Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-07-11

dancer four years older than himself.
She had had the odd name of Kitty
Brawle, and he had soon found that
her surname had been symbolic
He had thought her a sweet simple
little thing, and by no means clever
Yet how very sour and crafty she
had turned out to be, and how soon
she had hated the life for which she
had said she longed-that of the good
little wife who makes a comfortable
home for lover-husband.
Kitty had haunted him ever since
he had arrived here yesterday. OF
course he knew why. 1t was because
he had not been back to Garrick House
since they had parted-he had little
thought, then, for ever.
And now he remembered the horrible
evening when he had come home here,
a few months after their marriage,
and found her Keeling drunk. The next
day had taken place the only violent
scene he had ever allowed himself to
have with her. She had stood up to
him, telling him for once the truth,
that she could not stand a life that
was so duly respectable and, above all,
without money to burn.
So she had gone back to the provin-
cial theatrical troupe which called it
self the jolly Companions. From then
on she had continually asked him for
money, and he had continually given
it to her
What relief it had been when, III
the August of 1889, the jolly Compan-
ions had accepted an offer to tour in
South Africa! He was glad, now, that
he had given Kitty hundred pounds
from the savings which had been 60
ing to buy him plane; glad, too, that
the day the company had sailed, il
the second week of the war, they had
met once more, and parted friends.
A fortnight later had come the Of
fetal intimation that the boat on which
his wife had sailed was supposed to
have been torpedoed, and in any case
had been sunk without trace" For
a while her dreadful end had haunted
him, she had been a delicate, cling!ng
little thlng-a coward, too. But even
then he had known how intolerable a
burden fate, SO seldom kind to men,
had lifted from his young shoulders.
The all clear" moaned through the
air, and an uncanny stiffness again
took possession OF the vast city. So
Jock, with a sudden tightening OF the
spirit, turned away from the window
But in the blackness, he smiled grim
ly. He knew the raiders ways. They
would soon be back! Indeed he must
hurry to the nearest restaurant which
still remained open at night, for when
the sirens sounded, most OF them shut
their doors, and he now felt what, to
himself, he called ridiculously hungry.
He had been too excited, too-too
hungry for her, to want any OF the
good lunch which had been served in
Elsie'S luxurious home in GroSvenor
Square. While the others, tomorrow's
three bridesmaids and three grooms-
men, had hurried off talking and
laughing to the dining room, they two
had managed to slip away, and, when
alone in little room at the back OF
the big house, they had fallen into
each others arms and kissed and
kissed and kissed.
AS the SAVIOR of those kisses came
back, the coming night seemed to
stretch long and bleak before him,
and he thanked God, for the first
time, that her father was rich man,
and had had the good sense to have
had made deep safe shelter, long
before Jerry had taken to dropping
bombs over London.
Hark! The sirens which grumblers
called the Banshees' warning" had
started once more their long drawn-ou
wall. But he, Jock Benson, was too
hungry by now to allow a warning
to stand in the way Of his getting
something to eat. There was the Char
ing Gross hotel close by. He could get
in there. for he knew the doorkeeper.
Again he struck q match, and shield
ed the tiny flame with his hand. It
Lit up his flying Kit lying on an easy
chair, and he told himself he might