Show W fc rantain 41 ff francea Is ancee Shelle tj wees weer A tl balvo s CHAPTER IX continued 10 all the time she h bad ad felt lost and forlorn and alone because this was bryns world and I 1 bryns life a a modern sophisticated pageant in which she had bad no part and because it made her see how drab and aid dull and uninteresting her hei awn own life of cucumber frames and bio brook ok trout and made over clothes must be to him and all ills his talk about knitting and winter eve evenings aings by the hearth and the kittens he would get for her all his big interest in that simple sort of thing was pretended for her sake bryn was a gentleman and lie he lived up to his bargains to the last pencil stroke not by word or suggestion would he let her discover how bored and dull he ayas was going to find the rest of his year here on the mountain nor with what difficulty he was going to earn the money she would pay him deborah slept very little that night fit life that only yesterday had seemed so beautiful and serene was becoming complicated and unhappy there geem seem to beany be any thing ahead but more difficulties and a lonely unhappy time because bryn would goback go back to allar when the year was up and when he did there be anybody at all nobody could ever be like bryn even if he were only pretending but there would have been a way to make him stop pretending deborah knew because it if lie he went on like this even though the look in his eyes was only the tenderness one feels for a child or a lost puppy she going to be able to bear it when at the end of the year he drove out of the big gates to leave her forever the morning was cold and grey although the rain had stopped at dawn deborah had them lay a fire in n the small sitting room downstairs so that grandmother might not feel a chill there when breakfast was over pilar and madeline and sally and grandmother and herself were sitting the three men were outside aliar in a beautiful dress orsome of some very fine woollen material in a dark crimson color sat beside the doorway with her feet out on a low stool and a long cigarette holder between her fingers she could see up into the orchard too and deborah noticed that her eyes went to bryn frequently although slie she gave no DO sign grandmother was in a low chair beside the fire listening to pilar filar with the same fascinated interest she had shown last night watching her taking in every perfect detail of her grooming 1 I hope you dont mind my coming here uninvited like this mrs lamed she was saying in her low voice 1 I found myself completely deserted and lonely and I 1 stand it any longer my dear you are more than welcome grandmother said warmly any friends of bryns are our friends too and our home Is always open to them and I 1 am delighted to bear beai you discussing details of modern society I 1 am sure 1 your talk will be a liberal education tor for Debo deborah iab and help her to establish herself more easily when she goes out into bryns world with him black eyes rested momentarily on deborah they were quite expressionless there will be no difficulties for deborah she said tenderly she Is so adorable that she wont neej to make the slightest effort everyone will tall fall in love with her at first sight just as bryn did sally added a and nd looked fleetingly at pilar just as bryn did pilar repeated but her mouth tightened a little deborah saw at the corners illow how long are you you planning to stay aliar madeline liW sa said fd evenly are you going home bome forthe for the yacht races 7 1 I really co considered dered it it I 1 sure id bo be invited to stay cousee yo you see grandmother guye gave a little sigh 1 I am so thankful that when deborah does emerge imerio into society she will ft have dear bryn to take cari care of her he understands so well W what hat her life has hai been and he Is 1 so thoughtful and loving it takes a great load oft off my mind to have him io so 11 eryn bryn hag fias always been a deaf aliar agreed at once 1 I dont know what wha I 1 sho should uld ever ever have done without out bryn she went on for years now lie he tins has beena been my staunch e st 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 I 1 delights my heart t to 0 know that lie he Is happy deborah did not move grand mother lifted her eyes and looked at illar frankly you lou modern girls are so honest and open 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 0 being misunderstood misunderstood 71 illar murmured flicking open the lighter in my day grandmother explained pla ined there were weri few young men such ai as our dear bryn so 80 handsome so BO eligible in id every way so fine if a girl had bad been his friend always as you have been my mj child then she would have been expected to marry him and indeed Iii deed she would herself have expected to marry him I 1 do not quite under stand the new camaraderie which allows of such close friendships without any thought bought t of marriage marria geor or romantic love in my d day ay so queerly uncontrolled was human nature then the sort of friendship hip you mention would have been beed potentially tent ally lally dangerous if either the girl