Sixteenth Installment ;
"Do you know, dear, I haven’t|
had a ride with you in a dog’s age. i
1 think I’ll cut out the golf today;1
and go with you. Take me on, will
vou?” Neil spoke with smiling
carelessness but the look in his '
eves gave him away.
"Of course, what time will you
get here?” She spoke casually. Neil
would never guess the turmoil of
unhappiness under that calm. Did
men ever divine things the way
women did? One man perhaps . . .
Robert? as the name stabbed her
she turned away quickly, scarcely
hearing Neil’s answer, "I’ll come
home to lunch, I think. Then we’ll
have the whole afternoon togeth
»» I
cr.
Even in her pain Joyce heard the
change in Neil’s voice. That last
word was spoken with so touch
ingly confident and happy a note.!
"All right, I’ll be ready. Good-!
bye,’’ and she ran upstairs and shut
herself in her room. There she sac |
on the edge of the couch-bed andj
clenched her hands, staring drv-|
eyed out of the big window to the
distant mountains.
Joyce was wrapped in a mood of
warm compassion for Neil. She felt
she could not add another unkind
ness to the many that Frills had
inflicted upon him. His eyes haunt-;
ed her, and she felt more utterly;
miserable than she had at any time!
since she had awakened to find her-!
self occupying another woman’s
shoes. She could not contemplate
failing Neil and his mother that
way.
Riding off with Joyce that after
noon, Neil was in high spirits, with
an elation in his manner that filled
Joyce w'ith shame. She rode in sil
ence, hardly answering his ques
tions, and not looking at him.
Neil soon fell in w'ith her mood
as they rode along and no longer
bothered her w'ith conversation.
Gradually then she began to feel
remorse, and wfished she could be
less surly with Neil. He tried so
hard to please her in everything, to
adapt himself to her moods. It
; struck Joyce suddenly how much
of that sort of thing he must have
been doing in his married life.
"Sam says McBready has a new
lot of horses in,” remarked Joyce,
“did he tell you there’s a man from
Salinas who w'ould like to buy Fire
Queen?”
"Yeah,” replied Neil, eyeing her
sidewise, perhaps to see if her gen
eral expression marched the friend
ly causalness of her voice. "I said
I’d like to get rid of hr myslf
but I’d have to consult vou about
the matter. T hate the sight of the
damn’ brute after w'hat she nearly
did to you, dear.”
A flash of amusement curled the
corners of Joyce’s mouth for a
moment as she remarked, "You
needn’t consult me. I’m quits satis
fied with Rosita, thank you.”
"Really? Gosh that’s great. Sure
relieves my mind.”
A little later tney aismounteu
and sat down on a slope overlook
ing the valley to eat the package of
sandwiches and fruit Joyce had |
brought. To her relief Neil talked :
about Manzanita topics: his moth-|
er’s condition, Paul’s departure,'
Sam’s progress in the corresponden- j
ce course, plans for the new sub-!'
division north of Manzanita, and ,
so on.
He finally stretched out on the j
ground and put his head in her lap.'
Joyce had just stroked back a lock i
of hair from his forehead, thinking ■
absently that Neil ought to be do- t
ing something about the increasing
thinness of his hair, when the thud ]
of a horse’s hoofs in the distance
caught her ear. She stiffened ana <
glanced up with an apprehensive j
fear clutching at her heart and t
stopping its beat for a moment. |
There, in an opening between ]
clumps of oak trees about sixty ]
yards away, on the trail they had i
just left, rode Robert Ainsworth! t
He did not see her at first. Then i
his idly roving glance turned to ^
the couple on the ground. His eyes (
met Joyce’s, and a quick smile of,
recognition spread over his face, t
Then his look dropped to the figure <
of, Neil lying with his head in her <
lap. A quizzical shade passed over j
his face.
"Hello, Joyce” he shouted. His ]
horse leaped forward under the c
spur of his heel, and they galloped J
up the slope. Before Neil could I
stumble to his feet Ainsworth was r
drawing rein nearly upon them. 11
"This precise situation,” he said I
easily, "demands a galloping retreat 'a
on my part, but I’m too inquisitive'\
:o be so gallant. I prefer to advan'e
ind see what happens instead!"
