Page:Frank Owen - Woman Without Love (1949 reprint).djvu/119

 Templeton Blaine was happy. He was always happy when Helen smiled.

"From now on," he declared, "we'll go to Europe every year."

It was a grand proposal but they never went again. For on the liner, going home, Helen contracted a heavy cold. She was so weak when the boat docked she had to be carried from the ship. A few days later she died and Templeton was inconsolable. The one woman of his life was gone, the woman he had worshipped. He had been an old-fashioned husband. He had had no eyes for other women. Had it not been for Dorothy he would have shot himself. There was no use going on now. Dorothy talked to him. He was amazed at her courage and logic.

"We can't simply die," she said. "That wouldn't be very sporting. It wouldn't be fair to Mother. It would make her sad if we quit. Besides I have faith. Mother isn't really dead. In that vast immensity of sky there is an eternal promise. The sky presents hope. Perhaps death is but a release of the spirit to wander in blue pastures."

Templeton could not speak. He put his arm about the girl's shoulder and patted her cheek.

"I'll try to take Mother's place," she said softly. "I believe that with the help of the servants I can run the house."

From that moment forth she had done so. Templeton had never hired a housekeeper. The bare suggestion was repugnant to Dorothy. She managed well without one.

It naturally followed that the two became greater pals. She learned to play chess so that she might join her dad in a game in the evenings. It was the one game he liked because it was always new, always different, always interesting. When Dorothy succeeded in beating him which happened on rare occasions, he slapped his knee with his hand and said, "Bless my soul!"

Among all the numerous young men who showered their attentions upon Dorothy none interested her as much as Jimmy Whale, and Jimmy was the oddest of the lot. Dorothy was not conceited. She knew that half her suitors merely liked her because she was rich. They were like coupons attached to a bond. She was the bond. It was not surprising then that they showed high interest.