| Show I TELEGRAM FICTION S p 1 1 t te e ivi M. M a r r rIa i a g e Taylor Haviland-Taylor By Katharine I I. I SYNOPSIS IS Marsha Moore fo re marries Bob Powers Powers Pow Pow- cis ers only only- because she believes Geoffrey Geoffrey frey trey Tarleton has married d another girl gil But her honeymoon at Easthampton East East- hampton lampton on Long Island t teaches aches her that she loves love lovek Bob after aUer all all She fears that her having married him under false colors m may y come b bov b tc t n them and has gone to her lier rector rector rec rec- I tor tn Dr r. r J Jarri James th s to ask k for advice C CHAPTER PTER 18 It was a trifle disconnected Marsha's Marsha's Mar Mar- sha's story delivered jerkily and between between between be be- tween gasps Dr James heard beard it with murmurs of Hum Humor or Well well well well- welland and Now my goodness me met She found these interruptions i soothing for some reason and heart heart- ening She sat twisting her hands I as she finished My child chUd he said as he smiled on her Aunt Gertrude has made a mountain of a molehill Most youth Im I'm sorry to say it but I must admit it it indulges In a few too many cocktails cocktails cocktails cock cock- tails and a few too many kisses You tell me rae the matter the amorous amorous amor arnor- ous matter stopped there Because Marsha put jn in bluntly blunt blunt- ly I was no not interested in going further Which is a good sign stated slated Dr James a 3 good good sign Yo You love your husband I take it he asked his eyes twinkling Adore him himl she assured Dr James and not not quite steadily Well he advised ad her depart in peace She was a a trifle dazed leaving the rectory and she co could ld not yet credit the fact that through cheating she had gained a Paradise But with a little more of ot it it I will be able to to believe it can last she reflected In her room at the old Powers howe house a room that was next to Bobs Bob's she loitered over her dressing for dinner It was still early earb Bob had hadnot hadnot hadnot not yet returned she wanted to see him a little time lone alone before they went downstairs Unnecessary Appointment I He came came in at t length to to find the thedoor thedoor door between the rooms was open H He hurried to her to find an unusually warm welcome I Well Vell he said said-a bit thickly She was upset he saw Happily so but upset nervous strained strained- she laughed without reason that he could find ind as she clung to him And what's happened he asked anxiously Nothing The dentist always leaves eaves me a wreck wreck- She had been to the dentist for lor a afew few ew minutes to make an unnecessary appointment to lo have h her r teeth cleaned It t wasn't a lie Bob knew that her dentist had been downtown that afternoon they had happened to meet twice he studied her with surprise Just what did it mean Certain you went to Dr Thorpe he e asked Marsha saw her aunt doubting her Saw aw a thickening of the old clouds Truly she assured Bob Truly Well well we'll let it go at that he stated but he moved to his own room in n a slow numbed way and after a apat apat pat at on her shoulder that did not ring true rue or gay It hurt damnably he found damnably And where had she been But he was a cad to doubt her He knew her lovely lo true ge generous crous fair Yes he was a cad Letitia came in after they had dined and to wish her hex aunt and Bobs Bob's mother moth moth- er er many happy returns of the day Still the feline Letitia was inclined to resent recent Marsha's Intrusion Ive always always al al- al ways adored Bobi she had said to all aU her friends and the idea of ot his marrying marrying marrying mar mar- Marsha Moore kills me Saw an old admirer of ot yours Marsha Mar Mar- sha said Letitia He lIe says he must see you that he has affairs to discuss with you I gave him him your Easthampton ton address Hope you dont don't mind But I do dol Marsha Marsha answered answered hon hon- estly Who asked Bob if uit if I m may y know Geoff Tarleton Letitia answered I I dont don't mind Bob commented You see he was the first person to whom Marsha who had been blowing but faintly w warm rm and very cold colda an announced our engagement So he has hasa a 1 soft spot in my heart Marsha had grown rigid Her smile was forced Bob saw this Did she still have a sort of regard for Geoff Tarleton Bob wondered Bob moistened moist moist- ened his lips forgot the onlookers in staring at her Marsha was thinking No uNo one knows why I married him but Dr James and myself Theres There's no reason why Bob should even find out Why am ain I so nervous nervous' Theres There's no reason