| Show the limited mail by ELMER E VANCE A love story of steel rails let me help you down to th the rear of the car cai r here madam hotl d arr get e t sucked under the limited if you remained liere here li hurry I 1 he picked her up tip and bore her swiftly to the safety of the space between the nose of the limited and the tail of the special here as lie set lier her down they looked into each others face for the firt time recognition N was as mutual instantaneous and devastating bob my aly god jaile iane so this was nna the moment that all the uneasy premonitions of the night had been whispering of to him he reeled under the stalk tragedy of a buried and unlovely past projected with demonical hony in the happier warp wall of a living present on this lay day of all lays days when he had known the lovely promise of carolines friendship A tast fast of bitter ashes dried his tongue in his mouth bob the woman was saying ive hunted for you I 1 love you more than ever and no now ive found you she flung her arms arm around his neck and showered him with aith kisses that he was too stupefied to desist was that screeching lit in his ears cars the old witch laughing kt at hini him no it was nas the limited thundering by on oil the main track bob dully lookin looking gr up at the limited over the head of the woman vonian which was drooped upon hiis his fieast through her encircling arms had a fleeting eting picture of a mail ear car door and jim standing looking down at min him for a fraction of time scant but all too revealing in that pale flood of moonlight the picture brought bob to his senses sense 3 had jim seen bob pushed jane from him in distaste and anger and curnin turning g strode toward his cab the slight pain of her twisted ankle forgotten she followed insistent plying him with questions that he ignored with avith protestations te of love at which lie he laughed laug 1 I ieti A curt summons from the observation platform recalled her she went reluctantly there was nothing else fo for r her to do since bob had mounted counte d and aid disappeared into his cab and it was hardly possible for her to follow the conductor of the special was calling to her all aboard madam he and one of the men from janes own boisterous party pulled her up to the alie observation platform conductor she breathed hard but low do you know the engineer of that freight train yes maim maam thais bob wilson do you know him curiously anything g relating to the mystery behind bob was enough engulf to tb revive a abid hd pique the latent int interest erest of all crater City ites g wilson ell eli well what you dont know wont hurt you conductor in a huff the man withdrew into the now moving train car tane jane was presently left alone on the platform with a single girl friend the rest of their party had gone in to continue the merrymaking merry making yes do you know him took up th the e girl while janes eyes and cold remained glued to the face that leaned out of the cab window of the big slow moving freight from which t they ey were fast pulling away ill say I 1 do said jane her brittle laugh matching the tune of the rails below how ive waited for this hour and im going to see him again you can bet for that bob is my bob I 1 my husband CHAPTER vir the morning of the following day dawned pearly clear honeysuckle and woodbine woo dabine paid first tribute to the piratical breeze while flowering plants both small anti and tall quivered as the pickpocket touch of it its fingers stole the dewy fragrance from their be altar pods the beginning of a perfect lovers holiday it was a i lay day of the stuff that fair june days clays and young girls di heanis earns are arc made of a day of such days as were appointed and ordained for youthful hearts when love first began anti and the world too was young but to bob wilson hotly restless on the bed that had known no relaxation of his strong heavy masculine body chiou throughout bout the short night the light of the newborn day welling into his room could bring no glad awakening it brought not quietude tude but weariness not eager anticipation ci but dull and apathetic echoes in in his telling aching lend head of the old words that expressed the sum suin and substance of hobo philosophy what the alis hells the use of anything what the tell hell difference does a anything nn thing make what vise use what difference indeed after all his sturdy rc re tilling and re sowing the chance for an abundant abunda lit and joyous harvest now withered hel in his hands by discovery when he thought lie he was safe and forgotten I 1 all his cherished isolation and jealously guarded bars of secrecy brushed down until chater city and the present were one with the lest of the world and the past bob rigid upon his back staled staged miserably at the same patch of white ceiling on which the first flushing of light had found lus ids eye blankly fixed he looked forward with read dread to what would now be be an ordeal all day with caroline in the woodland instead of a caffree picnic he wished that morran lorran A had refused to grant hini him the day off then he budde suddenly rily grew conscious that over an and 1 I over he was telling himself to arise arise and dress and steal away from froin town with the begir beginning ming lay day an and d become a drifting nonentity again on the trail of forgetfulness he could find and join potts out there near eagle pass dear useless companionable old Pot