Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1939-09-28
CHAPTER x-Continued

''Thats the thing for you and Del.
He really loves fine stock. And you
and he-think of it-riding over the
CONTEMPLATING your gardens
having a baby or two" Edith was
going very fast.
''It sounds heavenly" said Lucy.
"Then make it Heaven. Oh, Luz
cy, Lucy, you lucky girl-you are
going to marry the man you love.
Live away from the world share
happiness and unhappiness-" She
rose from the table restlessly, push
ing back her chair, dropping her
napkin on the floor. 1Do you know
how I envy your"
She went to the window and stood
looking out. "And here I sit, day
after day, like a prisoner in tower
and my page sings-that was the
beginning of it-and it will be the
end"
"No," Lucy was very serious,
''you mustn't let it be the end. You
you must open the window, Miss
Towne."
Edith came back to the table.
"Open the Window" Her breath
came fast. "Open the window. Oh,
little Lucy, how wise you are ;"
When Lucy had gone, Alice came
in and dressed Edith's hair. She
found her lady thoughtful "Alice,
what did they do with my wedding
clothes?"
eve put them all in the second
guest-suite," she said; '"some of
them we left packed in the trunks
just as they were, and some of them
are hung on racks"
s'Where is the wedding dress?"
Gin a closet in a white linen bag"
''Well, finish my hair and we will
60 and look at it,
AS they entered it, the second
guest-suite was heavy with the scent
of orange blooms. GLOW dreadful,
Alice" Edith calculated. ''Why
didn't you throw the flowers away"
"Miss Annabel wouldn't let me.
She said you might not want things
touched"
"Silly sentimentality. Edith was
impatient.
The room was in all the gloom of
drawn curtains. The dresses hung
on racks, and, encased in white
bags, gave ghostly effect. "They
are like rows of tombstones, Alice"
eyes, Miss Towne," said Alice,
dutifully.
The maid brought out the we'd
ding dress and laid it on the bed.
Edith, surveying it, was stung by
the memory of the emotions which
had swayed her when she had last
worn it. It had seemed to mock
her. She had seen her own tense
countenance in the mirror, as she
had controlled herself before Alice.
Then, when the maid had left, she
had thrown herself on the bed, and
had writhed in an agony of humilia-
ton.
And now all her anger was gone.
She didn't hate Del. She didn't hate
Lucy. She even thought of Uncle
Fred with charity. And the we'd
ding gown was, after all, robe for
princess who married king. Not
a robe for princess who loved
page. A tender smile softened her
face.
"Alice," she said, suddenly,
wasn't there little heliotrope din
ner frock among my trousseau
things?"
eyes, Miss Towne. Informal" Al
ice hunted in the third row of tomb
stones until she found it.
II want long sleeves put in it.
Will you tell Hardinger, and have
him send hat to match?"
eyes, Miss Towne."
The heliotrope frock had simple
and lovely lines. It foated in sheer
beauty from the maids hands as
she held it up. "There isn't pref
tier one in the whole lot, Miss
Edith
Edith, having dispatched the box
with a charming note to Lucy Lo-
gan, had feeling of ecstatic free
dom. All the hurt and humiliation
of the bridal episode had departed.
She didn't care what the world
thought of her. Her desertion by
Del had been material for day.
gossip-then other things had filed
the papers, had been headlined and
emphasized. And what difference
did it all make?