Evening star., 1936-08-16
THIS WEEK

IN trouble with his bank SO | guess he
hadn' t much choice. Anyway. she lost
her head and was making break for
il when she ran into me. Luckily it
was me, for he was yelling Murder
eSSr at her. And he'd stolen her re-
volver. So it might have been ugly.
But said to her. It's all right. Be
cause I'm a friend of yours
Are you?" Gale asked.
We're all friends. said to her,
4 can make a watertight alibi for
you "
And them"
Rand shrugged his shoulders Il
pointed out to her - well, that one
good turn deserves another. If | played
ball with her. you might play ball
with me. You could sign up with
Farnley's."
You might call that blackmall."
Gale said.
Il call it sense Rand retorted
''She saw the point all right. She sad
she'd talk it over with you. She was
so oquiet and reasonable that thought
it was all right got out and let her
drive herself home.
She isn't here"
Rand let his first sign of uneaslness
escape him She didn't drive home.
She turned the car IN the opposite
direction. She was driving west
TO the sea -
The two men stared at each other
in bleak realization.
she couldn't be such fool" Rand
said There was no reason. told
her - there wasn't a thing to worry
about. You've only got to be sensible.
Gale took him by the shoulders.
''All right III be sensible. I'll play
ball I'll sign any damn contract -
if only I'm in time"
He flung Rand out of his way, He
knew now that there was too late
which made the too late of an hour
ago tragically meaningless.
Everything was dark and silent
when Lois reached Mallbu. The bun
galows, huddled side by side along
the beach, were like castaways lulled
to an exhausted sleep by the low per
sistent murmur of the sea. She had no
key to their own place, but she knew
by experience how easy It was to force
one of the windows. A caretaker had
cleaned up after the last party so that
the rooms had an unfamiliar air of
quiet and order. 1t was as though all
the feverish memories had been swept
away and nothing remained but the
ghost of that first and last weekend
when she and Gale had been alone
and happy.
She felt quite close to Gale -
closer than she had ever been in real
life because there was no need to talk
to his invisible presence. (And she
talked so badly. She had never known
how to explain) Little things OF his
were about the place - a pipe he had
forgotten. a tie hanging on the rack
of their bedroom. Things like that
could break your heart wide open
when you were saying goodbye to
them.
She couldn't believe what was hap
penlng. what had happened. She kept
on saying to herself, II am only
twenty-five and it's all over" But it
was no good 1t didn't mean anything
And yet she knew quite definitely
what she had to do. She sat down at her
little, rickety writing table - moth
ing was substantial - nothing lasted
in this place. - and switched on the
reading lamp. She began to write to
Gale She knew that it would have
been better not to write. But it
couldn't really hurt him OF anyone to
know the truth. The one thing that
mattered was that he should be free.
Il know what you would do, dar
ling. Even though you don't care any
more, you'd stand by me. You'd do
what Rand wants, and you would