The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1937-03-18

49,. ....,,.u ). set S;iif'ly, wear
\. they went Ia the cliff. and stood
ar IL moment Ia look at the wide
ai,i.;.!iia of the glitlering sea. anG
at.:;pi themselves into the car.
..f. here To. Tony?'
.'I.rpnda'S. please. Joe"
TONY" said Ruth. I'VE all drive
Up Tuesday Could you stay?"
Ruth. I'd love 1t. But I'm 90.
llg back with the Brewers tonight
hey pick me up at the hotel al
five. I've got to turn in column
tonight"
"Come up and have dinner with
us Wednesday night, Tony, and
play bridge" Ruth said. at Bren.
da's doorway. "JOe's coming In
Larry'll be in Los Angeles"
"wednesday? l think I could.
In q great rocker on the porch
inconspicuous behind pillar, Tony
watched the pleasant intermingllng
streams of hotel life come and 60.
Her suitcase was at her feet. The
Brewers came. and she went down
and talked to them; came back to
her secluded chair. The die was
cast now.
At six o'clock the wide drive, the
porches and steps of the hotel were
deserted; everyone was dressing
for dinner.
Her heart rose into her throat.
1t was here now, Larry's car-now,
before seven o'clock
"Thank goodness you're here y
he said, big and businesslike in his
big brown 0verc0at and driving cap.
"Here, give me your bag-hop in.
l wouldn't have known what to do
if you'd happened to be inside. hav-
ing dinner or something! By the
luckiest chance in the world Fitch
teleph0ned: they want me In there
round. eleven. Ruth took the mes
sage"
They were in the car. They had
left Del Monte behind them and
were smoothly moving north. If
Tony had ever any doubts, any mis-
givings, they were gone now; the
world was all heaven IN the soft
twilight, with Larry's big shoulders
beside her.
"We'll have to face 1t, Tony, that
we love each other, and that we
can't have each other. I'm not 60
ing to tell you what you mean to
me. l have no right. The only
thing to do is to face 1t and work
it out somehow"
Zone of the things" he added,
after a space, "that holds me to
her. She's not strong; she did ev-
erything for me before I got q
start; we had a boy and lost him.
Any talk of our separating now
would break her heart; she's not
done anything mean or small to
be treated like that. She loves me.
"And your little finger" he went
on, as Tony was silent, sis more
to me than anything else in the
world. The way you pull on your
hat, the way your mouth works.
the whole Of you-brown and long,
lying as you were today in the
sand" He stopped.
For a long time neither spoke.
Then Tony said staunchly:
"Well, I'm going away. I don't
know how can. My heart'll be
like a stretched piece Of elastic
between here and New York. I
can't stay where see you, or
could see you, or could telephone
you. If you were divorced" Tony
said, "even then I'd not have an
easy row to hoe People like Ruth
too much; they feel too much
against the younger woman who
draws a man away from an older
wife. But at least I'd make you
a home, I'd have children, we'd
travel. The other way I'd hate
myself, and you'd hate me-"
I'D never hate you. I'd want to
60 home to you. darling-not from
you"
"There seems to be a blight on
me-" Tony said somberly. II don't
seem to do things as other girls
do"
I'll tell you what you seem to
me-" the man said. you seem to
me the most wonderful woman In
the world, q woman who u going
to be admired. loved, followed,
wherever she goes. You're In my
heart and my mind and my soul
all day and all night, Tony. young
and brown and beautiful"
ITS too bad" Tony said after
a while IN a wiStful echo of her