The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1940-02-08
Chapter 10
sJust A Lark
did il matter now?

just A Lark
WHAT did it matter now?
w The question tolled in Sues
mind all that long day; that end
less day when she paced through
her rooms feverishly or lay face
down on her bed; when she forced
herself to speak gayly to her
friends on the telephone, breaking
an engagement to lunch with Bar
bara, explaining to Pats that she
couldn't shop with her as she had
promised later in the afternoon;
when she sat at the table and for
got her untouched plate, rose and
wandered upstairs under the inn
preston she had eaten meal;
what did it matter now?
It mattered to this extent: she
was married to strangerl She had
thought she knew Bob; realized
his faults, appreciated his virtues,
respected him, trusted him, loved
him: not loved him as she had al
ways hoped to love the man she
married, but warmly, genuinely. A
simple person, the man she had
believed she knew, incapable of
the sort of deceit which had been
practiced upon her; incapable
oh, completely incapable of expos
ing her 20 the shock of this casual
discovery of Cecily-of former
marriagel
'What to do? What to do?" She
found herself whispering the
words. The sound aroused her from
a trance of thought. She looked
down at her shaking hands. They
held a pair of smart little oXfords.
"What am I doing with these?"
she wondered dazedly. Dressing,
of course; dressing to go away
somewhere. anywhere - before
Bob came home.
"A suitcase could pack suit
case with what I'd need for few
days. Chicago-that train goes at
eight-thirty; Bob might get home
before then. But l could say / was
going out to dinner-drive around
Somewhere until it was time"
She was on her feet, quivering
with the Joy of trapped creature
at the thought of escape. Then she
sank YEARLY back into her chair.
OF what use to run away? She
and Bob must talk: must plan. If
not tonight, then next week,
month from now; eventually they
must discuss this hideous thing.
Bob must explain but how
could Bob explain the uneXplain-
able; any more than she could for
give the objectionable? Or not
wasn't a question of forgiveness.
She could have forgiven the man
she thought she had married-any-
thing: but this stranger -.
She tried to call up Bob's face
before her mind: the laughing blue
eyes. the thick blond hair, the lean
jaw with its crease which in a girl
would have been q dimple.
Cecily had dimples, but not that
kind. Hers were little dents that
twinkled in and out of the fair
flesh. A silvery, starlike. twinkling
person. Cecily, for all her tall slen-
dernessl How could Bob have
loved a small black-eyed girl like
herself after Cecily?
The sweet spring afternoon
crawled by; flew by. When she re-
membered that evening would
bring Bob. the hours passed like
so many minutes. When her tired
brain tried to grapple with her
problem, the minutes were like
hours.
Bad NeWS?'
CUDDENLY there was the sound
y of rapid feet on the stairs. Bob!
Her dazed eyes went to her watch,
that dainty. ieWelled trifie Bob
had given her last Christmas. 1t
was >. it couldn't be six o'clock
already
Suel Where are you, sweet! I
got home in time for dinner after
all. drove like the devil. Sue"
He whispered her name in a terri
fed voice. Whats happened? Oh,
my God, darling, are you i'll? Have
you hurt yourself? Have you had
bad news?" He was across the
room, he was kneeling beside her
chair. his arms drawing her to-
ward him. Tell Bob, darlin'
hearth Tell your husband what's
making you look like that?"
Her long tired sigh seemed torn
out Of her body. For a moment she
leaned against him, feeling the
whole affair to have been a night
mare from which she had lust
awakened. The dear familiar pres
ence treasured her for few bliss
full seconds; the good smell of min.
gled tobacco. shaving cream and
the faint peatlike odor of his coat:
the feel of his firm cheek. the ten
der clasp of his arms.
It was Bob himself who broke
the spell. The fright he had felt at
sight of her ravaged face ierked at
his nerves.
Sue. What has happened?"
She moved away from him, back
as far as her chair and the length
OF his arms would allow.
There was a woman here to-
day, Bob. She says her name is
Cecily Meade Trenton. She saws
she was married to YOU"