Show I HARRY f r M s M. M i Me ClURE ervi e II I k hW INSTALLMENT TEN The TEN The Story So Far Sa MaguIre wife wile of ol Mike Maguire u ura a It I II l ygo lucky lucky e eis editor and mayor of the is mother to four children Tom I real estate Job Is profitless during Depression and who Is married to Etta secretary to Harvey Cobb Cobbe shot Alec unable to get a e jj h b a big aad nd who takes up with ith a flashy dle dl dl- fir himself Shirley en- en n I. I e i e older than l 1011 JI 31 Y to ta bC t CHAPTER XIV t t. ef rr lt sey n was aware that Ritchie will resented her little l bl lam am m had roa Long after Mike h ch h a t I c office Ka Kath Kath- th- th b d' d dinto his p private into 1 P Pep f III e ed d ut lt ep t felt Ritchie's gray eyes study- study to her herL t bier His Ills desk was next t ug a L ou au needn't sit there and say t for ftc a nasty little beast she flared t although he had said noth- noth st t lJ Of course you think Dad dees dees dej de- de es j a medal for spitting in in the Irr f face dogs rd og s ace i 0 4 Sik el su on nt t you f t would be different if it cost anything to put the whole to towns town's vms But it Ants Ant's Tests rests before his own trig g pr t You see he wouldn't really and t-and and i id d d if this landed him higher than thanked ii Fr Fr ked hat Its It's the old fight he hes I s and the more he stands to the he better he likes it dR Graham surveyed her dily And Kathleen's clear D it eks burned under his level and scrutiny You'd rather hed he'd kowtow to all K powers that be and bring home homere r. r re e bacon I suppose B A Maybe you dont don't know how THE fee we are of bacon at our F ROY 5 se Kathleen told Ritchie Gra- Gra OD ii stubbornly And going to be if Mike prints any more of p F Use s se to scorch arti- arti uch S I Ie Ef e ro coned Queer Queer he mused you d dont don't on t k ik mer mercenary enary Or even grasping at do you want out of life he hernanded suddenly The uThe nicest I r use e in town a car as big as a show dow charge accounts a a. a person- person and that sort of thing A I r All I want is not to be cheated j I Ted led Kathleen in a trembling voice 91 I et nr her mother had been she was wasi i 1 d inking I III dont don't want to pay all alland la 1 have and am for something that r roves ves to be fizz water And I Ii 1 Cc nt i mean to Her pretty dimp dimpled ed set I III intend to keep my head headd d ao-d d think straight whatever hap- hap l us m ii and be dead sure the purse pure pur- pur Rose ase se e is worth the selling price Ritchie shrugged his shoulders You blessed little idiot he said saida a a caressing drawl that spurred 1 r heart dont you know you youre se Were ere re born to be worn l like ke a flower flowery Y y some mans man's lapel and it wont won't atter otter when he arrives whether hes he's good bet or a rotten one I No D cried Kathleen violently t that moment the telephone on p ger r Whyte's desk trilled p nUy y Kathleen caught her breath ot oger handled all the high powered m I 1 advertisements She saw him go got t cite pale and his palsy was very ti I f t r when he replaced the re- re rd elVer He answered her unspoken 1 Tr juery with a shake of the head Ya have just canceled their t S ally 1 ly spread he said in a voice fa u er hat at quavered a little derided de de- de- de against local newspaper ads ill re nil re e going to use handbills printed l Leif lt the I n city First blood to Eugene Mays yot yoP yog yo- yo P m t g eed Mike from the doorway of the b office Frisby's was Covington's m I 1 largest xI t mercantile store Kathleen knew that hat it meant to lose that revenue o did Mike But he seemed more than staggered And Ritchie regarded him with unconcealed ad ad- k Quite suddenly Kathleen felt she hated them both Alec never got up for breakfast Jt It t just made the day seem more r endless But on the morning after j the he he took Lou Knight to the Airdrome the he woke early f When he entered H Hendersons Henderson's Drug Store down town his moody dark face was sullen The younger crowd 1 Jis jn Covington used Hendersons Henderson's as an J. J informal club Some of the gang here Were always riding the stools at the thet 1 t counter This morning was no ex ex- eption 1 If H it isn't old Whoop-Em-Up- Whoop Alec t tec I snickered Bandy Taylor J They tell me you were slumming last night i Boy I didn't know you'd got down 1 to to dragging gutters for skirts j opined Jim Atwood Alecs Alec's ec's thin dark face went a little whIte bite You can tie that kind of oft I t J talk outside he muttered his hands ands clenched Alecs face was that red I al almost almost al- al most called out the fire engine yapped rapped Butch Henderson Why Why Alec