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Show inn e ner i; s I FICTION cwab? J " WSk I SQUALLS I 0!; X&frjr By MAUD McCURDY WELCH lm P ' ,3" Gramma's experience in squalls with her seafaring husband pre- the pared her admirably for the role she was called upon to play when ?'of Nedra and John called off their marriage. to bring these two stubborn kids together to-gether would come to nothing at all. It looked plain enough that John and Nedra had no intention whatever what-ever of making up their quarrel. . . . Next morning Mother Nature herself her-self decided to take a hand. They awakened to find the ship tossing in a sudden gale, thunder roaring in demoniac fury, lightning flashing with every split second, the waves tearing at the ship as if possessed of the fury of a thousand devils. Nedra dressed hurriedly, went into Gramma's room to find her also dressed, as early as it was. "Is it a hurricane?" Nedra asked shakily. "I don't know, dear. I think I'll just go and try to find out." "Don't stay long. I'm beginning to be frightened," Nedra pleaded. "I'll be back in a jiffy. There's nothing to worry about. At least I think not." She'd hardly disappeared before there was a loud knock on the door and John came in. "Nedra, Nedra darling, I had to find you, I had to tell you in ... in case anything happened, that I still love you, and I always will." "It's been the desire of my life to travel on a fruit-boat," Gramma Gram-ma said fervently. Nedra stared at her for a moment; mo-ment; then yielded. "In that case we'll go." So it happened that in a very few more days, Gramma and Nedra found themselves on a fruit-boat bound for the intriguing destination of Trinidad. And on their very first morning on deck, they both saw a tall, dark young man standing at the rail, gazing moodily out to sea. Nedra's heart almost stopped. She clutched Gramma's arm and drew her around to the other side so quickly that she almost lost her ; ! , : iff : n -r y s ( 1 f J i h : u3 . r "k 1 "XJEDRA had been crying. Sitting jck Xj ln ner chair Dy big window in the living room, Gramma went elimi on knitting. In one quick glance t pU she'd seen that the girl had tried lent i to hide the tear-stains by an inex- i the! pert dabbing of powder around her -he pretty blue eyes, is. U After a minute Gramma said cas- Jesst ually, "John left early." ac'' "And not a minute too soon," pel Nedra returned quickly, sinking jicat deeper into the fireside chair and jca( turning her face away. "Ho, so you two had a quarrel." T(j Gramma knitted a little faster than j before, owirj "No, a conflagration, an explo- witlj sion, a dissolution, a parting of the riate ways." Nedra's voice was both ate angry and vehement, and a little 1 yfl tearful too. ' a11 "As bad as that?" Gramma In- jawr quired mildly. ta i "I gave him bis ring. It's all ft ol over," Nedra swallowed a sob i 2-i: quickly. ;p ai Gramma made a little clucking ft. fr sound but she went on plying her needles industriously. A, At last Nedra burst out unhap- 2.5 1 pily. "Well, aren't you going to l console me, or congratulate me, 956 whichever the case may be?" cor .; Gramma stopped knitting for a wii;! moment, looked up. "You and John attle.i have quarreled before. They are )elta! something like the squalls we'd ?c. ft! sometime meet up with on the Saint :se fr Lawrence when I'd made a trip ' with your grandfather on his steam- ltJn17i! er. He was a sea-captain, you nited know. Well, there'd be a terrible LarJ lot of noise and wind, and then the , Sal most beautiful .calm you ever saw. i wad It's natural for people in love like am a you and John to quarrel once in a t. dfl while." 