The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1943-11-01
CHAPTER FOUR

%. Would advise thorough III
vestigation of records as of Jan
uary to March 10 :" Judge
Mayfield's droning voice stopped
abruptly and he peered at his sec
rotary over his spectacles. "You
get that. Beth?" he asked gently
Beth bent her head to escape
his kindly eyes and mumbled. I'm
sorry, Judge. If you'll just 60 back
one paragraph"
The judge reached over and took
the pencil out of her hand 1t was
the third one with its point snapped
off in as many days.
whats the matter?" he asked
bluntly.
Beth smiled wanly. Il don't
know. Nothing really. haven't
been sleeping very we'll. I guess
I read too many detective stories. y
1T couldn't be that young man
of yours going off to camp"
Hes not not my =.
Beth fled. She went into her own
office and put on her coat and hat
and went out. And when she was
on the street, she didn't k n o W
where to go. She thought OF the
judges kindly face and wondered
what he would have said if she
had told him about the squirrel
cage she was in. What answer
could a stranger have given her
to the question to which she knew
no answer?
She had been over it and over it,
that look she had surprised on
Jim's face, the look on Andrea S
three nights ago. Only look. No
other sign. Not ever any other
sign. Had she imagined it and
what it might mean?
It was that which had tortured
her every moment, waking a n d
sleeping
jim had been the same as he
always was after Andrea left, and
at lunch yesterday where they al
ways lunched. He'd talked in the
same old way. treated her n e
same way.
No, nothing was changed be-
tween them. Nothing had pro-
crossed and nothing would. Why?
Because there was something
felt but unspoken between Jim and
Andrea?
Beth felt the band tighten
against her temples. II there was
some way of knowing, of ending
the torture Of what might only be
ina gination. If the time would
only come when she could 60 into
the house without dread, not to
have to avoid Andrea's questioning
gaze. If only she had the courage
to ask one or the other. But that
she lacked.
Il can't give up" she cried to
herself. Hes been my W h e
world since the first day. 1 had
no past, and my present and my
future are his
Andrea had other beaux, many
of them. Or she had had before
Dennis Archer came into her life
Thinking of Dennis Archer was
surcease. Another time, it woulc
have troubled Beth to think of Den
mis- and Andrea, for she was sure
that this attachment between the
man SO many years Andrea's Sc
NOR, wealthy and married, coulc
end only in unhappiness. She hac
told that to Andrea but once, anc
then the night that Andrea hac
come in with her eyes shining anc
SAID, I've met him, darling! He's
smooth and worldly and charming
and wonderful! He's rich, too. He's
like diamond after rhinestones
caviar after hamburgers, Paris
dresses after bargain basement
numbers, a town car after sub.
ways. I'm through with clerks AND
half-baked boys I'm never going
to live in a vine-cove1ed cottage
or cook a meal. For me, it will
be Regency house and all that
goes with it. Or maybe could
stand the other if he were in it,
And when Beth had brought her
down to earth and Andrea said.
Who is he? Who is the most at
tractlve man in Pennington, but
DENNIS Archer?" Beth had been
shocked and said, Andrea, the
Archer mills! Everybody knows
he's married.
But not living with his wife,
Andrea pointed out. Everybody
knows they're separated. It's
wonderful, Beth, and you'll adore
him, too"
How did you meet hirn?"
There was nothing improper
about it, andrea assured her. II
was raining and I was waiting fol
a street car and he drove pas
and splashed me with mud. I look
ed Mortified and so he stopped
and offered to drive me home.
said wasn't going home becaus'
you had company, so -. so hi
took me to dinner"
"Andrea Barnes!"
Andrea had laughed. BOLD? M.
sweet, girls like you and me hav'
to be bold. We don't meet tn
kind of men we want to NEE
p working in offices. Anyway, ever
woman has to go out and tax
: what she wants, or she deserve
D not to get it. Mark my words.
: Beth had not marked her word
although she remembered thei