Nebraska Newspapers

    THERE’S
ALWAYS i
ANOTHER.
YEAR.
MARTHA
OSTENSO
IW.N.U.SCB-V I C t __
lUrTKiont [-i^w.irvn uji |
SYNOPSIS
Anna {“Silver") Grenoble, daugh
ter of "Gentleman Jim,” formerly of
the community, but known aa a
gambler, news of whose recent mur
der In Chicago has reached the town,
comes to Heron River to live with
Sophronla Willard, Jim Grenoble’s
sister, who is at the depot to meet
her. Sophronia’s household consists
of her husband, and stepsons, Roder
ick and Jason. The Willards own
only half of the farm on which they
live, the other half being Anna
Grenoble's. On Silver’s arrival Duke
Melbank, shiftless youth, makes
himself obnoxious. Roderick Is on
the eve of marriage to Corlnne
Meader, daughter of a failed banker.
Silver says she wants to live on the
farm, and has no intention of sell
ing her half, which the Willards had
feared. She meets Roddy that night.
Silver tells Sophronla (“Phronle,” by
request) something—but by no
means all—of her relations with
Gerald Lucas, gambler friend of her
father. Roddy marries Corlnne, and
brings his bride home. Corlnne has
a maid, Paula, who seems to attract
Jason. Silver again meets Gerald
Lucas, who has established a gam
bling resort near town, She Intro
duces him to Corlnne Willard, much
against her will. Friendship between
Lucas and Corlnne develops, to Sil
ver’s dismay.
CHAPTER VII—Continued
In the laughter and confusion,
Silver was at first too bewildered
to do anything more than gasp
for breath In the smothering em
brace that held her. It was a mo
ment or two before she recognized
the face of the man who had
whirled her into his arms. Then
she saw that It was Duke Melbank.
She struggled to free herself, only
to be clutched closer to his sway
ing body. She was aware now that
he was thoroughly drunk.
“Let’s get acquainted, Cutiel”
Duke Melbank muttered thickly
against her cheek. “I’ve liked you
ever since I saw you that night
in Chi.’’
“Let me go!" Silver breathed
fiercely.
“Aw—can’t yon give a guy a
break?" he persisted.
Silver turned her head In a fran
tic effort to make some sign to
Roddy, but he was at the other
end of the floor.
“Let me go!” she demanded
again, and struggled to break away
from him.
“Aw, come on," Duke burbled
in a cajoling voice as he swung her
bodily Into a dim corner. “Be a
sport, kid!"
It had all happened so quickly
that probably no one on the crowd
ed floor had taken notice of it. Sil
ver succeeded In freeing one arm
to throw all her strength Into the
blow she struck across his grinning
face.
“You got fire, eh?" he chortled.
“I like that in a girl. You and
me—”
“Roddy!” Silver gasped, fling
ing herself about Just as Roddy
Willard appeared, alone.
Duke dropped Silver’s wrist as
though it had scorched him. “Haw
haw ! Can’t Silver and me have a
little privacy without—”
“Get out of here, Duke,” Roddy
interrupted quietly. “And get out
quietly or I’ll have to throw you
out"
With a malevolent glare at Roddy,
Duke started to shamble away. “You
can’t get away with this, Willard,"
he muttered. “And you don’t need
to think I don’t know what I’m
doing.’’
He grinned Insinuatingly at Sil
ver and Roddy stepped quickly to
ward him. Duke drew back, and
made his unsteady way down the
ladder.
Luckily, Silver reflected, there
had been only one or two witnesses
to the unpleasant scene.
Roddy looked down at her. "Shall
we dance. Silver?’’ he asked. "I
think It would be best—consider
ing everything.”
Her eyes half closed, she nodded,
; and Roddy drew her into his arms.
. A fierce, impersonal sort of ten
derness toward her came over him
as he led her Into the dance. She
seemed to be without substance—
like smoke, or like the blue-gray
mist over a meadow Just before
dawn. Silver did not speak. This
tumult enclosed by her passive
body, she thought In desperation,
had begun at the very instant when
Roddy—a very matter-of-fact knight,
Indeed—had rescued her from the
loathsome attentions of Duke Mel
bank. Horror lest he should dis
cover what she knew now for a
certainty—that she loved him as
she had never loved anyone before
—ran through her veins like ire.
When after an agonizing eternity
the intermission came, she stepped
back from him and looked up with
a dazed smile.
