November 1931
500
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
THE RETURN o/fLTIDE A Serial Story . . . By ZENOBIA BIRD
go back into town,” he said, smiling with perfect assur ance as he held the door open for her to enter. * There seemed nothing to do but to step inside. On and on they rode, enjoying every minute—Marian glad to drop her mask of “Lilli Bell” and to be her natural self. Finally he drew up before an attractive tea room. “We will stop here for a bite of supper,” he said. “I must go back to the Goodwins. Oh, I must! Mother Goodwin will be so worried, she will think I am jost.” “And weren’t you, until I found you ?” he asked gaily. “Truly, I must*not stay away any longer.” Marian’s face was genuinely troubled, and he looked at her sym pathetically. “We will phone them, of course. We will stop right here and phone them this minute. Wouldn’t you like to do that?” They found the telephone, and Dick called the number. “Yes, Mrs. Goodwin. This is Dick Burling, you know, John Burling’s son. I met my friend, Marian Linton, this afternoon out on the outskirts of Glenwold. She was kind of lost, and I took her in my car to bring her home, and then it was such a great day that we went for a ride in the country. Knew you wouldn’t object. We are out at the Merryvale Tea Garden now, and I am just coaxing her to have a little supper with me here. It’s a perfectly fine place, you know, only the best people and all that. Would you mind if we had supper here? I promise you I ’ll take good care of her and bring her right home after ward. Oh, yes, of course—sure, she wants to speak to you. Here, Miss Linton, tell her you want to stay.” Marian talked a few minutes, and he heard her say, “All right then. Good by.” Dick evidently knew the place well. He led Marian past numerous little tables and into a sheltered alcove well screened with palms, seated her just right and dropped into the chair opposite. As he. looked across at the smiling dark eyes, he wanted to shake hands with himself, so bursting with satisfaction was he at the outcome of his none too welcome errand of the afternoon. Marian’s thoughts were not so comfortable. She re membered how she had left him the last time—and why. There would be no possible chance for escape here. But her encounters with Rex Avery had given her consid erable confidence in her ability to handle a situation. To night she was prepared to enjoy herself. The atmosphere was in no wise unfamiliar to her. She had-often eaten in such a place, and she felt as though she were coming back into her own, that the year that had passed was only a hideous dream, with its glimmer of sunshine and its great piling banks of gloom. The tables were filling rapidly now, although the hour was still early. Marian sat watching with fascinated eyes. Presently her attention was turned to an'alcove not far from them. Perhaps it was the concentrated gaze of the girl over there that made her turn that way. And then she looked again. Where had she seen that face? The girl in the alcove gave her another stare, and their eyes met. Ah, she had it. It was none other than Miss Dorothy
[Marian Linton was as one stunned when, within a few weeks, her only brother was involved in a piece fif wrongdoing and fled, her parents were suddenly taken from her, her father's investments failed, and even Nelson Barrington forsook her. A fter she had sufficiently recovered from the shock and, while visiting the Goodwins in-Glenwpld, had learned again to trust her God, Marian found work, with a generous salary, as maid in the home of Mrs. Henry Warner Wolfe, while she studied shorthand one evening each week with Joyce Goodwin.. To avoid embar rassment, should Marian enter any social circles, Mrs. Wolfe agreed to call her at home by her middle name, Lilli Bell, and to treat her as a deaf-mute before strangers. It was at Mrs. Torrington’s party that Marian met Dick Burling, who gave her his attentions for the evening, much to j the disgust of Dorothy Hepburn, who resented any intrusion into what she and her mother considered a profitable courtship. In the course of conversation with Dick, Marian discovered a clue to her lost brother’s whereabouts, which so upset her that she seised the first opportunity to escape from the party—an act [which caused discussion on the part of other guests and con sternation on the Part of Dick Burling. 4s.... A few weeks later, Dick was walking down the street with Rexford Avery. ‘‘There goes Miss Linton,’’ he suddenly exclaimed. “Miss Linton, nothing. That’s Lilli Bell, my sister’s maid," corrected Rex. Thus began the discussion which ended in their retracing their steps to find Marian and make sure. But Marian escaped again—this time in a taxi.] C hapter VIII aeian L inton walked more and more slowly, threading her way through some of the small and unfamiliar streets of Glenwold. She had volun teered to do an errand for Mother Goodwin, and then to her disgust she had lost her way. She must have turned at the wrong corner while she was busy with her thoughts. The poor old woman to whom she had taken the basket of delicacies had talked sweetly and simply, and oh so touchingly, about life and its meaning, and she had said that God had a plan for every life. Marian was on the outskirts of the little town, where the houses were poor and scattered. She continued up one of the more important-looking streets and then, com ing to a corner, stood hesitating, wondering which turn to take. “Why, Miss Linton, I am awfully glad to see you. And what are you doing here?” said a pleasant voice at her side. And she turned to face Dick Burling. “I-pH guess I am lost. At least, the street I want to find seems to be lost.” “Lost!” exclaimed the delighted Dick. “Found, I ’ll say,” he murmured under his breath. “But what are you doing here, that you got lost?” “I was taking a basket for Mother Goodwin to a poor old woman.” “You were! I was looking up the needs of an old man my father is interested in. And you ought to have heard the line of talk the old chap gave me, telling me what a wonderful man the pater is. As though I needed to be told that,” he laughed boyishly. “Sure, don’t I know he’s some man!” He guided Marian to his car, parked a little distance away. “We will go for a spin in the country before we M
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