or ai the man particularly the man married elsewhere plia allars rs eyes narrowed the faintest trifle against th the light as she looked at grandmother grandmother was sitting up a little straighter than deborah had seen tier sit for some time and there was a little pink in her cheeks but her eyes as they met ellars were calm and kind and deborah pushed away the thought that grandmother suspected something and was taking her own way to combat the hint of danger aliar rose and stood tor for a moment tall and liscome and full of grace beside the door she was omi smiling ling customs are very different now she murmured and begged to be excused and went out through the door there was a little silence when was gone deborah looked up from the puppy to find grandmother stitching away placidly again her eyes on oil her material and sally and madeline Madel lne looking at each other with steady meaning sally and madeline understand they know what it must have been like for pilar to love bryn to have loved him for years and then to have him suddenly marry another girl they know what ft hat 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 at the door it was one of the maids wanting deb orah the cook would like tier her orders the maid said respectfully deborah went out and 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 elie remembered what she bad wanted to do bryns face was so close and he was waa such a dear she had bid want ted to take his face between her own two palms and bend down and put her cheek against his forehead she had almost done it when he be said deborah do you like me at all but now she was glad she abe done it because he have wanted her to it was pilar tie he loved he had bad said so go he had told her how del dearly irly he loved this other girl and it if she beetso beer so blind she would have seen instantly that his telling her of the other girl was sure proof that he love her deborah and if he did love so dearly then allar was a very lovel lovely y person madeline and sally like her but they understand and bryns heart must ache now to think that he was shut away from pilar for so long and aliar must be suffering dreadfully when she was finished in the kitchen deborah went bent up the back stairs swiftly and along the hall to her room someone came lightly along therall the jall ball ind and she caught her breath lest it should be bryn but it wai was instead pilar and she waa in search of deborah for her own room was down in the other wing alg witti with grit grandmothers adm others shi she glanced in through the open n door ak ah there you joR are sweetie I 1 she said 1 I wondered if run iway away wherever Wb ireve reve you been 1 I wai was down in the kitchen deborah explained praying that her voice sounded as usual then I 1 came up to get some embroidery I 1 find field myself with no work at all to do these days pilar was wai watching her you are refresh refreshing log t she sighed but really deb deborah 0 rah you must begin to make some changes in your life or you will be completely I 1 bewildered by bryns pay gay w world orld bryn travels pretty fast dear deborah mt down slowly with the I 1 italian embroidery in her hand she dinjer fingered ed it absently bryn explained it all to you site she asked it at lost last lifting her dark eyes explained what pilar asked after a ino moment mento 1 I knoche know he i told the others sally or M madeline delane 11 dont think even tubby knows knos im not quite sure why he for a while I 1 etwas was on hla his own account but now I 1 think he be ha has s been doing it for me so that I 1 feel so queer and left out 1 I dont know what you mean Debo deborah rali looked at her you sou know that bryn bi in love with me she said pit allar ar did not move more I 1 not by I 1 a flicker did her expression change 1 her eyes were black and fathomless not la id love with you youl shii she rt repeated surely you knew illar even it if I 1 did pilar said softly you expect me to 16 menti mention onit it deborah no deborah said after a moment at words her heart had fallen like lead so go pilar did know bryd brya had told her bryn of course la Is a gentle gentleman mao 1 I said he does not tell any more than Is necessary N no deborah said again but I 1 can tell you aliar I 1 can explain eilahn to you buu 1 I was hoping yoa you would 11 41 1 I dont want t to go into detail deborah said 1 I think I 1 can tell y you od to in just a few words it was like this 1 I had bad to be married by my twenty first birth birthday dak or lose my mt irand grandfathers fathera es estate tate I 1 went down to san sad francisco to meet the man I 1 was to marry ud he was wis I 1 coulden couldn t pos possibly marry him and bryn chind came along I 1 by accident and saw that I 1 wis was frightened and I 1 told him about it and he offered to marry me me instead all 11 pilar straightened 1 I aie see h ih she e said and then the day I 1 cami came tubby dragged me away and threatened me with murder it I 1 called bryn brin by anything but graham the man iman you were to marry Is named graham 4 yes res your grandmother thinks byrn Is the man yes and what happens next there was a queer note in