"ANN STEPS OUT"

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 December 1938, Page 12

"ANN STEPS OUT"

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. COPYRIGHT.

By

CHAPTER XXIII. • Ann drove down to Gibson Island one afternoon to see Nick and found him on the beach. There were so many people there, sitting under gay umbrellas, coming out of the water, so much a mixture of colour and voices, that she saw him only because he was taller than most men. He came up to her, tying the cord of his beach robe. "The water is fine,” he said. "Get on a suit and come in.” "Come back to the house with me first,” she said. "I want to talk to you. We’ll go swimming later. Luckily 1 have my suit with me. I was swimming with Gary this morning.’ He rode back to the house in her car. Nick didn’t take time to dress. That sat on the verandah and he passed cigarettes and held a lighter for her. “What’s on your mind” he asked. Ann came to the point at once. “Doug.” “I thought so,” he- nodded, watching her smoke thoughtfully, heeding her soft blue dress and hair still damp from her morning swim. "People are talking,” she said. “I know. I've heard some talk down here. When a girl is as popular as you, people know all about her private life.” "But I’ve done nothing,” she protested, mashing out the cigarette with the tall heel of her white sandal. "I haven’t encouraged him. He hasn’t tried to make love to me . . . .” He looked at her, wondering how many men had tried to make love to her. Gary Hinton, .of course. And the blonde midshipman. And the Hopkins lacrosse star. How many others? “Eve lost her,” he thought, “and I’ve never really had her.” "What can I do?" she asked. “Does Gail say anything?” “I don’t think she cares. She still has a string of men, running after hpr. Nick, I hate marriage like that. It’s no marriage at' all.” . "There is only one thing you can do while they are still married —see him and tell him that people are talking.” “That would be rather cruel.” “It's the only way. Do you still love, him, Ann?” . She looked troubled but she smiled. “I don’t know. I can’t explain, it. Oh, Nick, let’s go swimming. I’ll go upstairs and put on my suit.” He sat on the beach and watched her come out of the water—dripping, redlipped, laughing. She took off her white cap and shook her short curls loose. She wore a dark silk bathing suit and her shoulders and legs had a covering of deep, even tan. She sat on the beach beside him. “Nick, I haven’t neglected you. But there are so many things to go to all the time. Sometimes I wish people would let me alone. I had no idea that being a social success was such a strain,.” “The price of popularity.” “I had a letter from Louise from London. She apologised for everything she said to me. And when she comes back, she wants us to be friends. She said she didn't think your mother would ever unbend toward me—but she’s changed her mind about me.” People passed them, women in gay, pyjamas, men in robes. People spoke to them. Ann lay; full length on the sand and put her arms under her head. “I don’t like people to talk about me,” she said, with a troubled frown. ■‘l haven’t changed. I’m still the same.” “You’re keeping something from me —about Doug.” . She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Yes, I am. She got up, grasped his arm. "Nick—it’s still the same—that same feeling when he’s close to me, when I’m dancing with him. Can I help it if I can’t stop loving him? I’ve tried. I’ve said I must not love him, but I do! I do!” H looked at her kneeling in the sand beside him, her hair blowing, her hands on his arm. "People can’t help themselves' when they’re in love,” he said slowly. "What are you going to do about it?” "I don’t know —I don’t know.” She got up and went to the water’s edge. He saw her plunge into the water and then swim that strong, clean stroke of hers. A finished product, he was thinking. She rides like the wind, plays golf and tennis, dances superbly. Has she conquered all those things to go back to a boy who had her once and let her go- She can’t be that blind! Doug wants her now only because other man want her. It had been the same with Gail! Ann came out of the-water again, and they walked to the pavilion for drinks. Then they drove back to Nick’s house. She went upstairs, dressed, and joined him on the verandah. "You’re right,” she said, "I've got to tell him to stay away from me. I’m not in love with any of the others. All this hasn’t gone 1o my head —people saying when I drive down Charles Street. ‘There Ann Hamill. She’s worth several'millions.’ It hasn't changed me. I know that a lot of people like me only for my money. "You're wise,” said Nick, offering her a cigarette. "I've stood by and watched the mad scramble for your favours. '[ wondered what it would do to you. It hasn’t changed you at all. “It never will, Nick. And I’m getting a little tired of dashing around. It was thrilling in the beginning, but I’m getting tired of it. It's the same thing—dancing, clothes, men who try to make love to you." She put on hor hat and smiled al him through the cloud of smoke. "Thanks for you advice." "It was nothing. 1 suppose you're going out tonight.” "Gary.” “He’s made love to you, of course.” “He has only tried. He says I’m breaking his heart, but I know that next year this time he will be telling another girl the same thing.” He walked to her car with her. She turned to him, put her hand on his sweater. "Nick, forgive me, for this, but when I'm away from you, I always think of you as an elderly uncle. But when I see you, 1 realise how good looking you are.” He felt the pressure of her tanned fingers on his arm. "I'm going to tell him. I love him—but he isn't for| me.” She drove away, looking at Nick on the green slope, his white teeth shining from his sunburned face. She drove back to town, thinking of Gary and Doug and Gail and the whole crowd. Shallow lives they led—from one party to another. Clinking cocklai! glasses, cigarettes . . .

