Show honeymoon mountain mo buntain by FRANCES SHELLEY WEES copyright by frances shelley wee service CHAPTER IX continued 20 my 11 dear you are more than welcome grandmother said ald warmly any friends of Bryn are our friends too and our home ta is always alway open to them and I 1 am delighted to hear bear you discussing details of modern so ID clety I 1 am ure sure your talk will be a liberal education for or deborah and help her to establish here herself elf more easily when she fhe goes oes out into bryn bayni world with him ellars black eyes rested momen momentarily tarl on deborah they were quite expressionless onless iless there will be no difficulties for deborah she said tenderly she Is so adorable that she won need to make the at slightest test effort every one will fall in love with her at first farst sight just as an bryn did sally added and looked fleetingly at illar allar just as bryn did pilar repeated but her mouth tightened lightened a little debrah deborah 0 saw at the corners how flow long are you pl planning inning to stay madeline sat said evenly are you going home for the yacht races 1 I really considered it I 1 sure id be invited to stay you see grandmother gave a little sigh 1 I 1 am so thankful that when deborah does emerge into society she will have dear bryn to take inke care of her lie he ion understands der stands so well wint her life has been and lie to Is so thoughtful and loving it takes n great load off my mind to have him so bryn has always been a dear illar agreed at once 1 I dont know what I 1 should ever have done without bryn she went on for years now he has been my staunchest comrade no matter in what difficulty I 1 found myself there was always bryn and he brought me all his troubles and joys as well it delights my heart to know that he Is happy deborah did not move grandmother lifted her eyes and looked at frankly you modern girls giris are so honest and open slie she said in my day a girl would never have dared to make such a statement about a man she would have been afraid of being ta misunderstood understood Is 11 misunderstood understood Alts illar murmured licking flicking open the lighter in my day grandmother explained there were few young men such as our dear bryn so handsome so eligible in every way so ao fine if a girl had bad been his bis friend always as you have been my child then she would have been expected to marry him and indeed she would herself bave expected to marry him I 1 do not quite understand der stand the new camaraderie which allows of such close friendships without any thought of marriage or romantic love in my day so queerly uncontrolled was human nature then the sort of friendship you mention would have been potentially dangerous it if either the girl or the man particularly the man married elsewhere eyes narrowed the faintest trifle against the light as ha she looked at grandmother grandmother was sitting up a little straighter than deborah had seen her sit for some time and there was wan a little pink in her cheeks but her eyes as they met Il billars lars were calm and kind and deborah pushed away tho the thought that grandmother suspected something and was wag taking her own way to combat tile the hint of danger ft riger illar rose find and stood for a moment tall and lissome and full of grace beside the lie door she was wai smiling customs are very different now she murmured m red and begged to he be excused and went vve nt out through the door there was a little 11 atle silence when pilar was gone deborah looked up from the puppy to end grandmother stitching away placidly again her eyes on her material and sally and madeline looking a at each other with steady meaning sally find and madeline understand they know what it must have been like for illar to love bryn to have loved him tor for years and then to have him suddenly marry another girl they know what it meant to love bryn simon and tubby were all right of course and perfect darlings but they bryn deborahh Debo eyes burned and the bad lump came back in her throat there was a knock tit at the door it was one of the maids wanting deborah the cook would like her orders the maid said respectfully deborah wont went out and ad shut the door behind her deborah stumbled down the hall toward the kitchen in her minds eye she could see herself sitting on the wall the other night with bryn leaning close beside her she remembered what slie she had wanted to do bryns face was s so 0 cl close 0 se and he be was sucha dear she had wanted to take his face between her own two palms and bend down and put her hei cheek against his bla forehead she had almost done it when lie be said deborah do you voit like roe me at all but now no she lie was glad she doneit done it because 1 he av have wanted be her to it wa was Pi allar larbe he loved he had said laid so no he had told her ho how dearly he loved this other girl and if she beenson been BO blind she would have seen instantly that his telling her of the other girl was sure proof that be love her deborah and if he did love aliar so dearly then pilar was a very lovely person madeline ne and sally like her but they understand and bryns heart abart must ache now to think that he was was shut away from pilar for so long lind and allar aliar must be suffering dreadfully when she was finished in the kitchen deborah went up the back stairs swiftly and along the hall to her room someone came lightly along the hall and she caught her breath lest it should be bryn but it was instead illar I 1 and she was in search of deborah for her own room was down in the other wing with arand grandmothers mothers she be glanced glan cei in through the open door ah there you yon are sweetie she said aid 1 I wondered if run away wherever reve relve you been 1 I was down in the kitchen deborah explained praying that her voice sounded as an usual then I 1 came up to get some embroidery I 1 find myself with no work at all to do these days I 1 illar was watching her you are refreshing she sighed but really deborah you must begin to make some changes in your life or you will be completely bewildered by bryns gay world bryn travels pretty fast dear deborah sat down slowly with the italian embroidery in her hand she fingered it absently bryn explained it all to you illar she asked at last lifting her dark eyes explained what illar asked after a moment 1 I know lie he told the others sally or madeline I 1 dont think even tubby knows im not quite sure why he for a while I 1 thought it was on tile his own account but now I 1 think he has been doing it for me so that I 1 feel so queer and left out 1 I dont know what you mean deborah looked at her you know that bryn ie be in love with me she said illar did not move not by a nicker did her expression change her eyes were block black and fathomless not in love with you she repeated surely you yon knew pilar even if I 1 did filar said softly you expect me to mention it deborah no deborah said after a moment at Il billars lars worda tier her heart had fallen like lead so illar did know bryn lind told her bryn of course la Is a gentleman illar said he does not tell any more than Is necessary no deborah said again but I 1 cati can t tell ell you illar I 1 can explain to you 1 I was hoping you would 1 I dont want to go into detail deborah said 1 I think I 1 can tell you yon in just a few words it was like this I 1 had to be married by my twenty first birthday or lose my grandfathers estate I 1 went down to san francisco Francl cn to meet the man I 1 was to marry he was I 1 possibly marry him and bryn came along by accident and saw that I 1 was frightened and I 1 tot told him about it and he offered to marry me instead all pilar straightened 1 I see she said and then the day I 1 came tubby drugged dragged me away and threatened me with murder it if I 1 called bryn by anything hut but graham the man you were to marry Is named graham yet res your grandmother thinks bryn br in Is the man yes tes 11 an and what happens next there was a queer note in her vote volca and deborah looked up quickly but face had bad not changed and deb brahs eyes fell again nothing she said we have to go on until the end of the year or I 1 do not get the money the marriage must last for a year and it roust must go on for grandmothers sake anyway for that long after that I 1 dont know what we shall do to explain to grandmother hut but there will he something bryn will be free then of course you cannot get the money within a year it if the marriage Is not successful to that extent deborah Debo rali explained carefully 1 I do not get it at all 1 your grandmother seems very fond of bryn she he loves him deborah said with a little catch to in her breath he Is wonderful to lier her even if the estate were not so tied I 1 dont see how we 1 could he be divorced beo before r that time without breaking grandmothers heart pillar turned the ivory holder between her long browned fingers it seems rather a long time out of bryns life she said A year 1 I know 1 I should think there might have been somebody else deborah somebody you might have paid for his name and his lost year deborah looked up again but did not speak allar was watching her after a moment she said raid of course its nil all very romantic and you are really quite pretty any man would like to be the prince who awakens hie sleeping beauty deborahh Debo eyes flew to the long oval of allars face her own cheeks erlin crim furiously and lier her eyes hashed HO TO BE |