Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-03-09
WHEN A GIRLS IN LOVE

sAgain he answered only half her
question. Then he said quickly.
what do we do now? Go to a
movie? It's a long time since I've
taken you to show"
You know you hate sitting
through them. I'll just take a
magazine and bag or lemon
drops and go to bed. And then
we'll get an early start"
"Oh, I'm getting over being
bored by the pictures" he was
very casual. I've been seeing
a few lately = the house has
been so darned empty" he added
with an appealing grin.
But Rosemary's heart kept on
giving silly little jerks of panic.
She kept her voice cool and her
smile airy and bright as she
said. teasingly. don't expect me
to believe that you went alone
to the movies. my dear parent"
LIE DRANK his coffee rapidly,
II reached for the check. said
hurriedly, "Oh. I dragged jeff
out a couple of times. Rosemary.
l wish to the Lord you'd marry
Jeff. He hangs around my neck
when you're gone like funeral
wreath. u
But - good heavens, JEFF
doesn't want me. He isn't in
love with me. I've known him
forever. He's just-Jeff.'
HIM" he jerked his mouth
one sidedly, sometimes / wonder
if you really are bright, young
woman"
But somehow, as she followed
him out into the star-dizzy
southern night, she knew this
badinage for what 1t was. He
was keeping something from her
and the fact that it hurt was of
course absurd and selfish. Mere
ly because he had been content
for so many years TO be alone
with her, content with the sea
and the sun and their few pleas
ant friends, it did not follow that
he was going to keep himself
remote and solitary forever"
He had, so she knew. under
his sober surface, a heart as
young as Spring. a nature al
most naively simple. Born to
fortune, he ignored money. ac-
cepted what it earned for him
and if business recessions or
strikes decreased his income, he
accepted what was left and did
not fret.
He had built UP a business that
paid fairly well but he did not
let it enslave him. There was so
little that he wanted. beside
peace and freedom te -iire as he
liked-and this of all his traits
had been most maddening TO
pretty Victoria Mallard.
Victoria had not been able to
stand his revulsion from the
chaos and confusion of war. She
had been born on bright social
level and she wanted to live
there And Emory. when she re-
volted against his mode of life.
had let her go without rancor,
aware of an incompatibility he
was powerless to change.
But 1t did not follow. Rose
mary was telling herself, as
they sat through the chickering's
of a mediocre picture. that her
father was going to be content
with a quiet life forever. And
here was where panic obtruded
itself. For young as she was,
she was wise enough to know
that she had rooted herself too
deeply in her fathers life. Any
change, even in his thinking, was
going tn-he- wrench for her
tear something delicate and cher
ished That vas wrong of course
her mother had spent hours
telling her how wrong it was.
It's morbid. actually, Rose
many. Like these things you
read in books. The psychologists
have long names for it and I'm
not bright enough to Know them,
but l can sense the falseness of
it. You're submerging yourself.
You're ceasing TO be person,
you're Just a shadow of Emory.
seen in a mirror. And inevitably
there is bound to come a day
he'll meet someone-the wrong
person, very likely because he
has shut himself away from all
the right people. That's what I'm
trying to protect you against
that shock. That's why l want
you to have a life of your own"
A ND the tragic thing was that
~ she didn't want any life of
her own. She liked things as
they were and every visit to her