Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-02-15
CHAPTER Nv

Frances, knocked on the door. When
Frances came in from work and the
maid said she had not seen Eliza
beth, Frances came up to her room.
Elizabeth did not hear the knock, so
Frances opened the door, saying,
Elizabeth, are you here?' and
then, why, what's the trouble?"
She switched on the light and ran
to the bed
Elizabeth managed to say, please
leave me alone Looking around
in establishment, Frances caught
sight of the telegram where it had
blown into a corner. She picked it
up. "Oh, my dear" she gasped.
ooh my dear" After a minute in
which she could not say anything
else, she asked, do you want me
to call your aunt?"
mol" cried Elizabeth. please
60 out. Please just let me alone"
Frances hesitated, but being
sensible girl she only said, You're
going to catch flu in this cold room,"
and brought blanket from the clos
ct to throw over Elizabeth's tense
body, and went out.
Elizabeth did not call up anybody
that night, not even her Aunt Grace,
an omission which Aunt Grace new
er forgave her. For weeks after
ward Aunt Grace could not think Of
this without exclaiming, "But was
just like a mother to the poor grill
She needed me. And just when she
needed me most, she didn't call
me-" Aunt Grace loved to hover
over people in distress. She could
well believe that her dear niece had
been grieved when she was told Of
her husbands death, but she was
always sure this grief would have
been lessened if she herself had only
been around to offer sympathy and
a nice cup of tea.
Elizabeth had no use for her aunt's
ministrations. She did not think of
wanting anybody. Later, she was
able to appreciate her friends kind
ness in leaving her alone. But that
night she was not capable of appre-
ciating anything but the fact that
she was alone and would remain so.
Then, slowly, she began remember
ing everything about him, not mere
ly his strength and humor and gen.
tleness, but the tiniest details of his
appearance, little unimportant
words he had spoken to her, the way
his eyes would catch hers across
crowded room and make her feel
warm with his love. She remem-
bered his splendid mind, the energy
with which he went to work-why
should the world want to destroy
man who had no purpose but to con-
tribute to its happiness?-and more
than that, his goodness, his large toll
erance-"Oh, Elizabeth, why get so
bothered about it? Who are we to
think anybody different from our
selves is wrong?"-and for herself.
more even than all of these, their
exquisite sense of unity. Elizabeth,
I couldn't say this to anybody but
you, but you'll understand. :"
She had had so much with him.
And yet she had had so little of it.
Two years ago she had not known
Arthur existed, and now she had lost
him.
Her thoughts went back to the be-
ginning. If she had only known him
longer! She might have, if she had
stayed in Tulsa, for Arthur had lived
there several years before she met
him. But her aunt and uncle had
deprived her of those years by send
ing her away to school, though of
course they had not known they we're
depriving her of anything and she
had not known it either. She liked
going to school much better than
staying at home with them, for even
in her early childhood she had COM
pretended that though they had a
strong sense of duty they really did
not know what to do with her. After
fifteen years of childless marriage
they had hardly been prepared to
welcome an orphaned baby left on
their hands. Luckily her fathers life
insurance prevented her being
financial burden. So they provided
her with competent nurse until she
was old enough to go to boarding
school, and in the summers there
were always camps and other su-
pervised vacations. 1t had all
seemed a matter of course to her
until the summer after her first
year at college. She was spending
few weeks with her uncle and aunt
before the date of an educational
trip to Canada with a group of COL
Iege girls, and one day she went to
swim at the country club and met
Arthur.
She went swimming alone, expect
ing that she would meet some &C.
quaintance at the club, which was
always full of people on Saturday
afternoons. She was practicing a
swan dive; she had already gone
through it several times, but she
liked to repeat it-standing poised in
the sun high above the green stretch
of water, the spring. the swift