Pott zey whose return at this time was perhaps opportune and providential in that it enticingly represented to bob the easiest way for a trouble wearied man what the hell difference does anything thing make what difference could his going pos sibly make to anyone preceding cir cleas of ripples in the public interest as the lays days went on then forg forgotten otten he twisted himself out of bed slowly heavyhearted heavy hearted he would go even though the very walls seemed to be mocking him with an accusation of cowardice H he N would v ad le leave av e a n note 0 te for jim jill to ca caroline r anotn e h he e w would ou ld e explain x that morran in the press of an emergency had cancelled Ms his days I live ive now th thit that it liis his mind was made up he plodded steadily at the task of dressing hurry up daddy bob the lady will be waiting he had almost forgotten bobby who dishevelled dishevel led from the sound and untroubled sleep of his babyhood stood in the doorway with his clothes in his hand ready for bob to dress will him bob sat down on the bed with nith a short laugh all his resolutions to leave dissolving into thin air as he stared at the towheaded tow headed rascally youngster and knew him for an ail anchor an anchor that might be dragged in times of lof storm but could not be broken away front from because it was attached by a chain of love in that moment bob realized too that he had been stubbornly blinding himself to another overlying fachan invisible larger more potent anchor than this sleepy voiced mite somehow symbolize ed cd and brought into clear and I 1 ta keable relief his love for carolines caroline he had tried to pretend through i the night that he was not in love with her that theirs was merely a mutual friendly interest he had fought even harder when the mating scents and sounds of the june morning threw their impressions around hia senses he told himself that it was not mean or contemptible to run away from caroline Car because she bhe had not admitted love for him that this was thas thab time to go before the breaking of hearts his or tiers liers or both would be involved now he knew himself for an ail emotional liar he did love caroline whether or net she loved mm him yet did not make any difference or les lessen lesen en his responsibilities bill ties he must go through with nith outing perhaps lie he would never hear front aiom jane again but even if lie he did lie he could no longer run a away v a y like a whipped dog clog lie he must fight confess and seek sack a wily way out after lie he had bad dressed and breakfasted himself I 1 and bobby and was leading the child by the hand down the street to the widows bob found that courage was creeping into and fortifying the foundation of his determination determinations eions the spell of the morning was boiking upon him bringing 11 beckless nes of consequence the day promised net so badly after all caroline was anva eagerly awaiting him at the gate caroline cool and willowy in a slim dress that neither concealed or emphasized the refined but fundamental womanliness of her girlish body bobby was duly kissed by caroline are you giving them away asked bob enviously can I 1 trust myself with this th isman man I 1 vender iwonder Carol caroline kle countered pretending to appraise bob with suspicious ai apprehensions while she handed him the lunch to carry I 1 an ali instantly assumed expression of bland innocence and sexless benevolence won the restored confidence of caroline the picnickers picnicker were ready to start now upon mrs airs OLe arys assumption of the person and charge of bobby and his armful of toys daddy bob why do you look at the lady I 1 like ike that just like daddy jim does too 11 this startling pronouncement of childishly innocent curiosity fell like a wet and awkward blanket uvan two tw 0 of the three adults upon bob who stared uncomfortably at bobby and upon sirs mrs oleary who fidgeted and looked calamitous caroline alone aside front from a slight flush retained self possession it youre much too young to qualify as a re reliable liable dobso observer arver of grownup noil nonsense sense ora or a professor of psychology but youre a dear child she said li lightly I 1 atly kissing bobby goodbye good bye and shooting him into the yard and the safe check of sirs airs OLe arys vicarious 0 us motherhood bob and caroline wandered away into the upland fields like tow children out of school added to the softening lure of the lay now was the bewitchment of her vitally young and refreshing personality an dunder the combined s spell p ell bob found it comparatively easy to put aside for the time lime being at least his scruples and his resolutions and abandon himself to the gay infectiousness of her moods on the rising flow of his reactions bobs responsiveness to caroline carried him even beyond the high water mark of her unrestrained vivacity he was a youngster again gleeful and sportive merrily skylarking twanging the strings of their joyousness to the utmost they strolled and rested the joked and laughed they talked in blue streaked circles or kept full silences all as the spirit moved them bob pitched stones at signboards sign boards and other casual targets wrestled with the sullen ram of a sheep herd on a rocky slope and even walked on his hands along the edge of a clift cliff delighting in the apprehensive squeals his showing off elicited from caroline to be continued contini fed 4 |
