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Show ALEX GARRISOn' r! WAS July, and In July the mountain, in whose bosom nestled nes-tled the quaint little hotel, was heavenly. Few guests had arrived; they had the hotel and surrounding surround-ing country almost to themselves. Neither had known such a glorious glori-ous six-days as those which followed. fol-lowed. When it was over, John said: "We'll go back to New York together. We'll be married on the way." But Helen shook her head. "We can't, John. It wouldn't be fair to either of us. Everything that has happened here has been wonderful, wonder-ful, too wonderful. Going back might change it. We're not sure. We must test our love for your sake and mine. For the sake of the future. Test it by parting, by staying stay-ing apart for a year. That's the only real way to tell." "Of course." He understood perfectly. per-fectly. He kissed her. "A year, my sweet, I'll love you a thousand ' times more. How long will be that year, yet how glorious the reunion!" re-union!" He looked away down the side of the mountain. "July 2d, next year, we'll meet in my apartment, apart-ment, for dinner. And after dinner din-ner we'll go out and get married." The practicability with which they made their plans caused them both to laugh. With their arms bout each other it seemed so silly, so utterly ridiculous. But they were intelligent, mature ma-ture people and both could see the logic of such a scheme. And so they parted. John went back to Philadelphia Phila-delphia and to his architectural desk. At first it was hard, unbearable. unbear-able. His thoughts were constantly with Helen. Now that they were apart his Imagination played easy ' tricks. Had she really loved him? Could it be' that the plan she had suggested was merely a stratagem to make their parting easy, dramatic? dra-matic? Had she been amusing herself her-self with him? In retrospect he had agreed not to do so. But he didn't, remembering her words. Not writing, not trying to see her because be-cause a matter of honor; yet his heart bled. The construction Job absorbed his time. It was a big opportunity, the biggest he had ever had. He threw himself into it heart and soul. Gradually he began to forget Helen. When, nine months later, the job was completed and he had time to relax, he let his mind dwell on the events of last summer. Surprisingly Sur-prisingly he found that the longing had diminshed, almost vanished. He could, he discovered, go about his routine tasks, see other women, wom-en, attend parties, without knowing a sense of torment because of wondering what Helen was doing. At first this provoked a feeling of guilt. He wasn't even interested in seeing see-ing her again. Thankful he was that he had listened to her -reasoning when she suggested the plan of remaining apart for a year. He sighed. Poor kid. Little did she know that her foresight was going to result in her own unhappiness. He pictured her out west, counting count-ing the days until July 2. Now that he had come to his senses he could look at the thing clearly, could appreciate ap-preciate how greatly she loved him. He scowled. It was going to be hard on Helen, but it was better to be a little hard now than ruin her whole future life. And then suddenly he had an idea. They were to meet in his apartment for dinner. Wouldn't it be better, easier for them both it he closed up the apartment and went away, wasn't there to see her? The idea relieved his conscience. consci-ence. He'd do just that. But where he go? Where could he hide so that she couldn't find him? The answer came in a flash. The mountain re-enrt re-enrt whprp thpv had first met? It went over every minute of the wee"k they had spent together. No, he decided, she must love him. No girl could give as much as she unless un-less the giving were provoked by a deep and sincere devotion. A sudden demand for his services serv-ices in connection with the construction con-struction of a great municipal building in a nearby city was a welcome antidote to his tortured mind. Even so, several times he was tempted to write, though they would be the last place in the world she would think of looking for him, because of its obviousness, if nothing noth-ing else. " ' He arrived at the hotel shortly after dark. The lobby was deserted, desert-ed, save for one person, a girl sitting sit-ting before the fire reading a magazine. maga-zine. She looked up when he entered en-tered and her face blanched. "John! Oh, John, this is the last place in the world I thought you'd come looking for me!" |