Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1935-09-12
CHAPTER Iv-Continued

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Alarm-of a curiously profound and
quiet kind-deepened the clarity Of
her look as she got up, turning one
hand against her breast to hide her
crumpled handkerchief. Her golden
hair was as Hal had hoped: the bur-
nished vigor of 1t flowed through full,
deliberate waves to end in rich
thicket of half-curls, their rioting sim
ply disciplined at the edges of her
smoothly modelled cheeks. There was
new, mature loneliness in her straight
young body-under deep-green satin,
fitted to her firm waist, spreading to
full skirt, and tapered above to her
straight shoulders.
The splendor of what he saw, with
out moving his look from the deep
alarm of her eyes, seemed to check
the running Of his blood in that silent
moment-llle the shadow of shock.
And he heard himself say, very grave
lg-ss Tin sorry. She told me this
was my room. She must have thought
.. :" 1t wasn't important enough to
them, round them, full in the room.
"1ts all right" said Barry, her low
voice coming with reluctance.
Something made him say, quietly,
respectfully, I'm sorry you've been
crying"
The alarm stayed in her eyes-not
replenished thing, more like a SOL
emn moment of it fixed there over the
later business of her erect head. She
might not have heard him, except that
her voice said hurriedly, That's all
right, to-"
They stood looking at each other,
and new rounds of silence crept cf6se
into the room. She was waiting for
him to go. Hal knew he must turn
and walk out at the door; and he
must do this before the slow, strong
force gathering somewhere deep in
him showed itself in his enchanted
eyes, before it unlocked his resolution,
loosed the warm words that already
stirred at his tongue. 1t was a race
between his tagging command to still
limbs, that they move, and hot, head
less authority careering forward to
take charge of blood and flesh and hurl
mind away, like dried rag, toward
the morning.
He made his legs move him. And,
slowly, they moved him to her, her
awed watching of his eyes unchanged,
the carriage of her glinting head fear
less. His arms slipped round her, I'M
der her own, and as he drew her firm,
satin warmth toward him, her hands
: went up to his shoulders and over
them. She made a small sound Of
WEAKNESS; her eyes closed; her lovely
head turned so that her lips-warm
and soft and sure of grandeur-came
under his.
1t was probably long time they
stood there close together, without
speaking, resting almost as part of
each other in the silence that had
grown enormous around them in the
room. Once Barry took her generous
lips slowly away and pressed her
golden head to his shoulder; but when
he moved his mouth along the family
fragrant smoothness of her hair she
turned her lips up again-confident,
grateful, credulous. Only her eyes, be-
fore they closed, were neither conf
they were, still near in the fringes of
alarm.
In the pregnant hugeness that blot
ted away the four walls, Hal felt an
excitement of silent rushing-not so
much that they were being flung up
ward alone as that the whole silence
that marooned them there was being
rushed on through surely gathered
speeds toward some explosive, bril-
liant revelation. And as his will to
lose himself in this enormous and i'm
minent beauty flooded toward whole
possession of his Senses one stubborn
small agent of reason tried more fran
tically to make him do what he had
to do. Get out, get out, get out it
came around across his attention again
and again, fainter and fainter, until
suddenly it took ridiculous command
and his hands went to Barry's straight
firm shoulders.
She looked up at once, and the alarm
was conquered in her courageous eyes.
Quietly and as if to herself, she said,
You're pretending. And l am. I'm
not in love with you. I'm not falling
in love with you"
She took step backward, and his
hands dropped down to hold hers.
He knew that command of his rea-
son was for moment only; the sud-
den calm on him now was not to be
trusted, not to be found again if he
let his tongue, his blood, his whole
spirit run out in their hot importuni-
ties.
Their hands slipped apart. He saw
the reluctance of that in her solemn