Argosy: The Short Story Magazine — page 38: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

i = 7 ray 7 A a . oe a + i. mj hands, scattering a dancing cloud of chaff like summer flies. think of that.” with the tips of her fingers, biting them with the front of her Pe : teeth. Her teeth were surprisingly level and white, and he could | _ said, “‘ Here, you want to do it like this. You want to bring your / _ thumbs over so that you can blow down there, and make a _ to the moist edges of her lips as she laughed. ; . AP Ae Ft ee es af + ey t eres ‘ . ined 8 pox oe prabA iy - - + ten ; are P or pss Fee EE: BATES bans Eom the house with a message that a man had called to delves 2 ae - sail-cloth. Mortimer blew on the grain that lay in his cupped “Pl be up in a minute,” he said. ‘‘ Here—tell me what you q “The wheat? ”’ she said. She picked a few grains of wheat from the palm of his hand. _ She did not toss them into her mouth but put them in one by one, % see the whiteness of the new grains on her tongue as she bit them, a “ They’re milky,” she said. a “ Still want a few more days, I think,” he said. . As they walked back up the field she plucked an ear of wheat il herself and began to thresh it with her hands. The corn, almost — as high as the girl herself, rustled in her fingers. When she bent down to blow on the husks, a small gust of wind suddenly turned | and blew the chaff up into her face. oa She laughed rather loudly, showing her teeth again, and he ; chimney.” * ‘How? ”’ she said. Me a A moment later he was holding her hands. He stood eee & _ behind her and held her hands, and showed her how to cup them — so that the chaff could blow out through the chimney made by her | - fingers. a ‘** Now blow,” he said. “T can’t blow for laughing.” Her mouth spluttered and a new gust of laughter blew into : her hands and a dancing cloud of chaff leapt up in a spurt from | a | her fingers. She laughed again, and he felt her body shaking. _ A few husks of wheat blew into her mouth and a few more stuck _ a She pulled out her handkerchief to wipe her lips, still laughing, — <a and suddenly he found himself trying to help her, and then ina _ clumsy way trying to kiss her face and mouth at the same time. ie, “Elsie,” he said. ‘‘ Here, Elsie—”’ 3 oa She laughed again, and said, “We don’t want to fool here. — Somebody will see us if we start fooling here. Mrs. Mortimer will see us. Not here.” oak “You were always so quiet,”’ he said. “Tt isn’t always the loud ones who say most, is it?” she said. She began to shake herself. ‘‘ Now I’ve got chaff down my neck. — Look at me.” aS a 4 hes COMIC OOOKS. COM