The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-01-19

II won't read it, cried. ITS
cruel - cruel - and so UNJUST
What do they know of you, any
way"
Paul stood up.
.yFhey know what | have shown
them, suppose" he said. After
all, my dear, people are very often
Judged BY the company they keep
And I--"" 81,
F"oh"' The color drained from
her face. And you have been
. . have been with me constant
ly, and my name is a byword,
and"
"My darling~ He was at her
side instantly. his arms around
her. "Ardath, my love, my life,
don't say that. You know ] didn't
mean that. You are all ] have
and al! | ever hope to have.
You"
She put her fingers on his lips
and looked up, hurt and serious.
II know you didn't mean it,
she said gently. But it's true.
These people whom everyone sud
denly seems to find 500 dis
tasteful, are my people, after all.
They're my friends, the friends
I've always had. I'm a part OF
that set. 1t have brought this on
you. Oh. Paul, Paul, my darling,
what am | doing to you?'
He held her close.
"You are doing nothing to me, }"
he said, except make my life
free. The rest-it doesn't matter,
after all. The world at large may
think what it pleases. | have you,
and that's enough. It's every
thing"
Yet it was not shrugged off
quite as simple as that. A shad-
ow had fallen across them, and 1t
was a shadow that would not be
talked out of existence. 1t was
the. shadow, perhaps, of throne
that had been given up, 4 shadow
that no magic could ever dispel
but that would remain forever,
never quite forgotten, to chill
even the flame of love itself.
Never, not even in their most eX-
allied moments, could they quite
drive it away; in the bottom of
their hearts-although they refus-
ed to admit it-they knew that 1t
was a shadow that would go with
them as long as life lasted.
They left Paris and went back
to the villa San Margarete. Win
ter on the Bay St. Francis was as
benign as summer. The blue wa
ter held just little more chill,
perhaps, the Dawn light was just
a little colder and less balmy than
in the summer; but the afternoon
sunlight was still warm blanket
beneath which one could browse
the day away. and the evenings
were dangerous under the rich
blue sub-tropical sky.
But it was hard for Paul to get
back into the easy, happy-go-lucky
routine of the pleasure coast. II
his attempt to break away from
this circle had been an ignomini-
Gus failure, he nevertheless was
compelled now TO see Ardath'S
friends through the eyes of the
outer world. Things ne had bare
ly noticed before because in
escapably clear-the emptiness be-
meath so many of these pleasant
personalities, the desperate fear
of boredom, of having to live by
ones own resources, the occasion
al streak of viciousnes beneath
the surface.
Paul tried to put these things
out of his mind. He told himself
that he was indulging in the worst
form Of snobbery; after all, when
he had been occupying the throne
of Northumbra he had found it
tremendously stimulating to get
away from the stuffiness Of form
al palace life and mingle with
these folk who had made an art
out of finding amusement. The
people who disapproved of them
now were the same people who had
disapproved of them; was there
any reason why he should let that
disapproval affect him any more
now than it had year ago?
But an increasing restlessness