1270 : Nedra sat up. "Darling, you're 17S, an incurable sentimentalist. John . r and I are sensible and modern and Lanj analytical about love, as all young gajl people are nowadays. We've ,had I 0 several bitter quarrels since we be- rom I came engaged, so we've simply had - goiri to face the fact that we're not com- n NE patible and that marriage would be wat a mistake." ated -It Was sensible of course to face ft. w y,;s before it was too late." "and "Its the modern way," Nedra id in sa'd 'n a srna desolate voice. be , "But love is not modern," Gram- and ma observed quietly. Then she d to added, "but of course someday' :tle. you'll meet the right man." resisl The sudden white horror of Ned- the : ra's sweet face was like a shock, reaso "There'll never be another man, i3j i never!'' she exclaimed passionate- iled m1 , . State y' as rose a room. (l on ; Two or three days passed. One ! ' day at noon Nedra was lying on a E. Hi chaise longue in her room, listlessly State turning the pages of a magazine :ation when Gramma burst in, excitingly :ation, waving two important looking tick- jj ets. ,j "Listen, darling, we're going . . plaaes. We're shipping on a fruit-boat fruit-boat for . . . for . . ." she studied the tickets for a moment, "for Trin- 1 idad." Jfaj "Where on earth is that?" Nedra ti4 asked indifferently, still pretending f- to be interested in her magazine. I Gramma lifted her shrewd dark ) brows. "My dear, I don't seem to have the slightest idea, but if we "77 3 stay on the boat long enough, I imagine we'll find out." 'iM Nedra sat up. "Now, look, you I absurd darling, if you're taking me J on a sea voyage because you think """ j my heart is broken, that's out. Girls 'j these days when disappointed in Indee': love, dont waste time languishing. j They go in for careers, maybe poli- 11. W; tics or something." "We were silly to think we could," Nedra agreed softly. The next moment he had her in his arms. "And I ' still love you, John. The moment I knew the ship was in danger, I thought of you." Nedra's voice was a happy whisper. He bent his head and tilted her chin, "Which only goes to prove, dearest, that love is something that escapes all logic and reason and analysis. We can't argue ourselves out of it just on the pretense of being realistic." "We were silly to Uiink we could," Nedra agreed softly. "The only reason we quarreled," John went on, "was because of my absurd jealousy, because I love you so very much." "No," Nedra contradicted adoringly, ador-ingly, "it was my bad temper." John shook his head quickly. "You have the temper of an angel, and we'll never, never quarrel again in the future . . . if . . . there is a future left to us," he finished bravely. brave-ly. Neither of them was aware that the wind had ceased its wild roar and the deceitful sea had suddenly become as calm and benign as summer day. Still holding each other in a close embrace, they hardly heard Gramma Gram-ma when she came back and saw them together. "Just a squall," she murmured softly as she went into her own stateroom, a happy smile wreathing itself around her lips. breath. "Hey, what goes?'.' Gramma Gram-ma asked in Nedra's own jargon. "That was John," Nedra exclaimed ex-claimed breathlessly. Gramma straightened her neat black toque and got herself better organized. Then Nedra's voice came suddenly accusingly, "And you knew it all the time. You did this on purpose." She whirled around angrily, "I'm going to my cabin and I'm going to stay there." Nedra kept her word. She stayed in all day, even though after she'd had her dinner, Gramma reminded her that there was nothing on earth more beautiful than a moonlit evening eve-ning at sea. "What do I care about a silly old moon," Nedra retorted in a voice that shook with tears. TT SEEMED a stalemate, so Gram- ma went on deck alone and soon found John, his boyish face looking tired and drawn even in the semi-light. semi-light. Gramma slipped into the chair beside him, and he said un-happly, un-happly, "Look here, Gramma, a man can't go a thousand miles away, more or less, to forget a girl and stay on the same boat with her all the way." "Why don't you two youngsters make up?" "We decided that if we quarreled before marriage, we'd do the same thing afterward. We're trying to be logical and modern but . . ." his voice trailed away sadly. "Well, someday you'll meet another an-other girl," Gramma said lightly. "That'll never happen . . . never. Don't even mention a thing like that." John's voice was hoarse with pain. But just the same, it looked more and more as if Gramma's plotting |
