Show D o u S SHARRY HARRY PUGH a MR q Mc W N U cteT INSTALLMENT The SIXTEEN Fn i la Is wife Ite of or happy go yin Laura Lauralice editor and nd mayor ot or Coy Cov Coyo Q gO d lice Ike a Thorn bom banker Mays Maya Is tr trying Ing ton to toL o n L for tilt c slug his bis banking meth Is the he mother or of o tour four children She real estate lob job peters out II Tom rom Tomer whose but L whose niti fA wife Mary Maryas IIa bigger er elf city a refuses to the gle gl e up her h secretary na as ref Whim him to 0 the smaller to to 10 to fo 0 I low 0 ing H ts Imp Ore Continued lU MII I 1 tell but ut she can an t have gone has bas nowhere to go said she ghe w II face la very white VM h s jec ec her shoulders shrugged breakfast the last down to was e pour flour shed a small folded piece She ht Alec Alee reached out his hand paper per r P Kathleen shook her head It s to La Laura ura dressed lee Alec s 5 black eyes watched feverly fever BIT ly 11 ah b Ie le b s mother read the Imes lines 11 loch ch Lou Lor had WrItten In ln a small small Email ramped hand Well be demanded sharply She he says tha that t she thanks us for forO fors forill badness s but t she can t im O au ause our r use se cu on 00 us any longer swore under his brea breath th Mike Mke little dev devil he be sa said Id I dare daren poor gay she felt as uncomfortable as aeed a weed eed at an orchid show IDs His younger son glared at turn him um he crIed fiercely may maybe maybe maybe be she never went ent to school probably she doesn down t always knOW ah h ch cb fork to use but she s Instinct vely a lady that kid I ye ve yer df met a i raft ft of g f ris I d d e before I d dbrig f r brig home to Mother But But- ButhIs But hIs hisCo histo vo Co ce broke broke- broke Lou wasn t one of them Alec Alec- began Laura imploring IT y But Alec Alee had slammed the door behind him e a cried Kathleen Is our bitle brother sore or is he 1 I must find Ind that child if any of ofus ofus ofus us are to lye 1 I ve with Alec Alee Laura sad A CHAPTER The He telephone rang eight times before belore Laura finished the d It was mostly friends and acquaint antes ances calling to tut tut about Shirley About nine M ke rang up He Helid had bad learned that a brief al ce was to be held for tor Pete M at nine thirty m in the old mis misson son church near Dear the railroad shops like himself was Has as m conference and could not attend But he thought Laura m like Ilke to She d d Lou Loutis was as certain to be there no matter here here she had taken refuge To save time Laura got out the faro fam ly Iy sedan But two blocks from the Ibe house the old motor wheezed choked and died The gas feed was stopped slopped up Laura wasted precIous m Dl because sometimes you could unscrew the bottom of the vacuum vac turn tank and blow through it and aO ail was well But not this morn hi E By the time she gave up the struggle and called a taxi it was as as a quarter to ten She had bad hopes how howe e er w of arr ving before thai th church church's was s 's qu te to empt ed and did But there had bad been only a handful pres eat ayd yd these scattered qu ekly Al Although though hough Laura waited outs de she shew saw laW nothing of Lou i Alec Alee did not appear When Laura called the grocery store she d ered that her ber son had not Dot shown up for lor work that day So much for Alec s i glow ng prom ses of the n D before Laura could have wept I must find Lou Laura told But she d do t find her or any trace of o her and Alec Alee d d not come home borne to dinner or telephone It grew stead ly Iy later and no Alec He Be had never stayed out all n ht before But day had broken and a mocking masking b rd was singing outside Laura s a window before she heard Alec Al s a step coming on t up the stairs Laura got softly out of bed sad and met him outs de hIs bis door warr Alec darling 1 I ve ye war wor r eQ ea There were tears m in her vOIce Sorry he be said stiffly I tried to find Lou for you He shrugged to hi shoulders Forget It it She couldn t be happy here bere I realize that now Re e turned away aay and Laura went I wy back down the hall hail hallOn liOn On the last Saturday m in June Laura Magure agu re decided to run up to the thetty c tty Iy for varIOus and sundry reasons beena acne of them pleasant It had bad been a he e month since Shirley s marriage month La Laura ura had ever Nothing went with 9 depress r ng monotony I In the first place ma trades M ke continued th e ande latter against Banker Mays and andI I force ter retal with telling bsh e a E Every very y time the Clarion pub thrust at the financIer both c f felt e t the and advertising accounts shock Then there was w-i w Kathleen ic hi r- r Going everywhere End mere w th young Gene Mays aPparently 11 delighted with