Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1939-09-08
CHAPTER 10

OQAI i EN- ~
The kiss was all that Linda had an
ticipated; the sure, gentle strength
of his arm, the firm pressure
but lasting-of his lips on hers; q
kiss that might have lasted one second
or ten, for it's duration was lovely OBJ
livion.
And then Bill had said: "Do you
want me to say I'm sorry, Linda?"
And she had said:
"Sorry-why, Bill? I'm glad.
wanted you to ="
After that there was little to mai
their happiness. One date followed
another, and they went everywhere
together and did the things Linda hac
dreamed about, with each new meet
ing more ecstatically happy than the
last.
There was little time for Linda to
carry out her luncheon trysts with
Mr.. Avon (alias J. r. Blaine)-she
was too busy keeping noon dates with
Bill; on the rooftop sun deck, for
lunch together and for brief walks
about town.
She was able, however, to squeeze
in one brief meeting with her father
" adviser, in which she had told him
of her happiness.
Looks" Mr.. Avon had said, Gas
though everything is working out all
right, Ell, Linda? You're not sorry
you seized happiness while you
could?"
And then she had told him-told
him about Bill, who he was and how
fine and wonderful he was, and how
thoroughly happy he made her.
If J. r. Blaine's eyebrows had gone
up, or if he had showed any other
sign of surprise when Linda revealed
the mans identity as DIR. Bill Blaine,
Linda had not noticed it.
"But are you sure, child" Mr.. Avon
had said, "that your young doctor is
everything wonderful that you tell me
he is? Are you sure that he feels
the same way about you?"
Linda said she was sure.
Neither did Linda have time to
notice how fine and strong bond
had sprung up between Mickey and
Steve Hubbard. Nor did she realize
how frequent visitor to Linda's
home Steve had become. Linda, her.
self, wasn't home enough to notice
it.
But Mrs. Blauer had noticed it.
Linda, honey" she said one night,
as Linda was hurrying to get to jan
ices and JOS apartment before Bill
II don't know for the life
Of me why you go gallivanitng around
willy-nilly like playgirl or something
when you have something so much
more real right here at home.
cts none of my business, / know"
Mrs. Blauer went on, "but if you ask
me you're missing something. Why,
every time you are going out, there's
a real man coming here to see you,
without getting so much as howdy-
do from you. Wouldn't surprise me
if he got discouraged pretty soon and
stopped dropping in. If you ask me,
Mr.. Hubbard's worth ten of your mod
ern men; he's real and homelike and
steady"
"But Bertha" Linda interrupted.
81 haven't asked YOU"
Then, noting the hurt look which
filled Mrs. Blazers pleasant, mother
ly face, Linda added:
"But I do want and appreciate your
advice. No one ever had a truer
friend than you, Bertha" Linda
paused and smiled broadly. However
Mr.. Hubbard doesn't come to see me.
I think you're jumping to conclusions.
It's Mickey he's fond Of"
"Sure, sure" Mrs. Blauer nodded.
cts Mickey. And why in the world
did the good Lord make a girl so beau
tiful and so blind, all at once?"
Then there came the day that Lin
da returned home after work to find
Mickey and Steve again playing on
the rug in the living room; this time
with Major, the police dog, safely
chained outdoors where he could an
noy no one, except the neighborhood
cats.
This time it was no wrestling match,
but a very different game that the
little boy and the somewhat bigger
boy were playing. Mickey, a pilots