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Show Vhatever Else Might Be laid He Was an Optimist mum iLAmmms TTDn My PENN PUBLISHING COMPANY SYNOPSIS door. Young, pretty Jane Barnes, who lived with her brother, Baldwin, in Sherwood Park, near Washington, was not particularly impressed when she read that rich, attractive Edith Towne had been left at the altar by Delafield Simms, wealthy New Yorker. said. WNU SERVICE Wont you come in? Jane No, Ive got to get back. I only ran over for a moment. I have to have a daily sip of you, Jane. Baldys bringing a steak for ner. Help us eat it. Sorry, but Mother would din- be alone. When shall I talk to her? Down the path Jane went, the two Theres no hurry. The cousins like small shadows in pussy-cat- s her wake, until suddenly a voice are staying on for the opening of came out of the dark. Congress. Jane dear, dont despise His voice broke. I believe it is little Jane me Evans, as if I could. Barnes. She stopped. Oh, is that you, HeAgain her hand was on his arm. laid his own over it. Youre Evans? Isnt it a heavenly night? the best ever, Janey," he said, husk Im not sure. ily and presently he went away. Dont talk that way. Jane, going in, found that Baldy not? Why had He kaint git telephoned. Because an evening like this is here until seven, Sophy told her. like wine it goes to my head. You had better run along home, You are like wine, he told her. told her. Jane Ill cook the Jane, how do you do it? steak when it comes. Do what? Sophy was old and she was tired. Hold the pose of youth and joy Life hadnt been easy. The son who and happiness? was to have been the prop of her old You know it isn't a pose. I just age had been killed in France. feel that way, Evans. was a daughters daughter There My dear, I believe you do. who had gone north and who now He limped a little as he walked and then sent money. Old Sophy beside her. He was tall and gaunt. did not know where her granddaughAlmost grotesquely tall. Yet when ter got the money, but it was good he had gone to war he had not to have it when it came. - But it was seemed in the least grotesque. He not enough, so old Sophy worked. had been tjill but not thin, and he I hates to leave you here alone, had gone in all the glory of his Miss Janey. splendid youth. Oh, run along, Sophy. Baldy will There was no glory left. He was come before I know it. twenty-seveHe had fought and Jane went the kitchen to he would fight again for the same the back door,through an throwing cause. But his youth was dead, ex- ing glance at the things in theappraiswarm- cept when he was with Jane. She revived him, as he said, like wine. I was coming over, he began, and broke off as a sibilant sound interrupted him. Oh, are the cats with you? Well, Rusty must take the road, he laughed as the little old dog trotted to neutral ground at the edge of the grove. Rusty was friends with Merrymaid, except when there were kittens about. He knew enough to avoid her in days of anxious CHAPTER I Continued --2 n. motherhood. Jane picked up the kitten. would come. I They All animals follow you. Youre of a domestic Circe with your sort dogs and chickens and pussy-cat- s in the place of tigers and lions and leopards." Id love to have lived in Eden, said Jane, unexpectedly, before Eve and Adam sinned. What it must have meant to have all those great and purring beasts under your hand like this kitten. What a dreadful thing happened, Evans, when fear came into the mild-manner- ed world. What makes you say that now, Jane? His voice was sharp. Shouldnt I have said it? Oh, Evans, you cant think I had you e were in mind Would I mind if a of a touch to with in thrown me No, weariness, but you are the only one, really, who knows what a coward I am ing oven, and stood waiting on the threshold, hugging herself in the Evans, youre not. Youre good to say it, but thats keenness of the wind. what I came over for. I am up Presently her brothers tall form against it again, Jane. Some cous- was silhouetted against the silvery ins are on from New York theyre gray of the night. at the New Willard and Mother I thought you were never comand I went in to see them last night. ing, she said to him.. I thought so, too. He bent and They have invited us to go back with them. Theyve a big house kissed her; his cheek was cold as it east of Fifth Avenue, and they want touched hers. us as their guests indefinitely. They Arent you nearly frozen? No. Sorry to be late, honey. Get think it will do me a lot of good-- get me out of myself, they call it. dinner on the table and Ill be But I cant see it. Since I came ready home every time 1 think of facing Im afraid things wont be very mobs of people again his voice appetizing, she told him; theyve Im clutched by some- waited so long. But Ill cook the grew sharp life-lin- mid-ocea- thing I cant describe. It is perfectly unreasonable, but I cant help it. For a moment they walked in