Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 2, 1922 — page 84: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

554 White patches appeared under Teddy’s eyes. ‘ What?” Javalie nodded sadly. “ That’s what I have been leading up to, Ted. I wanted to—sound you out. It is going to be pretty hard for Jeanne to go through with it—alone. That is what I was thinking.” Ted Banning continued to gape at him. His brain did not work as rapidly as his father’s. It took a long time for anything so cataclysmic to be digested. He blurted out, ‘“ Look here—” and buried his face in his hands. He looked up suddenly, his eyes smol- dering. , “Tf that damned beach snake so much as looks sidewise at my wife—”’ “Protect her, certainly; that’s what hus- bands are for.” “Tl ring his rotten neck!” “Stick a knife into him.” The boy glared. ‘“ You’re laughing at me!” “T will say once more, Ted, that I want you to leave Reynolds alone. Hands off. Let me attend to him in my own way. Let me pay out a little more rope, You don’t want to spoil my plans, do you?” “ Well—” “That’s a promise.” “ All right. But look here. I—I’ve got to talk to Jeanne, you know. I— Well—” “A little explaining must be done, of course. But you will have to go about it diplomatically. Remember, a girl in her condition is a very fragile thing—apt to fly to pieces if she isn’t handled so. You will have to break it to her gently; you will have to lead up to it as tactfully as possible, then simply explain the circumstances—as nicely as you know how. If I were you, I wouldn’t say that I’d grown tired of her—” “But don’t you understand?” the boy broke in fiercely. “1 Aaven’t grown tired of her. J—I’ve been a damn fool. That's what’s going to be hard to explain.” “Tt will not require much oratory,” Javalie dryly assured him, “to convince her of that.” ‘Teddy started through the sand, stopped and returned with gleaming eyes. He ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. grasped Javalie’s hand. Then, “ Thank you for—for the ducking!” he stammered. He hurried up the path and entered the house. Mme. Jeanne had not yet come down, a maid told him. She had had petit dejeuner served in her room. At Mme. Jeanne’s room he hesitated, decided not to knock, turned the knob and strode in. Mme. Jeanne was standing at a window with her back toward him. She wore a fluffy, lacey pink-and-white negligee trimmed at the sleeves and throat with white rabbit fur. It was one that he had got for her in Paris when they were first married. She had not heard him open the door, but she turned quickly when it closed, and clasped her hands to her breast in a ner- vous movement. She began to speak rap- idly before he was halfway down the room to her, in the breathless, mechanical way of one who has studied, many times, a pain- ful speech. “ Teddy, I have decided to go back to my father,” she said rapidly. She spoke in French. “I have been thinking it all over. I cannot understand the American people. I am afraid I have not the intelli- gence. I have tried. JI—I—” Her small breast was heaving. Mme. Jeanne was, it was only too evident, on the verge of one of her characteristic outbursts of weeping. But she tried again; resolutely, with her little fists gripped at her sides and her little head held heroically up. “Teddy, it is simply that we made, in the madness of the war, a great mistake. T have been stubborn, like a mule. I have refused to see that I am in the way here. I wish—I—” She choked. The deluge had come. She was in Teddy’s arms. He was squeez- ing her with such ferocity that she could hardly breathe. She stiffened. For a mo- ment astonishment crowded the tears back. Then she became limp in his arms. “Oh, Jeanne!” the boy groaned. poor little Jeanne!” Javalie had spoken with wisdom. In such moments eloquence is superfluous. A kiss is a thousand explanations, ten thousand apol- . ogies. CoOmmicoooxS Conn