Show I 1 all A 7 0 service Q the bobbs merrill company CHAPTER VI continued 8 80 so you joined up sniff remarked more interested in this fact than in miss wiss mercedes in 14 stone nodded 1 I 1 went over at once the only time I 1 ever left virginia for more than a week or two id been educated in england remember and knew a lot of 0 fello is s I 1 was useful as a liaison officer I 1 was going to transfer to our own forces when we came in somehow I 1 d t afraid they d think I 1 was pushing my self fo forward rivard you know you vou were wounded stone wriggled oh slightly just a 8 scratch cratch nothing worth mention tug ing sou you might as well tell me how it happened sniff pressed him inetor ably u I 1 im in noted for my tactless per oh well there was a I 1 atle chap I J was fond of we all were irish dot not too young he d been a jockey in early life and we ive all thought he d dyed his ills hair and lied about his age to get taken on at all very sporting whit well some men cime in after a raid bald said they d left him in a shell hole wounded ile lied d begged em to go on it was useless to try to carry him in things had quieted down there any danger so being fond of lilma himas as I 1 said I 1 just wandered over to eee see what could be done tor for him that s all there was to it except that you effected a liaison with a german bullet or two sniff bald dryly I 1 see absolutely no dan eer ger of course then with a flash of intuition 1 I suppose he gae gaie you the emerald horseshoe vou so often wear 1 I always wear it stone corrected her ber throwing his coat back to d splay it it dennis was killed the first dav after that that he was back at the front lied ile d left the pin with the priest with orders to turn it over to me it if he went west it had bad been pre rented to him after he won a great race by great riding and he prized it above everything A silence fell between them each traveling fir vir on trains of thought aroused by what had transpired you have friends over there sniff bald at last has it never occurred to you to go back to them stone set his jaw stubbornly tm rm rn an american I 1 made up my mind all virginia freeze me out and by G d I 1 don t mean to let them I 1 there was passion in the statement and sensing the spirit that had car ried him through years of ostracism sniff recognized it as final at once ehe she dropped the subject and reverted to the topic of miss mercedes did mercy nurse you 1 I im in alive was stones stone a laconic an ewer then after a minute he took the matter up again I 1 she wasn gasn t a full fledged nurse a act fact which doubtless saved some more or less valuable lives I 1 only saw her occasionally in the south she had a flirtation at every cot and wheel chair after the armistice in paris sl e began to cling a little but her intentions t really serious until she grew fat A fat man Is the most hor sight in tte tl e world but to my mind a fat woman runs him pretty close so I 1 in counting on you to save me from her kralf and she Is counting on me to save you for her emif pointed out may I 1 ask how I 1 am to reconcile my duty to both clients after all ive taken her money and ive not taken yours perhaps the best way out of the d afi culty would be to throw you over too late stone asserted its it s im possible now to forget I 1 ra in your cousin in virginia blood counts you vou know you cant can t throw over a relative besides as a problem I 1 in much more in te resting than she can poss bly be she ashes s only fat im morbid and introspective spec tive and obstinate and a lot of other things III tell you about later not much later if I 1 in to preserve the lovely name sail sniff her eyes stealing to the clock but t 11 I 1 add a bit of a bumbu humbug to the list you ve given me I 1 in n not 0 t sure you don t I 1 11 I 1 e M ss mercedes more than you d have me think you do stone made a wry face and shook his head not while she elie s so fat he said de ci good night good night sniff echoed but al at ready the door was shut between them she reseated herself to e a final cigarette turning the pages of a maga tine and trying to tear her mind away from stone nesbit and the position he had maintained so stubbornly for years it was a et useless attempt so tar far as the situation in virginia went she was sure she could clear it up if she were on the spot she prom ased herself she would make male short work of it t once she was at Love lylea As regards miss mercedes she had stated the case quite frankly to stone and after fill 11 t such a mar ariage be the best thin thing for all con berned mercy had struck her as billy silly and sentimental ties which might appeal to some men as feminine and affectionate plainly no woman was fitted to judge what a man looked tor for in a wife probably all tt at stone wanted was that she should bring pressure on mercy to induce her to red ice until she was a more normal s ze that much she was pretty certain she could manage to accomplish ahing no guar antee how however ever tl atiat at mer y would con dinue sylphia ke after m image after one has won a race plainly there Is no incentive to keep on run n ng sniff remarked 4 to herolf as she switched off the I 1 gats and fib a wide yawn went b hungry angry to bed foresee ng tha she would be con subject to interruption from