32 Caliber | Page 4

and hurry!"

The receiver clicked and I dashed out of the booth, a thousand
questions pounding in my brain. Why was Helen at the house? Had
Frank Woods failed to keep his appointment, thinking better of eloping
with another man's wife; or, had Helen come to her senses, seen
through the thin veneer that covered the cad and the libertine in Frank
Woods and returned to her husband for good? Over and above these
questions and conjectures and hopes, there was thanksgiving in my
heart that the irremediable step had not been taken; that something had
intervened to keep scandal and disgrace away from Jim.
There must have been something in my face that told Jim I had been
talking to Helen, for he moved into the driver's seat and greeted me
with the single question: "Where is she?"
"Home!" I panted, "and drive like the devil!"
I might have saved myself the trouble of the last, for even before I got
into the car there was a roar of exhaust and the crunch of grinding gears
and we were off down the smooth drive with a speed that quickly
brought tears to my eyes and put the fear of God in my heart.
How we ever escaped a smash-up after we got into the city I can't tell
to this day, for Jim never once slackened speed. He sat there with jaws
set, pumping gas and still more gas into the little car. Thrice I saw
death loom up ahead of us, as vehicles approached from side-streets,
but with a swerve and a sickening skid, we missed them somehow.
Once a street-car and a wagon seemed completely to block the road
ahead, but Jim steered for the slender opening and when I opened my
eyes we had skinned through, leaving a corpulent and cursing driver far
behind. After that I forgot my wretched fear and the blood surged
through my veins at the delicious feel of the air as it whipped my
cheeks. We turned at last into the long approach to Jim's house and it
was then that my heart sank.
Frank Woods' car was standing before the door.
CHAPTER TWO

TWO MEN AND A WOMAN
Had Helen been alone, I would have dropped Jim and gone on,
knowing that what they had to say to each other was not for outside
ears, but when I saw Frank Woods' car there, I felt that a cool head
might be needed. There was an ominous set to Jim's shoulders as he
walked toward the steps, a sort of drawing in of the head, as though all
the muscles in his big frame were tensed. He hesitated a fraction of a
second at the door, either to let me catch up with him or because of
distaste for the prospective meeting, and we entered the cool dark hall
together.
Helen was standing at the entrance to the big living-room, her tall
figure erect, her head proudly poised, one graceful arm upraised, with
the hand buried in the velvet hangings. She had on a gray traveling-suit,
the coat of which lay tossed over the back of a near-by chair. A large
patent-leather traveling-case lay beside it. I had expected, from the
urgency of the message and the sound of her voice over the telephone,
to find Helen agitated, but, except for slight traces of recent tears and a
high color, she looked as cool and collected as though she had invited
us to tea. Jim, on the other hand, was trembling, his face a pasty white,
with great beads of perspiration standing on his forehead.
She motioned us to enter, and I led the way, gripping Jim's hand in
passing. Woods was standing by the window, his back to us, and his
whole pose so artificial, so expressive of disdain, that I felt the short
hair rising along the back of my neck in antagonism. When he heard us,
Woods turned with contemptuous deliberation, but when he caught
sight of the dumb misery on Jim's face, his own turned a dull crimson.
Helen crossed the room and seated herself on the divan, back of which
Woods was standing. The whole performance--the place she chose near
him, the look she flashed at him as she sat down, showed so completely
which of the men she loved, that my heart sank and I lost hope of ever
bringing her back to Jim. It was Helen who first spoke.
"You received the note I left this morning?"
Jim moistened his lips once and said, "Yes." The word was barely

audible.
"Then there is no need to tell you I have made up my mind to go with
Frank."
Her tone was coldly final. Woods had turned and was again gazing out
of the window. Jim looked at