•Tin going to the house," she told
him, her voice running headlong,
plunging, she thought, Into disas
ter. “If Phronie asks for me—tell
her I have a headache—I want to
be alone.”
Itoddy, with a troubled frown,
put out his hand to take her arm,
but Silver moved hurriedly away.
A few minutes later, behind the
closed door of her own room, she
sat down in the darkness and stared
out at the crisp autumn tracery of
the leaves of the great oak against
the stars.
“To think—when the real thing
came,” she whispered dully to the
square pattern of stars and leaves,
“it had to be wrong, too!”
The district buzzed with talk of
the opening of the Emerald Bay
club for the winter season. The
fashionable folk who would come
out from the cities for week-ends
at the club would be free with their
money and the tradesmen would
benefit.
The hunt dinner and ball cele
brated the close of the big-game
season in the north. Roddy at
tended with Corinne, whose radi
ance filled him with pride and a
secret, shamed alarm. Silver sent
her regards to Gerald, and spent
the evening playing cribbage with
old Roderick.
The following day, at twilight,
with a pent-up feeling she could
no longer endure. Silver saddled
Rusty and rode into Heron River
to get the evening mall. In the post
office she met Freda Michener.
“We missed you last night—at the
club.” Freda said.
“Have a good time?” Silver asked
absently.
“Hasn’t Corinne told you? It was
gorgeous 1”
“I haven’t seen Corinne yet I
think she has been sleeping In to
day. They didn’t get home till
dawn.”
Freda dropped her voice to an
embarrassed whisper. “Roddy Wil
lard had better watch his step. I
saw Corinne—well, she was only out
walking under the trees with Gerald
Lucas—but you know how people
talk.”
Silver laughed nervously. “Non
sense, Freda 1” she protested. “For
get about It—and keep it to your
self, please. City people don’t think
anything of such things.”
With the one letter for Roddy
which Tillie Fftik thrust out to her
through the wicket, Silver rode
slowly home, unsaddled Rusty and
turned him into his stall. Then she
went reluctantly to the big house
to give Roddy his letter.
Corinne called to her from the
living room in a voice that seemed
to Silver to be portentously vivified
and gay.
"You missed a swell time last
night, my dear!” Corlnne cried as
Silver stepped into the room.
Roddy looked up a bit wearily.
He lifted his hand toward her in
greeting.
"It must have been fun.” Silver
said hurriedly. “Here’s a letter for
you, Roddy.”
He got up and took the letter.
Corlnne at once sprang up and stood
at his shoulder, her eyes upon the
unfolded sheet.
Then she uttered a squeal of Joy.
"Roddy! A position at the Univer
sity farm! Darling!”
Roddy glanced down again, not
without pleasure, at the letter. His
pntient experimenting with yellow
corn . . . his working under diffi
culties ... his devotion to an idea
. . . the position would be open by
January first . . .
Silver, staring at him, felt her
brain spin and turn over and then
come to a cold, clear pause. “Have
you been offered a position, Roddy?”
she asked in a voice as calm as she
could make it.
“At the University, Silver!” Co
rinne burst out. “Oh, it’s—I can
scarcely believe it!”
“Don’t get yourself all worked
up, Corrle,” Roddy begged. “Old
"Neal Anthony has been trying to
lure me into something like this
ever since I left college. It seems
hard to convince him that I’m a
farmer, not a white-collar man.”
Corlnne looked suddenly duin
founded. “You don’t mean—you
aren’t going to turn it down, are
you?” she gasped.
'Tve turned Neal Anthony down
before,” Roddy replied quietly. “I
see no reason why I should change
my mind now.”
Silver felt that she had frozen
into her chair. It was only with a
supreme effort that she got up and
lied from the room, Corinne's voice
following her, piercing and furious
with outrage at Roddy.
• •••*«•
For two hours after supper, Rod
dy sat with his father and Sopnro
ula and Jason in the kitchen of the
stone house while they discussed
Anthony’s offer. Jason was quick
to sympathize with Roddy’s con
tempt for a Job where he would be
come a mere hireling at the beck
and call of others, though he was
forced to recognize the narrowly
calculated means by which the fam
ily would have to manage through
out the winter.
“I could take the place over, Rod,”
he said slowly. “With just the rest
of us here—we wouldn’t need so
much. Perhaps we ought to sell
those six heifers, instead of—"
“Of course,” Roddy Interrupted
patiently, “I know you could swing
it, Jase. But the point Is that I
want to be in on It.”
