The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-10-02
CHAPTER XIII

himself out; and the bromide which
she had brought him had made him
sleepy at last; but she could not sleep.
A car drove away; and Bee crept
from the room, closed the door care
fully behind her, and waited at the top
Of the stairs. Agnes did not appear;
and there was no sound below. Gag
mes Agnesp Bee called cautiously;
and for a moment she had the fear
that her sister had driven away with
OMara. "Agnesl"
Agnes turned from the door where
she had stood since he left her. She
heard Bee at last, and looked up and
saw her.
She went slowly, almost as If with
difficulty; and indeed, difficulties as
sailed her, but she did not feel them
as her own. For herself, she felt no
doubt at all. She was defiantly, ex-
ultingly sure-of herself, and of him.
agnes, what have you done?"
"Done!" said Agnes breathlessly.
what I'll never, never undo-what-
ever anybody says. Bee, I've told
Cathal O'Mara I'll marry him."
Her sister seized her. "What?
Agnesl"
YES" whispered Agnes, II told him.
That's what 1 did. But he fears I
don't know what mean. That's why
he's gone away"
"What are you talking about? Come
into my ROOM" begged Bee, before she
remembered Davis just beyond her
door. mo: yours" said said to her
sister; and Agnes followed her into her
own room.
"Now, tell me-" the Dark One COM
manded.
'For two weeks" said Agnes con-
fusedly, ''he means to stay away.
We're not to see each other; he won't
come here. He won't even call me-"
"Why?"
$50 I'll have the time to myself to
be surer."
"Do you need to be surer?" Bee asked.
Look at me, Agnes -. Oh, damn 1t,
you've got It'll You've got 1t! :. And
I never had! And I've my third child
within me.
"rve got him yet. I'm glad Of that,
you know. Don't you? .. He knows.
I've made him knowi =. He tried to
kill himself-for me. But you,
Agnes; you go ahead! To hell with
everything elsel Be happy-happy
Happy, tell you'll"
Daylight laid upon Agnes no dismay.
Through hours after Bee had returned
to Davis, Agnes lay awake; but she
had slept at last, to rouse to objects
that showed again their sharp edges,
to glares and to shadows.
She shut her eyes again and curled
to relive the enjoyment of his arms
about her for the moment before he
had put her away from him-when,
though he held her and she chung to
him, his own faith had failed him. For
he knew that 1t must bet was, in
some degree at least, the world Of 9TH
ers that they must live in; and no
desperate denials Of his own, even
though she Joined In them, could screen
that world away.
Jeb called up. And it was strange
to talk to him and never to Cathal.
Stranger still that he, and never
| Cathal, came to the house. But she
kept herself from Jeb's hands.
Her father was involved again In
Davis affairs; and Jeb again--and I'M
known to Davis, Agnes hoped-was
helping him salvage something.
Every other day, 1t seemed, Cathal's
name was in the papers; and always
accorded the new respect; for he spoke
of men accused. or about to be put on
trial, who too recently had ruled.
Queerly and pleasantly, on unsum-
moned occasions through these long,
listless days, she recollected everything
he had said to her, from the very first,
and with clarity and completeness as
| If, at the time, she had memorized 1t.
| So on one day-it was the ninth of
the ordeal Of the fourteen-she re-
called how he had told her that his
grandfather had died in the Cold Stor-
age fire in the Fair of '93.
1t had meant nothing to her; but
now she inquired Of it; and the next
afternoon she was in the Tribune
tower, asking to see the files of the
paper for July, 1898. So there, upon
the brittle and yellowed page, she read
his name-Cathal Martin O'Mara; and
she read what that Cathal O'Mara,
nearly forty years ago, had dared and
done, and how he had died. And his
wife. who had been young then. had
had to look on.
Winnie, that was, Winnie, who had
been at the trial.
Agnes went out to taxi.
Winnie, on this afternoon, was home
alone, as she often was, and especially
on the afternoons Of Tuesday and Fri
day, for then she baked. Bread, first,
and next cakes.
She timed this baking to the school
bells which, at half-past three, would
ring their release to the little girls and
b'ys.