Free Air - Page 176/176

"Ye-es, providing we can still buy gas."

"Lord, that's so."

"Speaking of which, did you know that I have a tiny bit of money--it's

about five thousand dollars--of my own?"

"But---- That makes it impossible. Young tramp marrying lady of huge

wealth----"

"No, you don't! I've accepted you. Do you think I'm going to lose the

one real playmate I've ever had? It was so lonely on the Boltwoods'

brown stoop till Milt came along and whistled impertinently and made the

solemn little girl in frills play marbles and---- Watch out for that

turn! Heavens, how I have to look after you! Is there a class in cooking

at your university? No--do--not--kiss--me--on--a--turn!"

This is the beginning of the story of Milt and Claire Daggett.

The prelude over and the curtain risen on the actual play, they face the

anxieties and glories of a changing world. Not without quarrels and

barren hours, not free from ignorance and the discomfort of finding that

between the mountain peaks they must for long gray periods dwell in the

dusty valleys, they yet start their drama with the distinction of being

able to laugh together, with the advantage of having discovered that

neither Schoenstrom nor Brooklyn Heights is quite all of life, with the

cosmic importance to the tedious world of believing in the romance that

makes youth unquenchable.