“After we marry, my boy,” Old
Roderick remarked thoughtfully,
“we travel In pairs. You must re
member that."
"I’ve thought rings around that,
dad,” Roddy said tersely. “But I
always come around to the fact that
down In Iowa they are having farm
ers’ strikes and pieketings nnd
bloodshed. I'm one of those guys,
dad. My wife has to be one of those
guys, too. If we w’ere In that ter
ritory we’d be In the mess—we
wouldn’t be protected by a fancy
Job.”
It was Soplironla who came out
boldly with her opinion that Co
rinne would never take to life on
the farm
“I feel sorry for the poor girl,”
Phronie declared vehemently. “She
mnrried you because you were good
looking and smart, Roddy, nnd she
liked you. But she saw you had
something more to you than Just
slavin’ day and night for a living!
It’s up you, Roddy—"
“Yes," Roddy said crisply. “It’s
up to me. I’m d—d glad It is. Co
rinne will know that she mnrried
me. Not an idea she had about me.”
"Well, that may be,” his father
reminded him. “But one bad year
is enough to put a blight on a mar
riage, my boy, as well as on a
crop.”
“There’s always another year!”
Roddy retorted with a short laugh.
In the end Roddy found himself
battling alone against all three
members of his family. Silver had
taken no part in the discussion. As
she listened, however, a conviction
The Brooding Melancholy of the
Day Filled Her With a Sweet,
Aching Nostalgia.
grew within her. Roddy Willard must
accept the position that had been
offered him. There was, as he had
said, always another year for the
farmer, but that had nothing to do
with the problem. She knew—as
tiie others knew, Indeed—what was
in his heart when he had said that.
But she knew what none of them
knew. Had she not heard Freda
MIchener talk that afternoon In tiie
post office? Had she not seen
enough herself?
At last Jason got up and left.
Sophronla bunked the fire, and old
Roderick went off to bed.
“Well, I’ll see you all tomorrow,’’
Roddy said heavily and started for
the door.
“Walt a minute, Roddy,’’ Silver
called out.
He turned and looked at her curi
ously.
“Whnt’s on your mind?” Roddy
asked Silver, as soon ns Sophronla
had gone.
Silver laughed up at him with
disarming naivete as she stood be
fore him.
“1 thought I’d Just wait until
everybody else got through talking,”
she said. Her glance fell for an
Instant from his. Then, summon
ing all her fortitude, she spoke.
"You’ve got to take this position,
Roddy. You are. a fool to stay on
here—starvation "staring you In the
face—with a respectable living of
fered you.”
"My dear child!” Roddy exclaimed.
"You look almost motherly just
now. You want me to take the job
—for my own good, eh?”
“That's part of it," she admitted
lightly. "But—I agree with Phronle.
Corinne hates the fnrm."
“Corinne will be all right when
she gets to understand it a little
better.”
Suddenly, Silver’s body stiffened.
“There’s something more, too,” she
said, her chin rising coldly, Indiffer
ently. "When your lease Is up next
summer, I’m going to sell my sec
tion.”
She saw him blink for a moment
as though he had not heard aright.
Then he took a step toward her. “I
don’t believe you,” ho said. "What
has changed your mind about this
place all of a sudden? There's
something else back of this."
"There Isn't 1” she burst out pas
slonately. "For God’s sake, get
out before—before you’re ruined I”
Her words seemed to be scurry
ing over each other now, she thought
In panic. But he should not wring
the truth from her—he should not!
Roddy's voice came In a hoarse
whisper from his clenched teeth.
"You, too! My G—d, I thought you
had more fight In you than that."
lie turned away from her and
moved toward the door, then looked
back quickly. “All right—go ahead!
1 might have known what to expect
when 1 began dealing with a worn
an. Well—sell It tomorrow If you
want to. But I’m going to stay until
I’m kicked off."
“You are being a fool!" she told
him, starting to keep back the hot
tears. "What will that bring you?"
"It won’t bring me the kind of
treachery you’ve handed me, by
G—d!" he barked, and plunged out
Into the darkness, slamming the
door behind him.
CHAPTER VIII
ON THANKSGIVING day the
first snow fell In Heron River.
Jason and Paula and Steve had
cotue down to the old house for tur
lfey dinner in the early afternoon.
After the fenst, Sliver dressed
warmly and set out alone for a walk
across the fields to the Flathe place.
