Show the IF im MM AN N by TEMPLE BAILEY 0 PENN publishing COMPANY SERVICE THE STORY stort THUS FAR jane barnes who lived with her brother baldwin in sherwood pretty park eark young near washington was not particularly impressed when she read that rich attractive edith towne had been left at the altar by delafield simms we wealthy althy new yorker however she still mused over it when she met evans follette a neighbor whom the war had left completely discouraged and despondent young evans had always loved jane that morning baldwin barnes on his way to work in washington offered assistance to a tall lovely girl in distress later he be found a bag ag she had left in the car containing a diamond ring on which was inscribed del to edith forever he knew then that his passenger had been edith towne already he was half in love with her that night he discussed the matter with jane and they called her uncle worldly sophisticated frederick towne he visited them at their home delighted with janes simplicity he told them editha story because her uncle desired it edith towne had accepted Dc delafield lafield simms whom she liked but did not love she disappeared immediately after the wedding was to have taken place the next day jane received a basket of fruit from towne and a note asking it if he might call again CHAPTER IV continued mrs follette had too an admirable courage her ambitions had been wrapped up in her son what her father might have been evans was to be they had scrimped and sa saved ved that he might go to college and study law then at that first dreadful cry from across the seas he had gone there had been long months of fighting he had left her in the flower of his youth a wonder lad with none to match him among his friends he had come back crushed and broken he whose career lay so close to his heart could do now no sustained work mentally and physically he must rest he might be years in getting back he would never get back to gay and gallant boyhood that was gone forever yet if mrs FoU Fol ettes lettes heart had failed her at times she had never shown it she was making the farm pay for itself she supplied the people of sherwood park and surrounding estates with milk but she never was in any sense a milk woman it was rather as if in selling her milk she distributed favors it was on this income that she subsisted she and herson later he and jane walked together in the clear cold she was in a gay mood she was wrapped in her old orange cape and the sun breaking the bank of sullen clouds in the west seemed to turn her lithe young body into flame dont you love a day like this evans she pressed forward up the hill with all her strength evans followed panting at the top they sat down for a moment on an old log which faced the long aisles of snow between thin black trees the vista was clear cut and almost artificial in its restraint of color and its wide bare spaces evans little dog rusty ran back and forth following this trail and that finally in pursuit of a rabbit he was led far afield they heard him barking madly in the distance it was the only sound in the stillness jane evans said do you remember the last time we were here yes the light went out of her eyes As I 1 look back it was heaven jane id give anything on gods earth if I 1 was where I 1 was then all ali the blood was drained from her face evans you passionately you give up those three years in france he sat very still then he said tensely no I 1 even though it has made me lose you jane you say such things 1 I must dont I 1 know you were such an little thing my dear but I 1 could have waked you and I 1 cant wake you now my tragedy never wake up forme dont well its true why not say it ive come back a scarecrow the shadow of a man and youre just where I 1 left you only lovelier more of a woman more to be worshiped jane As he caught her hand up in his she had a sudden flashing vision of him as he had been when he last sat with her in the grove the swing of his strong figure his bare head borrowing gold from the sun the touch of assurance which had been so compelling 1 I never knew that you cared 1 I knew it but not as I 1 did after your wonderful letters to me over there I 1 felt if I 1 ever came back id move heaven and earth he stopped but I 1 came back different and I 1 any right to say these things to you im not going to say them jane it might spoil our friendship nothing can spoil our friendship evans he laid his hand on hers then you are mine until somebody comes along and claims you there anybody else she turned her fingers up to meet his so dont worry old dear she smiled at him but her lashes were wet her hand was warm in his and she let it stay there and after a while she said 1 I have sometimes thought that if it would make you happy I 1 might might love me yes he shook his head 1 I say it for that I 1 just had to have the truth between us and I 1 dont want pity if if I 1 ever get back ill make you love me jane there was a hint of his old and she was thrilled by it she withdrew her hand and stood up then ill pray that you get back do you mean it janey 1 I mean it evans then pray good and hard my dear for im going to do it they smiled at each other but it was a sacred moment the things they did after that were rendered unimportant by the U M she was in in a gay mood haze of enchantment which hung over evans revelation no man can tell a woman that he I 1 loves oves her no woman can listen without a throbbing sense of the magnitude of the thing which has happened from such beginnings is written the history of humanity deep in a hollow where the wind had swept up the snow and left the ground bare they found crowfoot in an emerald carpet there were holly branches dripping red berries like blood on the white drifts they filled their arms and at last they were ready to go evans whistled for rusty but the little dog did not come hell find us he knows every inch of the way but rusty did not find them and they were on the ridge when that first awful cry came to them jane clutched evans what is it oh what is it he swallowed twice before he could speak its rusty one of those steel traps he was panting now his forehead wet the negroes put them around for rabbits again that frenzied cry broke the stillness hellish things jane began to run in the direction of the sound come on evans oh come quick he stumbled after her at last he caught at her dress and held her if hes hurt I 1 cant stand it it was dreadful to see him jane felt as if clutched by a nightmare stay here and dont worry ill get him out it was a cruel thing to face there was blood and that little trembling body the cry reduced now to an agonized whimpering how she opened the trap she