Evening star., 1935-09-04
CHAPTER XXXII.

"ERRY was smiling family when
he came back into the parlor.
He would look healthy, Betsy
= thought, if it wasn't for that
something hurt and crushed beneath
the rich sunburn. Would he never
get over Sonia's death? She thought:
"If he could only learn to care a little
for Jennie. She loves him so. Shed
make him happy, too"
But Betsy knew even as she thought
It that Terry never would That not
as long as he lived would he marry
any one love any one but the
little dancer. Some men were like
that, and Terry was one of them.
He would 60 through life with a shad-
owy hand in his, with shaoowy, twin
king toes matching their stride to his.
The memory of that day at the hos
pital rushed over her. The Depart
ment of Justice officials had filed into
Terry's bleak white room and had
begun to talk about the $4,000 re-
ward on Tige Williams which Sonia
had requested go to him. Terry had
turned his emaciated, tortured young
face to the wall, wanting to die, moan
ing: Blood money! Oh, my God!
>. how could you think I'd touch
fl" He had lain there for days aft
erward lowering between life and
death because the desire to live had
drained from him.
Were she and Terry destined to
60 through life with gaping wounds
in their hearts? For Terry there was
no hope, no possible hope, but for
her-her heart began to speed-speed
as 1t always did when she thought
that some day John would come to
her :. some day 80.
The terrace was bright with man.
made incandescence challenging the
remote eternal sparkle of the stars.
The trees of Rock Creek Park made
magic silhouettes, and there was a
breeze, delicate, vibrant, soft as the
feel of satin. In the distance the fig
ures of a cathedral's spires were etched
against the night.
Varnee, the orchestra leader, was
conducting his boys" through med
ley from go Into Your Dance" He
stood on the dais, slender, blond, with
glancing blue eyes beneath sensuously
dropping lids, his baton moving in a
restrained manner. A fourth of Wash
ington's girls were secretly In love
with him . shop girls, Government
clerks, subdebs, postdebs and wicked
young widows-all the mixed crowd
who patronized the Terrace. Several
wealthy matrons were known to ha-
bituate the night club just to sit near
him and bask in the warmth of those
glancing blue eyes.
AS Betsy and Lieut.. Nelson, tall
young man, bronzed by the seven seas
and two years in Hawaii, with hair
as black and slick as an Indians, went
down the f1agstone walk, followed by
Terry and Jennie, Varnee moved
gracefully to the microphone. The
medly had just ended with a crashing
Of cymbals and dancers were filing
back to their tables.
Varnee said, in his small, subtle
voice that made women sigh and
fall in love with him: Ladies and
gentlemen! The next song, Stay as
Sweet as You Are" is dedicated to
Mrs. John Storm, who was Miss Betsy
Seymour, one of the loveliest debu-
tanteS of the season, and who recently
sold her first novel. hear-from a
little California birdie. my frans-that
her book will soon be made into a
motion picture and that the glamorous
star, Miss Barbara Stone, will appear
in 1t. Mrs. Storm Is coming down
yon f1agstone, folks! The little girl
In pink! Give her a hand, folks! Give
her great big hand!
In that one moment when the Or
chestra was mute there was wild ap-
plause and people turning their eyes
toward the hagstones. Betsy's cheeks
were flushed, her eyes blue stars. her
head poised as perfectly as a flower.
There were whispers-"Lovely!" Why,
she's no more than baby!" Does
Varnee mean that that child wrote a
book?" A woman said, with cat claws
in her voice, "He isn't her husband,
my dearl" Varnee's tremulous voice
was rising and falling in satin bars
OF music with silvery notes on the
moonlight night. Couples threaded
through tables to the small, crowded
floor, where powdered arms began to