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L 1 4 i.- i. 1 r. r s T f f 1 i 1 1 GREEN G R RE E EN H EYE EYES EYES S r I L I 1 t y by t g e i L T AMBERT A with the bronze of a long Jong sea voyage still on his face came to a aI standstill as he reach reached d the top of the the I stairs The upper floor of the cafe was half filled but he e began a patient scrutiny o of the faces at the He mis tables misled ed the themen th the theold 0 old men and the he young ignored the el elderly erly ladies and the waitresses His Bis gaze leaped from one table to another then then ofa of ofa ofa a sudden At last Jast said Lambert Lambert He threaded a path between tables and chairs until he reached the table where a haired dark-haired slender girl of five-and- five twenty was glancing up from her meal There was a flash of recognition in her gray gray eyes eyes a quiver on her lips and a tiny shrinking from him as he held out his bis hand band Ive been looking all o over London for you rou Marian 1 said Lambert who had bad noticed noticed noticed no no- nothing unusual in her manner and was Vas cheerfully content that she smiled and gave him her hand I tracked you through an old acquaintance of ours at atthe atthe atthe the finish she said she often saw you having tea here But no one else seems to know what has been happening to you these l last st two or three years To finish abruptly at that remark was to ask the question almost pointblank But the girl with that nervous quiver still touching her lips hesitated an instant and then evaded it it No o one knows very much about yourself yourself your your- self either for nearly four years rears she countered lightly Youre been out of reach of civilization most of the time hav haven't nt you He lIe laughed the admission His firm were big people in horticulture and he had bad been exploring the South Seas for new or rare exotics I came back last week said Lambert Its a fact that I was outside the world at one time for ten consecutive months They dont don't have daily posts nor newspapers in inthe the Crozets It was after I left the Crozets that I first h heard ard h how w my own little world had changed Angelica dead and my mother gone to South Amer Amer- ica I couldn't believe that little Angelica was gone when the last time I saw hershe hershe her hershe she There was pity in the gray eyes of the girl as he broke off and steeled himself against the anguish that brought a sudden quaver qua to his voice Angelica had been his bis sister and he be had come near to worshiping her Tier Her d death ath was like a part of himself dying Angelica was wonderful wasn't she be he added softly at last last with Marian keeping keeping keeping keep keep- ing that compassionate silence One of ot those those- creatures too bright and good for natures human daily food There was something ethereal a about bout her she seemed to live Ine with her head in the skies and only her feet on earth I felt that even when she was alive r-i r Now w that she is dead dea I 1 hardly baldly b believe lieve she was ever mortal But it has changed my own wn life ife pretty thoroughly especially with my mother now settled settle in n South America The end of the theold theold theold old order of things Marian Here is the beginning of the new Where 7 I IT SAID here In this tearoom if you JOU J- J insist on being so painfully literal His own lighter manner had answered the levity of her interruption Shall I beat about the bush Marian l You were never ne a girl who evaded the truth Must I remind you in pretty pretty words that you were my pal while you were Angelicas Angelica's and that our our friendship friendship friendship- The voice trailed off into a II questioning silence Ivor or Stop She had bad made a gesture as if she flinched from the unspoken avowal For Jor pity's sake dont don't go on You dont don't understand Dont understand what He glanced at her hand and was frankly 1 i sled We were were ere pals then lets let's be satisfied by rememberIng that she said almost curtly But the white of her lips J betrayed her making mockery of her affected af affected af af- indifference He bent forward with the big room around them now now becoming a wilderness of empty chairs Im IU not satisfied with old memories Marian he whispered passionately And AnI its it's impo impossible sible to pretend Ive I've not said everything thing that needs saying already Why should I search London for you you if it it S wasn't that I want you Why are you youa s a afraid raid She flashed a denial But you jou are fire afraid Marian he be cried hotly Youre fencing with me now or with Jo love itself And not only now but butt t It it these last last two tO youve you've you n been heen doing years When I 1 went out the South Seas Seas beas three years years ago it was almost understood that you rou would marry me when when I I came back For a It year you jou ou wrote to td me whenever I could be lip found Then your letters stopped and nd you IOU di disappeared lI Something happened she said dully dropping her ejes eyes beneath his gaze Something that changed everything Something Something Something Some Some- thing that means we are best apart you and I. I v Ah Something that happened during durin the two years jears when not even your old friends knew where you