The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1938-03-31

clutching her heart, IT can't bear
it! Oh, God, I can't bear It'll"
ELOPES IN DAZE
Gloria hardly knew what hap
pened after that. She heard Henry
pleading with her to marry him.
She heard it vaguely. She saw
his handsome young face come
close, felt his lips crush down on
hers, then recede in a blur. She
knew only that after a long while
she went upstairs, packed two
small black suitcases, put on
little blue tweed suit and small
blue hat with a perky feather in
the ribbon.
She drew on her gloves and
gripped her purse, tensely. And
then she was downstairs and
Henry's eyes had little flames
dancing in their dark depths. She
thought, little dazed: IT couldn't
have told him I would marry him"
But she had. And after a mo-
ment she was in his long, sleek
roadster, pulling away from the
curb, the wind cold and edged
with snow in her face. There was
only one thing she would remem-
Der distinctly about this moment.
It was Kent Hill set back off the
street under its bower Of snowy
elms. An amber light burning in
one window and a tall, dark Sha-
dow passing in front Of that light
E. back and forth .. back and
forth. For one single instant her
heart cried out: Peter! Peter"
And she had a wild, fantastic
desire to leap out Of Henry's car
and tear across the glistening
white slopes of the hill and go INTO
Peters arms, as she had been for
one brief moment tonight, and
never leave them. Peter, her
friend her beloved friend =. who
was suffering, who was going
through all the keen torture that
was tearing at her own heart.
But in the next moment Henry
swung the car around q corner,
little recklessly :. drunk now with
the wonder of this thing that had
happened to him :. and Gloria
forgot Peter. Henry said, II know
the very place. There's a Metho-
dist preacher at Hillocks Crossing,
about five miles from the city line.
If he's in bed we can rooSt him
out. He'll tell us how to get a
license"
CHAPTER XIV
Gloria and Henry were married
at 10 o'clock at night in the study
of small parsonage at Hillocks
Crossing. A coal fire glowed
warmly in a small CRATE, and be-
fore it an aged yellow dog slept
TRANQUILITY. A mellow light slid
from beneath the amber beads of
a lamp on an upright piano and
fell gently on Gloria's small, dazed
young face.
The words of the marriage serv-
ice fell upon the stiffness of the
room with a serene monotony j.. {.
like drops of water falling singly
from a branch. Gloria, standing
with one hand clasped in Henry's,
heard the words that quiet,
impersonal voice saying solemnly:
I'm sickness or in health for
better or for worse for this
day forward :"
And she did not think Of her
marriage at all; that those words
were for her and for the man
she was taking as a husband.
Her fingers frightened suddenly,
fiercely about Henry's, and she
thought through all the logged
misery of her mind, Rodney and
Isabel said these words. From
this day forward they will go on
together as one person .
loving each other belonging to
each other"
IN HIS ARMS
She tried to speak then to
scream out that this was all a
horrible mistake, that she couldn't
go on with it, but she couldn't
speak. Like some one fighting
their way through a nightmare
she heard the minister say: II
pronounce you man and wife"
And then Henry had her in his
arms. was kissing her wildly,
closely, poSseSSively.
y To Be Continued