The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-11-06

Chapter 10
Sweet And Trusting
THERE'S not another girl?" For
\ an instant the sweetness de-
serted Iris voice, and it was mere
1y sharp and little shrill.
Tim shook his head. eff you
mean by that am / in love with
another girl, no. Not likely, after
the jolt you gave me last summer.
There is, however. a mighty good
friend of mine"
feminine gender?"
Its Buff Carroll, the daughter
Of the cartoonist." In few words
he explained his renting the ranch,
his motor accident, Bluffs being in
Boulder, "to take some courses at
the University" Seeing incredibly
deepen in her eyes, he. went on:
az give you my word there's
never been word of 1ove-making
between us. In fact, we quarreled
rather sharply this very afternoon.
She's very different from you, Iris.
Small and self-reliant, and know
ing her own mind on every sub
ject."
Meaning I'm helpless, and don't
know my own mind? I suppose
you're right, Tim dear. Most femi-
nine women are more or less de-
pendent upon men. .. you'll
never know what courage it took
to-to-well, I don't want to keep
reminding you of it but after all
I did get the money together and
buy back your land so you and
George I suppose George hates
me, too?"
Don't talk like that" he begged.
'He doesn't hate you, nor do I. !
told you-Tm not sure just how I
feel. You'll have to give me time to
get my bearings. This all came out
of clear sky for me, you know,
while all the time you were plan
ming" He stopped abruptly. The
thought of Iris, sweet, helpless Iris
actually planning to make what
restoration she could, brought a
lump into his throat.
Somehow he got away without
taking her into his arms, though
she came close to him when they
said goodby, not actually offering
her mouth, but fitting her head in
the provocative way he remem-
bered.
Curiously enough his first
thought the next morning was Of
Buff. He had an acute desire to
tell her what Iris had done to win
for Iris the girls approval. Provi-
dentially, he thought, George was
out of town for a few days, there
fore the news could be told first of
all to Buff.
And over one of Webby's most
delicious lunches he tried to ex-
plain.
"She's a trusting, innocent sort
of girl it's almost made her
i'll all these Notwithstanding that
she's been the unconscious partner
to a fraud, mean. She"
Buff, waiting for him to 60 on
and seeing that he was unable to,
calculated politely, "Yes?" Some
thing in the crisp monosyllable
made Tim redden. It was as if
child had called the attention of an
adult to a basin of water, pro-
claiming it the ocean. Amused
agreement seemed Bluffs sole COM
ment on the story of Iris'S nobility.
Nothing could have strength
ened IriS'S cause more greatly at
the moment. Who was this child of
twenty that she could doubt Tins
judgment upon the facts? True. he
had been fooled-badly fooled last
summer; but much of his self-re-
spect had been restored by Iris's
declaration that it was Latshaw.
the plot. Tim had barely laid eyes
on the other man. It was no dis
credit to him that he had not been
on the defensive against a danger
he could not know existed!
Sick With Misery
IVES" he said firmly. "And you
L needn't look like that either,
Buff. It's perfectly plain what
you're thinking; that Iris tricked
me once and will try 1t again. But
] ask you to look at the facts. She
did buy back those mines and all
the land around them, she has
nothing whatever to gain by re-
turning. Even with the money Mes
bit now has for me, I'm not many
Jumps from actual poverty. On the
other hand, il took a lot of moral
courage to come back and face the
town, after all the papers said
about her"
did she see the papers?" Buff
wanted to know. 81 understood she
was many miles from Colorado be-
for the-the scheme in which
she was an innocent participant
was made public. Also she went
with this man Latshaw, didn't she?
I'm not a stickler for convention,
Tim. You ought to know that! But
surely q girl doesn't run away with
a man-they drove in his car,
didn't they?-and not realize it
was a trife unusual, to say the
least"
"She was so sick with misery
when she found what LatShaw had
done, that she didn't stop to think
Of anything but getting away. She
she wanted me to hate her, so
she left that note. She felt it was
the only way TOTO help me; just
70 take herself out of my life and
let me think the worst of her"