Joyce’s self-possession left her
:ntirely. She stared numbly at the
:wo men, miserably aware that
:hey were both looking to her for
;xplanation, and even more miser
ibly aware that she knew not how
:o begin.
Neil was the first to come to
foyce’s rescue. "I beg your par
ion,” he said, courteously, "you
seem to know my wife?”
The quizzical smile deepened on
Robert’s face, "No, 1 seem rather
:o have made a mistake—” he be
?an. A new, almost insolent note
n his voice whipped Joyce into
inger. All at once she knew what
ler course must be. It mattered
ittle to her what the outcome of
this meeting was; she was deter
mined not to be led into further
deceptions.
"No mistake at all,” she said
quietly. "Neil, he’s lying if he says
le doesn’t know me—”
She looked from one to the other
jf the men. Neil’s expression was
that of the same partly-repressed
aurt that he had shown when Mait
land’s name had hen mntioned.
she knew at once that he thought
Robert had taken Maitland’s place
in Frills’ life, but that his value
af decency and dignity was hold
ng him in check. Neil’s immediate
unconscious reaction to this situa
tion did not surprise her; he was
showing no reversal of his person
ality.
Robert, however, had suddenly
become a stranger to her. Was
this her "perfect companion,” was
this the man whose subtlety and
sympathy she had so deliriously
counted on? Fie sat on his ho-se
coolly and looked down on them
with an expression of amused cyni
cism. If this attitude were a cloak
Please, please, don't begin to fight.
for his hurt feelings, Joyce thought
swiftly, it was a less lovely one
chan Neil’s!
These valuations passed through
Joyce’s mind in one galloping se
cond, While she stood there help
lessly, wondering where to begin, j
"May I have the pleasure of
neeting your husband?” Robert
isked, smiling.
Joyce looked at him. "Get off
four horse, please,” she answered,
'there’s a lot be straightened outj
ind it’ll take some time. . . . Robert
\insworth, this is Neil Packard,:
ny husband ...”
The men acknowledged the in-!
roduction, Neil curtly, Robert!
vith the same hard amusement
hat so offended Joyce. !
"Charmed,” said Ainsworth
ightly-,
"Oh, don’t talk that way!” Joy
:e cried. "I don’t know you at all
n this mood—you’re making it
erribly hard for me—”
Robert threw back his head and
aughed. "Think, Joyce, what a lot
’m going to learn from this meet
ng! Think of the value of it all
o a novelist! Why, I wouldn’t be
nissing it for anything! I only
vish I had the pen of an Elinor
jlyn to write it up adequately—”
Neil drew forward. "I don’t -
hink my wife and I have time to
top and listen to that sort of
lamn’ drivel from you—” he be
an hotly, when Joyce interposed.
"Oh, this is all so fantastic!
’lease, please, don’t begin a fight
ver it, when neither of you really
nows a bit what it’s all about . . .
tfeil, I’ve been trying to make up
ay mind to tell you—Robert,
here’s a good deal due to you, too!
hadn’t expeqted ,to tell you both i
t once, but since it’s happened this 1
fay, for Heaven’s sake don’t make i
it so difficult for me! I want to celtj
both of you the truth!”
She turned to her husband, "Neil1
you never heard of Joyce Ashton,
did you? Answer me that, Neil?”
"You don’t mean Joyce Abbot,
do you Frills?”
"No, no, I don’t . . . Tell me
this, Neil, what was my name be
fore you married me? . . . Don’t
look at me as if I were crazy!
What was my name before you
married me?”
"Why, Frills, this is nonsense!
Don’t you know your own name?
It was Florence Hilton, of course
What’s that go to do—”
"Oh, will you please let me tell'
you? Sit down, both of you, this
is going to take a long time.
Please don’t begin by thinking I’m
crazy. You've both heard of am
nesia victims, of course? Did you
know you’d married one, Neii? Did
you know that Florence Hilton was
a girl without a past, without a
life? You’ve got to help me tell
this story, Neil, because I remem
ber nothing before the morning
after Fire Queen threw me on my
head!”
