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Show rr,D,r.HT KATHLEEN NORFUS W.N.U. SERVirF l"'"" CHAPTER XXI Continued 18 -ves, of course! But I was won-what won-what she would have said J I tad said quite openly, 'Larry. ae me along!'" .stie might not have suspected hlng at all." Unless Caroline prompted her." -Well that, of course. But do too think Caroline suspects?" 1 don't know. Sometimes I think ,he does." Again there was a long Basing silence, then Tony said: Larry, when I'm with you I feel tremendously brave. I could do inythlng, because you're there to jpprove. But the minute we're sep-irated sep-irated I feel so flat and stupid. I -eel like screaming: 'Oh, what's jle difference? Who cares! So I jjoir bow I'll feel tomorrow," the prl went on, earnest and fragrant 1Ed confidential In the darkness, tith her arm through his, and her !ace against his shoulder. "And I hare to make unchangeable plans sow, and stick to them no matter tow I feel when this Is over." "We'll have dinner now." They Sad turned off the highway to stop it i little roadside restaurant those windows were gushing light !e:o the night. Todj was ravenous and found everything delicious; food brought ber back color and spirit; she rested rest-ed her elbows on the table and sailed across It at Larry. "This Is Italy, Larry, and we are ob our travels." "Will you go to Italy with me, Tony?" "Not now. No; there's no happy ending for us," Tony said. "There may be." "It's so horrible to have It depend de-pend on someone's death, Larry. It oughtn't to be that way. Do you suppose most persons' happiness depends on someone's death?" "I suppose It does depend on Bath's death that's horrible," the nan said, looking up with a smile. "One always says 'unless some-Iking some-Iking happens.' But It always Beans 'unless someone dies.' " Tony mused on this for a moment. "Xo, I'll not do that. So this Is our last little party, Larry. I tonldn't trust myself for much of tils one. One of these moony lights I'd want to give In more than anything else ' Bendy, or Hother, or what people think of M, or what I think of myself It would all vanish like fog. I'd ilink. 'It's my business and Larry's mi nobody's else !'" "And Isn't it?" "Ion know it's not. But the wnt of it is," Tony said with a raefnl laugh, "I can make all the Wves In the world, while I'm sta yon, and the minute we're separated I'm sick. 1 tlsh there were some other My out" "Jes, because this really isn't uy way out" The enchanted talk went on and . Tony's right elbow was rest's rest-'s jo the table, and her chin In r hand; her left hand lay free, R after a while Larry's big brown was over it,' firm and strong, 1 m moTea hIs CQair abut M that their shoulders were al-t al-t touching. When Tony raised r beavy dark eyelashes and ;Sht the glowing. soft light in , blue eyes to meet his look, she M oli own eyes close. Je clock on the wall said ten, lh ven, and, still their . eyes, . hands, their souls were locked still they sat on in the - e corner of the dining room, Ml . ! Plain white cIoi stained the . , Wlne' and tlle cheese and if; PlateT618 Httering the disor-ry, disor-ry, will you l00k at the God, is it after eleven?" fcch;., y0M enSaSement with 5ir,l!'ancea t0ard the back of ; restaurant. Ml het,(er telephone him. I can lot, rea ve haii a breakdown. Do :klns III T'Ve been sittInS here landed J?66 hours?" the man '"ItHM " seems like one." seem like one," Tony was ;ned , conreed until he re-etrtul re-etrtul the telephone booth tight?? , reassurlng- "Was- It "Fine, p 6 asked tearfully. 'Sc.. "e was 3"st' leaving the !5 time V8 CUld take 11 "P &,N n(1, rrow' He'd tele- him i' at the l0(1se. and she ttew ' 'a started at six, so he get there. kia h'ero . h!ra 1 was delayed the J, ard tlle Parke1 t!;h nZ7 Was wltewashed Tog , "n nw, and very still, kct on ,,p,De'" Tn.v said. In her front sent anin. It's 4 t u straight ahead now. We ought to be In by three?" "Sooner than that We'll be In Sau Jose in about an hour, and then it's only an hour and a quarter." quar-ter." The miles flew by; Tony, wear-led, wear-led, rested drowsily against Larry's shoulder. "Hello!" he said suddenly, rousing rous-ing her. "We're bumping," said Tony. "Bumping! Great Scott, what a flat!" Larry got out of the car, walked about It "Our right rear Is as flat as a pancake," he said. And fool that I am, I've no spare! No spare, and miles to gol" "Well, there wasn't a garage, even back at the restaurant," Tony said. "No, but I could have telephoned one Damn It!" Larry said under his breath. "We'd have to stop someone and get them to telephone. I don't know how far a garage Is or where there is one." Tony got out and walked about the car in her turn; looked up at the wide pale gray spread of the sky and the pulsing stars. "Bright as day," she said. "Here comes a car ladies, driving driv-ing along pretty fast, too no, they won't stop ; they've heard too much of roadside robbers," Larry laughed, impressive in his tan coat, with his thick black hair uncovered. "Here here we are 1" A small car stopped; a man's spectacled face peered out There was a woman with a baby