MARGARET GORMAN NICHOLS.

She thought of Jean and Dick Nelson. They joined in the parties now and then, but Jean said, "Dick and I wouldn’t last long if we tore around with that crowd. He and I are going to stick together. I’ve had one lesson I won’t forget.” The next day she rode horseback alone just before dinner. She came in the house, warm from riding, her silk shirt open at the neck. When she turned to go up the stairs, she saw Doug sitting in the living room. She came to him. “You frightened me," she said. “I didn’t know you were here.” He didn’t speak. He took her in his arms and pressed her close to him. Ann strained away from him. "I love you,” he said, close to her face. “I’ve come back. Gail left me today—went back to- her father.” She pushed him away from her. "You've no right to come to me like this. What have I done to make you believe . . .” "That you love me? I know you do. You always have. You can’t stop loving a man when you’ve loved him for years. Not you. You’ve never loved anybody but me.” She contemplated him gravely and shrugged, knowing that it was no longer any use to pretend. Could she fight it —could one ever fight love?” “You’re right,” she said, quietly. “I have always .loved you. Even when I tried to hate you, I didn’t.” "Gail is going to get a divorce. Only six weeks in Reno and then . . . then She stood off from him, swayed by a sudden flood of emotion. “I’m going to say a cold, cruel thing, Doug. How do I know that it isn’t because of my money? You loved me once, and you let me go . . He took a step nearer. “I was a litle boy then, who didn't know what he wanted. I know now. I was jealous of Nick. I didn’t stop thinking of you even after I was married. In Paris ...” * ! But how can I believe in you again?” “Only let me prove it,” he said. “Ann . . ." Ann . . . I’ve never stopped loving you.” His arms were around her, his lips close, his eyes imploring. "You and I loved each other too much—that was our great trouble.” She pushed him away gently. "I want to believe you. Contrary to what every one else thinks or says, I wtint to believe you.” “And when it’s over, you’ll marry me?” he asked impulsively. “You’ll have to give me time.”

He took her hand that wore the emerald and kissed it. Then he was gone. She stood there looking after him, her hair still damp from the night dew. She was breathing hard. What had she done? She turned and went out of the house, and got into her car. She had to see Nick, she kept thinking, driving to the island. What would he think? Could she be condemned because she had never ceased loving Doug? Was it so terribly wrong to be blinded to everything except Doug’s love, the worship in his eyes, his touch?” CHAPTER XXIV. As Ann speeded towards Gibson Island, a thousand questions unasked and unanswered came to her mind. Is following love, she wondered, the wrong way? Is believing in a man. in whom no one else believes the wrong way? Nick had not gone to dinner. He was sitting on the verandah looking over the beautiful island, wearing a white sweater, smoking his pipe. He saw Ann drive in the pebble driveway and, dressed in her riding clothes, halj! run, half stumble up the stone steps. “What’s wrong?” he called out to her. She was in his arms, her head against his shoulder. “Nick, above all, when I tell you, don’t blame me too much. Don’t hate me and try to understand. Try.” He sat in a wicker chair and watched Ann walk .up and down the stone verandah. She told him, a little breathlessly, what had happened. He just sat there smoking his pipe earnestly. “Now tell me, Nick.” He spoke with difficulty, frowning. “If you love him, there is nothing I can say. Wait for him and marry him.” “Do you mean that?” “If marriage with Doug will make happy and will give you the love you want and deserve, I shall certainly not oppose it.” She came to him and touched his shoulder. “I feel,” she said softly, “that John —John wouldn't want it to end this way.” Nick smiled. “John wanted you to be happy. That was his only thought.” There was no jealously in Nick, but he knew that she was blinded by Doug's boyish handsomeness and blinded by the illusion that the old love still existed. It was just that when Doug’s reckless marriage failed, he had turned to Ann again as he had turned to her many other times when new fancies failed him. And Ann, caught in the current of her own emotions, believed him. “1 told him I had to think about it." she said, standing still, her head lowered. Nick took her hands and pressed them against his lips in a deep, silent caress. “We won’t talk any more about it," he said. “You've made your decision. I won’t oppose it.” She spent the evening with him, sitting on a cushion at his feet, her head pressed against his knees. They talked of many things, but. he knew that foremost in her mind was the thought of Doug, estranged from Gail, and corning back to her. “Spend the night down here,” he said, "and we’ll ride in the morning.” It was scarcely light when they were riding along the beach. The wind was making low music through the trees and beside them the waves from the Chesapeake were rolling in. Presently they brought the horses from a gallop to a slow trot. “Lot’s give them a rest,” said Nick. They dismounted and tied the horses. Ann sat on the sand. "Getting away makes things clearer. It always does.” "Don’t close your mind to anything,” he said. "You’ve got to prepare yourself for a great deal of criticism' and gossip.” (To be Continued.) for Sale and HireRepairs a specialty. —W. J., Palamontain, Printer, Queen Street. Telephone 2091.