The Washington times., 1938-04-20

come. I've pleaded with you not
to try to see me. /"
Rodney's dark eyes held a
strange light. His mouth was
grim. He said, deadly even:
"Gloria, Peters been hurt-badly.
He's at Garfield Hospital. And
he wants you"
| CHAPTER XVI
For a long, sick, tainting mo-
ment Gloria couldn't move after
Rodney told her Peter had been
hurt. She couldn't even think
anything beyond the cruel repe-
titious beating of a single thought:
Peters hurt! Peters hurt!
Peters hurt!" She pressed her
hands over her temples, trying to
relieve the pounding strain OF
that thought.
Then she blinked away a blur,
said quickly: Wait, Rodney .. .
I'll get my coat"
In Rodney's car, speeding
through the star-studded night,
she got herself under control. She
said, speaking with difficulty:
Rodney, what happened? What
happened to Peter? How badly
is he hurt?"
Rodney answered: There was
some sort of accident. IL don't
know the details" And then he
continued: That's a lie, OF
course. I do or else I shouldn't
have come for you. But I'd rather
Peter or someone else .
should tell you"
HER LOVE FOR PETER
Gloria closed her eyes and
prayed.
For a long, long while she
prayed. Then suddenly thoughts
flashed through her mind like
rockets. The flare of each thought
fixed out, Illuminating in reveal
ing white light another and an
other. Slowly, definitely, all the
colorful little pieces Of the puzzle
that had been tormenting her for
months fell quickly into place.
She saw no longer confusion
and doubts; she saw instead a
perfect, complete picture - her
love for Peter Kent. So many
things were startlingly clear. now
that had been only hazy and I'M
recognized in her mind before.
She didn't know just when she
had really fallen in love with
Peter. Perhaps it was at that
mountain inn when she had seen
him looking at Isabel'S picture in
the newspaper and she had felt an
overwhelming urge to fight for her
marriage, to fight to hold Peter.
Perhaps it was the night Henry
Drake had shot himself and Peter
had come to her, so tall, so blond,
bringing strength and comfort
with him. Per- aps it went further
back than that. to the days when
Peter was young medical student
anu Sic Wt-S q oOA AA6J ~"A -
little somebody of IA.
Or perhaps, little by little, day
by day she had outgrown that
first flush of emotion which Rod
Iney had aroused in her heart and
in its place real love had been
born her love for Peter. She
didn't know TIE answer only
that it had happened. That she
loved Peter and that she wouldn't
want to go on living in a world
that did not have Peter Kent in it..
She could not get to Peter quick
ly enough now. She said: Rod
ney, can't you go faster?"
mot and stay out OF JAIL said
Rodney evenly.
Gloria'S blue eyes turned from
his face to the windshield and all
at once she jerked upright. This
wasn't the way to Garfield Hos
pital! They were on the Old
North Pike, heading straight out
of the city.
They were already leaving the
town limits, leaving behind them
the winking lights of houses and
stores and filling stations and
plunging straight into country.
81 had been so absorbed with her
thoughts and fears that she hadn't
noticed until now where they were.
She clutched Rodney's arm, i'm
Fortunately.
Rodney, this isn't the way to
Garfield! This isn't the way at
ALL"
Rodney said: IT know" And
laughed little.
Rodney"
RODNEY'S SUBTERFUGE
Look here" he said, seriously,
II told you that fantastic story
about Peter being hurt because I
had to see you. I had to be alone
with you. I had to talk with you,
Gloria, and there didn't seem to be
any other way that I could get
my hands on you.
Peter isn't hurt, so far as I
know. I haven't seen him for
days, and if I never see him again
it will be too soon. We couldn't
go on like this, Gloria loving
each other everything all
snarled up. One Of us had to do
something. And so I'm doing it,"
"Oh!" and her cheeks we're
whittier than the moonlight. Some
times relief is as weakening as
fear. Sometimes relief makes one
faint. For moment Gloria was
limp, thanking God that it was all
a hoax, that Peter wasn't hurt.
Finally, when her brain began