The daily monitor. (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1940-1942, 1941-01-09

an enormous bite of his toast,
shook his head sadly. Eyes, sir,
II I had Il to do over again, I'd
insist on q wife with money"
1--WE got money" said Martha.
Forty dollars every Saturday.
And might get a raise"
WELL" said Bill, II won't d.
vorce you. If you're sure about
that raise"
Martha worked for Air Trans
port, the sprawling factor on
the edge of town where the great
silver airliners were built. They
were switching to bomhers, now.
She was Paul's secretary. Paul
was assistant to the chief engi-
neer. Paul gave her dictation
full of words like "propulsive
efficiency" and "airfoil boun-
Diary layer" and transitional
velocity" But these days he
never stopped in the middle of q
sentence to say "Your hairs fire
in the sun, honey"
And he never kissed her, be-
hind the Ale. cases, any more
either. All that was part of the
past. It had ended the night
he said, Martha, this mug is my
pal from school. He used to
smoke all my cigarets, wear my
shirts, spend my money"
Martha was never to forget
the moment she first looked up
at Pauls old college chum. Some
thing happened that never hap
pened before in all the months
of wearing Paul's ring-in all
the hours of laughing with Paul,
of saying, "Quit making love
to me. This Is office hours!"
The bluest eyes in the world
looked down into her own
brown ones, and shiver coursed
through her. A shiver that was
cold and yet somehow warm.
Her smile faded, her breath
caught, her heart began q fright
ened pounding. The tall man
with the lean brown T q c e
couldn't seem to tear his eyes
away.
Then he said, paul, I never
borrowed your girls before. But
there's always a first time"
Hey, wait a minute! We're
engaged"
But in the end, when Paul
saw how it was-and in two
weeks, even a blind man could
have seen it-he was awfully
decent. He stood in his office,
turning the ring over and over
in his fingers. That's all right,
Martha" he said tonelessly. /
guess you couldn't help it. /
guess 1t just-just@"
Her cheeks were hot, and her
lips quivered. Paul, I'd give
anything in the world not to be
doing this to you. But Bill and
L"
It was as If all the months be-
fore had never happened. AS
IL she'd never planned to marry
Paul. as If the girl who'd laugh
ed with Paul and worked with
him and kissed him had been
q different girl from the Martha
Bill Marshall had pulled into
his arms last night.
II know l can't hold a candle
to Paul." Bill said, II don't
make as much money, never
will. haven't his brains, and
and he saw you first. But, darling,
I love you so. From the first
moment l saw you, I knew"
II knew, too" she whispered.
So now she told Paul steadily,
"Bill and I are going to be mar
ried right away. But, Paul, can't
cant the three of us still be
friends?"
yeah" he said oddly. paul,
the guy who brought you to-
gether. Good old Paul. You'll
teach all your kids to call me
Uncle" His lips twisted. "Sure,
we can still be friends"
Paul was best man at the we'd
ding in the parlor of the minis
ter, that Saturday night they'd
driven across the state line. Paul
brought them the absurd square
dishes with the yellow daisies
of which they were eating
breakfast, this minute. Paul and
Suzanne tore around getting the
gas and lights turned on in the
apartment before they came
home from the week-e END honey
moon, and Paul helped Suzanne
broil the steaks for their COM
ing-home dinner.
Martha had thought, then, that
maybe Paul hadn't minded so
much after all. He'd found SUI
zanne quickly enough. But as
the blond girl explained later,
"I've known Paul always. We