"RESTRICTED TO SHIP NEXT TEN DAYS. SORRY, TOO MUCH PARTY [RST NIGHT IN PORT. BETTER NOT COME DOWN. SHIP LEAVES FOR HONOLULU TEN DAYS. SEE YOU IN ABOUT THREE WEEKS..AS ALWAYS, JIN."

Yes, Jim, as always, at the eleventh hour had let her down. Still, sudden tremendous relief flooded her being. Now she uld admit to herself how much she had dreaded seeing Jim, sitting to his temper tirades, his sly brutalities. And he was more, she could dmit it at last to Pat, too.

subn.

Now she could voice what had been in her mind the se past ew months. She would tell Pat about Tommy and confess her need to find that lost tenderness again. She had tried marriage and failed...whether it was her own fault or Jim's she was not sure. Perhaps some day she would try again, the Fates would decide. Meanwhile, now, in the magic presence of this girl she had come to care So much for, one door had closed, and another was opening.

Hazel put her arm around Pat's waist and opened the door with her key.

"Come in, darling," she said softly. "I'm not going away

after all...ever."

d her eyes told Pat that she was glad.

Then, as she it the coffee pot on the stove, she told the other girl her story, ittering with an abandonment of relief brought about by her new decision. And in her joy at being able at last to confide in her friend, she didn't notice that Pat sai nothing in reply, only sat lighting a new cigarette on the embers of the old one. Finally through with her tale, Hazel came to stand in front of her and placed a timid hand on her shoulder.

"But you're not glad...about us...that...that I knew..." she stammered, puzzled and suddenly alarmed.

P turned her troubled face away from Hazel's searching look Look for a long moment, and then she sighed and straight-

ed her back. Her eyes, when they rested on Hazel's, d new determination.

ent

hel a

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