Evening star., 1936-02-15
Ma HIGH COURAGE 4a
by Jeanne Bowman .--s=aa44k383 kS:zSa
by Jeanne Bowman,

I could meet you. Oh, remembered
your name all right, but just hadn''
associated it with the fisheries. But
when Lansing said you were Luke
Farnsworth'S daughter that finished
it,"
But, why?"
"Nikki, don't you see the differ
ence it made, me a fisherman. ano
your father the cannery owner? Oh
I know this is America and there is
only democracy and the charwoman's
daughter marries the merchant prince
. in stories"
Anne looked at him in growing
wonder. She was the girl who gave
life a meaning to him. And shed
never suspected it. But hadn't she?
Hadn't she known that that peculiar
magnetic attraction he had for her
couldn't have existed unless it was
mutual?
And now?" The words left her
lips of their own volition.
"Now?" he looked at her. Nov
I'm just where I was when you
jumped from the Anti that day. !
couldn't believe my eyes when I saw
it was you, and that I'd been priv
ileged to hold you in my arms for
that brief moment"
Then John"
I'm still afraid, Nikki. You don't
know yet, who you are. Nikki!" he
cried, for Anne had pumped to her
feet and after one quick intake of
her breath had fled into the shelter
of the woods.
Running blindly, cut to the quick
by her Interpretation of Johns words,
Anne carried with her two astounding
facts. She loved John Neuman. She
never had loved Rob Crocker.
Checked in her flight by a barrier
Of hazel bushes, she pushed their
branches back with her hands and
slipped through to tiny dell, car
peted by short grass and cut through
by a small stream which trickled
along over moss-grown rocks.
Anne sat down and stared before
her in dismay. She, who had thought
herself cured Of all love, had re.
peated her mistake in scant fort
night. Could she depend upon her
emotions? Perhaps she was merely
tickle at heart, spinning like a mag
netic needle to the nearest point OF
attraction.
With characteristic honesty she
faced herself. She had been fasci-
mated by Rob Crocker. Her pride
had been satisfied by his obvious
preference for her when so many
other girls and women were bidding
for his favor. And she had wanted
a home of her own, place she might
tend with her own hands.
Her emotional nature, unstirred BY
the passing firtations at school and
abroad. had responded to the clever
touch of the man of the world. But
now she knew the difference.
"Nikki!" John was calling. "Nikki
where are you?"
She heard footsteps on the Other
side of the thicket, then the branches
parted and John stepped through
STROBE across the grass and gathered
her into his arms.
"Nikki, forgive my laundering way
OF saying things. You didn't under.
stand, dear. It's you I love, you're
worth all the names In the world. =
"But you were right" Anne didn't
fight against the blissful comfort OF
his arms. st don't know"
Let me finish what was going
to say. You don't know that you're
not Anne Farnsworth. You have only
Tom Farley's word for it. If I dared
think he was right. that you were
just Nikki, I could tell you all I've
wanted to tell you"
"But, John, he is right. I know.
Judge Kellogg knows. Do you think
the judge would let them do what
they've done if he wasn't sure? John.
I am just Nikh."
The pathetic loneliness In her dark
eyes broke down Neuman's last re-
serve. And does name mean so
much to you?"
"It means belonging to some one. /"
she answered.
Their leave-taking, tomorrow,
is both sad and happy.