Show ILA A A AW amra chaan by CONCORDIA MERREL copyright service THE STORY ny by chance james lee lea meets lucy gresham daughter of 0 sir john gresham wealthy alp ship builder lee unjustly accused of robbing the gresham firm was sent to drisin prig in he flo blames oliver ames lucys bucys cousin and nd gresh ams manager ager and seeks revenge les lei inherits wealth and in compliance with the will changes his name lame from warrington he secures an invitation to the girls party lucy la Is practically ly engaged to ames amea she meets lee who he makes love to herwath Gre groshams shams approval luey and lee are m married aried lee stuns the girl b by y telI telling ting her h he a does not love her and hates her whole breed sh she a hears bears th the 0 a tory story of ma his wrongs r and nd hla his tn fi in t li av she cleves lii in hla his innocence or of the crime for ik nii k lie ua convicted ln borha rival of gresham groshams Gre shams shown a determination to crush its competitor lee tells lucy he Is and means mea ax to ruin her bar father lucy Is hurt by jocelyn assertion that aci loved her before he met lucy and the latter believes her CHAPTER VI continued 12 well I 1 dont want you to come there would be too much risk of your being recognized oliver would be bound to know you anil and there are the gresham men to think 0 of f too and it if I 1 am willing to take that tha t risk if I 1 dont give a d n whether im known or not beneath the burning intensity of his eyes she found herself hes hesitating I 1 batin slightly 1 I still dont want you to come she said at last looking away 1 11 I want to get away just for a little while there was a shake in that from me from everything from me he insisted yes and from you she cried ile he drew a breath and wheeled round from her and again there was silence suddenly he went back to his chair and sat down when are you going he asked abruptly tomorrow perhaps I 1 shall wire to oliver today askling asking him to fix up rooms tor for me at the most decent hotel in newchester New chester 1 the royal koyal Is the best will you go there 1 I dont mind where it Is so long as its comfortable all right ill ask oliver to get rooms for me at the royal koyal lie he said no more and from the time he left the house after breakfast she did not see him again until midnight lie ile came to her room then just as she had bad retired for the night made all your arrangements he asked from the doorway of his room yes she answered looking at him she thought he looked tired rather pale and not very happy what time are you leaving T he added by the ten fifty five from kru kings ings cross all right good night lucy t iier her voice was not quite steady as she bade him good night too A good deal to her surprise she found when she was ready to start next day that jim was waiting to take her to the station she thanked him for that he bought her ticket found her a place in a first class pullman heaped the table before her with papers and magazines and as he left her he took off ills his hat bent down and kissed her cheek check A devoted husband does this sort of thing he murmured and he left hed quickly without looking back she Nat watched ched him go with the quick stinging of tears in her eyes so th that at his mighty figure was blurred in her sight lee went straight raight ht out of the station without once looking back flung himself into his car and started it immediately dia tely what he was thinking or feeling tile the wisest manon earth could not have guessed from his set sullen face and yet a turmoil of emotions was raging through him As he was rounding a corner slowly he was waa hailed from the pavement by jocelyn upton and drew up beside the curb to greet erect her want to give roe me a lift she asked her thin eager little face lighting up certainly get in he be an answered and she obeyed where to lie he asked as he started oft off again anywhere I 1 dont mind shall we go tor for a little trundle to in the country she suggested sorry not kot possible ive a lot to d do she moved restlessly beside him I oh all right home then she said discontentedly ile he took her home conie come in and see mother she invited as thoy reached the door ile he followed her in it appeared though that lady cordelia was not at home so lie he presently found himself alone with jocelyn in the di alling room ij down jiro jim dear the she said and pushed him into one corner of 0 a deep couch while she took the other so nice to have you all to myself again after all this time hows the married state does it offer any real compensation for a state of single blessedness lee was in no sort of mood for this kind of thing but he managed a laugh and mumbled something to turn it off she lit a short stumpy little cigarette and put one with a rather angularly coquettish gesture into his mouth 1 I dont want one of these scented silly little things he protested half laughing but she silenced him by thrusting forward the one she held between her lips as a means of lighting his which the cigarette being so exceptionally short brought their noses very nearly touching she drew away laughing now you see the reason dont you she said softly reason of what he asked rather moodily smashing the cigarette into an ash tray why they are made so short lie ile rose abruptly 1 I must go he said quickly almost unbearably irritated by her barent Da rent you stay she questioned softly ile he looked at her suddenly startled there had been a meaning in that that had missed him up till now then he turned away again as it if he were going to leave just as quickly as a wholly mannish panic could carry him but her voice saying hows lucy halted him and brought him round again as if there were some magic power in the name very well thanks he answered a touch stiffly she looked at him with her little dark eyes lias has she said anything about me lately jim lets see no I 1 dont think so I 1 know she had seen you lately oh she even tell you that she cried in affected surprise ile he N what time are you leaving he added looked at her steadily tor for a moment then jocelyn what are you driving at he demanded bluntly come and sit down again dear and ill tell you she said but he move lie he just stood where lie he was and said tell me its difficult to shout these things out across such a distance she objected these things lings ti 7 what things ile he was silently questioning lie he finally compromised by striding over to her and standing close before her well he asked she was telling me the other day what a fiasco your marriage la Is she bile said slowly what I 1 that broke from him from the sheer unexpectedness of it it she laughed an impish disagreeable sound oh yes she was telling me that jim and more besides how miserable she Is what a mistake the whole business has been slie she paused a minute then added and she was wondering what could be done