Show i CROSS MATCHED by MARTHA M WILLIAMS I 1 W 0 by maclure newspaper syndicate service Gw GWEN WEN flung up her arms yawning whereupon hereupon alise asked hows the book any good gwen yawned dawned again deadly stupid writer man got a thing to say bay and keeps on saying it in all the moods and tenses you shock me deeply ll ellse elise lung flung back rising A gift book too whatever shall we say to the author send er write him straight off say we cant wait to thank him film ull till after reading gwen counseled but you dont intend to tell him what you think from elise gwen sighed va saying yIng truths not merely brutal but unpopular why hurl burl large chunks of it at a poor soul who never did you the least bit of harm you forget from elise ne ile insisted on sitting out all four dances he had written himself down tor for at the valentine party when the music was making my feet dance in spite of me the two were real friends in spite of being kinswomen kinswoman kins women and doomed to live in the same wide plantation miles from everywhere but in auto aut teach reach of almost anywhere a well con fancy might choose to stray ellse elise was statuesque gwen roguishly pretty they were neither exactly rich nor poor elise herself was bidding her time being the sort that wears well and reaches full blow around thirty long before that time gwen would marry somebody somebody other than newell blair whom she had teased and flouted since the era of short frocks in spite of his money and his pedigree both were exactly what ellse elise had set her mind on therefore she waited charles joseph seaforth had seemed manna from heaven he was good looking had an air of distinction ellse elise had bad done her best to make him see in gwen an enchantress but had had her trouble for nothing nis ills book had come to her the first copy oft off the press he wrote with a a florid inscription that was yet prudently vague craftily she had given gwen the first reading hoping by doing so to quicken her interest in the books writer gwen had bad turned the tables by insisting that elise was in courtesy bound to acknowledge the gift lit at once frowning ellse elise set herself at the task but stopped short after theadate the dateline to stare at a resplendent car purring to a halt at the front steps seaforth and newell kewell blair sprang from it and rushed inside almost without knocking elise held out both hands to them as she rose crying luck indeed saves me a hard job trying to tell you all we think of THE BOOK in writing ive only part of an opinion now gwen let me read more than snatches says slie site cant eat nor sleep until she knows how bow it all turns out mighty kind of her from seaforth blair scowled hard maybe I 1 can break the spell he growled making for the back piazza ewens special happy haunt in a minute he was back book in hand gwen tucked possessively ses under his big arm 1 I am taking her for a drive in the new car so she shant pester you two any more he said tossing the book to elise mighty blighty glad to see you but really this Is so sudden she smiled at seaforth 1 I simply had bad to come to know what you thought nothing else matters nothing in all the world he be said huskily somehow the book Is selling amazingly or I 1 have dared it Is all I 1 have you know except hope and love ilove I elise felt herself profoundly shaken but completely dazed now how can you like me A plain country girl when you have seen so much of cities because you are my dream what I 1 hoped for and never thought to find ho he said stepping back a pace the better to look into her eyes you know I 1 be here but for baal the noblest fellow alive you see I 1 wrote him asking whether lie was my rival that was my black dread lie he so much I 1 almost Do nothing thIng lie ile answered me man to man to me there Is just one possible wife in all the world her name Is Gwendol lne trevor unless she comes to me of her own good will I 1 shall be a lone man all my life and then actually he came for me brought me to his home two days back rested me there and heartened me for the crisli crisis of my fate funny he says you are the finest woman living much too fine for the general run of men but he could n not ot love you even if he be had never seen se en gwen euse elise choked silently sh bac held h eld out oat her hand to him ne ile laid III his s cheek upon it reverently as one might touch an altar A little silence fell between them then as the purring motor sounded distantly ellse elise put her other hand upon the adoring lovers head bead saying 1 I will do my best to give you back your love the double wedding sl six months later was of course a social event looking on acidly the widow martin said cross matched teams it if ever I 1 saw lem cm whereupon squire burgess chud chudley led glad you think so susan cross matches were the best teams ever I 1 drove and ive been at the business full fifty years |