Evening star., 1935-01-29
WASHINGTON NIGHT
BY MARY SYNON.

'Let me decide for you" He slid
under the wheel Of her car and started
the motor. We're going to the
| shore"
Are we2" The light, dim on the
dashboard, showed her the face Of the
clock as they swung past the spectral
lanterns Of the White House portico.
Ten minutes past twelve. do you
know that you may have to spend
what's left of the night at the old
Barlow mansion If you take me?"
who's there now?"
"The same elegant cook. She'll give
you Maryland beaten biscuits, honey"
where's your housekeeper?"
"Oh. she's there, too. She's a sort
Of cousin, and so she'll never 60. She'll
make it safe for you, darlin'. Chap
eronin' is one of the best things she
does"
will you drive me back tomorrow. I"
II could bring you back to Claiborn
In the mornin'. You could cross in
the ferry and take the bus back to
Washington" She laughed suddenly
at thought of the contingency. "I'll
have to give you a tarpaulin to cover
your evening clothes II I'm to save
the family honor"
"Why don't you drive me back to
Washington tomorrow? I'll drive you
home tomorrow night"
And I'd have to bring you back
again? Are we going to spend the
rest Of our lives, darlin', riding the
ferry and the road? And returning
each others calls?"
Like visiting potentates to the
White House? I can't think Of any
thing better. Just long lifetime on
the road with you"
Past the Capitol, gloomily gray In
ghostly eminence, they sped through
wide avenue where the trees already
quivered before the menace of coming
storm. She drew a little nearer to
Kim as the wind whirled over them.
I"Washington's so different at night" /"
she told him. "You feel somehow that
strange things happen here in the
darkness. Portentous things"
"They do. There was the April
night when the signal of Ten minutes
past ten went down the corridor of
Ford's Theater to John Wilkes Booth
and brought doom to a President
and Nation"
And there was the Good Friday
night when Woodrow Wilson drove in
the rain to Capitol Hill"
ITO throw the dice of war. You
can't remember that, baby"
Can you remember Lincoln?"
mo, nor Seward, but I'll add to
famous nights the one when he left
his whist game to buy Alaska from
the Russian Minister so that England
wouldn't get it in the morning."
"In choose the night" she laughed,
when Kimberly Cornish and Holly
Barlow escaped from the house Of
bondage to the open road"
me. too, Platt," he chuckled.
At a broad intersection the head
lights caught q road number on a
guide post. The Annapolis road! She
was out Of the war zone, she thought
with a sigh Of relief. What a lot of
calico climbers Washington had! Gym
th1a Cornish was one Of the worst of
them, using everything and everybody.
even that nice Senator Shannon, for
ner ambition. Had she ever loved
Kim? Could a woman as hard as she
really love any one? Poor Kimi How
much had he loved this woman he'd
married? Why had he married her
sort at all? If only he hadn't If
only he were free to take her now
now-anywhere, everywhere!
What had he Just said about a long
lifetime together? Rolling down this
pike? I'm afraid the old card wear
out, honey" With the long, dark
highway before them she'd have to
keep him on the easy level of light
banter. 1t was too disturbing to have
him telling her he loved her when she
wasn't sure yet how much his love for
her meant to him. If she only knewi
an buy you another. Not a Mer-
cedes, though"
You don't need Mercedes for the
Maryland roads" He was limiting at
Dick Van Ruyter's ability to give her
foreign cars. Shed have to keep him
OF that tack as carefully as she must
avoid any direct mention of his wife.
A roadster, careening against rising
storm. was no place to settle questions
OF what was to come when the night
was over. ANY old fivver can take
the twists and turns"
wouldn't you rather have q Mer-
cedes?"
"I never said wanted a Mercedes"