The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-01-30

really a uTlliAdllA ilfd Aol n H1eaAth4 o."
that she should put on the
clothes of the man she loved and
appear in the next sequence
dressed as boy. She waited
while Ransome brought a towel
and a pair of shorts and shirt.
Now" he said, as if he were
talking to a child go into the
bathroom and dry yourself thor
oughly-rub hard-and put these
on and then III take you home
He looked at her closely: You've
never had malaria, have you?
You haven't fever now -
NO don't know why I'm
shivering. I'm not really cold"
And he thought. "A child like that
can't be trembling for any other
reason
While she was gone he went
and fetched a bottle OF brandy
and two glasses and hung up the
old raincoat and the battered hat
she had left behind And all the
time he was chuckling deep inside
himself at the spectacle.
And then he remembered John
the Baptist and the sense Of mirth
went out of him If John the Bap-
fist knew she was here he would
certainly not keep the news TO
himself. and his gossipy flute-play-
ing friends would tell it in turn
to their friends and sooner or
later every one in Ranchipur would
come to hear of 1t.
When she came out of the bath
room she was no longer shlverlng.
The tennis shirt was too large for
her. but the shorts, because he
was slim about the waist, filter
her perfectly, and she gained from
the costume a kind of smartness,
a perkiness which she had not had
in her own dowdy clothes. She
was no longer a rather frumpy
girl in a little middle-class COM
munity. She had, he saw, posi-
biities. and for moment, in his
enthusiasm. he thought, Almost
hmitless ones" Then drawing
back. he said to himself, STEADY
now steady"
He picked up the macintosh
and hat and said. And now you're
going home" But she sat down
suddenly and repeated, I'm not
going home. can't =. I'm
never going home again"
Why not -
Because l left note saying l
was going away forever. | can t
90 home now. I couldn't face
my mother after that"
He grinned and said, You ought
never to leave notes in case you
change your mind"
Don't make fun of me-
I'm not. Anyway the note
doesn't make any difference. No
body will find it until morning.
You can tear it up before anybody
else sees it,
Suddenly she began to cry, the
way she had done on the after
noon of the tennis party. L
can't" she sobbed, 81 can't go
back. I'm through with all that
| life"
The sound OF her sobbing
alarmed him until he realized that
it could not possibly reach the
house where John the Baptist slept
through all the downpour.
MY mother says ] have to
marry Harry Loder,' she sobbed,
land I won'tm
Vaguely Ransome sounded his
mind to remember which OF the
boys" was Harry Loder, and then
/ the picture came to him. Harry
Loder was the big beefy one whom,
in the rare moments when he
thought of the boys" at all, he
disliked the most. He was a bully
and drank too much.
So Harry Loder wanted to marry
her? The news astonished him
that Harry Loder with his slick
army snobbery should be willing
to marry her; and then he saw, he
thought. why it was. She was
the prettiest European woman
in Ranchipur, one of the prettiest
in India.
Then. for the first time in long
while his youthful sense of chiv-
airy came alive Once it had been
exaggerated and fantastic and got
him into all sorts of trouble, but
for long time now he had been
on his guard against it because it
always paralyzed his common
sense and made an ass of him.
There wasn't any longer any place
for chivalry in the world. 1t only
made you look a fool.
No he said, obviously you
can't marry Harry Loder, Did ne
ask you? properly, l mean"
Yes. he asked me and he told
my mother, too. That's how she
knows. Everything will be worse
than ever now"
Then, growing cautious again.
he said, There isn't anything I
can do about it. It's none of my
business
She stopped crying and looked
at him with that expression Of
determination. which had i'm
pressed him before. Yes. there
is" she said. and then. looking
away from him, IF you were only
big enough. I thought you were
when I came here.
He wanted to laugh, but he only
asked. What do you mean by
that ,"
If you'd let me stay here to-
night if they found me here
in the morning so that everybody
knew il. then Harry Loder
wouldn't want to marry me. and
my mother would have to send me
away from Ranchipur with every
body talking and gossiping Don't
YOU see Then I'd be able to get
away and have life OF my own.
I'd never come back" Then. after
a moment. she said. y don't care