Show c Josselyn's Wife By Kathleen Norris Morris l Illustrations by Irwin Myers C t ky Iry n CHA CHAPTER TER Continued Continued 20 Then SO-Then Then they were at the tho beach and the rent center r of or a Joyous activity Gibbs was n settled with the plaid on a n warm tune curve of or rocks rocks where here he pulled his cap over 1118 bl eyes eye and watched them all placidly Lizzie Lizzle found another natural chair she sank Bank down with her baby gazing with dreamy content at atthe atthe atthe the glittering water steeped In the peace that the tugging tUI busy little lips at her breast teemed seemed to enhance rather than Interrupt Then little Ellen was settled ettle 1 on the pillows pillow under the um- um umbrella umbrella um umbrella brella and Lizzie Lizzle gayly Joined the th workers A hundred times on thIs memorable happy day dor Ellen found herself her- her eel self watching Lizzie's Lizzle's little white fig fig fig- ore her ber happy youthful face Lizzle LIzzIe was Just twenty what might have havo been her destiny at twenty The tireless sweet swe-et green creen water rose roseand roseand roseand and fell tell each wave ave formed an nn emerald arch of ot Itself before It broke with a aon along aIon long on splitting crash to rush In level leveland leveland and Incredibly swift flinging upward aJ against Impeding rocks and curving over OTer the white Gibbs Gibba watched It Ita Ita Ita a delicious lull of body and soul So much of such It-such It such splendidly wasted beauty bouty and energy year ear after atter year How pitiful was waa even the fullest even the longest human life lite against thIs glorious miracle that went on year after year throughout hout the centurIes that had been en as ns old ns as the world when Padre Serra walked along these shores Joe clattered near him on the rocks He De tilted the cap cop over his eyes a trifle and glanced at the absorbed group by bythe bythe bythe the Bro Manage Manne to speak to me mo alone ft a minute sometime will you Joe GILbs Gibbs said Joe not moving mo his eyes from the defiant crab that had wedged his little bod body tightly In a n crevice of ot rock r l cleared his throat k Sure Surel I lr Ile answered gruffly I Ellen also had her word alone with Joe It was waa alter luncheon wh when n LIz Liz- Liz lie tie lie had curled up like a child on n a patch of ot warm sand sand and taIl fallen en asleep and Gibbs was apparently dozIng Tommy was wading along alone the bubbling line Une of ot foam and the baby slept on You knew Harriet and George were here test summer cummer Joe Ellen ven Ten ventured ventured ture-d ture Do iDo you ever see Bee o Harriet no now No he answered Indifferently a queer sort of ot girl What's she ehe he doing collecting doing collecting plates She has a remarkable china Ellen admitted China collection I 1 What's that for fora fora a woman to do I Joe stretched com com- comfortably comfortably In the sun aun Oh well he h said uld leniently all right It if she likes It Harriets Harriet's nice enough but she's hes he's spoiled by too much money Yet you liked her very much once once Joe Ellen suggested from the depth ot of deep amusement and satisfaction Oh yes kid yea kid love lovel I I never really loved o ed an any one but Lizzie Lizzle said sold Joe Ellen saw V that he lie really believed It It and with a great grent sigh of ot thankfulness she mold laid one of ot lifes life's ghosts to rest for tor- forever forever ever Id I'd Id I'd like to go down to Los An- An Antonios An some day doy Joe Joo mused and see what sort of ot opening there might well be-well wll for tor Instance In starting a pa- pa paper paper pa paper per there thre I haven't said anything to Lizzle Lizzie but I talked to Gibbs about It it ld Id like to live e here and have a little bungalow and a n bunch of ot kids and I think go crazy 1 I Im I'm seriously thinkIng about it It I could have a n little JUne jitney and null go JO back bock and forth Of forth You could have a slice of ot Ellen promised eagerly weve twenty acres here and there are dozens do of sites house l Well see Joe Jo yawned owned again blinking at nt the sun aun Dy ny the way Ellen he be h added more animatedly You knew that Lillian had holl remar remar- remarried ried rt d f Just that through George have you heard anything more It was LInd- LInd LIndy T say ay y Pepper lepler of course It was waa Lindsay Pepper But Rut the th strange thing youn young George Lathrop told me was waa that she Bhe didn't really want ont to do It She and the th old lady dont don't hit It off at nt all well eIl and all hIs money comes cornea from his hta mother Deo Besides Be- Be Betides o tides sides that Lillian would rather hove have been a rich widow v you know know-at know at nil all events she ahe did deliberately try to get out of It nut But Joe Jo I dont don't see aee why she couldn't I Oh he had a 8 tremendous hold on her You see his name was mixed up with hers In the th whole business If It Ih abe he didn't care are for him she ehe never DeTer should hould have hav been away from home hom the th night of the I I suppose h he heL A Pimply limply forced her hand Funny thing V Joe added t When I first mt past her Ibe b bad all the th cards cardl beauty auty youth a rich man mans man's wife wile Now aLea loe married to a Il man