silence, then he went on Mothers very keen about it. She thinks it will set me upr But I want to stay here and I thought if youd talk to her, shell listen to you, Jane she always does. Does she know how you feel about it? No, I think not. Ive never told her. Ive only spilled over to you now and then. It would hurt Mother, no end, to know how changed I am. Jane laid her hand on his arm. Youre not. Brace up, old dear. You arent dead yet. As she lifted her head to look up at him, the hood of her cape slipped back, and the .wind blew her soft, thick hair But Ill talk against his cheek. to your mother if you want me to. She is a great darling. ...They had reached the kitchen Ciller steak He had gone on, and was beyond the sound of her voice. She opened the fat parcel which he had deposited on the kitchen table. She wondered a bit at its size. But Baldy had a way of bringing home unexpected bargains a dozen boxes of crackers unwieldy pounds of coffee. But this was neither crackers nor coffee. The box which was revealed bore the name of a fashionable florist. Within were violets single ones set off by one. perfect rose and tied with a silver ribbon. Jane gasped then she went to the door and called: Baldy, wheres the steak? He came to the top of the stairs. Great guns," he said, I forgot it! Then he saw the violets in her hands, laughed and came down a I sold a loaf of bread step or two. and bought white hyacinths Theyre heavenly! Her glance swept up to him. Peace offering? Jones. In the first round, Puncher hit the floor hard five imes, and just before the bell pent down for a full count. The winner was rushed to the nike where he said a few modest ADILEY TTEKDIPILIE O The fight was between two leavyweights, Puncher Smith and vords. By this time Puncher had tome to, and staggered to his eet. The announcer coaxed him o say a few words. Puncher tried to keep his knees rom collapsing. He heard souilds There were gay sparks in his her, and picked up the bag which ike the chirping of thousands of she had dropped. We,11 call it that. eyes. jirds. Then he said to the mike: Thank you so much. Her voice Ladies and gentlemen this is She blew a. kiss to him from the tips of her fingers. They are per- was low and pleasing. He saw that greatest fight of my career was fectly sweet. And we can have an she was young, that her skinwhich uid may the best man win! omelette. Only if we eat any more very fair, and that the hair swept over her ears was pale gold, eggs, well be flapping our wings. I dont care what we have. I but most of all, he saw that her EXTRA am so hungry I could eat a house. eyes were burning blue. He had never seen eyes quite like them. The He went back up the stairs, laughold poets would have called them ing. a sapphire, but sapphires do not into bowl, Jane, breaking eggs flame. meditated on the nonchalance of It was so silly of me to try to do men. She meditated, too, on the I mystery of Baldys mood. The flow- it, she was protesting, cutbut ers were evidence of high exalta- thought it might be a short tion. He did not often lend himHe wondered what her destination self to such extravagance. might be that this remote path He came down presently and should lead to it. But all he said helped carry in the belated dinner. was, High heels arent made for The potatoes lay like withered leaves mountain climbing in a silver dish, the combread was They arent made for anything," a wrinkled wreck, the pudding a she said, looking down at the travesty. Only Janes omelette and slippers, useful. a lettuce salad had escaped the Let me help you up the hill. I dont want to go up. blight of delay. He surveyed the steep incline. I By burning 25 slower than Then, too, there was Philomel, singing. Jane drew a cup of coffee, am perfectly sure you dont want the average of the 15 other hot and strong, and set it at her to go down. The were violets brothers place. I do, she hesitated, but I supbrands of the largest-sellin- g in the center of the table, the cats pose I cant. on the hearth. He had a sudden inspiration. Can tested slower than any of purring Jane loved her little home with I take you anywhere? My little flivalmost passionate intensity. She ver is up there on the bridge. Would them CAMELS give smokloved to have Baldy in a mood like you mind that? ers the equivalent of this things right once more with e were Would I mind if a his world. thrown to me in She She knew it was so by the ring of said it lightly, but he fancied there was a note of high hope. his voice, the cock of his head hence she was not in the least surThey went up the hill together. unwhenI want to get an Alexandria car, leaned he forward prised der the spreading she told him. But you are miles away from it. dome which drenched him with Am I? She showed momentary light, and said, Ive such a lot to I hoped I might reach tell you, Jane; the most amazing confusion. the it has Park thing through