| Show e x y ila ew y 11 a X M 0 PENN publishing COMPANY I 1 SYNOPSIS young pretty jane barnes barncs who live lived d with her brother baldwin in sherwood park near washington was not particularly impressed when she read read that rich attractive edith towne had bad been left at the altar by y delafield simms wealthy new yorker CHAPTER I 1 continued 1 2 down the path jane went the two pussy cats like small shadows in her wake until suddenly a voice came out of the dark 1 I believe it is little jane barnes she stopped oh is that you evans it a heavenly night im not sure dont talk that way why not because an evening like this is like wine it goes to my head you are like wine he told her jane how do you do it do what hold the pose of youth and joy and happiness you know it a pose I 1 just feel that way evans my dear I 1 believe you do he limped a little as he walked beside her he was tall and gaunt almost grotesquely tall yet when he had gone to war he had not seemed in the least grotesque he had been tall but not thin and he had gone in all the glory of his splendid youth there was no glory left he was twenty seven he had fought and he would fight again for the same cause but his youth was dead except when he was with jane she revived him as he said like wine 1 I was coming over he began and broke off as a sibilant sound interrupted him oh are the cats with you well rusty busty 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 Merry maid except when there were kittens about he knew enough to avoid her in days of anxious motherhood jane picked up the kitten they would come all animals follow you youre sort of a domestic circe with your dogs and chickens and pussy cats 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 beasts mild mannered and purring under your hand like this kitten what a dreadful thing happened evans when fear came into the world what makes you say that now jane his voice was sharp I 1 have said it oh evans you cant think I 1 had you in mind no with a touch of weariness but you are the only one really who knows what a coward I 1 arn am evans youre not ot youre good to say it but what I 1 came over for I 1 am up against it again jane some cousins are on from new york at the new willard and mother and I 1 went in to see them last night they have invited us to go back with them a big house east of fifth avenue and they want us as their guests indefinitely they thinkie think thin kit it will do me a lot of good get me out of myself they call it but I 1 cant see it since I 1 came home every time I 1 think of facing mobs of people again his voice grew sharp im clutched by something I 1 cant describe it is perfectly unreasonable but I 1 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 up but I 1 want to stay here and 1 thought if talk to her shell listen to you jane she always does does she know how you feel about it no I 1 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 1 am jane laid her hand on his arm youre not brace up old dear you arent dead yet As she lifted tier her head to look up at him the hood of her cape slipped back and the wind blew her soft thick hair against his cheek but ill talk to your mother if you want me to she is a great darling they had bad reached the kitchen door wont you come in jane said no ive got to get back I 1 only ran over for a moment I 1 have to have a daily sip of you jane baldys bringing a steak for dinner help us eat it sorry but mother would be alone when shall I 1 talk to her theres no hurry the cousins are staying on for the opening of congress jane dear dont despise me his voice broke evans as if I 1 could again her hand was on his arm he laid his own over it youre the best ever janey he said huskily and presently he went away jane going in found that baldy had telephoned he faint git here until seven sophy told her 14 you had better run along home J jane ane told her ill cook the steak when it comes sophy was old and she was tired life been easy the son who was to have been the prop of her old age had been killed in france there was a daughters daughter who had gone north and who now and then sent money old sophy did not know where her granddaughter got the money but it was good to have it when it came but it was not enough so old sophy worked 1 I hates to leave you here alone miss janey oh run along sophy baldy will come before I 1 know it jane went through the kitchen to the back door throwing an appraising glance at the things in the warm v M would I 1 mind if a lifeline life line were thrown to me in mid ocean ing oven and stood waiting on the threshold hugging herself in the keenness of the wind presently her brothers tall form was silhouetted against the silvery gray of the night 1 I thought you were never coming she said to him 1 I thought so too he bent and kissed her his cheek was cold as it touched hers arent you nearly frozen no sorry to be late honey get dinner on the table and ill be ready im afraid things wont be very appetizing she told him waited so long but ill c ook cook the 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 crack ers unwieldy idy 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 oil 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 1 I forgot it then he saw the violets in her hands laughed and came down a step or two 1 I sold a loaf of bread and bought white hyacinths heaven lyt lyl her glance swept up to him peace offering there were gay sparks in his eyes well call it that she blew a kiss to him from the tips of her fingers they are perfectly sweet and we can have an only if we eat any more eggs well be flapping our wings 1 I dont care what we have I 1 am so hungry I 1 could eat a house he went back backup up the stairs laughing jane breaking eggs into a bowl meditated on the nonchalance of men she meditated too on the mystery of baldys mood the flowers were evidence of high exaltation he did not often lend himself to such extravagance he came down presently and helped carry in the belated dinner the potatoes lay like withered leaves in a silver dish the cornbread was a wrinkled wreck the pudding a travesty only