away—go somewhere and just be happy.'
'—just be happy,' she echoed in a whisper.
'Let's,' he breathed. 'Those tests should be ready on Friday, at the latest. Maybe even on Thursday. I can put some Bartee pressure on.'
'How long must we wait, then?'
'Why, not at all.'
'Tomorrow is Thursday.'
'Let's not wait at all. Friday?'
'I haven't anything to wear,' Nan said foolishly.
'Wear red,' he said. 'My darling, you look so beautiful in red.'
'A bride doesn't wear red, sillyl'
'Wear white,' he said, 'Wear blue.'
'Dotty has a white dress. We could turn up the hem.'
'Turn up the hem,' he whispered, 'love, if you love me.'
Johnny said to Dorothy, by the door, 'Good night. Dotty. Be kind to Nan. She needs somebody—' He went out and the night air was chilly. The fields were dark. What must I do for Nan's sake, he kept asking himself. He kept seeing Dorothy's eyes.
In the big back bedroom at the Bartee house, the cousins quarreled that night. Nan did not think Dorothy was kind.
Dorothy began it by another spirited denunciation of people who withheld information for any reason.
'But Dick didn't do anything really wrong,' flamed Nan. 'He just wasn't a tattler. And he helped his father. What's wrong wdth that? Everybody doesn't have to start telling all about absolutely everything he ever knew, just because somebody gets murdered.' Nan was trembling. 'Dick had absolutely nothing to do with the killing, no matter what anybody else ever said or did. And we are just tired. We are going to be mairied as soon as those tests are ready. Any day'
Dorothy said, 'Honey, don't . . .'
'Then we are going away. We may get the license tomorrow. So Friday—'
'Oh, no!'
'Yes,' said Nan. 'Dick is asking Blanche about it. If she doesn't want to go to the trouble—well, then, well go to some minister's house, Dick knows about.'
Dorothy was in her nightgowTi. She had begun to pull off her robe. Now she began, without thinking what she was doing, to pull it on again.
Nan said, 'Dot, you are going to be at my wedding, aren't you?'
'Certainly,' Dorothy said vidthout spirit. She felt stunned.
'Dot, Blanche wants it to be here . . .' Nan looked happier now. 'Just a quiet ceremony with nobody but family—and that wouldn't take much getting up. If she does, could I wear your white silk?'
Dorothy said, 'Wait.' She sat down and they were knee to knee. 'Nan, this is just not very smart. Why can't you wait?'
'I can be married in red,' said Nan proudly. 'Dick doesn't care. I can certainly wear my blue.'
'I'm not talking about clothes. I'm talking about marrying into this family.'
'I'm marrying Dick.' Nan's eyes were dark and stubborn.
'Nan, don't you care that there was a murder?' said Dorothy quietly. ''That a young woman was beaten to death in this house?'
'Nothing to do with me,' said Nan.
'But, there's all that about Nathaniel. Honey, he had the reputation of being a har. A coward—'
'He's dead. It's all past.'
'He's going to make a swell ancestor for your kids,' said Dorothy brutally. She got up and began to walk around.
Nan wa5 in tears, but sitting stiffly on the edge of her bed, not succumbing to them.
'And old Mrs. Bartee, their great-grandmother? She's cute, all right,' Dorothy said. 'Judge and jury. Blanche, too.'
Nan said, sobbing and choking, 'Why are you against me?'
'I'm far you,' Dorothy said.
'No, you're not. You know I love Dick with all my heart. And he loves me. And we are going to be married. So why can't we^'
'But Nan, don't you want to see this straightened out? That poor man in prison all these years . . .'
'But he did itl' Nan said. 'And he ought to be in prison and I don't see—'
'But if he didn't do it,' Dorothy said slowly, 'then he's in prison because somebody in this family, lied.'