four tour years younger than herself who Isn't lant exactly t 8 you yon know and whom she ah lb R U roll ir ll thata that's that coming to her Tw Poor Enea Ellea XU a said 14 the tb- tb tX j- j fully tuny Her eyes went to Gibba Gibbs dozing on the rock rocks aDd and a sorrowful look tilled K them ra 1 I 1 wish wl h I hadn't hated bated her I she said laid softly You 0 haven't much to rf regret gret I Joe assured n her rolling over Oyer for tor a nap They Ther did not speak again until the car grated on the sandy aandy road a few fw feet teet above e them They Rn all Mw saw aw that the day had tired Gibbs He De H waa ryas a little stiff as aa Joe helped him to the th car and there was DS fin an anxious look In Ellens Ellen's eyes eyE's until she ho had him established In the spa spa- spacious clous cious pleasant order of ot the porch again and was personally superintend superIntend- superintending ing his hie slow alow drinking of a glass ot of milk But he teemed seemed t to recover rapidly Presently he h was smiling and listen listen- listening ing again In his usual way woy and Ellen went off oft with Unit Lizzie to to share the de de- de light delight of preparing the th baby boby for tor bed bcd and ond to talk over o little Ellens Ellen's last meal meol for the day Tommy In a glorious splashing and spattering was waa profusely watering the garden and Joe came over to the couch and sat down by Gibbs side aide Im afraid our descending on you this way has been a good deal deol of ot n a tax Joe said regretfully Gibbs had been lying with closed eyes and the tie sunken hollows about them filled tilled Joe with concern Rut But ut now ho be opened them and smiled and stretched out a hand to clasp Joes Joe's fin fin- fingers Jers gers Always welcome at any time dear boy he said kindly But Dut more mor than ordinarily welcome now I had bad thought ot of sending for you but you but one puts things and off and theres there's there always alway the danger ot of alarming Ellen Ellen- Ellen Never had Joe tea fet the other mans man's extraordinary charm as aa he felt It now when Gibbs Josselyn Joselyn at the end of ot a perte perfect September day confided to his care the things he loved best In life lire You s see old man she's ahe's going to need you soon And that Is le why I nm am glad you are really Interested In es- es establishing es establishing yourself In Los Shell She'll go away for tor awhile but she loves this place and place and It if you and Lizzie and a troop of ot children are here here- here You and Lizzie will look out for tor her Gibbs added after atter a silence And the baby will do more than any t 1 I 1 I I I Ir r 1 N i dot I dottl tl He H Heard the Quick Rise RIle Rl of Her Breast and Felt a Faint TIghtenIng of Her Fingers FInger one onel I And I think of her with books and her garden and Tommy and Tom Tom- Tommy's Tom mya mys my's music music- musicHe's music Hes He's an odd child but she understands him and his mistakes wont won't be b the ordinary mistakes mistakes- lie He smiled at Joe and somehow Joe smiled back although the younger man felt relt tears hot behind his eyes Wont be my mistakes Gibbs said musingly It was all too easy for me lt It was always plain sailing and that's not not-not not exactly disciplinary you know I never cared much about the theother theother theother other tell fellows fellow's ow's troubles troubles-Ellen's troubles s-Ellen's s Ellens Ellen's the theone theone theone one for that and that and now lying here Joe for the past few tew months Its It's come to tome meas as a sort of ot revelation that even in 11 inthis Inthis thIs Im I'm having It easy It If Ive I've never hind had any particular pity fat foi the fellows who haven't enough mone money or had sick wives or had to sit on an nn office once stool eight hours a I day day I certainly cant can't cz- cz ex cx expect the world orld to stand still with sym sym- sympathy sym sympathy pathy because one man hUPP happens to be going out a little ahead of ot time I Joe could find nothing to say and after a n moment Gibbs spoke again more briskly Wen Well I There was another thing I wanted to say soy to you and Ill I'll say HUY It and then we needn't take this up again George Lathrop was here lost last summer and we went Into this a little lIe Ile seemed to feel teel that w we might be makIng too much of ot this and he sent senta a specialist down from San Francisco Ellen Ellen never knew why he came he happened to have ha been be n In Williams with me and his wife came and all uti that But that's not the point Joint the thing Is that I know how George feels about Ellen hes he's always adored her herI I mean that he makes a sort of a n little patron saint of ot her Every other wom wom- woman an nn In his hili life lite Is 18 judged by Ellen Now some shell day day shell she'll be lonely need a man mans man's hand George Ceoric will be b his guardian anywaY some anyway day George will tell her her-he her he cant can't help what It-what It she Is to him himl l I And that'll that's where I 1 want you to use your own jud judgment ment Joe I I cant can't tell her thIs tills of ot course And also theres there's a chance that she may honestly not want to marry anyone any onel on I But It if she ehe let lets leta any ony thought of me- me m You Tou might