murmured Hot Shot Mays Mays ays with h infuriating sweetness p d surely you weren't ashamed of the girl Ettl friend Yes fly es- es said d Alec hIS b lack black sal s eyes very ack 10 in his drawn white face I I v Im gas as 9 1 Ive I've vc got over it it- See fm m not ashamed now of taking Lou fight out 1 Im I'm m just Ashamed of ifs myself fu- fu because Im I'm not good enough jj for shine her shoes And that goes or sects the rest IeSt of f you drug store inI in- in I f fIr I do believe the boys boy's serious c Co ed to Gene Ale AI You can bell believe eve what you like Go c snapped Only remember Keep U. U Keep ep your dirty tongues off ofT Lou when Im I'm around or Ill I'll J. J smear somebody's mouth from ear EW to Jaird also out of work since his father closed up his factory fac Lac tory to stop losses and whose marriage mar Is thus delayed Kathleen In whom a stranger Ritchie Graham also a newspaper man Is Interested Ma New New- sum wants Jaird to marry Connie Mays the bankers banker's daughter Tom wants Mary Etta to move to the small town where to ear She may be poor and I grant you she's no scream for looks But she's a lady which is something something something some some- thing you would know nothing about Dear dear jeered Henry Baxter Baxter Baxter Bax Bax- ter the gal must carry a wallop like a mule She dont don't look torrid But then I never took her home after after after aft aft- er midnight If she's that potent maybe Ill I'll cultivate her myself Alec got to his feet deliberately I All right he said you asked for it His right fist flailed out He put into it a great deal of concentrated venom Henny ducked with the blow sliding half under the fountain for protection From his barrage he yelped for mercy in a shrill falsetto that wasn't so funny as he meant it to beIll beIll beIll be Ill eat them words cant can't you take a joke feller If you say so the gals gal's a calla calIa lily Far be it from me to insinuate anything else See that you dont don't growled Alec Suddenly he felt better As if he had released a lot of accumulated bile He felt almost blithe in fact Maybe he had made a fool of him him- self He realized he would have been wiser to take the razzing with witha a grin When the gang found a sore spot they romped on it If he I Ill II 1 lb 1 II I IJ e J k Ff Ill cat eat them words cant can't you ou take a joke feller constituted himself Lou Knights Knight's champion he would very likely have his hands full But then Alec never had minded that It was emptiness he dreaded Nothing so frazzled his nerves as a vacuum He had a queer feeling he would enjoy thrashing a alot alot alot lot of people in m defense of a girl who was a little like a starved and bedraggled alley kitten So there you are exclaimed Buddy Pryor bounding in at the street door with the exuberance of ofa a gazelle who had had a dose of not hot drops Ive been combing the own for you Where on earth did you disappear to last night Myra was fit to be tied when you never came back Alec shrugged He hated to have Myra and Natalie get onto the Lou angle So he suffered in silence while Gene Mays explained exactly where Alec had vanished to the night before But gee protested protest d Buddy you told us she turned you down And you paid your bets too as if you had lost What bets queried Gene who had a nose like an eagle for scents other people would prefer to keep to themselves Myra bet Alec he couldn't make a date with Lou Knight Buddy explained ex ex- You see it was all a stunt Myra didn't think Alec would have the nerve But I guess he was drunker than he looked Gene Mays laughed So uSo that's why the new girl friend he accused accused accused ac ac- ac- ac Alec Your blonde lady picked the worst little in town and dared you to phone her And you were full enough of giggle water to call her bluff Yes said Alec in a strangled voice exactly how it was He heard a little gasp and whirled sharply Lou Knight stood in in the rear of the store waiting for a package package package pack pack- age which the druggist was wrapping wrapping wrapping wrap wrap- ping up for her Her face was averted Alec could see only her profile and a quivering little chin But of course she had heard And once she had thought him wonder wonder- ful Lou clutched her purchase and he can cnn make a n living she wont won't give up her Job they separate Alec dates up Lou Knight on a n bet She is the town drunks drunk's daughter Banker Mays calls cans on Mike Maguire and threatens to break him If he continues to flay his banking methods Kathleen is critical of ot other her father for father for her mothers mother's sake Kathleen is very unhappy without turning her head stumbled out into the blazing sun of the