in her lap beside him; another woman looked out from the back of the car. Tony knew this other woman's wom-an's face, tried to place it; it had a vaguely unpleasant association, somehow. "I don't believe there's a garage open this side of San Jose now," the man said, sympathetically. "It may be an hour before help gets back to you." "Wait a minute that house up the road there is lighted funny thing too, as late as this there must be sickness," said Larry. "We'll walk up there and use their telephone." "I really think you'd save time." "Who is that woman?" Tony thought, shuddering a little In the first feeling of cold. "I know that face !" "Come on, we'll go telephone," Larry told her, as the little car drove away. "And we'll come back and wait in the car. I've got an extra coat there, and I'll wrap you up." A thousand times In the days that followed Tony was to wish that she had prevented him, had suggested that they wait for a bus; there were buses going np and down these roads, even though it was only at long intervals. No kindly premonition arrested their feet as they walked along the fragrant highway, turned in at a plum-guarded ranch gate, and approached ap-proached a pleasant four-square wooden home draped in rose vines and shaded by two great oaks. "Oak Lawn," said a sign over the entrance steps. The hallway and an upper room were lighted, at twelve o'clock on a quiet Monday night. Larry rang the bell. There was no answer; he tried the door. "It's open ; there's someone here. They wouldn't go away and leave the place lighted up," he said to Tony, ringing again. Again there was no response; far upstairs they could hear a child crying. "There's a baby in there somewhere, some-where, Larry. They've gone away and left it." "Walt here's someone." Footsteps Foot-steps were coining along the hall; the lock rattled, and a pale young man looked out." "What do you want?" "May I use your telephone, please? We've got a flat, and there doesn't seem to be any garage ga-rage near here." .The young man looked at them, blinking. "It's out of order" he began. Then his manner changed. He clutched his temple, dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, and burst into bitter weeping. "Come In," he sobbed, "my wife's Just been murdered I I don't know what to do." v CHAPTER XXII TITE Donny murder case took front-page headlines in all the newspapers the next day, and for many days to come. Harold Donny was In no sense an ordinary rancher; he was the scapegrace on of Everard Donny, a wealthy Pittsburgh steel man. His wife had been the beautiful Zelda Mhoon of Santa Barbara, and their ranching experiment originally had been rather in the nature of a high adventure ad-venture set In a background of riding horses, handsome cars good servants, smart clothes. But they had lost money; they had had a baby; there was every reason to suppose that there had been a nervous strain upon both the spoiled young husband and wife of late years; the newspapers were agog with theories as to the woman's wom-an's coldness, the man's JeAlousy, the quarrels and threats that had gone on in the once luxurious home Lawrence Bellamy, the well-known well-known associate editor of the Call, who had been motoring home alone who had been motoring home with an unknown woman companion compan-ion at twelve-seventeen o'clock on that evening who had been motoring motor-ing home with Miss Antoinette Taft, social editor of the Call had been the person to discover the tragedy and had quite properly notified no-tified the San Jose police. Miss Taft, It appeared from an amicable statement from Mrs. Bellamy, was a close friend of the Bellamy' family fam-ily and had spent the day with them at Pebble Beach. No hint of scandal or surprise or blame came from Ruth. Everything Every-thing had been quite as it should be; she was devoted to Miss Taft; the whole thing was only so "unfortunate." "un-fortunate." Quiet and rather pale, Tony went through the unreal the hideous days. She was at the coroner's inquest, answering questions simply, sim-ply, with her characteristic little puzzled frown drawing the penciled brows together over her blue eyes. She and Mrs. Bellamy were friends? Great friends. She had spent the momentous Sunday with Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy In Pebble Beach? Yes. She told Aunt Meg something; Brenda little more. She told Cliff the truth. "You and he you mean you and Larry?" Cliff stammered. "Oh, yes." "And how long's this been going on?" "There wasn't much to 'go on.' Months, I guess," Tony said in reply. re-ply. "Well, then, what's the idea of being so decent about It?" "I don't think it's exactly decency," de-cency," Tony said, with an effort. "It's just Ruth's idea of the best way out" "You didn't dine with them that day, then?" "No,and neither did Larry. He started before dinner, and I wait- PI fT!Pl Hi -piBKsEFS 1 .r,-. . "You Poor Kid," Cliff Said In Sudden Sud-den Sympathy. ed for him at Del Monte, and he picked me up."