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Show A Walk to Halfway By H. LOUIS RAYBOLD j " n (CduvrlKhH THERE is something more depressing depres-sing than Inspiring about returning to the dead old Alma Mater for one s lifteeuth reunion. At least that wss the thought in Drake Elliott's mind as lie lifted his voice mightily in "Hail, hail, the gang's all here " True, the gang was. very largely, all there. Coming, some of them from such far-off points as San Diego and even Iiuenos Ayres, in order once more lo tread the sacred corridors. Drake himself had run up from Philadelphia and hud been pleasantly stirred at meeting old classmates on the train and In the station, shaking their hands or slapping them on their backs. Drake, who possessed neither wife nor child, caine In for a lot of charting and speculation as to liov he had escaped the wiles of women. Then, somehow, somewhere, he had lost his glad careless rapture. Perhaps Per-haps il had vanished In the pressure of events which crowded and even overlapped one another. For example, a "get-together" sing was scheduled for the evening, but fur any who cared to go there was a dance held by the alumnae of the I neighboring woman's college three miles away. Drake himself Intended to look in. The place held many associations. He recalled Pally Ahrens and the stately Kathrine and, yes, his senior ball girl, Olive Swain. He had frequently wondered won-dered Just why he had not proposed to Olive that final class night. There had been a certain fear lest she reject him In favor of Dwight Scovllle. Also a certain resolution not to saddle himself him-self with responsibility until he had made good. Well, that was a long time ago ! Vet now, cor.iing upon her suddenly at one end of the festive gym hall, Drake was surprised to find how little the years had changed Olive had merely accentuated her charms and made of the lovely girl an even lovelier loveli-er woman. "Drake Elliot!" There was genuine pleasure In her voice. "Dwight told me you were here " Ah, so It had been Dwight ! "Olive, you've well, you've changed so little" She laughed. "The correct reunion remark!" She eyed his appralsiugly. "You yourself are a bit more serious than I remember you. Otherwise " They danced together but said little. For the first time since his return Drake could Imagine that fifteen years had not rolled by since last he swung down the old gym floor with Olive lu his arms. Two dances they had, then someone claimed her and during the final fox trot Drake watched her dancing and chatting with Scovllle. But back in his quarters at the Col-, lege Inn, he remembered a last remark that Olive had Hung back as she turned away. "It doesn't seem like old times without a walk to Halfway Just at sunset, does it?" He wished now he had probed tha;. s eech at the time. -Had Olive meant could It be that she was hinting Late afternoon of the following day saw Drake strolling along the worn trail which led to a group of rocks on a hilltop known as Halfway because It was equidistant from the two colleges col-leges and formed an Immemorial Jrvst- liig place from the ledie one liod a glorious view of green slopes, me-! me-! auderlng river, and blue smudges that were distant hills against a western sky. Drake felt his heart quicken ah-! ah-! surdly. as he glimpsed a woman's ( ngure silhouetted against the heavens. ! Then he smiled. A rendezvous with another man's wife! Olive made room for him beside her. "This Is like old times!" She uiled. then sighed. "And so much of it Isn't, however one pretends !" Drake looked up quickly. "You've felt that, too?" "Of course," she nodded. "I think i It .Is because only the young and the old can really make-believe. The rest of us are too busy or too restless." "Yes," he agreed thoughtfully. "Perhaps "Per-haps that Is It. I've noticed that It is the oldsters, those back for their thirtieth thir-tieth or fortieth reunions, are the ones whose surrender to it all seems most real. We others return with so many Illusions shattered and aspirations dimmed and have not yet learned to be satisfied with compromises." ' There was a moment of comradely silence. Then, "Rut you are one of the successes." said Olive. "Perhaps!" Drake 'shrugged his shoulders. "My life Is empty. 1 have ! never married." j "These, then," mused Olive, "might be called 'The Reveries of a Bachelor ' and an Old Maid' !" "What's that !" Drake had risen. Why, no," said (Hive. "I haven't married either." "But I thought Dwight " "Dwight married Patty Ahrens. Don't you read your alumni notices?" Drake shook his head. "Never." Then he drew a deep breath. Cosh. It was good to get back to one's Alum Muter! He looked down at the woman who might, but for his stupidity, have companioned his last 15 lonely years. She had come. It seemed, half way across the hills, across the years "Olive," he snld huskily. "Don't you suppose why, this was predes tined. my dear!" He held out hungry arms and the two of them togethet found lhat Ihe old glad careless rap Mire had ctmp hack. |
