OUR SERIAL STORY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LX, Issue 10776, 22 January 1932, Page 4

OUR SERIAL STORY

THE WASTER

(BY ANN FORESTER) XX. THE ENCOUNTER. Dale slipped out of the house into the pine-scented darkness. It was a still night. No moon as yet, but many stars. Stars encrusted the black sky... And the lake below holding their flashing reflections so that the girl seemed to be moving in. starfilled space. Night air, soft as a kiss when she held her face to the sky. ■ Dale gave a little scream. AVhat had seemed part of a hydrangea bush ; stirred. A man close by her. Dale’s I knees went weak. She was seized and held. Phil’s face looming above ; her in the starlight. 1 “Dale—l didn’t mean to frighten j you!’’ His voice was sharp with (alarm. > It was not strange that Phil was | here. He belonged with her thoughts to-night. “Darling! Dont cry!’’ Dale was clinging to him. Pressing her quivering mouth against his | coal. They understood each other as these sleek, well-fed people could never understand. A comfort to have Phil now—faulty, handsome, ruthless Phil, who had, nevertheless, known the bitter tang of the old days. Long moments Dale stood, clinging to Phii. Tears. . . .her whole body | quivering. She Anally drew away, | drew a long, shaky breath. I "Phil, why did you come here?” j “You ought to know” the man’s voice was passionate. “Hea- , vens! how I’ve missed you.” 1 “No, Phil, please. ...” ! “Dale,” he breathed, “tho times I’ve thought of you. You can't imagine, Dale. ...” Yes she could. There was no present image of Brant ami Mimi and ail the complicated scheme of -Jungs Dale was back again in tiio frantic, penniless years. Back in the struggle and glitter of night Hubs. Seeing pictures. ... Phil and herself perched on high stools in oyster shops, young and ardent—incongruous in those shabby surroundings. She and Phil trudging up dark hills after the show to save the fare. Cheap restaurants—- “ Shall we go without dessert and tip the waiter?.... Oh, thunder! Let him whistle—l’m too hungry!” Onenight shows, shivering in chill dawn •at country railway stations. Phil, so entwined in her early youth.... One couldn’t get away from memories like that. They were a mortgage on one’s life. After all, she belonged to those days.... 'J” Dale did not see a movement in the shadow of the house, A dark bulk, more solid than the surrounding darkness. Mimi pulled Brant’s arm. “Come in,” she murmured. She. drew him, like one dazed, through the doorway, hack in to the unlighted room beyond. Mimi, tugging him back into the dark library. Swinging the French doors shut. Mimi snapped on a switch and a lamp burst into soft radiance. Her anxious eyes went to the man’s face. What she saw there,made Mimi suddenly move to the door and stand, outstretched arms clutching the door frame. “No—no! Brant, you’ll be sorry!” Brant made as though to lift her out of the way, then suddenly stop- [ ped, his forehead creasing with pain. 1 “Please get away from there ! Mimi.” j “No!” Mimi shook her crisp, dark ] head. “Not a scene, Brant! You’ll j be sorry! Wait—just a few minutes! You can’t spoil anything by waiting.” Then her voice dropped to a low, throaty note of sympathy. “Oh, Brant, my dear—l wish you hadn't seen. . . . ”

Brant was paper white. His arms hanging heavily by his side. “I think you’re right,” he said slowly. A row won’t do any good ” “Not any good!” Mimi said eagerly. “Oh, I have been so afraid of this. Of course you know who it is .... I have been afraid —not knowing what to do—what would hurt you the least.” A queer little shake running through the words, as though Mimi were frightened. Red mounting lender the smooth skin of her cheeks. A mad, daring light in her eyes.

“I’ve seen it coming. ... they are old friends. You know, she was engaged to him before she ever met you.’’ i Brant discovered the cigarette in his fingers. Very carefully he light | it, then suddenly pitched it at the 1 fireplace. “No. . . .1 didn’t know. ...” His lips twisted into a bitter laugh. “I’m just a plain fool where women are concerned. Sooner or later they j all let me down ” 1 “Ah, no! Brant, don't say that! If you knew how I have suffered!” Mimi was clinging to him, the small face upturned appealingly to his own. Gently Brant put Mimi’s hands aside and walked across the room. Mimi’s eyes flashed and she caught her breath. Then she spoke again, that same little shake, as of fright 1 going through the words: | “Remembering how you had been hurt —how could I let you know what -—-what she was doing?. ...” Brant wheeled and Mimi involuntariy shrank. His face was a mask cut out of stone. “You mean—she’s been seeing—this fellow? Meeting him ” “Oh, of course, I hadn’t meant to say that—” Mimi said weakly, “But but everyone knows how things are, Brant. Erma Hanford said this fellow admitted they were old sweethearts.’’ Mimi stopped, warned by the expression on Brant’s face. “Oh, I don’t mean to run her down but I’m resentful! You have done everything for her.” Mimi went softly up to , Brant. Drew his hand over her shoulder and looked up with soft dark eyes. “Dear Brant: Couldn’t you see this was bound to come? After all you had nothing in common. She’s pret-ty-——yes, I’H admit that. In a way. But aside from that your marriage was simply the result of propinquity. And what did you know of her ” Mimi stopped, it was so very evident that Brant had not. heard a word. His face was strained as though lie listened to some hitler inner voice. He put her away and went out into the hall. When she came flying after him, Brauf spoke in a tight voice. ‘Tin going.... If I stay here —l’ll say too much. Do something I’ll regret. I’ve got to think got to think.” Brant was shaking under the tierce pressure he had place on himself. “Arrange it with the others. Say I had a ’phone call. I’ll stay at an hotel. I’ve got to get away to think....” A flash of satisfaction in Mimi’s long eyes. “Yes, it will be safest for you to go away now, dear,” she said softly. As Brant sat in the train, he was like a man stricken. He kept thinking of Dale—wondering about that part of her life before he knew her. Dale had been bitter about men when Brant had met her in Blackmouth. So this fellow was the answer. .. .Resentment blazing up in Brant’s heart, scorching him. He crushed it back with the cold reason he’d learned to exercise lately. (To be continued.)