The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-05-13
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nance, haven't you? AS your cousin
would say, toying with the village
maid?"
"Iris!"
81 think I've had enough to do
with your family. Why didn't you
tell me then that you loved me, that
you were you, instead of driving
over to Long Island and back, the
Mysterious Stranger? You've be-
haved horribly. You talk so much
about honesty-you haven't any. ]
never want to see you again."
1t was Morgan, the quick-tem-
pered, who remained quiet this time.
He stood quite still. He even
smiled a little.
"I'm not completely intelligent"
he said simply, anymore than any.
body else. But as for willfully de-
ceiving you, I hadn't an idea of it.
l couldn't foresee that you were go
ing to be dropped into a nest of my
friends and relatives"
when you knew. you could have
told me-"
when | knew. you seemed just one
more girl like the rest, like Georgia.
A girl who wanted Pima Weather
ley's sort of thing do owe you apol-
ogies there, Iris. But there's one
thing there's no apology coming on.
I've never stopped loving you. the
very best way | knew how. And |
thought you loved Allan. There
wasn't anything to do but take it
and like it. l never meant to leave
this place"
"And if | marry you, what will
everybody think now? That | tried
to marry Allan for what he could
give me. And then when found out
you could give me as much"
ut happens to be more" said Nor
gan quietly.
Il turn-just like Georgia-and
snatch for you. How do | know you
wouldn't think l was Georgia. any
time at all. all over again? And even
if you didn't. to have everyone in
the world think it of me?"
Does that matter to you" asked
Morgan, more than my love?"
She was silent. She realized, sud-
denly, that she was still tangled in
her fears and terrors. What people
thought, what they said, had no
right to matter. "NO, Morgan. Beside
the fact that you and | love and be-
lieve in each other, it doesn't mat
ter at ALL" she said. She felt some
thing suddenly dropping from her
like heavy cloak. What the world
said would never be the principal
thing to her again.
LIE took her in his arms. After a
Il little while:
II had your promise, anyway" he
said. "No matter what happened,
you wouldn't break your engage
ment. I'm glad your promise is as
unbreakable as l know it to be; be.
cause there's little more to come"
She sat down with him. his arm
still around her. Go on" she said
lazily.
when l came over, night before
last, before l could get Granny's
promise to let me so back and say
nothing, | had to give mine to come
back and live where she is part of
the tine. After all, it was a pretty
cowardly thing to walk out on an
old lady, when l was about all she
had left. Uncle Wills made me see
that this afternoon driving back
from work. l should have stood up
to the whole thing, Georgia and all.
instead of running away and being
the Young Misdnthrope. Well. I'm
going to. Only I've got to ask you to
take your share too"
All the things she had turned her
back on-and Morgan's love.
Most people would say it was the
gold at the end of the rainbow you
were offering me, instead of the bur-
den your voice makes it out to be-"
she said thoughtfully.
Don't you know where the pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow really
is, Iris?" he asked. He drew her to
her feet. The two young figures stood
close in each others arms, liz the
sunset-light. "My mother told me-"
he said in her ear. "She said that
after the adventures were all tired
with seeking it all over the wcrld,
they found it, buried under the
hearthstone of their home"
ut is that-fol> me-" she said.
"And for me-always-so long as
we are together"
Uncle Will came pottering out,
looking for his children. "Supper's
ready" he said, smiling at them. He
was happy, more or less. always, but
at what he saw in their faces he was
happy, just now. They fol-
lowed him hand-in-hand.
(CotJ5is6t. 1850. Margaret W.IdtmerJ
THE END