her voice and deborah looked up quickly but Il billars lars fue face had not nat changed and deborahh Debo eyes fell aga again in nothing she said we have to go on until the end of the but I 1 think you are arc being in aultin buiting tui ting g 11 1 year or I 1 do not get the money the marriage must last fora for a year I 1 and it must go on for grandmothers sake anyway for or that long after that I 1 dont know what we shall do to explain to grandmother but bul t there will be some something bryn brya will bi be free then of course cours 1 you cannot get the money within a year 1 n I it if the marriage la is not successful to that extent deborah explained ca carefully i reful 7 1 I do not get it at all your lour grandmother seems very fond fond of pin bryn she loves him deborah said with a little catch in her twain he Is wonderful to her even it if the estate were dotso not so tied I 1 dont see sea how bow we could be divorced before that time without breaking Giand grandmothers mothers heart Pilar turned the ivory holder between her long browned fingers it seems rather a long time out of bryns life ife sherald she said saLd A year 1 t 1 I know 11 1 I should think there in might iab t have been somebody else deborah somebody you jou might have paid tor for hla his name and his lost year deborah looked up again but did not speak pilar was watching tier after a moment she P said of course its all avery romantic and you you are really quite pretty an any y man would like to be the ithe prince who awakens the slee sleeping fiIg beauty 11 deborahh Debo a i eyes flew to the long oval of ellars face her own cheeks crimsoned crim furiously and her eyes flis flashed hed 1 I dont know quite what you are suggesting sherald she said sald icily but I 1 think you are being insulting not at all illar replied 1 I am mer merely trying to discover bryns reason for this quixotic gesture it certainly cannot bo be that lie he Is will ing to spend a year with yon for your platonic platon lc companionship polio rah obviously you are not suited to be a companion to him you hare not the sophistication the knowledge of his world you scarce ly lye speak peak hl his language you saybe say be does not love yau you I 1 think that would be impossible too there must be companionship id th real love an equality but I 1 think adobe I 1 do bejin begin to libe see his rea reason sofi there you were beauty beaudy in id distress and bryn was always fond of anew a new adventure something new something nobody hasi has ever verdo done ne before yes it becomes I 1 quite clear to 1 me and he would get can considerable enjoyment out of this playacting play idy acting to your grandmother this pretense ot of being simple simp leand and bucolic this pretense of loving bolit you itis it Is rather an interesting situation as I 1 must admit 11 aborah deborah was staring at her 1 I dont think I 1 bareto care to discuss discus sit it any further she said quietly if you dont mind pilar 1 1 there much more to say Is i the there re except that 1 I suppose 1 ought to thank you for explaining it to me deborah I 1 have been troubled you can understand deborah folded her linen yes ll 11 she said bryn Is very dIm difficult dimce cu mar sighed 1 1 11 I think this basteen has bas been the worst fright he has given me but once two years ago I 1 was nearly mad too fie was in thabet and aid I 1 hear from him hin ifor for nearly six months it wis was reported that he aias was dead of course cours e he be nor lost either he was just hying in id a native tribe living like a native to get them the atmosphere he I 1 said hes wildly interested in peb people different kinds of people the farther from his own kind the better but he always comes backan back in the end r F hive have discovered that and when he came back from abl bet she said with mith a smile amile he brought me my ring this ruby raby I 1 wit it a beauty I 1 the ruby flashed shad an and gf glowed 0 wed on her finger as as she heidet hei held dit it out for deborah to see it Is very lovely debar deborah ah said gently gary tapped on the door casing miss deborah please he said mr bryn would like a dry pair of shoes might I 1 go through and get them certainly oary dary 11 with a little half bow to illar he be sidled past her and opened the door on the left he pushed it bick back and left it open as he be went in and pl lar glancing through saw the narrow white bed against the other wall she turned deliberately ands and looked at deborahh Debo bloj closed ed bedroom door and then with a deep breath she looked at deborah and smiled I 1 its t a all very romantic 1011 it she said and went swiftly softly across to the hall door thank for telling anime me deborah it makes rather a difference bryn had bad been over in the st stable alle talking to joe who came to milk every evening a cow having been added to their possessions As he approached appi cached the bridge his eyes caught the flutter of a skirt and his heart turned a complete double somersault if he had been in any need of pro proof proofs ofas as to his emotional condition he had it then but the skirt did not belong to deborah it was much too sophisticated a |