Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-12-18
Two Girls Get More
Than They Expect
For Christmas
IN TWO PARTS-PART TWO

Over her shoulder. the man smiled
thinly at Joan. in I-told- you-so.
Tired Joan thought that he need
not rub 1t in. She had only been try
ing to do what she was well paid to
do.
He did not rub it in He said to
Cecile. holding her hands tight and
looking down at the flower-face as a
man looks at something very precious
which he has not seen for long
while. You've got perfect little Sec
rotary, Cecile And because I wouldn't
let her put me out, her day has been
ruined
"Oh. Joan's wonderful. Lafe-where
have you been for six years?"
Five and half years. to be exact
In Honduras, Cecile."
But why. Lafe? missed you after,
after Sandel-"
"Cecile, I haven't come back merely
to exchange greetings. My errand is
hateful dear"
What do you mean?" she cried and
the morbidity of a few hours back
had control of her eyes, again.
Its about Sandel, dear"
But he-how could anything ever
dSdill dpouG O6AloCAs DIG OIL AASo.
Tell me-tell me quickly! Oh-don't
look at Joan. I've no hidden chapters
from her"
Couldn't you guess, Cecile?" he
asked, so gently that Joan wondered
if it could be the same tired. thin
voice.
Guess? Guess what?"
His body was never found" he re-
minded her.
"He-he is alive?" she whispered.
He gripped her hands to support her.
YES, Cecile"
LATE! If this is a hoax" she thrilled,
slumping against him.
"Cecile, I caught the first boat from
Honduras when it became absolutely
necessary for someone to tell you" he
pleaded.
She pulled away from him. She was
white and shaken.
Let me go I must have minute
or two by myself"
She rushed into the adjoining bed
room from whence at once came out
the scared Annie.
annie, run somewhere and get a
cocktail" Joan ordered.
LATE Wright paced to and fro. He
looked curiously at the bright large
litter of Christmas boxes wrapped in
blue and silver cellophane. At the
huge carton of Eastern holly.
Funny" he said, as if to himself
"When a man is here, Christmas Is
merely a rush and hustle and lot
of red berries and boresome lighted
trees on lawn, too flat a check book
and too many quarts at $50 per. But
get down in places like Dutch Guinea
or Honduras where cellophane hasn't
yet come into its own, and you miss
it more than you'd ever imagine"
Joan said, "She has merely to get a
divorce from him."
Sometimes more than divorce is
needed. Even in Hollywood, which is
all sand and blood. Nine parts sand
to one part blood"
"You sound like oldfashioned sub
titles" Joan said, rudely. HE should
have stayed dead"
HE thinks so, too" LATE Wright
surprisingly agreed" Nothing would
suit him better-or so he said. My,
YOU and I are almost like a married
couple, aren't we? The way we talk
and fight and curl our lip at each
other"
Cecile came from the bedroom.
White as the fur-edged crepe negligee
into which she had changed from
derby hat and riding boots. White
but not shaken.
I'm all right now, Lafe." She sat
steadily in the chair which he pushed
forward. "And I want to know every
thing. No, stay, JOAN"
"Why did he pretend to be drowned,
Lafe?"
ITO punish you. He meant the de-
ception to last only few weeks"
II would have given him a divorce
for the asking"
He did not want divorce. Good
lord, Cecile, what man would want
divorce from you?
"Cecile, Sandel did not plan to pre-
tend to be drowned. He was not a
yachtsman. A gale came. The yacht
went over. He went into salt bllloW.
Two Japs in small fishing boat with
no license but a goodlsh-poWereo
camera, picked him up and refused
to set him anywhere except on the
Mexican coast. Sandel was always
something of cat, you know. He says
so himself. His bad hllmor toward you
was not helped by soaked clothes. He
Jumped at the heaven sent way to
punish you for something or other"
THAT morning, we had quarreled
over you. So silly. You were never
anything but good friend to both
of us, I told him."
Never anything else" LATE Wright
said evenly. Joan knew that he lied;
naturally he had been in love with
Cecile. Oh, to be Cecile!
How could he endure to stay
away?" Cecile was shrill again. why,
Hollywood was in his bones! A mega
phone was his idea of symphony"
"He did not dare to come back. Nor
latter I ran across him six months
later in Dutch Guinea where my firm
sent me on a business trip"
"Lafe! What do you mean. Why
must you drag it all Nout, like the sus-
pense in mystery picture?"
II was yours and Sandel's best
friend. I wrote his life policy for $780,
900, you remember. And over the pro-