Show HE REAL YX I 1 yr tf RIK VV B henky WEBSTER ff 1 f v i ft i if I 1 copyright ht merrill co THE BIG STEP most romantic fiction ends with the hero and to marry and live happy over after the author of this unusual serial begins his story with marriage and carries the romance for a period of several years into the realm of I double harness taking a couple from t the he well to do scale of the middle ivest social scheme mr webster uses them ahem to bring out some SOM buthe of the important problems confronting great man many young men and women W wbk ha ent enter erthe the bonds of matrimony in these clays of of equal suffrage of omen hod rather work wor downtown than stay at home h 0 m e and of new nev complications in inthe the bustness business of raising a family the real adventure Is 18 thoroughly alive with alth action you will enjoy the story kory not only for its ra ro mance but for the element in it I 1 that fiat will ill make you think h and nd pon ponder der the intimate fritsma te happenings in in your ur own family an and d inthe in the families of your neighbors 1 THE EDIT EDITOR J I 1 CHAPTER I 1 beginning an adventure indeed f cohil continued nud the professor ila glancing adrig down at his notes it if one were the editor of a column of er I 1 advice 6 to young girls one might crystallize ther the remarks I 1 have been in making aking this 1 morning into a warning never marr marry y a man mah witha with a passion for principles 1 it got a laugh of course professorial I 1 jokes always do but the girl ill laugh she came to with a start she had been staring outtie out the window and wrote apparently the fool thing down 10 in her notebook it was the only note she ibe had bad made in thirty five minutes all of this brilliant exposition of the paradox jbf of Rou rousseau skau and apte are hewa he wa was giving a course on the french revolution the strange and vet vat inevitable fact that the softest most sentimental rose roie scented religion ever invented should have produced through its most thoroughly t infatuated disciple disc IpIe the tb e ghastliest ghast liest reign of terror that ever shocked iho the world his masterly acha character i r i a efer study odthe of the sea green incorruptible too hum humane to swat a lily fly yet capable of sending half of france to the gu guillotine I 1 in ord order er thit that the half that was left might believe unanimously iche in the rights of man allithia all alli this the girled girl had let go go by unheard lefavor in ln favor apparently of the drone of a street piano plano which came in through alie open window on the wings of a prematurely warm march wind of al all his philosophizing there was not a pen to tamar mar the virginity of the page agai sha had opened her notebook to when the lectura began and then with a perfectly serious face she had written down his silly little bittle jole joke about advice to young girls v th there re was vas no beason reason in the world for bis paying any special attention to her it an noyed annoyed him bm frightfully that lie he aid did she was 1118 good looking ot of course a rather raither boyishly splendid young chea creature of somewhere about twenty with a heap of chestnut hair that had it a sort ort a of elect electric vitality about it she laid had a strong chin with a slight forward A mist good straight looking e express sive saver eyes and a big wide really beautiful mouth with squared square white teeth in it which when ched she ilie smiled exerted a sort of hypnotic effect on him all ali that however left unexplained laan the quality she had bad of making iou you w whatever she did aware of her and colv conversely easely unaware of everyone else about her her bier nine name il was rosalind stanton but i his big 8 impression I 1 was dij that they called her rose P e I 1 the bell rang out in 16 the corridor ile he dismissed the class and began sticking stacking up his bis notes then miss Sfa stanton fiton he said eald C she detached def ached herself from the stream that was moving toward the door and with a good humored look of inquiry about her very expressive eyebrows came town toward rd him this is ad an idiotic question he be said as she paused before his d desk e sk but did you ou get anything at all out of ofay my lectured lecture except my bit of facetious advice to young girls about to marry she flushed a little a girl like that tiny any right to flush it ought to be against the college regulations drew her bows together in n a puzzled sort of way aay an and d then with her wide bo Y ish goad mouth she smiled 1 I know it was facetious she said it struck meas me as pretty good nut but im awgull awfully 7 sorry it if you thought me inattentive you eee mother brought us up on the social contract V and the age of reason 1 1 uch such things and 1 I put it down because 1 febe gee he said eald 1 I 11 beg your pr par don A she amhed per perfectly fecili cheerfully tr t 0 0 begged his pardon and assured him shed try to fo do better another girl who had been waiting patting ito to speak to the professor perceiving that their conversation was at an end learde came and stood bes beside ideler her atthe at the desk deak a scrawny girl with an eager voice and a question she wanted to ask about and for some reason or other rosalind St antons