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Show TRAILER GIRL Leager By VERA BROWN WNU Service CHAPTER XVIII Continued 12 "You've never seen Wild tight, have you?" Terry asked. He kept us in stitches. He put Mrs. Wall's goldfish gold-fish in the champagne. You should have seen them. They got cockeyed!" cock-eyed!" Terry was not trying to be cruel. It never occurred to him that Lynn was taking Wild seriously. She felt she could not lace Rene ' Just now and she went straight to her new apartment. Terry wrote down the number. "Have you a telephone? Well, I can get you at the shop," he waved good-by. "See you soon." The room darkened. It must have been nine when she got up and bathed her face, and put on a white linen dress. She'd go to Rene now. Then she laughed at herself. She knew why she was going. To see if Wild might be waiting. From .the street she could see Rene's apartment was dark. He often oft-en sat with the lights out, so she went on up. Rene, however, was not there. She found a note for her. "I've gone to eat with Marty." She waited a while, idling about ' the room, picking up this sketch and v that. She could stand it no longer. She scribbled a few words on the end of Rene's note and left If only Wild were waiting for her as usual. She was crying now, for she knew that Wild would not come. What had happened? Terry? His mother? What?" Wearily she made up the cot for the night, and undressed. I It was hours later when the door bell awakened her. She jumped up, - ' stubbed her toe on the strange j chair, felt for the buzzer. Rene? He i must be ill. She hunted for her dressing gown and threw it on over her thin nightdress. Her eyes were heavy with sleep as she waited at the door. She could hear somebody stumbling up the stairs at the next floor. She was sure something had happened to Rene! She waited until ' the footsteps reached her door. Then she opened it. It was Wild. He came to her and took her in his arms, buried his face in her ruffled, ruf-fled, blonde hair. "My God, Lynn! I couldn't stay away. I tried, but I couldn't!" He would not let her go, his lips on hers. ' "Wild!" Lynn's voice was plead ing. She realized he had been drinking. drink-ing. She struggled to get away from him. "Don't, Lynn! I love you so!" There were tears in his eyes as he spoke. "You've got to let me go." Lynn's voice was desperate. "I'll never let you go, not after these two days." Finally she broke away from him. "You've got to leave here, Wild. Right now!" Lynn was in a panic. Mrs. Roth had warned her against men visitors late at night. He laughed softly: "I thought I could give you up if I wanted to. Well, I'm putting my cards on the table. I can't." He sat down suddenly, as though his knees were weak. "And I thought I was so smart! I who hate women!" "Wild, please. Go, now, like a good boy." He pulled her down into his arms. "Of course, I'm not going! I'm here to stay." Lynn could not break away from him, and she lay there sobbing as though her heart would break. Wild was nonplussed at the storm. "Don't you love me, Lynn?" he asked plaintively. "I think I almost hate you tonight!" to-night!" All her suffering of the last two days welled up. But he held her there, a rebellious, sobbing figure. fig-ure. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Lynn struggled out of Wild's arms and went slowly to answer. an-swer. It was Mr. Roth, in his nightshirt night-shirt which hung below a hastily donned raincoat. "This is a nice way to carry on, young woman," Roth charged into the room. Lynn, horrified, managed to say: "I'm sorry Mr. Roth. The gentleman gentle-man was just leaving." Roth brushed that aside: "You'll leave tomorrow morning. We told you this was a respectable place." Then he turned to Wild: "Now get out Take her with you if you want to but get out of my house." Lynn stood straight against the wall. The humiliation of the whole thing was ghastly. Wild suddenly sobered by the turn of events rose. "I apologize Lynn. I'm a fool!" He went over to her, touched her arm appealingly, took his hat and left without a backward glance. And he left her to contemplate the most humiliating experience in her whole young life. CHAPTER XIX Lynn, standing there in the middle mid-dle of the Boor, covered her face with her hands. It was disgusting! A fury took possession of her. How dared Wild! How dare he! She began packing wildly, determined deter-mined not to stay in this place a moment longer than necessary. She began tossing clothes, hats, books onto the cot pulling out suitcases Irom under the bed. As she worked, dawn began to break. She worked with a white set face until everything was neatly packed, the pictures she had hung with such pleasure, the little vases, even the disturbing papers from the table. She made some coffee and managed man-aged to drink it Then she bathed and dressed slowly watching the slow-moving hands of the clock. By seven, she could stand the place no longer. Ready for work, she walked down the stairs, praying she'd meet none of her neighbors on the way. She made her escape and almost ran into the street. She'd have to begin the job of apartment hunting all over again. There parked at the curb was Wild's car. He was at the wheel. When he saw her he got out and walked over to her. Somewhere he'd found a barber shop. He was shaved, and sober. Only the fine moisture on his forehead fore-head showed his two days of drinking. drink-ing. "Lynn." She did not answer him. "Don't make a scene here. I'll pick you up and put you in the car if you do. I swear it!" And Lynn knew he meant it She opened the door and got in. Wild drove away in silence for a few blocks, then parked the car and turned to her. "I'm asking you to forgive me, Lynn." He tried to look into her f "I say, will you marry me, Lynn?" haggard eyes. "I was drunk. That's the only explanation I can offer! I'm a fool. If you only knew what I've been through these last two days!" He put his hand over hers and would not let her take hers away. "You've got to listen. You'd allow a murderer that! I " he stumbled on. He could not tell Lynn there had been a difficult scene with his mother. She had tried to be kind, had tried to make him see how impossible his infatuation for Lynn was. She'd kept her temper and had been logical and