were T WAS a challenge tl that at brought a 4 sparkling spar spar- L I IT kling resentment into her eyes On the theS S brink brink of or a retort she hesitated for a single instant Then she shrugged her shoulders Yes she confessed No one knows where I was during those two years No Noone Noone one ever p will know v it g Im I'm going j now h- h Ivor hr r Ive I've told you yuu that we are best apart apat Good Goodby But he hun hung buns at her her aide followed her into o the street kept a dogged escort until die the he left the quiet suburban station as darkness dark dark- ness Hess was vas taking the color out of the world and only the red west remained Ive searched for a week eek for you S Marian he said almost menacingly when the the sound of their footsteps was as hush hushed d b by the common over which they were walking Ill not be shaken off now that Ive I've found you Will you marry me when I tell you yon that I Ive I've been working and living for lor this this moment Id Id I'd be making a fool of of words if I 1 just told yOU you that I love YOU you Youre You're this m much ch to me Marian that yo you blot out the rest of the world The craving for you all these ears Ive I've been away hasn't b been een love Its It's been my very self body a and d soul And you loved me How flow could I promise to marry you when two 1 years of my life are arc a blank to you 1 she said Ill marry you Ivor if you ask it ft But never till the very ery end will I tell feU you where I was or what I was doing those lost two years Would you marry me with that unexplained unexplained unexplained un un- un- un explained gap in my my life Yes Id I'd marry you no matter what the two two years hide he declared in a savage abandon of his reason to his lifa lis mad craving for her You promise that It is your word of honor to me me Ivor You'll never ask me where I was nor whom I I lived with nor nor anything that happened You'll think of me as if the two years jears had never been The two 1 years never happened he he vowed with his arms round her and his his breath upon her brow You are the girl who loved loed me before I 1 left England two two years rears ago Just the same girl and not not nota a day older Whatever happened in the lost years rears I forgive Forgive she breathed But his lips were upon her own crushing crushing crush crush- ing out speech until the lo long g moment of ecstasy was gone Then as she released herself with a tremulous smile the straining tension slackened He knew that he possessed possessed pos pos- her that she sM would mar marry him that he lie had won He felt dimly afraid like one who starts at a a. shadow Love Lote which had played the laughing Cupid a moment ago go loomed up vaguely as a possible monster a devourer a pitiless tormentor I IT TT T WAS VAS an article of their betrothal that the unexplained gap In her life should never neter be spoken of Yet it became an in in- visible something that made a third party with them when they were alone together It flick flickered red and danced and made its mute mockery of their vows But it was always a silence It was at the altar with them like some som imp of evil when they were made made man and wife That blank that nothingness that two years of life locked a away ay in th the womans woman's heart It became by slow de grees more real to him than Marian her her- self It obsessed him bringing the sweat of pain to his brow when he very tery was fool enough to 1 let et his imagination chase after It tIt b t bIf If It he could have loved Marian less the pain would have tormented him less Cankerous Can Can kerous jealousy may at least be cured b by y cutting utting away the love lote it feeds upon But he could not free him himself self of his love for her Despite himself she held him The very ery gentleness with which she tried to compensate him for the wound she knew he suffered made her doubly and trebly dear to him Her womanly beauty bewitched him afresh the wholesome sweetness of her care for him made him Mm wince with pain pam afresh h. If he could have believed that the whole truth about Marian Marina was all that he be needed to tb give him back his peace of mind he be might have broken his promise to her by b y questioning her But he was afraid If the lost two years contained nothing abhorrent abhorrent abhorrent abhor abhor- rent Marian would surely have hate explained them Yet the tiny element of doubt was his tiny meed of comfort his one resource when the leaping imagination of his brain brought him near to madness He became more and more silent sitting for minutes together with his half-closed half eyes intent upon her face She had begged that she might be to him just the girl she had been when he left England almost four years before She had exacted his promise that he would not ask where she had bad spent those years years nor nor with whom she had spent them With whom He felt his nerves drawing taut and bit his lips lipsto to keep himself from crying out Love that could hate bate hate which could love He worshiped her for the speaking tenderness of her gray eyes then asked himself what other man had sat and gazed gazel at her in rapt delight as he did now He felt the soft caress of her hand upon his shoulder and thrilled to feel it then he flinched and shook it from him knowing