Burned Bridges

and over-strained body Thompson turned and twisted, and sleep withheld its restful oblivion

en, the essence of all things forlorn in its minor cadences. A gray, clammy day, tinged with the chill breath of coming snow. Thompson missed the sun that had cheered and warmed those hushed solitudes. Just to look at that dull sky and to hear the wind that was fast stripping the

had rested willingly upon his shoulder, created a bond between them, an understanding, a tentative promise, a cleaving together that could have but one conclusion. He found himself reflecting upon that-to him-most natural conclusion with a peculiar mixture of gladness and doubt. For even in his exaltation he could not visualize Sophie Carr as an ideal minister's helpmate. He simply could not. He could hear too plainly the s

s. He had often had occasion to discourse upon various sorts of love-fatherly love and brotherly love and maternal affection and so on. But this flare of passionate tenderness focussing upon one slender bit of a girl was something he could not quite fathom. He would have contradicted with swift anger any suggestion that perhaps it was merely wise old Nature's anc

t hot kiss on her lips. It was the sheer flesh and blood womanliness of her that made his heart beat faster, the sweet curve of her lips, the willowy grace of her body, the odd little gestures of her hands, the melody of her voice and the gray pools of her eyes, eyes full of queer

rd for him to get down to fundamentals and consider rationally the question of marriage, of their future, of how his

se where Tommy Ashe's hard knuckles had peeled away the skin. He still had a most un-Christian satisfaction in the belief that he had given as good as he had got. He was not ashame

stle of footsteps beyond his door-which was

istakably framed in the doorway. He rose to his feet with a glad cry of welcome, albeit haltin

lly-and suited her action to t

ded arms. There was about her none of the glowing witchery of yesterday. She lifted to him a face thoughtful, even a little sad. And Thompson's hands fell, his heart keeping them c

ardly of me to run away. But it was foolish to fight. It didn't occur to me that you two would. I suppose yo

to look at," Thompson admitted. "

. "Tommy is very quick and ver

her voice stirred up the queer per

trength and quickness," he remarked. "That-

troubled heart in his clear blue eyes-so that the girl tu

rce tenderness, from his lips. "I love you-which I think you

ate color gone out of her cheeks, a sudden heave to her breast. She shook her head. "No," she said. "I won't pe

the shoulders and

ips burned me-you rested your head against me as if it bel

. Yesterday I was bursting with happiness, like a bird in the spring. I like you, big man with the freckled face. You came dow

estrained savagery. If he hurt her she did not flinch, nor did her gra

on't know what this means to

an a little. I'm made that way, I suppose. I

or me? It isn't just a sudden fancy. I've been feeling it grow and struggling to repress it, ever since I f

uld not marry?" she asked evenly. "Can you see anything to make it desirable ex

a pace, his expression one of hurt bewilderment

ou but I couldn't possibly live with you-you couldn't live with me. I rebel at the future I can see for us. Apart from yourself, the things you'd want to share with me I despise. If I had to live

stopped. When she spoke again her tone had changed, d

nt to sing and dance and be vibrantly alive. I want to see far countries and big cities, to go about among people whose outlook

u, because you kissed me and for a minute made me feel that life could be bounded by you and kisses. You're only the second

s care in the same way for the next attractive man who comes

as you would have me plunge. Don't you see," she made an impatient gesture, "we're just like a couple of fledgling birds tryi

less and forlorn, the airy castles reared overnight out of the stuff of dreams a tumbled heap about him. He sat d

," he said

oud his pain, the yearning ache that filled him, and he could not, would not-no more than he would have whined under pure physical hurt. But w

her feet on the floor, her soft warm hands closed suddenly about his neck, and

whispered, in a small, chok

on of her breath, and while his arms reached swiftly, instinctively to gr