Show PARADE kp w sem st fa by evelyn campbell copyright by evelyn campbell service THE STORY linda Haver hills rather father neer dowell do well dies when sho she issever teen leaving her to fa face e the world with little money or or prospects CHAPTER II 11 continued 3 and linda seated opposite forced herself to took look back she had seen him before ue he was tier fathers best and oldest friend but then tier her vision had been childish and distorted by sweets and french dolls she saw him koiv now as a man but she conquered what she saw it wits private she explained by my cousins wish it was us though the whole occurrence had been managed by the reluctant mrs ralston aalst on he nodded ills his small eyes abnormally intelligent saw through everything at once cousin amys engagements gage ments and the impracticality of deatti death at such a time and now my dear he said after all tile the meaningless words had been spoken what can I 1 do for you the little eyes searching out L the sweet cold lines fries of her body under the narrow black frock said site she could have anything she wanted of him lie he had refused to lend jim haverhill Haver hlll money but that was another matter no use sending good dollars down a greased incline jim Haver hills daughter was an investment invest ment virgin sol soil that could not suspect its own onn return but linda smiled a taint faint rejection she had not come to borrow from tier her black handling handbag she took a sheaf of stilt still papers and before 1 aliey 11 ey were unfolded he caught the familiar glint of gold leaf and purple a hint of flaming scarlet am my y father left no money she said slowly but there are a great many of these certificates if you will tell me how to sell them the senator was not a humorous man mail hut but he almost smiled at that sell them put but he put pill out his cun lolled paw and took the papers managing to touch tier her fingertip of course my tie he wheezed pretty little girls must have money then tie lie asked her ahat she was going to do and linda for the first time looked childish and bewildered do she sti stammered minered out that she supposed she would lle live with cousin amy and some day dav would marry blushing hatefully as she said it all ali I 1 exclaimed the senator delightedly light edly rolling rollin ills his tongue carryl XI arryl that be difficult my IDY dear with your attractions he be was on familiar ground now and edged his bis great chair closer to hers linda got up quickly please sell the stock for me she pleaded and suddenly tier her poise dropped away and she was a child young and afraid the senator was touched too young to have planned anything he thought there any man yet just silly talk she can have all the money she wants fur for a year or two the first neek eek of following september did not find fand linda in the city again at that uncomfortable period of the year she would out be with fth the ralstone Kals Rals tons rit at their long island place or with some other distant relative ive who had a twinge of conscience and a spasmodic desire to do something g for the family orphan she was not unhappy because she was not penniless the stocks owned by poor jim surprised every one by exhibiting a stir of life something won would he be sold something would pay in au infinitesimal dividend and linda would have enough to pay her dressin akers bill or the expenses of a cabin across she saw converse lilt and lie always urged tier her to have hate a good time arid and spend aliat is she ile wanted he would chat chalk it up against tier her account lie promised with a fat laugh site sin KOI gor over sortie some of her re but that wits was because he was wary vary ile he knew that any fernao tiling thing would ile he appalled by hint him until its wings ings were broken cousin amy spoke to her husband 1 about the senator ile he Is enormously rich lie ile tins litis never been married and it is very stran strange e that he should manage so well with all that worthless paper poor jim left ile he agreed lie ile was darn glad he been expected to handle tile the stuff but it was too bad taste to discuss even een fur for them arid and the subject was its quickly abao linda triet met courtney katli at coronado cornado 0 lie he had run out to see what it was like he sald said tor for europe what it II used to bu be but tie he like california either be low linda ten minutes after they met there was as nothing not liing to california but bur pavement a elli climate nate and picture postcard scenery her attention wits claimed what whai Is a vulgar lim abet she asked laughing weather that has no reserves he answered instantly perpetually smiling skies are like a woman who laughs because site she lim no sense she did not like hire tile the way lie said I 1 that there was something cold and bitter in ills his voice men alen did not usually I 1 speak so to tier her of her own sex she was as both piqued and interested you rou mean you like to go about with ats and rugs 11 up possibly cut but I 1 like ilke I 1 like to see the sun gun cloud over and the end of a rainy day then you like capricious women said linda thoughtfully if he did he had ample opportunity to prove it in the whirlwind mouth month that followed for linda never dever knew until the day after site she married him i whether she cared or not courtney roth was a hl high gb header reddish faced man with the sort of staring gray eyes that are always looking over peoples heads in search of something further afield he was never satisfied if he be was here he wanted to be there it if he had this tie he wanted that not through fretfulness or greed but because of an unc unconquerable 0 n qu erable appetite for life lie he wanted t e to see everything to have everything and he was in a hurry about getting both such tastes are expensive nis his restless expansiveness fed and encouraged encourage something that might have lain dormant in linda if she had married another man with courtney roth a train of was lighted in tier her that was to burn to a brilliant hare flare until that part of her that was his was consumed even with this attraction it might not have happened but for mrs airs nis rals tons impatience she could not forget the senator you must be sure my dear she warned the girl with your beauty you ought to go far and remember it is all the same after you have been married six weeks courtney is a charming person but the senator has been a wonderful friend your position in washington would be superb linda looked at tier her with dilating eyes it was waa not the first time that the senator had been suggested to her as oil other er than tier her fathers friend and time each time something within her grew colder and shuddered with deeper aver aversion sion and a strange prescience that unless she was careful and quick like a bird in the grass this 3 thin thing might happen to her measured by converse courtney roth became splendid and desirable S she lie did not consider love but only safety and the certainty that now she could afford to forget the other man to whom she seemed to owe some vast and incomprehensible debt but even after afier the engagement they spoke far less of love than of plans for covering ground round during the honeymoon they were going around the world but roth was worried about missing the winter sports in switzerland if we were married six weeks sooner we could lop oft off enough mileage to get us there in time he said anxiously linda laughed but her color came and went she was amused more than offended that his reason tor for hurrying the wedding was not herself but a pair of skis well see what cousin amy says cousin amy was not aeise to an early wedding hut but she wanted to know several things has he money linda dear of course othere there must be some but Is there enough it takes tabes such a lot to live as he does ah er skittering ering about the world and two of you would be rather frightful linda dhru shrugged ged she was only twenty but tile the world has fallen in a way of treating girls of twenty as it if they had bad tile the wisdom of their gran grandmothers mii linda had thought so much about money that slie site lad had begun to take her luck seriously money al car came lie there had been a bad time little after her fathers death but that as bridged by the clever fi financing m of the stock certificates sa s1 she ie was so certain slie she was on oil safe ground that she neglected to go into the matter A ith tit tier her liance fiance so linda hard bitten with the virus of change consented to hur hurry rythe alie trousseau and therefore ther etore please her lover mightily courtney Courtne 7 roth was in love with nith her as he would be with a woman he was vas alwis effects with her beauty biering lei ing it from different angles you need petti pearls he said one day and soon after brought brou glit her an exquisite strand linda stood perfectly still while lie draped the tenderly beautiful tearful circlet upon her smooth neck slie site lad hart never dreamed aried of owning such pearls but once they nestled against tier her flesh she felt elt perfectly at a home with ath them TO dir BE CO CONTINUED |