The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-12-28


''Yes. Richard lied about Honey,
to get me there. Oh, / had thought
I loved him once, admitted it,
but then / got over it, completely.
Weeks ago, David right after
he came back from Europe; but he
kept on pursuing me. He couldn't
believe it. I wanted, so terribly, to
tell you everything, but >. but 5.
Oh, let me tell you now. darl-
ing -.
And she did, with absolute truth
fulness, from the beginning. She
laid everything bare about herself
and Richard.
David sat listening, quietly. At
first he still looked away from her;
but as she went on-her voice all
husky with emotion-he watched
her more and more, until at last,
his brown eyes never left her face.
And Nina could see them chang
ing; see something that had been
in them go away +. and something
that had not been there, come
back.
He was believing her.
Richard has gone away now"
she concluded. Sailed for Europe.
He asked me to marry him, but /
said-no." Nina hesitated. THAT
ought to prove that I'm over it,
oughtn't it, David?" She couldn't
say, as she wanted to: THAT ought
to prove that love you. :"
Eyes" he answered slowly. at
should"
And Nina repeated: Eyes, sit
ting. like an anxious little girl, on
the very edge of her cushion.
T-LOve-Y0u, David
CUDDENLY David smiled. It was
y very nearly his old grin.
He said: "So-what, Nina?" and
though the question wasn't very
much to go on, his smile, and the
way he said it, gave her the cour-
age to answer him.
'T-love-you, David. I have,
underneath, all along; only lately
these last weekS-I began to
realize it. fell in love, just as you
we're falling out Of love. with
me
81 never-fell out!"
Oh, God, what was he saying?
'Tm loving you so very much
this minute, that !. ;. that -" but
he preferred to show her.
He was across the four feet of
carpet that separated them, and
had her in his hands, before she
could grasp the wonderful mean
ing of his words.
But she didn't have to.
All the poor substitutes for
heaven that she had thought she
had experienced before paled into
nothingneSs beside the radiance Of
this momentwhen he kissed her.
II could have saved lls-you--
so much" he muttered, after an
interval in which words had no
part, eff hadn't left you like a
head-strong fool. my darling: IL
I'd given you q chance to ex-
plain J"
but, angel how tiny that is,
compared with what | could have
saved usI And, David, it isn't
just that I've gotten over this thing
and found something new, I've
really learnt a lesson about val
ues in life, suppose you'd call it.
What's worth while and what
isn't. II may sound foolish to say,
but / can be much happier with
you, now, than if all this had never
happened why, think Of it! ;. ].
I might have gone on and on, just
adoring you for your grin, and
your copper hair, and the darling
absurd things you dol might new
er have appreciated
But he wouldn't let her 60 or.
And what about me? Don't you
think there was any room for inn
provement there? How about If I'd
been a little less headstrong and
made you get over Richard, my
self. instead of letting him do It?
How about If I hadn't stuck to my
ideas so bull-headedly, so that you
would have been happier as my
wife? How about
And now it was Nina who
stopped him.
''Ilow about If you stop trying
to find faults in you that simply
aren't there" she suggested soft
| ly, land kissed me instead?"
And this time, when they START
ed talking again, II was about the
future; about the raise that had
come with his new job on Long Is
land; about the little Queen Anna
house, near Carl and Cordelia, at
Harmony, that they could rent. !.
They talked crafty. hurriedly,
between kisses asked and an
Swered questions, as though they
had only so many minutes TO be
together. =. But now they had all
their lives.
They chung together, as though
two great giants were trying 10
pull them apart but there was
only Button, tugging at David's
coat. Nothing could separate them,
now.
The past had ceased TO exist.
David had swept il away with
one magnificent gesture OF his arm,
and one magnificent kick.
There il goesl" he said, and e
was over. 'Oh. darling Oh.
Nina
And she murmured: 'tOh. d.
rid" as though she had never said
] II before.
She hadn't. quite that waY. Thls
was different.
The End
ff'srsrtsAs, 1917. nsTearss Hersssf