side street CHAPTER XV Laura was sitting flat on the floor in in the living room patching a worn place in in the big Axminster rug when Tom came softly through the open folding doors from the boxlike front I hall balI She assumed that he had had to tomake tomake tomake make a business trip to Coving Covington on for his firm as he sometimes did I Only as she scrambled scrambled- to her feet I she saw first the ghastly shadows under his hazel eyes and next the suitcase which he gripped in his left hand Tom she whispered her voice trailing off into a tremble in spite of herself uy You ou dont don't mean mean- mean she began but she couldn't go on Tom nodded curtly Mary Etta and I are all washed up Tom u She She loves her job lob and her ein- ein apartment and the new car far more I guess than she ever loved me Anyway she wouldn't think of giving them up for me or any other man She was willing willingto to pay my way since I dont don't seem to be very good at that myself But ButI I couldn't see it I offered her an alternative A pretty shabby one I admit But she wasn't interested And so he spread his hands bloo ey to loves love's young dream dream or or was it ita ita ita a nightmare Laura could have wept She was not deceived by Toms Tom's laconic man man- ner He was terribly thin-skinned thin emotionally She knew she had to tread delicately And she prayed for tact Darling she said very gently pride is a cruel master and the rewards seldom equal the punish punish- ment I know he lie said bleakly but buthis buthis buthis his mouth did not lose its difficult line You love Mary Etta She is your wife And marriage happy marr marriages marriages mar mar- r ages are always a matter of compromise com com- promise One gives and takesI takes I HI know he said again and added added added add add- ed bitterly its Uit's also what that Frenchman said a mirror In which one loves and the other merely reflects reflects reflects re re- his love Tom Im I'm sure Mary Etta cares for you You say that because you think I want to hear it But you are wrong Mother And Ive I've been a fool not to know it long ago Mary MaryEtta MaryEtta MaryEtta Etta must have had some affection for me once or she would never have thrown in her lot with mine But you see she is true most of all to her her- self And Ive I've let her down badly She admires successful men who kick their way up in the world by the sheer drive of their ruthless per per- She couldn't respect any man if she paid his bills Knowing she merely tolerated me while at the same time her money kept us going Ive I've got out I had to For hor har sake and mine Im I'm going in with Colonel Shoup Hes He's offered me fifty I a month and commissions if there are any Mary Etta and I could live on that in Covington I gave her the choice She refused And I I so here I am Only Only Only- his hazel I eyes were feverish for Gods God's sake keep the others off me I dont don't believe I could bear a lot of damn fool questions right now Tell them the truth if you like that weve we've made a hash of whatever happiness we might have had and are through for good But dont don't expect me to talk about it even to you Lauras Laura's hand rested on his shoulder shoulder der which quivered under her touch All right she said quietly Hit if that's the way you want it He squeezed her hand gratefully and then picking up the suitcase rapidly mounted the staircase to the tho back room with sloping eaves which he had shared for lor years with Alec 0 Kathleen came home from the office office of of- fice at four that afternoon in anything any thing but a happy mood It had been one of those days when everything every thing tangled itself up unpleasant unpleasant- ly Mikes Mike's fracas with Banker Mays had left his daughter both nettled and uneasy Then there was Ritchie Graham Kathleen admitted that from the first he had been n a source of an an unreasonable amount of exasperation exasperation exas exas- to her Ruth Yates was throwing a swimming swimming swimming swim swim- ming party that evening at the new Porterville pool And Hot Shot Mays had called Kathleen at the office to say hed he'd pick her up at home at nt a quarter to five Kathleen who felt Celt as if she had been used lo to strike matches on all day found the idea of ofa ofa ofa a plunge very edifying And that had little to do with the fact that it was one of those sultry May afternoons afternoons after after- which borrow their languor from June It had even given her a disproportionate thrill to tell telI Gene Gent Mays she was just lust living to see him again this again this in a voice loud enough for Ritchie's cars ears although he lie hely mere men menly merely ly grinned I TO BE |