valedictory smile see seemed inea to include a consciousness ness of this other girl a consciousness ness of a coir contrast ast it might 1 not have been any more than that but somehow it left the professor feeling that he i had given himself away there I 1 Is nothing cloistral about the university of Chi chicago cagg except except its architecture As aslie went out rose felt th that atthe the presence of a fa fat t abbot oi or a lady pr prioress loress lit in the corridor outside the recitation room would have fitted in admi admirably with the look of the warm gray walls and the earven carven pointed arches of the window and door cas casements embrits the blackened dakof oak of the doors themselves e s she fully conscious of it on tills this march morning but something had happened that made a difference if shed been ascending an imperceptible g gradient rad lenil tor for tife the past months today she had cometo a t r recognizable step lu up aind an d t ak en tf lt oddly ei enough tho the thing bad happened back there in the classroom class broomas room as she stood before the professors professor 6 desk and caught his eye wavering between herself and the scrawny girl who alio wanted to ask a question about there had been more than blank helpless exasperation in that look of his and it had taught her some things she have explained what she went swinging aloni along alone her shoulders back confronting the warm march wind drawing long breaths into her good deep chest she had just had js psychically chicallo chi cally speaking a birthday she played a wonderful gaine game of basketball that afternoon and it was after five when at the conclusion cli aslon of the game and a a cold shower a rub and a somewhat casual resumption of her clothes she emerged from the gymnasium high time that she took the quickest way of gett getting ing home unless she wanted to be late lato ifor for dinner abut buethe the exhilaration of the day persisted she felt like doing something out of the regular routine even a preliminary y walk of a mile or so before she should cross over and take the elevated would serve to satisfy her mild hunger for adventure so with her notebooks under her arm and her sweater jacket unfastened at a goo good d four mile swing she started north in the purlieus purlie us of the university she was waa frequently balled by friends of her own sex or ifie the other but though she waved cheerful responses to their greetings she made she went beni Swin swinging dIng Alon along gAione alone I 1 I 1 her stride purposeful enough to discourage offers of company they all seemed young to her today all aich her ar student activities seemed young As if somehow slid she had on outgrow n them the feeling yas none the less real atter after she he bT had laughed at herself for entertaining it she noticed presently that it ii was a good deal darker than it had any righetto right to be althis a hour and the sudden fall of the breeze and a persistent shimmer of lightning supplied her with the explanation when she reached forty seventh street the break of the storm was obviously a matter of of minutes soshe so she decided decide d to ride ilde across to the elevated etwas it was another an oither mile perhaps adt rather her than toi toa walk across as she had bad meant to do she found quite a group of T people eople waiting on the corner gorner fora for a car and the car itself when it came alongo along was crowded so she handed lian dec her ackel to the fhe conductor ovir over aomen f blodys shoulders and moved back to the corner odthe of the vestibule which did very well until the next afo stop where halt half a dozen more prospective prospect ivel passengers were waiting they were werd in a hurry too since it had be begun gunIn in very downright fashion to rain the conductor had been chanting antInk ch up in the car ca please 1 V in a perfunctory cry all along but bur at this crisis his voice got a new ur urgency genci come on now he proclaimed faveto have to geth get inside iside vy I 1 from th the e s steps the new arrivals pushed the conductor pushed and thoi the docility of an american crowd helped him regretfully with the rest rose made her way to the door fare please 1 11 he said sharply as she came along she told him she had paid her fare but for some reason he elected not to believe her i when did alil you pay ho he demanded A block back she ahe said when all those other people got on you pay it to me he said truculently come alongi along I 1 pay your fare or get off of the car 1 P 1 I paid it once she ghe said quietly and im not going to pay it again with that she started forward toward the door he reached out across his little rail and caught her by the arm it was waa a natural act enough not polite to be sure by no means chivalrous but it had bad a surprising result the first thing he be knew he found both wrists pinned in the grip of two hands found himself staring stupidly into a pair of great blazing blue bejes ejes eyes its a wrathful color blue when you light it up and listening buncom to a voice that said dont dare touch me like that thail 11 the episode might have ended right there for the conductors consternation was complete pt but her notebooks were scattered everywhere and had to be gathered up and there were two or three of the