hs h s pursuit About Alec 10 sob l to she he had even less rea Ye feel happy Alec had de deLaur eloped LOPed Laura aUra nto nui a deep P dark secret and w was as a afraid f to probe Into tat the therea theS COI P e flex ties of ot his resolutely rea behavior HeA He tely Aid A kept Us Ms own counsel for LOT u nv U- U Ut ways was bad badior that were weIrd he heIly developed Ped Ily t s ty lie Re a maddening Iga M n In T had not n t stayed out om all night by byn fact be was s usually home nin e li dU Cn s although eh he never lingered lilt but buts airs to visit w th the others wont Went gone Straight to his room He rose rOle t w every mornIng li when Laura Without breakfast He said that he was waa dIeting to lerv tvs pre bin 1 a prea girlish figure He also Iso Alec at fast with a fob jOb s as a ce grocery 6 clerk unemployment alter after tier a long siege of mont ment and running around with a flashy divorcee He had brought Lou Knight the town tonn drunk s a daughter to his moth mother mother er era a hon hone hono 0 ahe he I her father lather died frig Ing rescuIng a crippled boy In a lire fire Shirley at t last married to Jaird Ne Nesum Nesum sum though Ma wanted him to marry Connie Mays the banker s a daugh said to expect him at table when they saw hm h m And that was seldom enough to worry Laura to the point of tears But on this sultry June morning it was as about Tom rom Laura s a concern was ch efly exercised Tom had been home a month doggedly working away in Colonel Shoup s office making progress slowly but steadily and looking more drawn and hag haggard hagBard haggard Bard gard every day Laura had decided to take the bus busto busto busto to the city It was cheaper than the tram train and money was becoming distressingly scarce In her establishment with Mike Mikes s business stead ly submerging That was part ly Iy partly Laura s errand m in town Some t Some Some- t mes m in a pinch she took orders from a Woman s Exchange for home canned fruits and vegetables It didn t pay pa a lot and was hot tedious cork but Laura hadon had on other d m cult occasions collected several odd dollars that helped to turn a hard corner On the v way ay out of town the bus passed what had formerly been Joe s place now christened The Oak Tree Laura grinned to her herself herself self seU Shirley was the only comfort comfortable a able ble spot on her mother s horIZon The town had nearly burst hurst its sIde w th derisive laughter when Sh and Jaird took on the hamburger stand But people who oho dropped m mat mat at The Oak Tree to sneer re remained remained mamed to envy Curiosity may have accounted for the rush of business S r r l lt t OAK I Y L L LI h I r JJ F z The Oak Tree rree the first week But It ft was good food appetizingly served in m attract t t e surround tha that t swelled the cash reg ster the second and third and fourth weeks The Oak Tree had become quite the rage as well as the rendezvous for tor the young elite ehte Even Belle now pointed WIth pride to her son s ement CHAPTER X V V Laura s visit to the Woman s Ex Exchange Exchange Exchange change was not hearten ng rig It ap appeared appeared appeared that everybody had had bad the same idea The market was glutted WIth the products for which Laura had hoped to receive orders But she did wangle a small commIssion Fifty jars of ot watermelon preserves on the strength of one of old Aunt Julia s recipes which Laura had brought from her father s plant planta plantation plantation a atlon tion By then it was almost two and she was hot hot tried and hungry She went a across cross the street to a large cafeterIa wh ch at that hour fortu fortunately fortunately fortunately I was not crowded picked out the most economical d on the menu and balancing her tray made for a table in m a secluded corner near a only window window only to come face to face with Mary Etta Mary Etta had bad finished her lunch Her black eyes looked startled when they recognized Laura who had in beside her How are you Mary Etta she asked gently I m splendid of course the gIrl said as it II daring Laura to thInk thank otherwIse Do you m nd If I sit with you red Laura Mary Etta shrugged her sharp shoulders Laura sat down I m grieved about you and Tom said Laura at last Mary Etta sIp f S 1 I P curled Why should you be she demanded You ve ye got him back haven t you Mothers always take their sons away from their wives if they can And you can can- Because he thinks you re perfect ter Shirley and Jaird cuy euy a ham hamburger hamburger hamburger burger stand Kathleen who ho despite herself be- be becomes becomes be becomes comes Interested In Ritchie Graham who aids her ber father lather In lighting fighting Mays She thinks of cl her mother s I ps pe when he tells tell her his wife