happened. You might. But you might also freeze to death in the attempt like a CHAPTER H babe in the wood, without any robWhen young Baldwin Barnes had ins to perform the last melancholy ridden out of Sherwood that morning rites. What made you think of such on his way to Washington, his car a thing? He saw at once his mistake. Her had swept by fields which were crisp I and frozen; by clumps of trees voice had a touch of frigidity. whose pointed tops cut into the clear cant tell you. blue of the sky; over Sorry, he said abruptly. You streams, all shining silver in the must forgive me. She melted. No, it is I who early sunlight. He had the eye of an artist, and should be forgiven. It must look he liked the ride. Even in winter strange to you but Id rather not the countryside was attractive and explain On the last steep rise of the hill as the road slipped away, there came a few big houses surrounded he lifted her over a slippery pool, by wide grounds, with glimpses and as his hand sank into the soft through their high hedges of white fur of her wrap, he was conscious luxury. It seemed to him that statues, of spired cedars, of sun- of its mustard-colored coat fairly dials set. in the midst of dead gar- his shouted dens. incongruity. His imaginaBeyond these there was an arid tion swept on to Raleigh, and the stretch until the Lake was reached, velvet cloak which might do the then the links of one country club, situation justice. He smiled at himthe old buildings of another, and at self and smiling, too, at her, felt a last on the crest of a hill, a view tingling sense of coming circum- COUNT THE SAIOKES IN gam gpj steel-buckl- ed life-lin- mid-ocea- - ed ice-bou- nd the city sweeping on the right towards Arlington and on the left towards Soldiers Home. Turning into Sixteenth Street, he crossed a bridge with its buttresses guarded by stone panthers and it was on this bridge that his car of stance. It was because of that smile, and the candid, boyish quality of it, that she trusted him. Do you know, she said, I havent had a thing to eat this morning, and Im frightfully hungry. Is there any place that I could have a cup of coffee where stopped. , you could bring it out to me in the fublamed he Fate Climbing out, car? riously. Years afterward, however, Could I? the morning stars sang. of not he dared the difference think Theres a corking place in Georgeit might have made if his little flivtown. ver had not failed him. Without the world looking on? Once when he stopped, a woman Without your world looking on. passed him. She was tall and slen- boldly. der and wrapped up to her ears in She hesitated, then told the truth. moleskin. Her small hat was blue, Im running away from her hand swung a gray suede He was eager. May I help? in were bag, her feet gray shoes wouldnt you if you. Perhaps with buckles. knew. Baldys quick eyes took in the deTry me. tails of her costume. He reflected He helped her into his car, tucked as he went back to work that women the rug about her, and put up the were fools to court death in that curtains. No one can see you on fashion, with thin slippers and silk the back seat, he said, and drove stockings, in this bitter weather. to Georgetown on the wings of the He found the trouble, fixed it, wind. He brought coffee out to her from jumped into his car and started his motor. And it was just as he was a neat shop where milk was sold, moving that his eye was caught and buns, and hot drinks, to motor-me- n of down blue a the bobbing spot and conductors. It was a clean by hill below the bridge. The woman little place, fresh as paint, and the who had passed him was making her buttered rolls were brown and crisp. way. slowly along the slippery path. I never tasted anything so good," On each side of her the trees were the runaway told Baldy. And now brown and bare. At the foot, of the I am going to ask you to drive me hill was a thread of frozen water. over the Virginia side Ill get the It was not usual at this time to see trolley there. (TO BE CONTINUED) pedestrians in that place. Now and then a workman took a short cut Definition of Evening or on warm days there were picnic By definition evening is the latparties but to follow the rough paths in winter was a bleak and ter part and close of the day anc arduous adventure. early part of darkness or night; the He stayed tor a moment to watch period from sunset or from the eveher, then suddenly left his car and ning meal to ordinary bedtime, no ran. The girl in the blue hat had definite later limit being fixed. The caught her high heels in a root, had word is also used locally in Englanc and in our southern states to instumbled and fallen. When he reached her, she was clude. the period from noon to anc struggling to her feet. He helped including sunset and twilight. cut-ste- el news in cigarettes smoking pleasure and more of it for SMOKERS! 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