The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-09-06
CHAPTER ii

"Fine, Kennedy" said Spratt.
"How's the baby?"
"All right again. Just a cold.
Nothing to worry about. You all
right, Mrs. Herlong?"
, Never BETTER" answered Eliza
beth, and started the car again. She
drove into the lot, turned to the
left and went along a street of bum
galows, each occupied by suite OF
offices, until she came to the one
with '4R. Spratt Herlong" printed on
the door. Spratt got out, and stand
ing on the gravel drive he turned
back to look at her as she sat be-
hind the wheel. She saw his eyes
going over her, appreciatively.
Spratt had gray eyes, cold as fog
until they looked at something that
stirred a luminous warmth within
them when they had the gentle
grayness of olive leaves. Spratt
looked over the glistening car and
over Elizabeth, trim and alert be-
hind the wheel in her dark green
autumn dress and mink jacket. He
looked at her well-brushed hair, her
face, lean and clean-cut with its
healthy skin, her still excellent fig
ure, her hands in brown leather
gloves resting competently on the
wheel. Spratt smiled, taking her in
with the same comprehensive grasp
Of detail that enabled him to spot
one incongruous cigarette box in a
studio set containing a hundred
items. He nodded with satisfied
appraisal.
mot bad," he observed, "for a
little girl from Tulsa, Oklahoma"
Elizabeth laughed at him. Are
you coming home for dinner?"
~ certainly am. Why the query?"
"It may be pretty noisy. Dick
and Cherry are having a couple of
youngsters in"
What on earth are you feeding
them WITH"
'I was very lucky. / got some
short-ribs of beef. And shrimps to
start with"
Better than anything could get
at the commissary. I'll be there.
If Kessler turns up with an idea
worth talking about, may be bit
late"
"All right. But I'll have to feed
the children Wen start at seven
thirty whether you're there or not.
How's that?"
"Okay. I'll have to go in now"
He waved her good-by. Elizabeth
watched him until he went into his
bungalow, then turning the car
around she went back through the
gate and started toward the canyon
pass that would lead her home to
Beverly Hills.
Elizabeth had a high opinion of
marriage, because it was an institu-
tion in which she had found a great
deal of happiness. She had been
married twice, the first marriage
joyous but brief, for it had been
ended in 1913 by shell at Chateau
Thierry. Strange to remember now
that she had thought her life was
over, for she was only twenty when
it happened, and nobody could have
told her she was going to meet
Spratt. She had had no children by
her first husband and there was
nothing concrete in her present life
to remind her of him. But it was
her memory of Chateau-Thierry that
made her more frightened than
Spratt when they spoke of their SON S
approaching military age. Spratt
loved Dick as much as she did, but
he had not had a personal expert
ence of the price of war. Though
Spratt was an eminently practical
man, his mind simply did not ac-
cept the possibility that Dick could
be killed. Her mind did accept it,
because she had been through it once
and knew it could happen. But she
tried sincerely not to think about it,
and for the most part she succeeded.
Dick would inevitably be eighteen;
what took place after that was up to
him and his country. Horrible as it
was, this war was nevertheless a
battle against evil that must be
stopped or it would make the world
unfit for Dick to live in. There
was no use letting herself get useless
and shaky with dread. II won't
have to face it for nearly year"
Elizabeth said to herself for the
thousandth time. Anything can
happen before then" So she let it
60. Dick was still seventeen, and
she had everything she had ever
wanted-a congenial marriage, three
children, and days full of worthwhile
occupation. 'It's good life," she
thought as she turned into the can
yon road and the fragrance of sage
blew up to her from the glens. "A
very good life. I like it.
In the driveway she paused to give
some directions to the gardener. Her
youngest, Brian, aged eleven, ap-
peared with his bicycle. She called
to him.
"Where are you going, Brian?"
"Scout meeting" He looked up
and down the street. "Peter's sup
posed to come by and go with me.
/ said I'd wait in front for him. He
ought to be here now"
"All right" She nearly added,
BE careful of the traffic." but
stopped herself. Brian was as ex-
pert with a bicycle as she with a
car. He had never got himself hurt
riding, and there was no sense in
being overly fussy with him. From
scanning the street he. turned to look