Show pe oran v ach eto ron N M raa ff FN az I 1 V N ff I 1 I 1 a U li K E Z 2 J un e 01 1 ell 1131 1 B y E N B A L M E R s copyright by br edwin balmer service fl tt SYNOPSIS bli 1 ak 3 jeb braddon young and fantastically Necess ful broker of chicago Is iffat amed with agnes Gl eneith beautiful r of a retired manufacturer manufacturer adney a doctor in love with agats bits its wis his brother jeb rod plans work ht 4 rochester jeb suggests that h he e alp ilp take kake a try tor for agnes before leavi leaving n 9 r rod bod there Is a deeper obstinate iceney and much sterner restraints igl an in jeb agnes believes to be happy iberl must bind herself entirely to a ki an and have adorable babies 1 8 evl CHAPTER I 1 continued i eek ca sn 2 co COTO to be happy a man reoul required red a girl deed men declared this and sought to ra mate more openly more frankly ens voices at such betrayed them as rodney Brad dons just dad done i athe fo the deep sea cef he father had him in contrast ao 40 ills his brother 1 he devil with women and the deep eal well the deep sea had phoned phone rora rom his brothers f he be devils office aind was on his way 0 o her 1 agnes never troug thought of making special naj ial preparation for him im and be have bave liked led 1 at she kept in n kh e cornflower blue kale 1 St picc fe ch ecale her slender co operation alch deepened Jeep ened by its light in spill aue adf her eyes and into aser straw colored I 1 I ediin bedling dor do wind t f the morning I 1 ha bat ad wt i pink elow eglow into her el cle il I 1 in ile g carlli farl aa ar she procured bea heap co 0 o alo coupe ind drove alone h biow to ahe station to meet nasf s thir he be if he be could bouy ahw ipach li he sat by himself train i joing r over and over wha td 01 d done dode and what he had bad set ou 1 ler iier to jo do and his purpose appi apac to him not hot only hopeless but atto c e yet he e had spoken the words alu P yzier iier that thai told old he was coming and which im baled more lie he had no retreat did jud honestly believe that he be had bad a chance or b had ad jud goaded him to this in the belief that by speaking to agnes however hopelessly he be would be the better for it the better for or putting an end to ills his impossible dreams standing on the car steps as the train slowed he be passed her be swung down recklessly slipping in the snow when ahen he straightened she was beside beald him little agnes he said the syllables escaping him if she caught his exclamation what difference ue ile bad come to say to tier her much more she felt it she asked him after he was settled beside her and she was driving hini him home you had lunch arod rod 1 I never thought of it he admitted the snow had begun to blow so blindingly that it became almost an adventure to follow the familiar road to the house it shut in rodney brad don and agnes glendith Gl eneith together a away w ay from contact or sight from ali al others increasing the tension of their intimacy though during tile the drive rodney said scarcely a word and he did not touch her in the house bouse he made no attempt to touch her they went into the pleasant easy east room which on or binary days overlooked the lake now the snow swirling at the ide windows shut them in as it had when they were in the car rodney appreciated this and he turned to tier her gratefully let me tell you what I 1 it if you want to rod you know the trouble with me I 1 love you you sit there will you and ill stand here ill nut annoy you yon more than I 1 must ive said I 1 love you ive had medical training I 1 know what love Is or Is supposed to be but its not that with me when I 1 think of you 1 suppose every hopeless tool fool denies AL lt ile he tries to mate make himself out better than he be Is you rod she said gently she was seated where he be asked her to be and watching him looking up at him so tall and troubled before her and a little ungainly as always in his brown ready made clothes he was more carelessly molded than job jeb except in his brow his hia chin and ills his hands perhaps especially in his hands so lean and strong and capable iler her eyes came to rest on his hands restrained close beside hlin him as his brothers never would have been at such a moment how this man fought the appeal of physical sensation 1 and why did he down it sol so because lie he was capable or 0 a feeling beyond tits his brothers far beyond any other man she knew A agnes gnes recognized this now if not with her mind with her stirred instincts which aroused their needling excitements excite ments through her 11 money means nothing to you I 1 know agnes he said the fact that ive none not my trouble its me and my life it your life lifer the fact that you never could live it she said without thinking why not for she did not willfully intend to lead him on