Radio Mirror: The Magazine of Radio Romances (Jan-June 1943)

Tell Me You're Mine Continued from page 47 whom I could talk, someone to help me clarify my mind. Someone really, I suppose, although I didn't admit it in so many words, to pat me on the back and tell me that all my fears were foolish. And so I went back to the boarding house. Good old Gracie was there, God bless her, and she knew, the minute she looked at my face, that something had happened. But she was smart enough to keep quiet about it, to let me get around to telling her in my own way. We went out and had some chile together at our favorite little cafe, where even at nine in the evening it's difficult to get a table. And after I'd eaten, hardly tasting the hot food, I told her everything, swearing her to secrecy about my marriage because of my promise to Dean. To her, that marriage seemed about the most glamorous thing that had ever happened to anyone — you remember how impressed she'd been with Dean when first I introduced them! — and she at once began to find a thousand excuses for Dean's sudden departure. I gave her the little note to read, and she interpreted it so generously that I began to catch her mood, too, began to feel that maybe everything was going to turn out all right after all. THEN I told her, too, about Tom's confession before he had left on the train. She made a deprecating gesture with her hand, and said, "Oh, Jackie — how can you mention him in the same breath with Dean?" Somehow, that stung. I resented her words about Tom. I felt — well, sort of motherly about Tom Trumble. And anyway, troubled as I was about everything, one fact was clear — Dean Hunter was perfectly able to take care of himself, but Tom Trumble was the kind who needed someone to stand up for him. I stood up. "Let's go, Gracie," I said, and suddenly I was in a panic to get away, for I felt the backwash of that strong tide of emotion which had carried me on its crest for awhile. I felt tears rising stingingly, unrepressibly, to my eyes. I stumbled out, leaving Gracie to pay the bill. In a moment, she caught up to me, slipped her arm through mine, guiding me. I tried to stop crying, but it was beyond my control now. I even tried to make myself laugh ' by picturing how ridiculous I must look, walking along the street crying, just as a child, unashamed of tears, does. But I couldn't help it; the past hours bore down on me and I was torl mented by a sense of disaster and the fear that I had taken false, irretraceably false, steps. Gracie put her arms about me, and her voice was amazingly gentle. "I'm a fiend, Jackie. Was it what I said about Tom? Who am I to decide how you feel about whom and when? Maybe this Tom Trumble is your boy — and Dean Hunter just your suppressed desire — or, rather, not so very suppressed, but — " "Oh, Gracie," I cried, half sobbing, half laughing at her tangled up way of trying to make things clear. "Let's get home in a hurry. I guess I'm just tired." I was afraid, when I went to bed, that I wouldn't be able to sleep, that , the night would be a thousand years The 'Little General' keeps my hands working overtime ! No more red, weatherchapped hands since I've been using HindSthat Honey of a lotion! My hands get plenty of hot-water punishment. But I use Hinds Honey and Almond Cream before and after housework. Hinds skin-softeners help guard my hands against dryness, roughness. After work Hinds gives my hands a softer, whiter look. You better be proud of my hands— they're soft as baby's' HONE/.BeautyAdvisor, says: EXTRA-SOFTENING! Hinds is an extra-creamy emulsion of true skinsoftening ingredients. WORKS FAST! Even one application gives your red, chapped skin a softer, whiter look. EFFECT LASTS! Hinds skin-softeners help protect your skin through work and soapy-water jobs. DOES GOOD! Actually benefits skin. At toilet goods counters Buy War Bonds and Stamps Now! HINDSAH/1ND§ and wherever skin needs softening 1 ik