Chapter 17 - Page 2

listen. Have you noticed anything different about me lately, Kent?" She tilted her head, while she passed judgment upon a cluster of speckled blossoms, odd but not particularly pretty.

"What do you mean, anyway? I'm liable to get off wrong if I tell you--"

"Oh, you're so horribly cautious! Have I seemed any more content--any happier lately?"

Kent picked a spray of flowers and puled them ruthlessly to pieces. "Maybe I've kinda hoped so," he said, almost in a whisper.

"Well, I've a new interest in life. I just discovered it by accident, almost--"

Kent lifted his head and looked keenly at her, and his face was a lighter shade of brown than it had been.

"It seems to change everything. Pal, I--I've been writing things."

Kent discovered he had been holding his breath, and let it go in a long sigh.

"Oh!" After a minute he smiled philosophically. "What kinda things?" he drawled.

"Well, verses, but mostly stories. You see," she explained impulsively, "I want to earn some money--of my own. I haven't said much, because I hate whining; but really, things are growing pretty bad--between Manley and me. I hope it isn't my fault. I have tried every way I know to keep my faith in him, and to--to help him. But he's not the same as he was. You know that. And I have a good deal of pride. I can't--oh, it's intolerable having to ask a man for money! Especially when he doesn't want to give you any," she added naively. "At first it wasn't necessary; I had a little of my own, and all my things were new. But one must eventually buy things--for the house, you know, and for one's personal needs--and he seems to resent it dreadfully. I never would have believed that Manley could be stingy--actually stingy; but he is, unfortunately. I hate to speak of his faults, even to you. But I've got to be honest with you. It isn't nice to say that I'm writing, not for any particularly burning desire to express my thoughts, nor for the sentiment of it, but to earn money. It's terribly sordid, isn't it?" She smiled wistfully up at him. "But there seems to be money in it, for those who succeed, and it's work that I can do here. I have oceans of time, and I'm not disturbed!" Her lips curved into bitter lines. "I do so much thinking, I might as well put my brain to some use." With one of her sudden changes of mood, she turned to Kent and clasped both hands upon his arm.

"Now you see, pal, how much our friendship means to me," she said softly. "I couldn't have told this to another living soul! It seems awfully treacherous, saying it even to you--I mean about him. But you're so good--you always understand, don't you, pal?"

"I guess so." Kent forced the words out naturally, and kept his breath even, and his arms from clasping