The brooding melancholy of the
day filled her with a sweet, aching
nostalgia, a yearning too profound
to name. To run away from Roddy
Willard would mean that she would
run away from these fields—from
her very birthright. And there would
never be any real escape In such
a flight, as there had been In her
flight from Gerald Lucas. Gerald
had not been real, anyway; the hard
ground beneath her foot seemed to
tell her that now.
She had been too selfishly absorbed
during the past few days to give
any thought to what Sophronia
might feel about her going away.
Poor old Phronle—how little she
knew of what was going on about
her. The more she thought of It
the more convinced Silver became
that Roddy Willard would remain
on this land until he was forced
to leave It. Her threat to sell the
land had done nothing except to
make him more stubborn in his de
termination to remain. She was
made desolate by the knowledge that
he was as passionately devoted to
this land as she was herself.
She thought vehemently, tears
dimming her eyes now, not for any
unhappy, outrageous love of Roddy
Willard would she give up her life
herel
The Flathe children greeted her
with their usual uproarious good
humor. These Norwegian young
sters lived In a merry cosmos of
their own where even poverty was
something to laugh at. Six of
them there were, ranging from
seven years of age to nineteen, with
enough boisterous enthusiasm to
turn the little farmhouse Into a
babel. Silver played the decrepit
little organ, and sang with the chil
dren until the gathering darkness
warned her that it was time to
leave.
On the way home, she cnme upon
Jason and Paula beside a thicket
of hazelnut bushes. Paula looked at
Silver without surprise or embar
rassment, and Jason’s dark eyes
smiled at her.
The three began their walk home
together. When they came before
the big house, Jason paused. "Come
in, Silver,’’ he invited. "I have
sometldng to show you. I’ve been
making a picture of Paula,” he con
fessed. "And I thought maybe you’d
rtke to look at it.”
"Oh—why. Jaw—I’d love to see
it!” Silver replied eagerly, going
toward the door.
They entered the house and Ja
son led the way to the attic and
lighted the lamp. In the "studio."
on a blrchwood easel reclined a
florid but far from unrecognizable
portrait of Paula Gobel.
For some time Silver had suspect
ed that there wns more between
Jason and Paula than they were
willing to reveal to their little
world. Whatever ultimate expres
sion it achieved mattered not at all
It was there and they shared It.
"Jason, Pm amazed!’’ she hurst
forth at last. “Why—It’s really—
really great!”
"Gosh!’’ Jason sighed with relief,
"I was scared to show It to you. 1
thought maybe I'd worked It over
too much. But do you think It’s
good enough to give to I’hronle for
a Christmas present? That was
my Idea. She likes pictures, you
know.”
“She’d love It, Jnse!” Silver as
sured him. “I know she will. But
why don’t you ask me to sit for you
some time?"
Jason smiled a bit sheepishly.
“I’m not so good as all that.
You’ve got—I don’t know what It
Is.” He shrugged apologetically.
“Well—you’re not as pretty as Cor
lnne, for Instance. But there’s
something about your face—I don’t
know—but it would tnke a real
artist to catch It. I’d like to give
you one of my new pictures, though,
If you want one.”
“I’d love to have one, Jase,” she
said slowly. ‘T’d be very proud of
it”
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Great Stone Blocks Are
Island of Guam Mystery
The great blocks of stone which,
by some unknown process, were
hoisted in place to build the Egyp
lan pyramids have caused many to
marvel, yet on the Island of Guam
there are stones larger than those
jsed in the pyramids, evidently mark
ng the burial place of an ancient
lfltlve chief.
The huge stone blocks weigh ap
proxlmately 2,500 pounds each, and
when found one rested on the other
Both are of coral formation. The
finding of many such burial places on
Guam Indicates that this tslnnd one
had a big population. Little Is
known about Its early Inhabitants.
Etiy to Spend
There is only one way to save
money: By doing without something.
But there are countless ways of
spending It.
"X” MARKS SPOT
A hurtne-s man, who enjoyed
spending "a nignt out with the hoys"
now and ttien, hn(t a friend to stay
with him Tor he week en(, when
the guest was being Shown up to his
room he noticed that there were
faint crosses on several of the steps.
He asked the reason. “Ah." whis
pered the host, “these come Into op
eration after midnight. X moans
that the step creaks.’’—Capper’s
Weekly.
“My baking gets more bouquets—and I save, too!”
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