The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-03-03

OF course, ard quite right
he is
Fern thought. she beats any
thing shes already accepted him
as a son-in-lsw.s Crossing to the
bed. she said. I am not gong 10
stay here. I'm going into the
town
You must be crazy You can't
leave me here alone with the
smileys. You can't let anything
happen to you now. You're all.
I've got. Where on earth did you
get such an idea"
Quite calmly Fern said, I'm
going because I can be of use at
the hospital or some place. And
I'm going so that ! can be near
him
Mrs. Simon for the first time
sat up on the cot. Am ! nothing
to you? Haven't you thought
for your mother ."
With a sudden feeling of tri-
umph Fern thought. She can't
touch me any longer. I'm not
afraid OF her or her scenes. She
4 can't touch me- Il was true.
She was free. She said, of
course. I'm thinking of you, but
I'm going just the same. No
matter what happens l have to be
near him. He doesn't know how
/ to take care of himself.
Fern. do you realize what you
are DOING
1T doesn't matter what people
think-the few of them that are
left"
u love him more than anybody.
or anything in the world. I'd do
anything for him-an anything at
] ALL
Her mother covered her face with
her hands She was too tired now,
too old, to make one of her melo-
dramatic scenes. She only covered
her face with her hands and said:
Come here Sit by me" And
when grudgingly Fern sat on the
edge of the cot, Mrs. Simon took
her hand again, and said, 1t
isn't the way l would have wanted
it to happen. but ! hope you are
going to be happy
And then Fern knew that never
again would her mother trouble
her. She was. Fern saw as from
great height, childish and futile.
From now on she would have to
be cared for, told what to do. The
capitulation. the whole collapse,
was too sudden. it left Fern un-
decided and little frightened,
Oddly, mysteriously. she had be-
come older and wiser than her
mother. In a little while she rose
quietly from the edge of the cot
and sat in a rocking chair and
presently, out of sheer exhaustion,
closed her eyes and slept.
A long time afterward she was
Weakened by gentle touch on the
shoulder. and waking saw MI.
Smiley standing in front of her
It was he who guided them
across the plain past the Sink
barracks and across the half
ruined bridge into the town; for
they went together, Fern Simon
and Lady Esketh, stubbornly,
against the protests of all the little
party at the mission, against the
protests even of the gentle Mr..
Smiley, who could not see how
either Fern or Lady Esketh could
be anything more than nuisance
in the desolation of the city.
They made the dizzy, perilous
crossing of the railway bridge as
they held hands, making chain
to steady each other in case the
roaring. rushig water made any
one of them giddy. And when
they had reached solid land and
looked up once more, there right
in front of them was standing
Miss Hodge surrounded by group
of villagers, all chattering at her.
In her confusion and bewilder-
ment she heard and understood
nothing that they said, that they
were asking her for food, for news
of their children for security.
They were low-caste people with
whom she had little contact and
they spoke in variety of jargons,
but if they had spoken Gujerati
or Hindustani, she would not have
understood them because she was
parayZed with fear and horror by
all the sights she had witnessed.
She did not understand that the
dirty low-caste people clustered
about her had confused her char
acter and personality with that of
Miss Dirks. They knew that if
they asked Miss Dirks for help
, she would not refuse them, and
Miss Dirks and Miss Hodge had
been together for so long that the
little group had come to think of
them as a single manifestation a
single phenomenon.
Then suddenly she was aware
that Lady Esketh was there be-
side her speaking to her, only it
was not the Lady Esketh she had
called upon at the Summer Palace,
smart and worldly. the way she
looked in the pictures in the week
ly pictorials, but a strange woman
in a calico dress, looking much
older. weary and untidy. Miss
Hodge stared for a moment into.
her face, and in her mixed brain
occurred the thought. 1T is the
same woman, but il isn't. Some
thing has happened to her" Then
suddenly she felt shy with the
agony of shyness which had swept
over her that afternoon at the
Summer Palace when she had
taken a cigarette and had not
known what to do with il.
She was aware that Mr.. Smiley
was saying something to Lady
Esketh, and the shyness vanished
N wave Of anger and she cried
out, Don't you believe anything
he's saying know what he's
saying. He's saying We couldn't
nave you 70 tea because we had
TO go TO Mr.. Ransome's. Its not
true. He's lying. He's only a mis-