miss mercedes unless measures were taken to prove to her that she had not bought all madame s time to her great disgust sniff promptly charged barged that lady for a visit she made in the forenoon to indu re the result of the call at doctor blanton a office while she was lingering sniff an the telephone to hear stones stone a voice he ile had it developed dev dei elored recel received Ned message from Love LoNe lylea Nolt voltaire alre was III it was necessary for him to take the first train no telling when he would be back he ile had bad to rush he ile hung up and so did sniff involuntarily her eyes sought miss mercedes face who being shrewd in her own way interpreted the glance rightly that was johnny talking to yo yol I 1 dont bon t bother to fib to me I 1 know it was I 1 could see you making up your mind whether to tell me or not emif laughed attempting no denial I 1 was doing exactly that she acknowledged I 1 confess I 1 d I 1 ke noth lag ing better than to have you go home to virginia until im through with this banting I 1 fancy its going to be very hard on my ray disposition and also you will be better able to estimate whit what the treatment Is accomplishing after a lapse of a couple of weeks yet I 1 confess I 1 do not think your best interest will be served if you go down to virginia now mercy lumbered to her feet that means that johnny Is going back probably I 1 can catch the sime same train sit down again you cant can t catch his train because its gone now pray pay attention to what I 1 in telling you it its a for your own good sniff interrupted her sternly I 1 absolutely cannot guarantee results to any client who refuses to be guided by me mr air nesbit is distinctly irritated by your pursuit of him I 1 assure you it would be much better policy on your part to stay away from virginia for a R time give him a chance to miss you I 1 do you think he would the falness in mercy s voice was un affect ed and moving I 1 don t see why not indeed a little show of indifference on your part might prove very salutary ab sence makes the heart grow fonder she murmured its an old aw caw and a true one III not deny tint thit that Is an idea miss mercedes remarked thoughtfully ill think it over what was it that took him back to lovely lea in such a hurry who Is voltaire sniff asked she was curious on the point having been given no opportunity to ask stone those d n do dogal sl miss mercedes exclaimed when im mrs nesbit I 1 declare poison polson them sniff who was fond of dogs began to repent of the decision to forward her marr lige I 1 rench bulldogs miss mercedes went on with ugly crumpled up facea faces so clever you hardly dare before them for fear they 11 repeat whit you say I 1 certainly hate em and vol ol 01 taire Is the worst 11 hen johnny gres away he can scarcely be pers laded to eat besides beides which the beast cm cin count johnny tells him how many days hell be gone and if he oi the creature ac actu twilly illy seems to go into a sort of decline miss mercedes heaved her fit pit torso in what was evidently intended to be a shrug oh oil well he wont won t last ion ton after were we re marred marr ed you ant d n t sepsel s pp se I 1 mean to be called down to virginia because a dog s in tl e dumps dump and what about europe let me tell v u johnny knows a lot of very important people in england there was a I 1 lovely oi ely girl married a title this past autumn and he let out to me acci thit he knew some of the men in the bridal party I 1 tried to get him to invite them to vir virginia inta but he w t it will be goot good for him to go over there now liow and then just to keep up with his old friends this thought had bad occurred to emif alf the night before coming from mercy she found herself revolting against it while she mentally noted that stone had not mentioned either leister or his friends to her I 1 can t encourage you to go into this marriage if 1 that Is your spirit she said her voice as cold as ice lee air nesbit Is a mature man and has a right to make his own ow n decisions more afore over his home Is in virg n a Love lylea isn t h s home honey mercy interjected in explanatory tones no lie ile only rents it he cant love ione it the way I 1 love Pock rock moss for instance II 11 a place be longs to the old lovely family didn dian t you know that and I 1 don t think it a reasonable to expect me to be pulled back to I 1 irginia as if I 1 wore a collir and leash after all a mans man s wife 9 happiness Is more important ilan tl an his dogs how however ever pampered isn t it certainly sniff conceded but his own happiness descries son e cons der atlon too it he 11 be happy miss mercedes was at length reada to leave he ile ought to be anyway I 1 don t think I 1 in flat bering myself when I 1 say III be he more to him than any dog and wont won t he have me it vas was not an argument easy to re fute fate while maintaining the customary civilities and sniff was not given to attempting the impossible yet before she summoned her next client she was forced again to remind herself of the ARM 71 N 7 something seems suddenly to have st flener your backbone some thing has stone averred fact that because miss mercedes did not strike her 43 the ideal companion it did not necessarily follow that stone nesbit would agree with her CHAPTER VII