about it done what did she mean T well jim dear marriages arent the irrevocable things these days that they once did bhe suggest anything of that sort he be asked she said in a tone that suggested the spit of a cat go home and ask her sties away he replied her eyes lit with a sudden new interest since ahen she asked this morning ive just seen her olt off where has she gone eone she has had to go north to gres hams A business matter she laughed it grated on his nerves badly that laugh of hers ner cousin la Is head of gres clr I 1 hams did you know the cat in her voice was purring now of course courm he has been mad about her tor for years every one said they were going to marry dont be a tool fool jim you know well enough why she has bag gone silence while their look held oliver amei amea she added ile he drew a breath and stood quite still suddenly she rose and moved up to him in her thin angular way and put her arms up round hla his neck what do you care while there Is me she whispered straining her pale peaky little face up to his for a moment he be stood there passively with jocelyn clinging round his neck too dumfounded dum founded to do anything or to think clearly when he did recover from his astonishment to think anything at all his first thought was that jocelyn To celyn must suddenly have gone completely mad lie he tried unceremoniously to loosen her clinging hands but she only clung the tighter you do love me dont you jim and jim ive always loved you always why were you so mad as to go and marry lucy what made you do it you guess that I 1 cared you know jim I 1 thought id made it clear ile he wrenched her hands apart and hung flung her away jocelyn dont be a fool he said roughly youre talking utter nonsense she stumbled from him her thin little hands bands clenched tight over her breast but jim before you met lucy you absolutely haunted me you were always here you practically lived here every one thought you cared for nie me every one looked upon you as my property why it was only through us that you yon met th the e groshams Gre shams at all ile he laughed shortly well if I 1 haunted you jocelyn that was why that you wanted to meet the groshams Gre groshams Gre shams yes lucy in particular lucy in particular had you already made up your mind to marry her yes definitely absolutely and unchangeably chang bably she backed away further looking up with incredulous eyes then you marry her for love she cried a renewed ring of triumph in her voice that much of what she said was true at least 1 did slie she tell you that he asked sharply oh she told me everything I 1 but I 1 sure until now that it was true why should you be sure now how could you have loved her before you had even met her 1 I had met her but very informally I 1 wanted to meet her formally one meeting m and you made up your mind to marry her those romances are out of date 11 she scoffed im telling you what Is true he said inflexibly her scoffing manner softened do you really mean it jim she pleaded do you really mean that you dont love me any more any more he questioned irritably 1 I never have loved you jocelyn I 1 dont know given you this ridiculous idea look here I 1 im im sorry it if ive hurt you or offended you in any way but of course you dont mean all you say youre exaggerating arent iou ou Some things upset you and you dont absolutely realize all you are saying she broke down then sank into the couch lild bild her face in her hands and cried bitterly but he be remained un T T moved by any pity for her because she bhe gave way with such auch a weak abano aban don that her riving giving way only disgusted him further dont be silly jocelyn for mercy sake pull yourself together he said gald she raised a tear streaked face there was nothing appealing about that little peaky face all blotched with tears teara but again he realized the brutal bluntness of his words and added of course I 1 know you dont mean it its just but he be got no further nis his attempt at soothing her was ill III timed it flicked her vanity almost more stingingly than hla his brutal outspokenness had she sprang up from the couch her thin little body quivering from head to foot her pale face white as a sheet her eyes feverishly bright 1 I dont mean it and youre sorry it if im hurt and im to pull myself together youre sorry she cried out flinging the words back at him with passionate contempt sorry I 1 thanks and I 1 dont mean all I 1 say dont L I 1 I 1 think find that I 1 do you cant pick roe me up and throw me down when it pleases you and get away with it theres no question of it he put in trying to stem the torrent of her words 1 I know your marriage with lucy Is a fiasco she told me so herself 11 she went on she confided the whole thing to me she told me that she was tired of your coldness toward her that she was going to get free of you tor for a bit she was inventing wildly now A woman cant live on coldness you know jim no matter how much she loves you and she made it clear enough that she was frantic about you indifference will kill it all well youve killed her love for you ayou understand lie he had turned from her but at that he swung back toward her and the tha flash of temper he had just shown went suddenly to a blaze in his somber eyes what are you saying he demanded through shut teeth she was beside herself with baffled emotion and wounded vanity and past caring what she said or whom she injured she thrust her distorted little face up close to his im saying that ashes tired of you tired of giving all and being given nothing arid and she ashes Is gone back to a strong faithful love ayou understand under stan d ashes discovered that she was a fool ever to leave it ashes learned her own heart and Is going back to the man she has always belonged to oliver ames does that move you whether you love her or not that quite a nice flavor has it 11 her er words dinned dinnee on ills hl nerves till his control broke and his temper rose now to sudden fury ills his hands shot out suddenly and caught her arms take re it back take it all bacal sh she e say any of it she tell you any of this she love oliver youre toure lying y lying he was shaking her now and the words were jerking from hla his lips harshly brokenly ne ile realize how rough he was being some intense feeling had him by the throat and lie was past the point of realizing what he was doing his impulse was simple just to punish her tor for speaking the words that could move him so her poor little thin body was as helpless in the strength of his hands bands as a sapling in a raging storm when he be pushed her away she stumbled without any acting this time back arlt onto the couch breathless confused and frightened hut but he waited for nothing further he jammed on bi his s hat and left her his heart beating out an agony sud suddenly deril Y more poignant than any he had ever known TO BE BB CONTINUED |