passengers who thought the situation was funny and laughed which improve the conductors temper rose was aware its as she gathered up her hote notebooks books of another h hand and that was helping her a gloved masculine hand she took the books ithell out to her as she straightened up and said thank you but without looking around for the face that went with it the conductor had bad jerked the bell while she was collecting her notebooks and the car was grinding down to a stop step you pay your farel he repeated or you get off the car right here I 1 right here was in the middle of what looked like a lake and the rain was pouring down with a roar before she could answer a voice spoke a voice which with intuitive certainty she associated with the gloved hand band that had helped gather up her notebooks a very crisp finely modulated voice perfectly outrageous it said the young lady has paid her fare did you see her pay it demanded the conductor naturally not said the voice 1 I got on at the last corner comer she was here then but if she said she did she he did it seemed to relieve the conductor to have someone of his own sex to quarrel with ile he delivered a stream of admonition somewhat phrased to the general effect that any one whose concern the present affair was not could at his bis option close his jaw or have his block knocked off rose became aware that inside a shaggy gray sleeve which hung beside her there was a sudden tension of big muscles the gloved hand which had helped gather up her notebooks clenched itself into a formidable fist she spoke quickly and decisively 1 I wont pay another fare but tot bf course you may put me off the car all right said the conductor the girl smiled over the very gingerly way in which he reached out for her elbow to guide her around the rail and toward the step technically the action constituted putting her off the car she heard the crisp voice once mora more this ahls time repeating a number twenty two ought five or something like that just as she splashed d down dowd into the two inch lake jake that covered the hollow hollaw in the pavement the bell rang twice the car started with a jerk there was vas another splash and a big gray clad figure alighted in the mhd lake beside her ive got his jiu number the crisps crisp voice said triumphantly but gasped the girl but what in the world di did d you getoff get the aarfor car tor for it raining it was doing an imitation of niagara falls and the roar of it almost drowned their voices what did I 1 get off the car for aorl I 1 lie he shouted why I 1 have missed it for anything it was immense I 1 its so confounded seldom he went on that you find anybody with backbone enough to fitted up for J a principle he heard a brief deep throated laugh and pulled up short with a the joke i 1 I laughed she said because you have been deceived and and she added quickly 1 11 I dont belleve believe its quite quit e so sa deep on the sidewalk Is it with that she waded away toward the curb he followed then led the way to a lee wall that offered speaking shelter then wheres the decet deception lon he asked on any other day its probable shed have acted differently would have paid some heed beed though a bit aon con te temp ato asly perhaps to the precepts of ladylike behavior in iii which shed been admirably admi I 1 ably grounded today being today aiho aho consigned ladylike la considers tion sto the inventor of them and gave instinct its licad head she laughed again as she answered his question the deception was that I 1 pretended to do it from principle the real reason why I 1 pay ii another nother fare farb Is that I 1 only had one more nickel its only about half it mile to the station but from there home its ten so you see strather id rather walli walk this than that but dreadful dread full he cried there you let me oh hiie she said it as bad as that its just one of the silly things that happen to you cometh sometimes n es you know I 1 paid my subscription to the maroon 11 she laugh audibly but without seeing her face he knew she smiled the quality of her voice enriching itself somehow and I 1 ate a bigger lunch than usual and that brought me down to ten cents you you will make a complaint about that wont you he urged III even ven it it on principle that you refused to pay another fare and let me back you up in it ive his number you know you deserve that I 1 suppose she said because you did get off the car on principle but well really unless we ave could prove that I 1 paid my fare probably think the conductor did exactly right of cours cour ohe took hold of me but then well think what I 1 did to him I 1 he grumbled that this was nonsense the man had been guilty at least of excessive zeal but he urge her ony any furt herto complain theres another car coming lie he now announced peering around the end of the wall you will let me pay your fare on it wont you she hesitated the rain was thinning 1 I would she said if I 1 honestly rather walk thanks really very very much though dont you miss it she thrust out her hand goodby good by I 1 1 I cant pretend to think you need an escort to the elevated he be said 1 I saw what you did to the conductor I 1 the least doubt you could have thrown him off the car but id really like it very much if you would let me walk along with you why |