The Wilmington morning star., 1947-07-21


,yright. Is4S. BY Aseshs ch,iag. Monow., pi.,,;h.,
never shall. =. And yeti woulo
ike to grieve for John.
Her words seemed to him fan
%tastic. Yet he was even more star.
tied when she added, suddenly, in
ar. almost businesslike voice:
II must go to the swimming
pool"
She glided away through the
trees.
Walking stiffly, Edward went
through the open window.
Nudge looked up as Edward
came through the window with IN
seeing eyes. His face was gray
and pinched. It looked bloodless.
He did not hear the little gasp
that Nudge stifled Immediately.
Almost mechanically he walked
to a chair and sat down. Aware
Of something expected Of him. he
said:
Its cold"
Are you very cold, Edward?
Shall We-shali I--light a fire."
Nudge took a box of matches
from the mantelpiece. She knelt
Gown and set a match to the fire.
She looked cautiously sideways at
Edward. He was quite Obvious,
she thought, of everything.
She said, "a fire is nice. It
warns one. :"
How cold he looks, she thought
But it can't be as cold as that out
side. It's Henrietta! What has she
said to him?
Bring your chair nearer, Ed
ward. Come close to the fire"
WHAT"
Your chair. To the fire"
She was talking to him now,
loudly and slowly, as though to a
deaf person.
And suddenly, SO suddenly that
ner heart turned over with relief,
Edward, the real Edward, was
there again. Smiling at her gently.
Have you been talking to me,
Nudge? I'm sorry. I'm afraid l am
thinking Of something."
."Oh, it was nothing. Just the
fire"
The sticks were cracking and
some fir cones were burning with
a bright clear flame. Edward
looked at them. Pe said:
"It's a nice FIRE"
He stretched out his long thif
hands to the blaze, aware o. relief
from tension.
Nudge said, We always hao fiji
cones at Ainswick."
Il still do. A basket of them is
brought in every day and put By
the CRATE"
Edward at Ainswick. Nudge
half closed her eyes, %picturing it
Ee would sit, she thought, in the
library, on the west side of the
house. There was a magnolia tina
almost covered che window anc
which filled the room with a gold
en- green light in the afternoons
Through the other window you
looked out on the lawn and a tai
Wellingtonia stood up like a senti
mel. And to the right vas the bis
copper beech.
! Oh, Ainswick-AinsWick.
She could smell the soft air tina
drifted in from the magnoli;
which would still, in September
have some great, white, sweet
smelling, waxy flowers on it. :.
And the pine cones on the fire.
and a family musty smell from
the kind CT book that Edward wa:
sure to be reading. He woule
be sitting in the saddle-back chair
and occasionally, perhaps, hi
eyes would 60 from the book K
. the fire, and he would think, just
minute, of Henrietta.
Nudge stirred and asked:
where is Henrietta?"
"she went to the swimming
pool"
Nudge stared. Why"
Her voice, abrupt and deep
reused Edward a little.
my dear Nudge, surely yo1
knew-oh, well - guessed. Sh
knew Christow pretty well. =.
ooh, Of course, n knew that
But l don't see why she should g
I incoming off to where he was shot
That's not at al like Henrietta
She's never melodramatic."
DO any of us know what any
ore else is like? Henrietta, for ir
stance"
Nudge frowned. She said:
after all, Edward, you and
know Henrietta ell u lives"
"She has changed"
mot really. I don't think on
changes"
"Henrietta has changed"
Midge looked at him curiouslJ
More than we have, 20
and II"
"Oh, l have stood still, I kno'
that well enough. And YOU"
His eyes, suddenly focusing
looked at her where she knelt b,
the fender. It was as though n
was looking at her from a lonI
way of. taking in the square chin
the dark eyes, the resolute mouth
He said:
II wish l saw you more often
Nudge, my dear"
She smiled UP at him. She sadi
81 know. It isn't easy, thes'
Gays, to keep touch
There was a sound outside ant
Edward got up.
Lucy was right" he said. i
has been a firing day-one's frs
.en IA rr,rderl shall u