The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1935-01-04
CHAPTER xII--Continued

NOW WHdt nave uUHcs ouC uC~
manded In mock terror, as they en-
tered the enclosed porch gay with
wicker and cretonnes and plants and
colored lights.
"This is what you've done, Prue,-
we'll get down to facts at once. You
are the finest, the best sport of any
girl know"
Thanks for them kind words, but
don't try to soften the blow. What
have done that makes you sit there
looking as grim as an executioner and
and twice as handsomeT
He refused to be diverted by her
gayety. "All right. laugh, but do you
realize that you have made me appear
to double-cross my best friend? Why
did you tell Rod that you were en-
gagged to me?"
did he tell you that?"
Hold on now, sit back in the seat
and listen. Something went wrong
between him and me the afternoon
you and your brother dropped in on us
at High Lodges. I felt it but I
couldn't get hold Of anything. Then
things got in such a mess that l put
Rods crabbedness down to worry over
the numbering. Remember when you
collapsed the night of the fire?"
Remember! OF course l remember.
l never tainted but once before in my
life, and when I think that I crashed
when I might have helped more, morti-
fication sends my blood pressure down,
down, down."
"Don't worry about that. The am
bulance surgeon says you may have q
job with him any time you are ready
for it. When you went to pieces that
night, Rod nearly blew my head off be-
cause left you. Your brother and
the doctor were with you !; l was needed
somewhere else. I stayed, though"
Martyr" Prudence jeered softly.
Not that she felt like being flippant,
but to assure herself that her stiff
lips would move.
"That night-or morning rather
when we got back from the fire the
whole thing came out. You had told
Rod that you were engaged to me, and
he accused me Of underhand methods,
because the day arrived at High
Lodges he warned me that he intended
to marry you."
"He did!"
"He did. Your eyes look as If they
saw the coming of the Lord! Why
did you tell him we were engaged
Don't answer. Tell Rod" He cleared
his voice. Promise you will explain
to Rodney Gerard; you owe that to
me-"
Sorry to interrupt this twosome,
Jim, but Prue's brother is looking for
her." announced Rodney Gerard be-
hind him.
Armstrong rose "Great Scott, had
forgotten! This is my dance with the
village beauty. Take Prue in, will
you, Rod?"
Prudence made a vain effort to
clutch his coat. At the door of the
living room Gerard put his arm about
her.
easier to dance through this bunch.
Do you mind?'
She shook her head. His touch set
little pulses in her throat hammering,
the blood In her veins leaping, her
body tingling with fiery quality of
life she never before had felt. He
had told Jim that he intended to marry
her! She looked up.
Il told you that l was engaged to
Jim Armstrong. wasn't. / don't
love him a bit" Was that her voice,
so pure, warm, and throbby, or was
another girl speaking?
For an instant his eyes famed with
amazement; then he crushed her to
him savagely.
rs that true? What place to tell
mel / can't" He bent his head.
"Rod! Rod! Not here! Not"
Color rushed back to his face.
"Think l was going to kiss you?
Didn't promise l wouldn't until"
A hand fell on his arm. A prosper
GUS young farmer asked efficiently:
Dance with me, Miss Schuyler
With a look which set Prue's heart
clamoring, Gerard relinquished her.
With the GREATNESS sense that she
was walking over a not too slumbering
volcano, Prudence laughed and chatted
with her partner when the music
stopped. Mrs. Walter Gerard, in the
latest in platinum metallic hairdress-
ing and a smart black frock, bore
down upon her.
.Dear Miss Schuyler. you are ravish-
ing in that frosted green. 1t brings out
your high color marvelously. You've
been so kind to my darling daughter.
she has a fascinating uncle, hasn't
She?"
To Prue's indignant fancy the last
sentence seemed to ring through the
room as If magnificently amplified.
Her response, she could not have told
what it was, shook with anger. Al
most she sympathized with Walter
Gerard. How could man live with
a winking woman? She turned on her
heel almost into the arms of Arm
strong.
what dastardly deed are you con-
templating?" he demanded, as gaily as