never knew but she did open it and made a bandage from her blouse which she tore from her shoulders regardless of the cold and after what seemed to be ages she staggered back to evans with her dreadful burden wrapped in her cape weve got to get him to a veterinary run down to the road and see if theres a car in sight there was a car and when evans stopped it two men came charging up the bank jane gave the dog into the arms of one of them have to go with them evans she said and wrapped herself more closely in her cape there are several era doctors at rockville better ask the stationmaster about the veterinary it was late when evans came to cast castle le manor with his dog in his arms rusty was comfortable and he had wagged a grateful tail the pain had gone out of his eyes and the veterinary had said that in a few days the wound would heal there were no vital parts affected and he would give some medicine which would prevent further suffering mrs follette was out and old mary was in the kitchen singing she stopped her song as evans came through he asked her to help him and she brought a square deep basket and made rusty a bed you all jes put him heah by the fiah and ill look atter alter him evans shook his head 1 I want him in my room ill take care of him in the night he carried the dog upstairs with him knelt beside him drew hard deep breaths as the little fellow licked his hand what kind of a man am IV I 1 evans said sharply in the silence god what kind of a man through the still house came old marys thin and piping song stay in the fiel stay in the fiel oh wahyah wah yah stay in the fiel till the wah is ended evans got up and shut the door jane was waked usually by the hoarse crow of an audacious little rooster who sent his challenge to the rising sun but on thanksgiving morning she found herself sitting up in bed in in the deep darkness slim and white and shivering oppressed by some phantom of the night she came to it gradually the strange events of yesterday evans her own share in his future her own share in evans future had she really linked her life with his she had promised to pray that he might get back she had pledged youth hope and constancy to 0 his cause and she had promised before she had seen that stumbling figure in the snow in the matters of romance janes thoughts had always ventured she had dreamed of a gallant lover a composite hero one who should combine the reckless courage of a robin hood with the high moralities of a galahad with such a lover one might gallop through life to a piping tune or if the galahad predominated in her hero to an inspiring processional and here was evans gray and gaunt shaken by tremors fitting himself into the background of her future and she want him there oh not as he had been out there in the snow yet she was sorry for him with a sympathy that wrung her heart she hurt him she was there no way out of it her hands went up to her face she had a simple and childlike faith oh god she prayed 11 make us all happy her cheeks were wet as she lay back on her pillows and a certain serenity follow followed ed her little prayer things would work together in some way for good she would let it rest it that when at last the rooster crowed jane cast off the covers and beni went to the windows drawing back the curtains there was a faint whiteness in the eastern sky amethyst and pearl aquamarine the day had dawned well after all every day a new world and this day of all days one must think about the thankful things I 1 baldy wanted to hear from edith towne so much that he did not go to church lest he miss her call but jane went and sat in the barnes pew and was thankful as she had said for love and warmth and light evans with his mother in the pew looked straight ahead of him he seemed worn and weary a dark shadow set against the brightness of those comrades on the glowing glass after church he waited in the aisle for jane ill walk down with you mother is going to ride with dr hallam they walked a little way in silence then he said rusty is comfortable for table this morning your mother told me over the telephone he limped along at her side jane I 1 sleep last night thinking about it it is a thing I 1 cant understand A dreadful thing III 1 I understand you love rusty it was because you love him so much but to let a woman do it jane do you remember years ago the mad dog she did remember evans had killed it in the road to save a child it had been a horrible experience but not for a moment had he hesitated 1 I afraid then janey this was different you see the thing you loved hurt it fear it was affection oh dont gloss it over I 1 know what you felt I 1 saw it in your eyes saw what contempt she turned on him you perhaps just at first I 1 understand der stand she fought for self control but in spite of it the tears rolled down her cheeks dont janey dont he was in a an agony of remorse ive made you cry she blinked away the tears it contempt evans well it should have been why not no man who calls himself a man would have let you do it they had come to the path under the pines and were alone in that still world jane tucked her hand in the crook of evans arm dear boy stop thinking about it 1 I shall never stop 1 I want you to promise me that try evans you know we are going to fight it out together P his eyes did not meet hers do you think id let you well you think wrong he began to walk rapidly so that it was hard to keep pace with him im not worth it and now quite as suddenly as she had cried she laughed and the laugh had a break in it youre worth everything that america has to give you she told him of the things she had thought of in church you are as much of a hero as any of them he shook his head all that hero stuff is dead and gone my dear we idealize the dead but not the living it was true and she knew it but she did not want to admit it evans she said and laid her cheek for a moment against the rough sleeve of his coat dont make me unhappy let me help you dont know what you are asking grow tired of it any woman would why look ahead cant we live for each day she had lighted a flame of hope in him if I 1 might eagerly why not begin right now what are you thankful for evans not much uneasily well ill tell you three things books and your mother and me say that over out loud he tried to enter into her mood books and my mother and jane she caught at another thought it almost rhymes with Steven sons books and food and summer rain it yes what a man he was cheerful in the face of death jane I 1 believe I 1 could face death more cheerfully than life dont say such things they had come to the little house on the terrace dont say such things dont think them TO BE CONTINUED |