Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-09-02
CHAPTER ILContinued

3
cts fairy story brought up to
date. Only, for the spell of a
witch, substitute the broadcast of a
girls voice. The little schemer got
not only the money but Mary Aman-
da's jewels, many Of which were
my grandmother's."
Brooke dropped her hands from
her ears after what seemed hours.
Still talking? Perhaps Jed Stewart
was talking to the office boy. She
heard him say:
Your aunt said in her will, re-
member, that if she left the jewels
to you, you might-well, that Miss
Reyburn would appreciate them.
She relented toward you to the ex-
tent of naming you .legatee should
the girl die without children; she
was canny enough to prevent her
fortune from falling into the hands
of her family. You wouldn't think
Brooke Reyburn a schemer if you
saw her; you'd know that she had
a background Of cultivated living.
She has vivid face with a deep
dirnple at one corner of her lovely
mouth; her voice is sweet, spiced
with daring. She came out of col
lege to carry her whole darn family
when her father died-he was one of
the tragic twenty-niners whose in
vestments were wiped out-now, I
suppose, her brother, who is acting
in a stock company, and her sister
will chuck their jobs and settle
down on her. Her hair is like cop
per with the sun on it; her eyes
change from brown to amber, and
when she smiles at me I feel as
cocky as drum major at the head
of regiment"
"Help! You're raving, Jed. Per-
haps you're thinking Of marrying
herr"
marry her yourself, Mark, and
keep the fortune in the family"
81! Marry that girl who hypno-
tized an old woman into leaving her
a fortune! You're crazy. Besides,
I am married"
"You haven't caught your aunt's
ideas on divorce, have you? You
don't feel tied to that woman who
ran away with that French count,
do you? You divorced her, didn't
you? YOU"
'Hold everything! We were talk
ing of the Reyburn girl. You have
nerve to make the suggestion that
Z marry her. Men have been put on
the spot for less. I wouldn't marry
that schemer if"
Brooke flung back the hanging in
passion of rage.
Nobody asked you tot" She
cleared her voice of hoarseness,
and famed:
"Has it never occurred to you,
Mark Trent" She stopped, her
eyes wide with amazement. Was
this really the man who had pulled
her from in front Of that speeding
car? After the first flash there was
no recognition in his eyes, nor
any concern, rather a quiet mock
cry, which, she felt, at the first word
of hers would turn into active dis
like.
''You! YOU" Her breath caught
in a laugh that was half sob. "What
a mean break for you that you didn't
know who I was, that you didn't
let that car hit me! Then you would
have had the money"
She had never seen face so col
orless as Mark Trent's as his eyes
met hers steadily.
Lucky I didn't know who you
were, wasn't it? I might have been
tempted. Schemers somehow lead
charmed lives"
For split second Brooke thought
that fury had paralyzed her tongue.
She made two attempts to speak
before she protested angrily:
"I'm not a schemer! I suppose it
never has occurred to you that the
'Reyburn girl may have loved
Mary Amanda Dane? May have
been glad to spend one evening a
week in honey old house away
from her whole darn family in a
crowded city apartment"
Failure of breath alone stopped
Brooke's TRADE. There was plenty
more she could say, she was apt to
be good when she started. A laugh
twitched at her lips. The two men
facing her couldn't have looked
more stunned when she made her
theatrical entrance had a hold-up
man with leveled gun suddenly
stepped from behind the hanging.
So this was Mark Trent. She had
been careful never to 60 to Lookout
House when he was there, for fear
that he might think she had planned
to meet him. She had not realized
that he would be so bronzed nor so
tall, that his dark eyes were so I'm
compromising, nor that the set of
his mouth and chin could be so in
domitable. There was a fiery
strong quality of life in him which
sent prickles of excitement like red
hot slivers shooting through her
veins. She knew now that she should
have appeared from behind that
hanging at Jed Stewards first word.
Stewards always ruddy face was
the color of fully grown beet. He
coughed alphabetically.
Sorry, Miss Reyburn. Didn't