tell teU her then he added udd In a low ton tone that the th purest and beet and sweetest thing In la m my life lite wu wuI I what she ah lb rave gave that me-that that no BO man everI ever I wd a woman the tb th debt I OWl owe w her hi I l I The nIe Voice stopped n ii tn was r a 1 r now there was no nw more sunlight u wa- wa der wader ua-der the oaks and ond Tommy and bI his bla haM hoe ho were gone The ocean moved mond like lk opalescent molten lead lend wrinkling softly Into opal gray gruy and ond blue blu and sliver silver Well 1 I GIbbs said Bold briefly hat all I In the th long silence f Lizzie Lizzle slipped lIpped out and burled the tIle glimmer t of t her white gown In a wide porch chair It If this Isn't Heaven Beaven I 1 she Bhe breathed contentedly A moment later Inter Tommys Tommy's little twilight concert began They could see se a pool of or warm red light about the tho piano In the big sitting room and Ellens Ellen's bent dark head and the little dark head over her shoulder There will be b a splendid moon tonight to- to to tonight nl night ht Gibbs told them He and Ellen watched It together torether hours later Inter when Tommy was WM long In bed and when lIen Lizzie Lizzle and Joe had hod stumbled away awa as happily tired and Just as sleepy as Tommy the child chUd Was Then Ellen sat Mt nt In her favorite sent a low v hassock beside his couch so that her arms lI lightly rested against him and their fingers were laced They had hod no light and could look acro across the low broad brood roll rail of or the th porch straight Into the sleeping garden and down do the sloping sides of the little canyon canon to the th sea sen Et In Arcadia ego Ellen said Ellen Weve had more than one Ellen her husband answered And this has lies seemed to me nr not l less ss per per- perfect perfect somehow v because It Is la not Dot to last I 1 He H heard the th quick rise of her h breast and felt f lt a faint taInt tightening of oher her fingers It has hos seemed ee med right somehow to spend this year with you and Tommy hasn't here hasn't It been a perfect year yearl I I wont won't allow you to talk so eo Gibbs be said sold determinedly but unsteadily Just this once oncel l I he answered answered and she could tell by his tone that he ha was smiling His wonderful the smile smile th smile he had bad given rIven little snubbed EI- EI El Ellen len Latimer when he drove her ber to t New York In his cor earl I No formal good goodbys by Gibbs said uld Not that I 1 For If It you dont don't know what you are nf to me Ellen what Ive ITe felt as os you poured all oil your goodness and sweetness and fulth faith over me- me me With a sudden movement she laid her face tace against his Ills hand and he b felt that her eyes ees were wet et Gibbs please I please 1 Well I wont won't But nut theres there's one thing thing-I 1 When Tommys Tommy's older tell him the tho truth Theres There's a time In n a aboy's aboya boys boy's life lite when It makes a n lasting Im- Im Impression Im Impression m on hIm to realize that you you- you you cant can't play with fire You pay one way or another Im I'm paying this way Theres There's too much else for tor a mon man monto manto manto to do too Ellen Ellen too many things 8 ne need d changing for any sane man man or any woman woman to go right on Into the thirties with the egotism of ot the teens And that brings me m to the other thIng Some day If It you feel like It I wish you'd do something for tor some kid kill who has hies gotten himself In wrong with the I authorities I dont don't know exactly how I 1 I wonder now lying here how I could have ever haTe lived In a n big city and not realized that there are t fellows who haven't anything like my natural ad- ad advantages ad advantages vantages and who get up against mis mis- misunderstandings misunderstandings understandings s and misinterpretations misinterpretations I thought Ellen said Bald steadily that when you are better It if wo we ever go back Id I'd go to Mary Cutter be- be because be because cause she ahe Is III Interested In all that sort ROrt ot of thing and Just follow the cases case In some court On One couldn't do much ot course But there would always be something a n visit to n a mother or per perhaps Imps haps a R word here or there there- there What a n little saint you IOU are Ellen I Just a little tittle Inspired saint that's all l I GIbbs exclaimed Just what I mean The law Is all right of ot course courso It must be what It Is But I I tell you Ellen that Its It's enough to drive the tir decency de- de de decency and ontI the good out of ot any man The coldness tIle the carelessness the th smells and dirt dirt- dirt You must forget torget nil all about It she sh said MId You never did dill anything to de- de deserve deserve de deserve serve a prison experIence It experience It was all alln alla alln n a horrible mistake I It was a n mistake from R a human standpoint Gibbs conceded thought thought- thoughtfully thoughtfully fully tully but I dont don't know about my record In a n higher tribunal I won won- wonder wonder der how many of the fellows serving sen life lite terms now ever ner had hod an nn angel for tor tora fora forn a mother find and a saint for tor n a wIfe clothes dotheR find and friends and worm warm food from the hour they were born |