but never with any man who had made love to her had she found herself so confused by feeling Th ired be nothing in it for you yoa but being my wife what would that be like rodney now why had she said that did she w arnt nt him to break the restraint he upon himself being my wife do you want me to tell you can you rod can IT I 1 he was gazing at her so that tier her eyes fell before his fell to his hands which he was keeping controlled beside him 1 I can tell you all about it what it will be every hour of the day and night he said so that she hardly he heard ard him 1 I thought for a time A agnes nes tie he went on of taking up another line for you I 1 mean with the idea that it might just possibly increase my chance with nith you not to make maize more money but to make myself different for you but I 1 be different not you rod no be no use theres only one job I 1 can care to do you know what it Is its to find out what whal makes one person live and another die what brings one child health and aid strength and happiness and what condemns another to be a cripple or to pain or wretchedness for life what does it not god not divine jud judg ment and punishment we dont believe in travesties like that any longer ali and its not the sins of the fa in most cases either its some condition we can discover and correct its some secret of biological balance that we can uncover its simply a problem of biology that ive got to work at as long as im any good I 1 turn to anything else if I 1 tried to its the one thing that matters to me except you ive been trying to put you two together I 1 mean to imagine you together my life as I 1 live it and you I 1 can do it in my dreams oil oh I 1 love you so much and I 1 can see ill never have you dont mistake me in liow low I 1 imagined you in my dreams dear oh my dear clear you were there waiting for me that was all you always were there for me at end of day wherever I 1 was whatever I 1 was doing I 1 nas going back to you no ill tell it all to you some day I 1 dreamed wed have a little girl like you A very little girl wit wil wilh li h blue eyes and hair like flax as yours used to be it strange rod dont think I 1 misunderstand kiss me rod when I 1 go I 1 will if let me I 1 bear it now I 1 see how hovy you feel sorry for me its plain I 1 can never have you I 1 wont make you say it I 1 know I 1 always knew why tile the dreams began but be gone now too best I 1 suppose ten minutes later rodney left and she knew better than to try to detain him im driving you back to the station she said no let me leave you here you can send me if you will with it simmons but you let me kiss yuu you now 11 never with such tenderness never with so much strength restrained had a mans hands bands clasped tier her ills his arm did riot not encircle her ills hands upon her shoulders he drew her to him she lifted her lips and kissed him once that was all he did not cot try to repeat it again rodney she whispered reaching up tip stretching on tiptoes tiptoed to otter offer herself once more you dont repeat death he denied her agnes moved about tile the empty house gazing out at the snow she could do no differently about rodney she did not love him she felt for him with a keen pity which bad no equal in tier her meetings with men but she did not desire him was love desire was that the decisive i sensation in your life was admiration for a man thy for him caring for him nothing in comparison did no qualities in you or in him count unless you desired him flames were here leaping and snapping from maple logs freshly laid on the huge stone hearth of the hall and the green glass eyes in the pair of jaguar heads on the wall opposite gleamed their reflect reflection IOD of the dancing fire five years ago her father had bad shot tile the jaguars jagears in brazil having suddenly found need to cease to be a manufacturer fac of electrical equipment ani an I 1 to become instead a hunter set upon traversing tropical jungles to L kill 1111 something dangerous and savage among other trophies he had brought these back installed them here and dubbed them hansel and gretel this house which bad never been as happy as the home on easter la lane D e had descended undeniably after that or of course the jaguar heads had nothing to do with the descent they were simply a symbol of what had happened what had happened in this house rogna the little swedish mald maid appeared she was a ladys maid shared by agnes and her mother a slender small boned gollen golden haired bright cheeked checked che eked impulsive type of swede she was overemotional ot ional indeed but discreet rogna if any one knew what had happened in this great important house for agnes suspected that her mother in tier her despairing helplessness to regain what was slipping away sometimes talked to rogna never to a soul soui