Neil was staring at her dumb
founded. "You’re not serious.
Frills? Why—what—when—”
Robert Ainsworth said, "Lord!
Tell us what you’re driving at,
Joyce!”
Joyce suddenly found it possible
to talk to these two men. It was as
j if hep mind had for some time!
I been preparing the story it had to]
tell, so that the words came swift-1
;ly, tensely, dramatically. She told
them of being born Joyce Ashton,
of her early life in New England,
:of her aunt and uncle, of her work
: in Philadelphia and then of her
■start toward the Coast in search of
I adventure.
| "I remember getting into the
taxicab in Chicago in the snow—
that sort of light snow when the
streets still aren’t quite wet, but
the dirt makes them sticky. The
taxi skidded violently—there was a
crash—and when I woke up I was
in a bed, on a sleeping porch, look
ing out at a tree on which orange
were growing. A man came onto
the porch and 3sked me how I felt!
That was you, Neil, whom I in my
first appalled state fancied to have
been my kidnapper!’’
"Why on earth—say, how on
earth have you kept this all to
yourself? How long ago was all
this, Joyce?” It was Ainsworth
speaking. Neil seemed to stunned
to take in the significance of it all.
'I don’t know just how I have '
kept it all. Of course at first I was •
so terrified I couldn’t think, much .
less act. Then I’ve always been
iwfully reticent—hated scenes—
md I usually followed the line of
east resistance. Neil was just leav
ng to go on a business trip to '
.-hicago. He kissed me good-bye ■
while I was still in that paralyzed .
state, and I was left to figure
things out for myself! It was all
terrible, of course, but in some
svays it was fascinating. Your
louse, Neil, is so lovely, and the '
lutdoorness appealed to me—it all -
vas so different from the pinched, .
lark, meagre life I’d been leading „
n the Philadelphia boarding-house'
that I hung greedily on. . . .And '
.hen, of course, I found out about ’
-rills. ... -
"Frills was the vicious imp that -j
lad taken possession of my body i
vhile I was an amnesia victim. iL
’ound out that as well as having ’
gotten Joyce Ashton a good hus-j*
land and a beautiful home, she!’’
lad made that husband desperatelyji
inhappy, been a cross little beast.” ■
Neil looked up, "Do you mean
to tell me you don’t remember hav
ing married me?” .
"Yes, Neil, just that. I’m trying
to tell you that I remember noth
ing between the time of the taxi
accident in Chicago two years ago,
and the recent accident on Fire
Queen!”
"Humph.’’ Neil looked closely at
his wife, as if trying to fathom
some hidden reason she might have
fcr making a fool of him.
"Neil, haven’t you noticed that
I’ve been different lately? Look
back to your return from Chicago
that last trip. Haven’t I been less
reckless, less troublesome generally,
than the Frills you married?”
Continued next week.
PIG ESCAPES ’CHUTE DROP
Baltimore.—The scheduled leap
of a pig from an airplane at a fair:
staged for the benefit of the Pro-j
testant Episcopal church of the|
Good Shepherd was not held. In its
place, link sausage attached to aj
parachute was dropped. The Cruel-j
ty to Animals had protes d the,
parachute jump of the pig.
—Buy In Salisbury—
STEEL OPERATIONS
ADVANCE
Cleveland.—The Magazine Steel
said operations in the industry last
week advanced one point to 49
per cent of capacity and forecasts
that production this week would
be at SO per cent. Tin plate acti
vities were placed at between 90
and 95 per cent.
SALES OF LEAD INCREASE
Chicago.—Edward J. Cornish,
:hairman of the board of the Na
tional Lead company, announced
sales in May were 50 per cent a
lead of the average during the
irst three months of the year.
HELD FOR MURDER
Blume Weddington, 27, Con
cord, is held under $5,000 bond
for the shooting and killing of
Joe Apperson, 33. Weddington
claims Apperson had broken up his
home and that he shot in self-de
fense. 3
Shoes rebuilt the better -way.
All kinds of harness, trunk and
suitcase repairing.
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