The Washington times., 1938-03-22

expected that he would unders
He said that she was a fool,
wasting her life clinging to mem
ories which had best be forgotten.
It was like dedicating her whole
existence to something which was
dead.
Ted was very matter-of-fact. He
was all for realism and did not in
dulge much in dreams. He
couldn't sy1npathize with Brenda
when she tried to explain that her
thoughts and memories of Ralph
were more vital to her than the
everyday life she moved in. The
whole thing seemed hopeless and
ridiculous to him, and he said so.
His attitude disturbed Brenda,
out in no way altered her feelings
toward the faraway Ralph. The
truth of the matter boiled down
to this. She was awfully fond OF
Ted, but she was in love with
Ralph and always would be. No
power on earth could change that.
Brenda knew now that she had
made no mistake when she re-
fused to listen to Ted. She was
with Ralph again. and everything
was incredibly right. 1t was a
little over year since she had
seen him. 1t had seemed like a
century.
And yet tonight in the little
restaurant which always used to-
be their favorite rendezvous it was
as though no time had elapsed at
all since their last meeting; as
though this were Just a continua-
ton.
LAST MEETING
That last meeting! One of the
poignant memories Of BrendaS
d dream-world. 1t was Ralph who
had said:
Were not going to say good
by, darling. Good-byS are so hor-
rible and final. We are going to
pretend that this is just another
date; that we shall be meeting
again tomorrow, or maybe the day
after.
We've got to be very happy to-
night because-well, it's all we're
going to have until"
He did not finish, but Brenda
knew what he meant. That "un.
til" hung over them darkly. 1t
was something you couldn't very
well talk about too much, but it
was always there.
KEEPING DECENT
''I can't bear It'll" she said. "The
more I think about it, the worse
it seems. I can't help feeling that
just in meeting each other like
this-we are somehow being un-
faithful to Rita"
Her dark eyes were tragic. II
don't want to hurt her, Ralph.
She's got so little left. I want to
keep on being decent. And it's
dangerous, loving each other like
this, and not to be free.
We've got to stop seeing each
other for a while, at least. We've
got to get a grip on ourselves"
Ralph's voice was quiet. What
do you want to do, Brenda?"
She told him. Not what she
wanted to do, but what she felt
she must do. Brenda was secre.
tary to Grace Lambert, whose
novels were the talk of two con-
tinents. Grace was seized with
the wanderluSt.
She was going to California,
thence to Hawaii. and then fur
ther into the South Seas in search
of material for her books. She
wanted Brenda to accompany
her. They might be away six
months. Maybe a year or more.
She had met Ted in California,
and she left him there. 1t was sew
eral weeks after she picked up a
New York paper and read very
brief notice of the death of Rita.
For some moments Brenda was
conscious Of no feeling at all; only
o strange numbneSS. 1t was almost
impossible to believe that Ralph
was free.
TIME FOR ADJUSTMENT
The passing Of Rita would ma
turally be a shock to Ralph, in
spite Of his love for Brenda. HeI
would need time to get himself
adjusted. She would not spoil
things by rushing to him. Shed
wait, just as he was waiting, until
Fate, in the person of Grace Lam
bert, chose to place her in New
York.
This morning Brenda's train
had arrived. She telephoned
Ralph immediately
Ralph, I'm home, at last!" And
his answering voice warmed her
more than all the tropical sun
shine. |
Ralph looked splendid. Younger.