why he be should ever knowl Fomenting Suspicion She relaxed talked laughed and naturally Letitia said the next day at a luncheon changed markedly markedly markedly mark mark- edly changed Really you cant can't help liking herl hen Marsha felt a difference In Bob that night It hurt her cruelly The doubt he tried to stifle stiffened him She thought It uIt isn't true truel It cant can't be Not with him And she was thinking of or someone's saying that to keep love one must run runaway runaway runaway away from it Perhaps she had bad dreamed as a fool she reasoned bit terly Perhaps she must tease Bob ax ushe she had other men But she could not 1 However she would be more guarded guard guard- ed she would not bother him Tables tu turned ed Bob tried during the course of the next few days to dismiss the tormenting torment torment- ing ng suspicion that Marsha had lied to him lim in a way that was not justified For Tor the most part his suspicion of he her shamed hamed him and it made him humble and tender but occasionally it turned hi him um n stiff stitt Why had she he had to lie about where she had been What had made the necess necessity ty The question dogged his footsteps to assume gigantic size if h he mt but glanced its way Marsha who even at first had felt fel that hat lif life could be neither so simple no nor smooth as Dr James thought considered considered consid consid- ered cred with bitterness how she had hac planned to tell Bob a little something of f all he meant to her and of how sh she had lad had but to tighten her arm around his us neck to know him rigid remote She had craved full honesty and wit with tormenting force a thing impossible no doubt to find through humans ant and andin andin in n life liCe Yet she remembered later hater there ther were in the calm that preceded th the storm moments so satisfying that they left eft her h hushed shed upon her knees mentally men men- tally ally if it not physically and tremulously tremulously grateful The moments came at oddly assorted assort assort- ed times when she caught a glimpse glimps of ot Bob shaving perhaps intent on getting gettin the last whisker Or when she saw him struggling a light frown on his his' face to repair a broken chair round Before Belore dinner dithier on the evening that prefaced Geoffrey Tarleton's call she shew w walked the gravel paths of f the g garden with Bob past wrapped straw-wrapped rosebushes rose rose- bushes a sun sundial dial around which drying drying dry dry- ing vines sang a brittle song in the sweep of oC the wind Facing the sea one must push against the gale battle lo to o be on She loved it it Bobs Bob's arm through hers the way he held her close Id urd she said to come back when we are very old and in June Id I'd like to know how it looks in June Junel dress this dress this place place and and to come back after weve we've traveled a long long way He paused pawed ato glance around the gray cray frost-bitten frost stretch and after he tie had dropped to a sheltered bench to draw her down to him he spoke And OlAnd I I. I he said shall say Here is a garden that was made June in late November by a womans woman's love hove Perhaps she suggested you will wll not feel like saying that when I am very old and you have known me through many years Never Grow Old Neither of us will grow od he explained for you jou know people dont don't who have gardens and summer wherever whenever they wan want them She said nothing she wanted to slip sUp her hand in his but sometimes the least of little moves of such sort made him stiffen He looked down at he her probingly and close to tragically I It seemed to him that each day she he drew a bit farther away Well he would give her time althe all al the time she needed She was rarely sweet generous at moments A At others as now sitting uncaring while he t tried Jed to tell her something of the way he felt He leaned forward to pluck from froma a dry stalk a pod in which rattled seeds Marsha saw those last lines o of Muriel Stewarts Stewart's poem Here I can blow a 3 garden with my breath And in my hand a forest lies Bob heard her quote Yes he agreed The pod opened and in his palm were black pellets that tha would make green leaves and flower and summer He felt an analogy They were planted side by side he and the years cars ahead were fo for tor them What soil is to a plant or tree they could thrive or grow grudgingly with twists such as one finds in stunted trees on a coast It would depend depend de de- de- de pend of course upon how they enriched enriched en riched th the years Copyright 1934 by K Haviland- Haviland I Taylor To be continued |
