The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-12-11

IT know, and I'm sick of It'll" said
Bet violently.
%, tonight,s one of those nights for
you; we all have them!"
mo, I've been feeling this way for
ages; it really began in July. isn't it
know it until ages after? You remem-
Der 10 went to Bermuda?"
"Uh huh"
HE hadn't taken me anywhere for
thousands of years before. He went,
had himself n grand time, and he
here for ameal, because he was cleaned
out, and I fed him! He didn't bring
me anything, he just blew in to re-
view me his grand time And
give me the Gay Nineties!"
% blah, darling, simply hopeless
IT don't know"
"Tell him next time that you want
a Bermuda onion. You have to tell
them"
Helen, tense from the need to hurry,
made a pot of tea and ate, perched on
the stool in the kitchenette She
couldn't remember when she had been
so tired.
And she'd been right in her estimate
of 10 and his order. Why, she Won
dered, didn't he telephone.
She slid from the stool. 10 would
still be at his club hotel, probably.
She called the number she knew well,
voice a little sharpened by strain. But
ne was still in. 1t was all right.
% my darling! How terribly nice
of you'll"
Their men were a little on the skirt
side, she reflected in undermine, but,
o what did that or anything matter?
She was so tired, and she'd retrace
every step in her business day all eve
ning-unless-
10, could you come up9" she asked
He hesitated; her heart seemed to
catch on something sharp as he hest
tated. But at length he said he could.
She protracted the talk beyond reason
or need.
Now she rushed dressing. He'd be
along in q half hour. She was just
dressed when his touch of the knocker
reached her . . she ran to the door
come!"
He put his arms around her to kiss
her in the easy way of his order. She
GOOh IL " G1lC way VI 11C1o. 4ou ~ Y
marry for nothing when you're doing
well and getting on . But you seem
to have to see a man once and again
-. She was shaking a little, and she
didn't know why ~. 10 had never
had that vague something that made
her heart quicken.
II was SO absurdly lonely tonight"
she admitted.
"Well, here we are!"
He moved toward her table, opened
a humidor to take from it a cigaret.
For a moment she looked away
but, she reasoned a second later, she
had been frightfully low for some
reason, and she'd needed someone to
whom she could talk, and he had come
did 'o0 It vas va 10y logical that earning
queer TSstsrl inside ide.D If he Would come ne Just Just
once to-give her something! She
mustn't think this way.
ITS my birthday, 10, and no one
knew, and why I'd want them to I
don't know; I'm not advertising them.
And yet I felt forlorn"
would have brought you a few posies."
with short STEMS" she thought,
adding, that's mercenary." She said,
II didn't want you to bring anything"
Lying, she was low again.
DO we drink to the happy one?' he
asked.
Yes, if she had something in her
cupboard, she reflected bitterly. She
in voice that makes men look question
but does not make them understand.
He said, Poor tired little girl! I'll
throw something together. You sit
down."
She heard him moving in the kitch-
enette. Tired. o she was tired. For
some reason she saw the narrow, high
front porch of a c%lapboard house in
an Illinois town, and she stood on it
. . . She saw the street light at the
corner swinging and changing shad:
W with its motion, and she smelled
burning leaves That sweetly acrid
autumn odor was tangle in her own
rebellion against things as they we're
and in her resolve to get away and to
make life worth while. Well, she'd got
away . she'd pitied her mother for
griddle cakes for a large and hungry
family, had stood as the end of all
hope for Bet then. Riding home on the
underground that night she had
thought that cooking griddle cakes was
no worse than a go on the subway.
She thought, It'll feel better after
I1elell anu vi td1keu a lltGle tOo IIue1l
of how hideous it had been at home.
how stifled they had been. 10 came
back. Sherry, darling" he said. Il
found the bottle I brought YOU"
Yes, the year of the JohnstoWn flood.
She said a leaden How nice
Happy birthday, precious!" he muir
INJURED, raising his glass. She thought,
20 shut up!"
He dropped to a footstool at her
feet. He moved until he leaned against
her knee and the chair. He took her
hand to fold her fingers, Isn't this
cozy?" he asked, looking up at her
appealingly. At II Helen and Lee
dropped in. vi Swayne, heavy and
important secretary in a we'll known
office, followed, tagged by her Ron