janes and a lettuce salad had escaped the blight of delay then too there was philomel singing jane drew a cup of coffee hot and strong and set it at her brothers place the violets were in the center of the table the cats purring on the hearth jane loved her little home with almost passionate intensity she loved to have baldy in a mood like this things right once more with his world she knew it was so by the ring of his voice the cock of his head hence she was not in the least surprised when he leaned forward under the old fashioned spreading dome which drenched him with light and said ive such a lot to tell you jane the most amazing thing has happened CHAPTER II 11 when young baldwin barnes had ridden out of sherwood that morning on his way to washington his car had swept by fields which were crisp and frozen by clumps of tre trees es whose pointed tops cut into the clear blue of the sky over icebound ice bound streams all shining silver in the early sunlight he had the eye of an artist and he liked the ride even in winter the countryside was attractive and as the road slipped away there came a few big houses surrounded by wide grounds with glimpses through their high hedges of white statues of cedars of sundials set in the midst of dead gardens beyond these there was an arid stretch until the lake was reached then the links of one country club the old buildings of another and ai at last on the crest of a hill a view of 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 stopped climbing out he blamed fate furiously riou sly years afterward however he dared not think of the difference it might have made if his little flivver had not failed him once when he stopped a woman passed him she was tall and ale slender and wrapped up to her ears in moleskin her small hat was blue from her hand swung a gray suede bag her feet were in gray shoes with cut steel buckles baldys quick eyes took in the details of her costume he reflected as he went back to work that women w were ere fools to court death in that fa fashion hion with thin slippers and silk stockings in this bitter weather he found the trouble fixed it jumped into his car and started his motor and it was just as he was moving that his eye was caught by a spot of blue bobbing down the hill below the bridge the woman who had passed him was making her way slowly along the slippery path on each side of her the trees were brown and bare at the foot of the hill was a thread of frozen water it was not usual at this time to see pedestrians in that place now and then a workman took a short cut or on warm days there were picnic parties but to follow the rough paths in winter was a bleak and arduous adventure he stayed tor for a moment to watch her then suddenly left his car and ran the girl giri in the blue hat had caught her high heels in a root had stumbled and fallen when he reached her she was struggling to her feet he helped her and picked up the bag which she had dropped thank you so much her voice was low and pleasing he saw that she was young that her skin was very fair and that the hair which swept over her ears was pale gold but most of all he saw that her eyes were burning blue he had never seen eyes quite like them the old poets would have called them sapphire but sapphires sapp hires do not flame it was so silly of me to try to do it she was protesting but I 1 thought it might be a short cut he wondered what her destination might be that this remote path should lead to it but all he said was high heels arent made for mountain climbing they arent made for anything she said looking down at the steel buckled slippers useful let me help you up the hill 1 I dont want to go up he surveyed the steep incline 1 I am perfectly sure you dont want to go down 1 I do she hesitated but I 1 suppose I 1 cant he had a sudden inspiration can I 1 take you anywhere my little flivver is up there on the bridge would you mind that would I 1 mind if a lifeline life line were thrown to me in mid ocean she said it lightly but he fancied there was a note of high hope they went up the hill together 1 I want to get an alexandria car she told him but you are miles away from it am I 1 she showed momentary confusion 1 I hoped I 1 might reach it through the park you might but you might also freeze to death in the attempt like a babe in the wood without any robins to perform the last melancholy rites what made you think of such a thing he saw at once his mistake her voice had a touch of frigidity 1 I cant tell you sorry he said abruptly you must forgive me she melted no it is I 1 who should be forgiven it must look strange to you but id rather not explain on the last steep rise of the hill he lifted her over a slippery pool and as his hand sank into the sofi soft fur of her wrap he was conscious of its luxury it seemed to him that his mustard colored coat fairly shouted incongruity his imagination swept on to raleigh and an d the velvet cloak which might do the situation justice he smiled at himself and smiling too at her felt a tingling sense of coming circumstance it was because of that smile and the candid boyish quality of it that she trusted him do you know she said 1 I had a thing to eat this morning and im frightfully hungry Is there any place that I 1 could have a cup of coffee where you could bring it out to me in the car 61 could I 1 the morning stars sang theres a corking place in georgetown without the world looking on without your world looking on boldly she hesitated then told the truth im running away m he was eager may I 1 help perhaps you if you knew try itry me he helped her into his car tucked the rug about her and put up the curtains no one can see you on the back seat he said and drove to georgetown on the wings of the wind he brought coffee out to her fro from m a neat shop where milk was sold and buns and hot drinks to motormen and conductors it was a clean little place fresh as paint and the buttered rolls were brown and crisp 1 I never tasted anything so good the runaway told baldy and now I 1 am going to ask you to drive me over the virginia side ill get the trolley there TO BE CONTINUED |