for some time aluff heard no more of her new and dist irbing consultant and her business settled back into a routine that if it did not interest her deeply taxed her still less which was as well in view of the fact that she was losing weight stead ly and had bad not reached the point where she had ceased to find dieting irksome moreover her vanity was as not yet ap pealed to since alere vas no ampre ceable cli change inge in her appearance her scales told a d efferent story and doc doe tor blanton was entirely satisfied first news from Nir virginia ginta reached her in letters from rom vercy mercy two in one mall mail liberally unde lii od cd malted salted with dashes and exclaim exclamation atlon mart marl 4 an I 1 n I 1 I 1 aten in the vein of mya tery that is generous in aou ou know who wh ie le sedulously omitting na nan n es sn su if smiled and felt about fourteen again as she rep ed with a sh rt note in the same schoolgirl stale I 1 roni rom stone she received no word a fact that perhaps kept him more in the forefront of her mind alin if he hid had bombarded her vuth with letters one af termon on ler 1 er days day s engage ments over she had bad seated herself for a moment to rev cw ew the a rl of the day dav preparatory to clafli her dress dres and starting for the pada int n wa wien en she heird the q ick lek scan per of little feet annl an I 1 tw 0 dogs b int the room and circled it with alert e ros rios ty sn rang here and find sniffing if pre and mil ing themselves ei ex at t on e there was no in h r mind whose dogs these were and she watched them with interest while awaiting the adient of their master wl ich tell she felt certain would be ancon vent ional il yet hp he did not come and at last one of the solid substantial little creatures never unconscious of her presence advanced to her side and put one paw on her knee as if to beg per mission for some further favor ohe he leaned over to make out his n ime name on his collar she twisted it around johnstone esbit nesbit park pirk avenue manhattan she read and now she ibe confessed her surprise to herself when had he be taken up his habitat in park avenue all right beau she said softly patting her knee and at once the dog sprang into her lap and proceeded to make himself comfortable as if he had alno linova i n her all his short life the other dog still held aloof and this for some reason d sp leased her the rhe d 4 s gainful one was undoubtedly voltaire and it was his favor she wished to win she was not a martha nashin ton merce les to be scorned by stone a af pf aptt t of a s adden she became aware that voltaire was growl ng she turned and looted loot ed at him in amazement an I 1 the low rumbling in his throat fell lower and died out she he devoted denoted her attention to beau ca re and at once the growling began again amit was accustomed to dogs ani an thought she knew all their ways but bulldogs were a new breed in her expo fience and all she had heard of them was the legend of their fierceness the nose no se this beast was making was menacing telling herself that stone would not have left her alone with a dangerous animal she forced herself to sit as still as if she ere deaf to its threats while the sound rose to a snarling strength then before she could attempt to defend herself voltaire Nolt alre launched himself upon her licking her hands and trying to nose beaucaire alre from his place of vantage in her lap I 1 was betting on that stone male a nonchalant entry his hands deep in his pockets it wag was your bolce oce that got him I 1 ve never known him to make male so much fuss over anyone but me before you ought to feel deeply flattered sniff flattery may be what you call it S sif if slid said adding with pardonable curl osley suppose he had torn me in shreds I 1 know barking dogs are sup posed not to bite but I 1 never hear hearl as much said for growling ones if son ou were vere frig glit ered cd why didn dian t you call me probably Pro bibly I 1 was too paralyzed with fear to think of it IN hat did he make those frightful for if he t mean to eat me alive to no wonder mercedes doesn t like him I 1 stone stones lips did not move yet some how self rec received elied the impression of a sardonic grin lour mistake mv child she adores him she has told me so many a R time lie ile a perfectly perfect lv sweet with I 1 er IN atch HP he bent over the dog and patted him stall I 1 call mercy op I 1 oltaire lifted his lip at one side in a snarl that gave him an all ab is expression there remained remil ned no uncertainty concerning his attitude at attitude toward mercy what he thinks stone wc e with entire gravity however he s a french gentleman gent lemin in her pres ence he will con boncell cell any opinion he may lave formed of a lady why d d he act the way he did to me then he ile was a paving you a sincere corn com tient being emotionally stirred bv lea jealousy lousy he I 1 new yo i could not fall to be he flattered by a display of it lie ile w misled 11 1 1 ed you to make a fuss over him not beaucaire alre and so he proceeded to make him self disagreeable about it how like a man of any nation f stone attempted no defense poor fish men he said briefly iv well ell how are things coming en u I 1 i e lost tl it arteen pounds pound they say thirteen s an unlucky num her |