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Show I, A TELEGRAM SERIAL . 1 ' fsWING MADNESS "1 i CHAPTIR J The conversation with Aunt Lucy left Judith strangely dissatisfied. She could see that la spite of all that hadhappsned tho w" Judith had counted oa bar support. sup-port. It made her feel lonelier than tvor to know that In her aunts mind aha had been too much of a coward to marry him. Miss Lucy's attitude made H appear ap-pear that Judith, not Karl, had been the one at fault. But aha was the only one who thought so. Everyone elae aeemed agar to assure Judith that aha bad done the right thing. Hard to Bear Hardest of all to bear was the approval ap-proval of the woman Karl's father had Jilted M years ago. Miss Amy sent carnations and a note jvritton in her delicate spidery """Judy, dearest, I understand. No ons knows better than I the suffering suffer-ing you must be enduring. "I shan't intrude upon you today, but as soon as you feel like seeing anyone I ahall be over." Crumples Not Judith crumpled It In her hand and went to the telephone. Jane Ann had evidently been Informed of her return. She bad ealled while Judith was efcut Blown 4 -left her number. j "Welcome home," she cried gaily. "How about celebrating tonight?" There was a friend for you, Judith thought, answering gratefully, "Swell. I'd like nothing better." "I'll call the boya and we'll drive up to the Silver Slipper. Okay?" "Okay," Judith replied. Faces Father Never bad aaa aeemed as heauit-ingly heauit-ingly sweet. These redolent, blseaeea aeeated nights when the are seaee) rede high wars Uke aUieUee la Judith's hearty f u ooold not bear It. Music flowers, evea the beaks aba aace had en)oyed were seat to bar Temporarily, aba booed. But tn ber darker hours aha felt ears aha would never again be capable of appreciating ap-preciating them. la order not te Buffer aha must not feel at ell. Xvea Prtecilla bad learned that she must never under any eircum-stancee eircum-stancee try to get Karl's band oa the radio. Can't Forget Judith moved through her days with mechanical activity, feeling like the oheil of a person, refusing to remember, unable to forget. In June Jene Ann and Mike were married with Judith in pale pink organsa as maid of honor. Tva never seen you look so pretty," Bob said en their way home. She knew he wanted to aay more. Wanted to suggest that everyone expected their wedding to be next But in the face of ber Intangible reserve he could not say It Yet Jane Ann'a marriage had a certain effect There had been nothing romantic about it The youthful bride, and -bride- . groom had known each other too long to have any illusions. Thers was much laughter and joking, but no mystery. Practical Union It wasn't Judith admitted to herself, her-self, the kind of union she had dreamed of, but perbapa it would be more practical. In the lone run It might prove There remained only the ordeal of facing her father, but he, too. displayed dis-played more understanding than ahe had anticipated. Kissing hsr, be murmured. "It's good to havs you back, my dear!" If only Elisabeth had been equally considerate. Prlscllla followed ber from one room to another, demanding, demand-ing, "But what happened, Judy?" The questions of a 14-year-old child wars not difficult to parry. But one couldn't aay. "That's my business," to one's mother. It was a relief to be out of the house. In ths presence of her parents Bob had greeted her casually, but when they were In his car, he said, "I guess you know how much this means to ms, Judy." Doetn't Reply She did not reply for a moment. Merely patted his arm. "Lat's go places. Bob. I want to dancs and be gay." " "Right" he agreed happily. They called for Jane Ann and Mike. The four of them in high spirits drove to the night club where more satisfactory. Certainly it would be better to marry someone you admired and respected than to be an old maid Uke Miss Amy. Nothing, positively nothing, could be worse than that It was ths following evening that John Page need his family with unexpected news. ."Corns into ths living room," hs said, "and closs ths door, will you, Judith T "Yes, you too, Prlscllla. This Is for all of you." Looks Worried Hs stood before the fireplace with his hands in his pockets and Judith noticed with a little pang of pity how thin and worried he looked. "I'm not going to try to deceive you girla any longer," he aald. "The time has corns for all of us to face the truth. My business is on the rocks. If things don't pick up by fall I'm through. Bankrupt" Elisabeth turned white. "On, John, surely you don't mean it's as bad as that" once, Judy remembered, Karl Morgan Mor-gan had taken Fay. She imagined them sitting at one of the amall tables. Karl toughing, attentive. Fay glamorousiy beautiful with ber white waxen skin and moon-like hair. Sam Pattern They belonged together. They were as Fay had said, "cut from the same pattern." Just aa Judith and Bob were. Why then did she long so for the adoration that only Karl could give? Bob waa good looking, ao well mannered, man-nered, ao trustworthy. All the things shs wanted Karl to be, but Bob could never rouse that desperate yearning she felt for the other man. Her eyee were staring into apace. She did not realise that the other three were regarding her with a city they dared not admit "It's worse," he insisted. "Be-causs "Be-causs unless I can get hold of aome money within the next few weeks I can't even hang on until then." "But the bank . . . Surely they'll let you borrow more money." "Not another cent Everything to mortgaged up to the limit, you know that There's nothing to do now but sell this house and If we can get a good enough price after the mortgage mort-gage Is paid, what's left may carry me over." Elizabeth Cries "But, John?" Elisabeth cried shortly. Panic was In her voice, but Judith cried quickly, "Mother, don't We can manage. We'll get along aome way." "Where would we liver" Elisabeth demanded. "Do you realise what It costs to keep up this house?" her husband uW,il waarilv. "We can cat a small Bob's voice chattered the spell which bound her. "Shall we dance, Judy?" Mala Effort She made a valiant effort She forced bereelf to throttle those unwelcome un-welcome ghosts, but' swing music would always remind her of him. It had been a mistake to seek for-getfulness for-getfulness In an environment so typical typ-ical of him. Hsr spirits sank lower. Her smile felt as if it were stamped stamp-ed upon her line. When Jane Ann finally suggested that they leava Judith agreed with a sigh of relief, which made her realise that putting Karl out of ber life waa not going to be aa aimple aa she had hoped. Eras Memory It waa one thing to decide not to apartment and you girls can hslp your mother with the work. "I can't let Ethel go now. Tve just gotten her trained to where shs to of aome use to me." "I'm afraid there to no choice about It Elisabeth. I've tried to tell you before, but Tve never been able to convince you that things were really serious." "What about Richard?" Bllsabeth said. "Surely hs would let you have the money if be knew bow important impor-tant it was." John Page smiled grimly. "I went to Susan'a husband this afternoon. Hs is very sorry, hut he never makes a loan without better security." To be continued. Copyright IM. Register and Tribune Syndicate. marry a man. Quite another to erase his memory from your heart. The four young people returned to the city more soberly than when they bad left it Judith'e experience had left aa imprint which each of the others waa forced to recognise. No matter how much they might pretend to Ignore it, Karl stood between be-tween them the unbidden guest. Anyway they had tried, Jane Ann whlspsred to Mike. It would be easier the next time. Eventually Judith would be her old aelf. The days passed, slowly lengthening length-ening Into weeks, then months, but never had a spring aeemed so long arriving. |