wile wouldn t starve Kathleen Kathieen tells Ritchie she has BO no 0 wish to live Uve in poverty SI as there a sob behind her vOice Laura could not be certain No Mary Etta I haven t got my son back He s a under my roof yes But his bis heart isn t Why did he marry me and make me care when he wanted someone so different cried the girl In a tormented voice Then you do care Mary Etta EUa Care Mary Etta laughed bIt bItterly bitterly bitterly terly Do you think anyone could have had Tom and not care Why didn t you come to Coving Covington Covington ton with hun Because he d do t want me Be Because Because Because cause he s s ck of the sight of me He U ll marry someone like you of course when hen I divorce him My law lawyer lawyer lawyer yer ma mailed ed Tom a notice yester yesterday yesterday yesterday day Mary Ettal The girl s haggard face tWItched There s no use living on cha ned to the corpse of a dead love I can at least set Tom free And yourself Mary Etta shivered I swore no noone noone noone one should ever matter enough to upset my life We I vowed I Id d not be submerged as my mother was But it If it s any satisfaction to you I didn t pull it of off You see her vo ce sank she looked away Tom does matter More than anything on onearth onearth onearth earth You don t know what it s been like this past month Want ng h ml M Ill him bimi Longing to go godown godown godown down on my knees and beg him to love me agam again Laura glanced at her wrist watch Can you be packed and ready to togo togo togo go home with me by six Mary Etta started violently Go Goto Goto Goto to Covington Laura nodded If your lawyer mailed Tom those divorce papers yesterday he got them th s morn morning morning mg ing And he s been in m hell ever since I d cut my arm off oft to spare him that But I can t L t Only you youcan youcan youcan can change Tom s hell to heaven Mary Etta s hands clenched Tom will be glad to be r d of me meshe meshe meshe she ins ms sted Tom loves you Mary Etta But Buthe Buthe Buthe he believes you re disgusted because he t been a violent financial success like Harvey Leigh Tom thInks you want a divorce to marry Le gh And Tom will give you a dIvorce if you ask for it But you t Sh and I may be hIs Ideal But you are the woman he loves You ve ye got to go home WIth me ton and tell Tom it s been a nightmare but it s over Mary Etta s thin hands grIpped the table tremblingly And I thought you hated bated me Laura laid her hand gently on the g rl s quivering shoulder It doesn t matter about me I bore Tom I reared h m I ve ye done ev ever ever er thing I could for him hun But long ago he passed from my keep ng into yours ours I don t hate you Mary Etta But I am afraid of you Because you can make or break my son Great tears stood m an Mary Etta s haggard eyes If I could be sure Torn Tom wanted me- me meI meI me I am sure Oh Mother Mary Etta had never called Laura mother before Laura stooped and kIssed her wh while e their tears mingled She would not come into the house wIth Laura She was afraid of a public rebuff at Tom s hands She asked Laura to tell Tom she was waiting outside in the car Come His vo va ce cc sounded thin and stretched and when Laura opened the door he was sitting at atthe atthe atthe the reading table star ng straight before rum him and the face he be turned to her was ghastly And then she real zed that he was alone But where s 5 Alec she asked Your father said Alec Alee came in al almost almost almost most an hour ago He went out again But M ke didn t see him Tom sa d nothing only h s eyes were very sorry for tor her And sud suddenly suddenly suddenly denly Laura knew Maybe she had suspected all along He Y s only been pretend ng to sleep at home she whispered Tom nodded and Laura ed eda a little I m so terribly sorry sa se d Tom laying his hand on her arm You Youdon Youdon Youdon don t de deserve erve such trouble as this thus She came back from a long dis distance tance to stare at him blankly and then to remember that after aitu all aU To n was also flesh of her flesh and he heat heat heat at least could be snatched from the theburn theburn theburn burn ng Mary Etta is outside in her car She thinks th vin T 00 U hate her and she s breaking her heart for 01 you You must be mad Sh filed tiled suit for divorce yesterday I know But she doesn t want a divorce Tom She wants to be tak taken taken taken en into your arms and told you love her Better than 1 1 I fe Better a thousand t mes than you have ever loved me or Shirley or any Rny other woman But I do love her like that sa d Tom simply I 1 al nays have He was gone Taking the eta tta la rs two at a time lime He had forgotten his mother and Alec Alee He had lor forgotten gotten ng but the woman who gas Nas hIS to have and to hold TO BE |