straightforward. "You don't understand how I love you. Lynn. I mean it!" She looked so ill and tired. He reviled himself bitterly. "It was pretty awful, wasn't it? That old fool! But I must have been mad. I ran into Terry and he said he'd seen you and that you'd moved. I had no idea of time. I just came, that's all!" An officer came along and told Wild not to park his car there. The morning rush traffic was beginning. "You didn't sleep did you? Or eat any breakfast?" "I'm all packed, ready to move." These simple words pushed Wild back into the slough of despond. "I'm no good! I deserve to be shot! What can I do, Lynn, to make you forgive me?" Tears were rolling down the girl's cheeks, and he tried to wipe them away with his pocket handkerchief as they halted in traffic. Finally he saw a place to park and pulled his car over to the curb. "You're going to get something to eat." Together they went into the nearest automat "I'll have the boy bring us something." The place was crowded now with the rushing men and women, fighting fight-ing for their breakfast coffee. It was noisy and confused. Lynn leaned her aching head on her hands and tried to hear what Wild said above the clatter. "I say, will you marry me, Lynn? Now, any time, ever?" He had to say it twice, to make himself heard above the clatter of dishes. The waiter slammed a tray down and unloaded their breakfast Wild put her coffee before her and motioned for her to drink it Ljmn's eyes looked less frozen now. As the clatter increased Wild grinned at her and shouted: "I pick the nicest places to ask you to marry me! I didn't hear what you said." "I said. 'Don't be ridiculous!' " How could she remain furious at him in this absurd situation? There was a faint quiver of her mouth and he reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. When he dropped her off at the shop, he said: "I'll be waiting for you tonight" And he dashed off to complete his plans for the day. How different this day was than the one previous! Lynn chided herself her-self and sometimes when she thought of Wild's absurd proposal in the little automat, her heart got cold. She must tell him all about Rene. Tonight she'd tell him. The longer she waited the worse it would be. That night Lynn flew into her street clothes. And then she went out to meet Wild. "I must drop in and see Fene for a moment and then go apartment hunting. Maybe I can stay in a hotel ho-tel tonight I'm all ready to move." "I'll wait," Wild retorted crisply. "It's all my fault you're moving. The least I can do is to help you find another place." When Lynn got to Rene's studio she found him and Marty deep in a conference. "Where on earth have you been?" Rene demanded in annoyance. "Apartment hunting." "I thought you'd found something." some-thing." "It didn't pan out Rene. I'm sorry. sor-ry. Why this solemn conclave?" "Rene's going to do the illustrations illustra-tions for Bryant Montgomery's new novel," he announced. "That means we've got to work like wildcats, Lynn. I've been reading the thing and we're mapping out plans now." Marty insisted that Lynn sit down and talk to them. "It means you've got to leave Mme. Reanoud's, Lynn. Rene needs you. He'll pay you $50 a week." "But poor Mme. Reanoud. I hate to leave her now when she needs all of us." "I'm going up there tomorrow to see if I can fix things with her. Maybe she'll let you work afternoons after-noons and give the mornings to Rene." Lynn had a bad time trying to get away, but she escaped at last to an impatient Wild. When she came back he said: "I thought you'd stood me upl Now " "I want to get my stuff." "Just a minute. I had our rental agent get a list of apartments down here today, at the price of your other oth-er one. Let's try this address. On Minetta Street Glad of the suggestion, Lynn complied, com-plied, and they stopped before a tall, old building. "These look too expensive." "Same as your old one," Wild said shortly. "I'll go get the caretaker." When the man opened the door to the little apartment there was something oddly familiar about it On the walls were her pictures. Through a half-opened door, she could see her clothes neatly hung in the clothes closet. The place was filled with fresh flowers. "Wild! What have you done!" Lynn just stood there, staring about It was a pretty room. Much nicer than the other, and there was a neat little bedroom, and best of all, a view of the city up town. Wild was laughing in delight "How much is this apartment? I'm sure it's too expensive, Wild." "It's $40, lady." That was the price Lynn had paid for the other. Wild did not explain he had sworn the man to secrecy, had paid the additional $40 for six months. Lynn ran to the fireplace, to windows win-dows with their view. "It's perfect Wild! How did you do it?" "I called home and got Elsie to come down and move you. Simple. I had nothing to do with it all" There was a knock on the door. Wild opened it. It was a waiter from a nearby restaurant, with a menu card. "We're having a house warming, darling. Do you want a steak?" Lynn hurried around and set the little table by the window. It was cool tonight, and the stars were clear in the deep blue sky. The fire was blazing on the hearth when their dinner came. There was even a bottle of champagne. "Miss Morrow, your good health!" Wild said as he raised his glass and touched hers. "And yours, Mr. Austin." "May I call you Lynn?" Then he took her in his arms, kissed her solemnly and they sat down to the house-warming dinner. CHAPTER XX They were completely and utterly happy, those two, oblivious to the rest of the world. That Autumn always al-ways remained one of the happiest times in Lynn's life. In after years when she'd see the city she loved sparkling in the Autumn sun, or lit by a harvest moon, it brought a vague nostalgia, a little heartbeat one feels for lost youth. Wild did not however, take Lynn back to Austin Manor. The girl's name was not mentioned betweer. him and his parents, although he talked to Chuck about her. But Mrs. Austin knew her son was seeing the lovely model. She heard gossip. She was bound to, for Lynn's face appeared more and more frequently in the magazines, Rene's work was causing considerable comment Then, too, Wild was too important a person to escape general gossip. (TO BE C0ST1M ED |