that some-other some man had shared that same rapture Where was he be now that now that other man L Lambert pictured him as some swaggering gallant who had turned the girls girl's bead head la laughed 8 at t her er trust in him and had left lef her How far had bad Marian Marina herself forgotten him im Lambert lay sometimes and listened to her regular breathing was she dreaming perhaps s. s of him N NAND A AND ND from that r Lambert ambert arrived gradually gradually ally at a certainty which was still no nomore nomore nomore more than imagination n a wearied suspicion which must pin itself to something definite at last He knew that he be himself was was no nomore nomore nomore more than a puppet in her life a safe sate and dependable husband who served his purpose in her life now that the wild glamour of romance had bad faded out of it He held but the half hall of her that other half had been spent when she came back hack to life again after the two lost years He began to treat her with a 4 scornful coldness which left her pitifully eager to double her lore ve for him and her care of him im so that she might repair the breach which was growing between them And at Ja last t. t in a mood which he mistook for tor calm deliberation deliberation but which was actually the desperation despera despera- desperation tion to escape from himself he decided to leave her He wondered vaguely whether she guessed It l seemed stran strange e that she should keep 1 ler er two warm hands so lug upon his bis shoulders when sha gave e him bins farewell 1 rr 7 Y i P 1 m I b r f 1 5 r Y fd li 5 5 1 sL t r i at l r t cI Y li r s I r f i n r r i f d t try r f j r I 1 r 1 t Td t y F. F rf t i V r t t v v b r r r p 4 J R f 4 t a i ii i a ikc A r 5 J r f S t I If p j 1 L c f 1 j i I J i 1 I 11 i iv 1 t r t Fn RJ t 7 r. r d dat v f K r r f at 1 t i r. r l J P 1 ii 1 tr l yi Tr J. J i Fi t S Y 7 t that list morning of his decision He looked down into her shining g ey eyes s they begged him to believe in her to trust her to take her love again It was Marian Marfan herself who pressed the long kiss which changed 11 a simple simple simple sim sim- parting into a new pledge of passionate love Lambert rt called to see his lawyer and was surprised that the matter could be arranged so easily supposing that Marian l herself was a consenting party A separation by mutual consent yes Marian could hardly refuse that when it was her own silence that had damned their marriage And Lambert Lambert Lambert Lam Lam- bert would be generous to her splendidly generous In his disordered mind he found himself anxious to be lavishly generous generous generous' in inthe inthe inthe the settlement so that she might know the measure of his love for her Every man knows that there there- are odd moments in his life when he forgets the maxims of honor which ordinarily bind S him As if honor itself has its blind spot Thus Lambert acted the cad that afternoon after after- noon with a curious detached inclination to be deliberately caddish He saw Marian by chance ih in the West End And he followed her She came from a big shop and hired a a.- a. taxi from a rank in the center of the road load Lambert in that s same me deliberate intention to act outside his normal self instantly hired the next taxi and told toM the man to folIo follow Marians They reached a northwestern tern suburb before before before be be- fore Marians Marian's taxi stopped Lambert waited and watched her from the window of his las own cab lIe He noted the house she entered then he paid pairl his man and kept a tireless watch upon the house until Marian l came away and drove home again L LA T AMBERT knocked at the door of the house knowing that the secret of the lost Jost two years was in some way hidden behind be hind it He had never promised Marian that he would not try to discover her past The only promise actually given ghen was that he should ask ask Marian no question question concerning it On this day with their sel separation arati n imminent imminent imminent im im- he was as surely right in seeking out the truth for himself The door was opened by a tall tall weak weak- faced woman whose countenance and voice and manner were a meek complaint against a world that was too rapid for tor her Lambert Lambert Lam Lam- bert fier fiercely ely anxious to succeed decided that she was as a l person erson who could easily be bullied Ive come to see you about Mrs Lambert Lambert- he began brusquely stepping into the narrow hall Mrs Lamberts Lambert's just gone said the woman My Iy 1 names name's Hopper but I cant can't tell teU you rou anything about her You'd best try to catch her You know nothing about abou her snapped snapped snap snap- ped Lambert Yet she lived here for two or three years with you It was an easy shot Mrs Hopper retreated retreated re re- re- re treated in a panic which hid more than I I H But soon h his s lips lips lips' were were upon on her Iter own crushing out speech until the long moment of ecstasy was gone the alarm of Lamberts Lambert's entrance Youre Youre not the police sir she quavered qua J. J my business he said She looked ked dimly round her then she pushed open th the door of the front sitt sitting ng room and asked him to step inside I knew this would be sure to come some someday someday someday day |