Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-05-31

earnestness upon her face
since he had heard her voice, since the
announcement Of her remarriage had
lifted from his conscience the burden
of moral responsibility and from his
scale of living the very lettering obi
CATION OF mounting alimony. At the
news that she was on the line his
spirits sank. Had this second marriage
of hers broken? Was she back on his
hands again?
But no. 1t was not that
You mustn't think me silly. I'm sorry
to be worrying you. I know how busy
you are: But I thought you'd want to
know. It's about old Woolley. He's
getting old, 10 is old even for a poodle
He's very rheumatic. He must be in
pain half the time 1t isn't kind keep
ing him alive. The vets coming round
this morning. I thought you'd like to
know; I wondered-you were so fond
of him, perhaps you might want to
say goodbye to him."
| She spoke in that quick, breathless,
staccato fashion that had been one OF
her first attractions for him, that
later had been one of the traits in her
that had exasperated him the most.
will you never come to the point?"
he had thought as she had rushed
sentence after sentence against the
circumference of her subject. Even now
after all these years, he felt his i'm
patience rise as the short sentences
ratified one upon the other:
THE vet won't be coming round till
IL live quite close. University Man
sions. Just off the Edgware Road. 1t
wouldn't take you twenty minutes"
The sentences clattered on. But he
was scarcely listening. Woolley, the alb
surd black ball. that they had bought
on the afternoon of their engagement.
that they had named after the Kent
cricketer because that morning Woolley
had made a century at Lords. Woolley
the SMUGGLING puppy that had vel
from his office. Woolley the proud.
handsome dog that had bounded
ahead OF their walks over the heath.
He had not seen Woolley for seven
years he had pictured him still. as the
proud high-stepping dog Woolley ot ola
1t was like the sudden opening of a
portfolio on a windy day. I'll be round
at once" he said.
University Mansions was designated
in the postal record as w. l. large
red brick block of flats, it had been
described as the acme Of modern COM
fort" when its gables of Edwardian
gothic rose over the Praed Street
reaches on the Edgware Road. Before
the war it had enjoyed brief season
of fashionable patronage, but now in
an age of air-conditioning and cen
trail heat, it was clearly about to quail
fy for the status of tenement.
Osborne had not seen Molly for seven
years. What, he wondered did she
look like now. 1t was with certain
, trepidation that he wondered that,
Would the Molly Of today az, pear ar TO s, the
relation, that this deteriorating block
! of flats bore to the trim Victorian cot
tage on the edge of the Heath beyond
, the Vale of Health where they had
begun thirteen years ago the honey.
She had been little and dark and
plump with ragamuffin ways. Had she
grown blowsy, fat, ill-kemptP
He was afraid of that. but he need
not have been. In long holland smock:
with white cuffs and collar and small
bow tie, she had on this hot June
morning the unexpectedly dewey fresh
lane. AS she took his hand, her scent.
blend of tuberose: that had once
! thrilled him So and later he had con-
demned as "Oriental" struck upon. his
senses like a phrase of dance music. -,
1T is nice of you. I'm afraid he'll
But he will be pleased: Woolley,"-she
called out, Look who's come to see
us Twoodie."
The use of that old pet name. so
familiar once, long buried now among
the memories rarely recalled OF that
courtship period, would have struck VI
brations from a chord nostalgia senti,
ment, had not another chord qiivered
more insistently.
shaken the thick mass upon the car
pet: a bark had come from It,; gro
tesque object struggled to its Feet
shuffled across the carpet, back leg
trailing, trying to wriggle its hind quar-:
tiers to wag its tail. The hair that fell
over the eyes was gray and Straggly;
the center Of the back was bald. There
was no line Of waist. Nothing remained
of the dog that he remembered except
a trick Of lifting the upper lip over
the teeth, in a kind of laugh. Nothing
but that remained. the laugh and the
culver Of recollection that had shaken
the mass Of flesh. at the sound Of his
"Woolley nv poor woolley." There
was a pouffe beside the fireplace.
Seated there he drew the dogs head
upon his knees. drawing his hands
slowly over the heavy head unable to
trust himself to speak, as Molly's voice
rushed on.
"A dog never forgets. at least poodle
doesn't. He'd always go back to his
first master: no matter how long after.
You saw how he looked up when I
said said .Twoodie' Do you rememner my
and his dachshund?"
CTo Be Continued
HAvRE-Dr. George W. Stewart, ma
tionally known physicist Of the Univer-