would rogna repeat a word of it 2 others bothers returned agnes asked tier her oh yes sir braddon just phoned agnes started hod was he returning mr judson braddon Dr addon rogna said what did he say lie ile is coming out lie ile did riot not inquire whether or not you would be in miss agnes he said to tell you be was coming out ue ile will drive twenty miles through this snow 1 thought agnes jeb would also mr ar gleneita Glene Glenel itu th has returned to the city he will be home borne on his train bl mother other thought agnes do you require me miss anes agnes no look after 21 mother lother alogna oh I 1 w the two girls gazed at each other both knowing knowin there was no sense whatever in agnes nes pretending before rogna she use rouge rogna dont let tier her it it become her and it wont do tier her any good lying in the deep warm water in tier her bath of palely tinted porcelain agnes shut tier her eyes and saw not rod on his train traveling away froni from her but jeb forcing ills his car toward tier her through the snow slie she could see him strain and laugh and swear when lie skidded but come on on on to her w whatever 11 alever tried to hold him even in her imaginings he stirred her come on jeb oli oh come on I 1 rod dear dreaming rod id like to love you I 1 I 1 would but I 1 dont and lie he so much as let tier her say it it the fact that jeb was malting making money and rod nearly none that w widened the difference between them for rod was right about it money did not rule desire money aloney might be one of the factors that destroyed it money ioney or at least tile the epoch of their marriage in which the most money had come was separating tier her mother and father before a mirror on the other side of that wall all between their rooms her mother frantically ains ft as trying to make herself more attractive to father and to look younger but bill rogna would watch the rouge rogna would not let mother look ridiculous to father when he came home ridiculous to father who used to kiss her when they hugged agnes between them in the big bed of the house where mother had bad been a bride oh what was love at last father came baskerville the huge boar hound had affectionately knocked his hat off and he carried it crumpled cravath the butler had opened the door D evening cravath hello light onel one I 1 that meant her and no one else always as long as she could remember it had been fathers greeting light one dark onel one Us ills two daughters daughter his two babies once beatrice always had been dark like mamma A agnes light like himself dark onel light onel one dark one light onel one he used to accent la in rhythm as he tossed and caught his children in turn before he kissed them dark onel light one and shooed them away lie ile bent and kissed agnes now careful to keep his snowiness from her dress hello ll 11 light ht one lie he re heated hows flows dark one oh ashes fine father hoare the busters austers bu father wonderful good wheres your mother in yes father ashes in good cravath had taken his things d disappeared leaving father and daughter a alone one before the fire agnes liked to have him linger with her but the thought of her mother waiting 7 for him tortured her there had been a time when if she had not met him at the door lie he would have leaped up the stairs two steps at a time to find what was the matter now he stood back to the fire without impatience lie ile had bad been away for a week in new york city and his daughter swept as she was with affection for him find and with pride in him and with gladness in all tier her memories could not down disturbing doubts what had he done in new york during seven days and evenings and nights ile he was full of feeling and how good looking he be was you could not poss possibly ably think of him as a grandfather ile he was now within two years of fifty and lie he appear forty ile he honestly ills his hair was as youthful as agnes own ile he differed from hers bers however in having a crinkle in it which made it take tousling well always in those mornings when she had run into ills his and Nl mothers others room he had been tousled now she lind not seen hita him so but had some woman in new york the idea would not down it ir father and daughter shar shared ed tin OW same blueness of eye and straightness of nose indeed in the fullness of tier her lips and the turn of her good little chin agnes was a delicate re of him but even allowing for wonie ns proportions she wats smaller ile he was six feet straight dis more than average height ag nes for that comfortable countryside north of Clil tagO where women are tall was rather under the avera average ge and also for her height slighter than tier her father though no ounce of weight appeared on him ile he S sav aw to that with squash and riding TO BE CONTINUED |