- "What time was this?" "A little after six. We had dinner din-ner at King City; we talked for three hours." "Ha!" Cliff ejaculated. "And she didn't bawl you out?" "No. She prefers It this way. She's protecting me, and saving him from his own ridiculous folly, and they're all going to China together." to-gether." "Will he go?" "He has to go. Otherwise she'll divorce him." "Threatens that, huh?" "She doesn't have to threaten. It's Just that oh, she's not well, and her mother wants to go, and her niece Mrs. Polhemus is going, and If Larry won't come to his senses and go happily along with them well, she's just done." "Gosh, what a mess? Maybe he'll throw her down?" "How can he, Cliff? For one thing, she really does love him; she's always been kind to me. And even If he did, that'd finish me. That'd give everyone a chance to say that I was the girl mixed Into the Donny murder and mentioned In the Bellamy divorce." "Who got you into it In the first place? Didn't Larry put you on a bus that night and send you home?" "Yes; you weren't here, I remem ber Yes, I got here about three o'clock. But you see the fact of the bus picking me up there at that hour gave them something to work-on work-on and then this Miss Wallister of' Oakland gave them my name, qhe'd been in the car Larry and I stopped before we went to the Donny house." "Who's she?" "An Oakland schoolteacher. I did a story about her once." "The Eellamy outfit'.- all going away?" "China." "When do they go?" "Day after tomorrow." "Going to see her before thev go?" "No." "Will you see him?" Tony said "no," again, Immediately Immedi-ately adding: "Yes, he's to come for me here at ten tomorrow, Cliff. We're going off somewhere to talk together. It's good-by, of course. After you're married, I'm going to New York, if they'll send me, and Larry won't be back until late autumn. au-tumn. We'll never see each other again." "You poor kid," Cliff said in sudden sud-den sympathy. "It's not your fault It had to be Larry you liked I It's rotten for you!" Tony's face wrinkled, and her lip shook; she looked away, swallowing swallow-ing with a dry throat She said nothing. They sat In the parked car and stared out at the sea that was veiled and gray ander the fog. It was the quietest hour of the morning; morn-ing; Tony and Larry had the beach to themselves. "Is Ruth bitter about it, Larry?" "On the contrary, she doesn't see, or she won't admit, anything to be bitter about. She's very happy and very affectionate, and grateful grate-ful to me for going along, and sure I'll love It all!" "She's taken that position," Tony said, In a hard voice. "She's yes. She's taken that position." The girl's voice was gentler, her blue eyes shadowed, when she spoke again. "But she knows we love each other?" "She never had said so. She talks of what the best thing Is for all of ns. For me, and for you for all of us." "Poor Ruth," Tony said; "what other attitude can she take, unless she wants to let you go?" "Caroline and Mrs. Patterson help her to keep It up." "Keep up ?" "The well, the little fiction that the whole thing is is just something some-thing to be hushed up and forgiven and forgotten." "Forgiven and forgotten!" Tony said, with the proud color In her face. "They seem to feel that there Is no question that I like you too much and you like me to much," Larry said. "But since It's Larry and Tony, they must be protected and excused. Larry's like that, and poor little Tony didn't know what she was letting herself in for, what gossiping tongues would make of it!" "I suppose so," Tony said dryly. "Does Ruth believe it?" "Ruth always believes what she wants to believe. Yes, she believes It As far as she's concerned It's true. Much the best thing for all concerned is for us to hush It up, and go away." Tony made no comment She had taken off her white hat; her dark uncovered hair lay In loose rings and sprays against the man's shoulder. He could look down and see the smooth clear tan of her cheek, where the fine down of a peach showed against the white light of the strange muffled day, and the lowered thick dark eyelashes, eye-lashes, and the curve of her fine wide mouth. Tony again was in white today; but her loose soft coat was brown, and the small square pumps braced against the foot rest were bron, too. Larry tightened his arm about her shoulders. shoul-ders. "It won't be forever, Tony." "No. Somehow somewhere- the roads will come together again." "And meanwhile we'll think of each other and of today." "Ah, that's what they always say," the girl said with a break in her voice. "And then they forget!" "I'll not forget. Ah, you're so sweet!" he said, with his lips against her forehead. And then, "Tony, we couldn't Just run away from it all?" , "Not from Bendy and Bruce and Cliff and Aunt Meg, no. They've all hoped too much for me, done too much for me. It wouldn't be fair." "It's like a terrible dream that we're together now that you're safe In my arms here, Tony and that tomorrow that ache for you that ache for you, will begin and there won't be any cure!" "No matter where we are, no matter what happens, we'll always belong to each other, Larry, won't we?" "You'll always be what you are now, Tony the only person in all the world for me." (TO BE COSTiyiED) |