Show PARADE P alcad E evelyn campbell copyright by evelyn Caro campbell service CHAPTER X continued 17 you came because you could not stay awai awny when I 1 culled called you linda and because we ae ore never going to be parted again linda we love each otherl other 1 could anything an thing be as won darful as that let me tell you something dear I 1 was beginning to think that t life ife 1 had h a d played pl a ye d me m doua an n ugly u g ad it i 1 vs as u s be beginning g in nl n g to t 0 doubt b t n and n qu question es want was has real leal and true I 1 was ready to throw it all away b because of a pride that would not let me take from another man and then I 1 was made ashamed when they gave me you ou when I 1 found that out I 1 learned linw how to be grateful and humble I 1 knew that one gift was but the prep arnt liin for another I 1 knew that I 1 had to 0 win it if I 1 had you slip she laid tier her fan against her lips to cenceni that she had bitten them deeply now she had to pe e cruet cruel so BO cruel that she dared not plan words but bill must let them come as they would impelled by the bitterness of her soul and he must niver never know that this hatred was tor for herself and not for hl him are you trying to tell mathat you love me she cried and burst out coughing ja ugh hing ing lie he drew back hard hit you have always known that he said quietly A silence fell upon their warfare for it was that men and women are so close to hatred when they lovel loel she was trying to balm nalmond ind kill his love with all the weapons at her corn com mand it was a thing thin that must dle die here and now if all eliat was good in her died with it have I 1 I 1 wonder she appeared to search her mind for proofs but how could I 1 believe you meant ita it young men like you are always falling in love with women like me As if by bv accident she lifted the string of pearls and held it before her like a little Is bridge of beauty to g her white bite breast branst the movement was symbolical she needed to say buy nothing more but she could not stop there let me get all this right first I 1 have come to washington beefs because i usi of you Z bec because ause I 1 love you to be exact and then its as if that were not enough i I 1 have be been en given to you by an overgenerous clety as special inducement to success st good leavens heavens could youth go further than that 11 she laughed at him again letting her cool col eyes mock him for a moment go on you hild had reached the point where the world was at your finger oh this Is fun netter letter than dancing in that hot room or do till all young men feel like ilke that when they gain abood a enod appointment rut but she had gone too far lie he suddenly freed her hands and leaned hack studying stud her white fare face from which the del delicate lente rouge stood starkly ml revealing its falsity she ered beneath that scrutiny put but in man n aged in some way to preserve her shield of scornful calm 1 I cannot believe you he said you yon could not have changed in a adny to this 11 slie she ninde made a gesture of weariness what that I 1 am not an idealist some of her anin found its dav to tier her tired voice after all a 1 what do you YO 11 know of me what tt lint right have hav e you to chouse chose for me the right aln lit of love he said stub borely mid then lien lie he told tier what she had known all niong along she would henr hear all its his swift love for tier her and an the wonder slie she was to him film and the dreams lie he hid had had for thein both all the lie foolery that men believe when the iliev T 8 bin peak all 11 to the one woman nn an 1 forget so easily out but as dirlan toll tod it it was very true and real and linda i had to in shut her eyes tightly to III hide I 1 e her tears liars and till her lips mure tightly still to keep keel from sin saying inn bilat slie she he h e llevad it all find and would take tier liar elance like any una other teiei woman that thai wils what she had meant to say a few hours i ngit igo hut not bowl now I 1 well then she bile cried desperate ly for she was to the lie end what must I 1 ally billat illat you vim seI me for a little while and fillat illat it Is all over I 1 ill at you any longer it Is nil all too loo 1111 SUNI ll iii ii use I 1 have been kind hind to you try to tn see how ridiculous it Is could ined you give me like this slip lifted ivied the lie pearls arid held them before lefi rf bilm for so sn loni long they lind had lieen beell 11 pait siut of tier her play piny hinl the hie gesture came nut nat the pearls were a deras defense e she could tilde behind them as sie she lind before ile he stopped tier her with will a tool look lie ile was stupefied by the situation willell was developing into tragedy for him it seemed impossible that she could he saying these things that were hur hiir lying them apart the abole scene began to be nightmarish to him the pale anle woman who was insulting h him m so go determinedly could not be the 1 alln I do da who yesterday had blushed and smiled under guncler his eyes there be something that would explain thle this mildness and make it clear I linda Inda he said softly wont you tell me what it means lie thought her lips quivered hp he thought she mhd was about to speak and then the swiftest change of all tame over her she was looking beyond him and tier her eyes dilated and then turned to ice as it if all the tender ten derne nepp hart had kne gone out of her forever Is there to be an end ti to this i aou would id ilku to go back I 1 would ilk like e to dance nothing could be colder han her ber voice and now lie he saw that she meant it this incredible scene was based upon something deeper than pique ue began to be afraid you mean that ive been wrong to hope to believe that you love me more afore than that she stood up making lag ready to go it was nearly over now soon she would bi be free if you have believed that you have b been beir more presumptuous than 1 I thought you had no right to think of me at all you have madean made an absurd error your vanity Is responsible lor that hint no doubt but 1 I am tired now I 1 must go back go bac back k 1 Belil Beill iid ild him a face suddenly appeared in the banked greenery at af the end of the room that face expressionless si and unmoved seemed to be sending her a me message asage from lips mute as one of the bronzes that blooded brooded broo derf ci women like myself cant afford to love its it much too expensive from their halt half concealed pedestals slie she tried to keep the dread from tier own face but it escaped in a little cry smothered at her lips there was waa a Is sharp harp rattling sound the rope of i pearls had bad broken in tier her twisting fill gers and the released stones showered in a milky rain upon the floor rolling everywhere brian anstey bent instinctively to albect elect them and felt a jarring scrunch beneath hla his foot lie he looked and sow saw a tine line powder mingled with larger particles where two of the pearls had find been silently he gathered lie debris into ills hla hand shifting it about it t was very plain the pearls were imitation tation not too good a one at that not worth stooping to recover tie he looked at her then and ancher her watching h him with a strange expression holding the broken strand against her breast im sorry but it was not for or the broken stuff in ills his hall hneil that he was sorry she twisted her mouth la in a sort ut t smile you h have ave the truth you were asking for a while ago sho sha said im a sham like my pearls im false you know women like myself cant afford to love its much too expensive or if we do it must be some one who ebin can make thise these real she touched the poor bends beads that clung to her bosom as if they tinted to leave there then with con contempt tempt she bile released the string and let them full fail why you let it stand as lt it was it was so much prettier r she bile turned away slowly and left him lie he saw tier her silhouette slender filp niler and slightly drooping hut but altogether lovely as she moved awny away neung tile the green arms amis of the palms to theolen the open golden door of the ballroom she bile left him casualty casually us as if lie he were worth no better parting than that lint TO BE CONTINUED |