The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-06-22
CHAPTER Xxx

Compromising -. ''i''' "'1
ship! 900 90 Too
Nu,rav 1t came inevitably. 1t
came often, clearer and clearer.
4 II came and abided with him. un-
h;dden. 1t had been with hlm q
lnm@ time. he suddenly saw, UNI
recognized. .o r,nL,;no
stahs they were alive! They
We're not. they never could De,
honniness and peace-because
thew were alive! The other. the
happiness and peace, the VISIONS;
theI were passionless and dead
and unuttainable. They were, a
drug and a delusion for staEv-
inc man, who was sick Tor the
DAYS of his strength and his plen-
Il was not Helen he yearned
for any more. 1t was the past.
Helen was dead, gone into hmlt,
less time; his love for her had
not died, but was part OF hm'
he would always love her and re-
member her in beauty, through
all the years. Helen was not OF
the earth, she was beyond all pas
sion. she was not real, she was
II was a vision he dreamed with
but it was Terry he lived with
daily! -
Realization rushed upon him,
cataclysmic. 1t was Terry ne
wanted and hungered for; Terry
Fostering, worrying, begging
and beguiling. Terry, with her
| dainty fine web spinning always
about him. Terry, who would con-
ceivably ride in box car with
him blandly and gaiiy, and walk
on the highways and sleep in the
fields of a nation, did he ask her.
So long as they travelled together.
1t was the starker a thought
| for the clarity of its conclusion,
which went back to the very be-
ginning. 1t was Terry he wanted,
YES, but il was Terry he had lost.
it was Terry he had failed, and
Terry who had been torn from
his hands. He had not failed HIM
self; he had not been able to
keep her, losing her to forces far
beyond his humble command. But
to realize that he had possessed
this and lost it and that 1T
was this and nothing else in the
world that he wanted q. it was
stark, stark-and man must
face, it forever!
lie went little berserk. He
had a remnant Of money, a few
meager dollars from the tiny fund
sent him by the Murrays. He put
the money in an envelope and
mailed it back to them, saying he
was gone again, not to worry, he'd
keep going and come out right
side up---he had to keep going,
and he could not come home
He felt this interval of finger-
ing dependence to be q shame on
him, a recollection that must be
wiped out. He had his manhood.
He knew the ways of the road.
He could make his way, wanting
nothing from any man. He'd come
right side up. There wonld be
work. There would be need OF
more automobile bodies sometime,
somewhere: there would be work
and forgetfulness. Work and for
getfulness.
Not peace! He rebelled at
peace, SCATTERING the seductive
visions. There was no peace-not
in life. Life goes on, fight and
a struggle always, and the great
est torment the greatest loss, is
to be out Of the struggle, out. OF
the stream Of it,. ,,''...-.s,.. -.
Neither life nor love has peace
in them, though they both have
surprising beauty: the beauty of
change, the beauty of growth,
the beauty of continuity, inscrut-
able and amending.
And this was Joe's cropping
avowal. He who had been out
of the stream of it, out of the
rnnninp he was plunging
back. This man, Joe Murray.
Joe Murray went foraging.
When he found what he wanted.
| he brought it home to the hotel
! with him: a piece Of cast-off
leather, light and fairly, pIiable.
| II was treasure trove. He Dor
rowed a pocket knife fromss the
hotelman at the desk and went
to work in his room. 81
He took off his shoes; they
were in no state for the road, with
holes large as quarters in the
soles. He cut q piece of paper to
a pattern and trimmed it till it
slid inside one of the shoes cas-
lily and neatly. Then he laid the
pattern on the strip of leather
and hacked out most practical
inner sole. - -.
He was at work on the other
shoe when there came a knock
on the door, He had occasional
visits from room neighbors; he
called an invitation to come right
in. The door opened, and he
glanced up.
Slowly, numbly, he dropped
the shoe, the leather, the knife.
Terry"
She came into the room, clos
ing the door behind her. She was
looking at him with the big brown
eyes -. looking at him. She was
thin; there were big circles under
the eyes; her shoulders dropped
beneath a cheap red coat. <. s%,S'
joe" she said, and stopped.
he looked scared, looked like a
man who does not know what to
DO. She did it for him. She walk.
ed to him and sat down on his