
sick girl on his hands. Gloria was
sicker than she had permitted him
to realize and it had taken this
brief flicker of animation at the
prospect of going home to show
him just how weak she really was.
She was fragile, bloodless, the life
and the laughter had gone out of
her. AS a matter of fact, he had
watched it go day by day for
months and he had tried vainly to
check it, but never before had he
appreciated to what extent she had
failed. If anything should happen
to her-Don closed his eyes and re-
fused to face such a thought. Only
ten days more, then they would go
north to those green fields and cool
waters of whirh she was forever
wistfully speaking. Ten days wasn't
long.
This certainly was not a woman's
country. Least of all was it a coun-
try for a lovely, high-bred creature
like Gloria. But, Don reflected, it
had been this or nothing. Gloria
had married him, even against her
family's advice, and even though it
had meant exile. MOI had she once
complained, at least not until to-
day when it was all over and she
could voice her hatred of this life
without hurting him. That was like
her, to fade away, if need be to die
by inches at his side, without COM
plant.
One thing was sure-without
Gloria's love to strengthen him he
would never have had the courage
and the %pertinacity to win his fight
against the desert. The mere fact
that his own sunk in the Ell Centre
field would not have been sufficient
to keep him here. Not by any
means. But with a wife like Gloria
a man couldn't quit; he couldn't
tolerate failure of any sort.
If he and Gloria had been able
to get away once in a while it
would not have been so bad, but
money from the wells which he had
somehow managed to drill had gone
into new equipment, into storage
tanks, tank cars, drilling rigs, leases,
and the like; for in order to live at
all in this business it had been neces-
sary to expand, and as a result pro-
duction had not quite kept pace
with expenditures. 1t had been the
old, heart-breaking story of most
socalled successful oil enterprises
just enough encouragement to rem
der it impossible to let go. But the
company had real holdings now,
and with the Homestake making
five thousand barrels a day, yes, or
even one-half that, it would be out
of the red in no time and it's stock
would be worth a lot. 1t would be
worth so much that Gloria could
we'll afford to give her family the
laugh. Something like a million
dollars, that's what it would mean
to them. And Homestake couldn't
miss. Ell Centre wasn't that kind
of a pool. Once inside the limits,
a man was as safe as if his money
were in the Bank of England.
Ten days more, then New York
with its shops and its lights and its
theaters. He'd show Gloria that he
wasn't merely a machine eternally
thinking, talking, dreaming, living
oil. He'd prove that he was the
widest, the most extravagant, the
most devoted lover the world had
ever seen. The things he would buy
for her-the love, the tenderness
he'd shower upon her! He'd repay
her for the faith and for the cour-
age she had shown. Ten days more!
Gloria ate but little super that
night. She attributed her lack of APP
petite to excitement, to the antici-
patton Of leaving, but as a matter
of truth, Francesca, the one ervant