10 golden dawn daw by peter be kyne copyright WWI br bai eradicate 44 SYNOPSIS theodore catlin adopts a baby which be names penelope in a final effort to co solve olve his matrimonial troubles but hi his wife has never wanted her and their affairs affair end in the divorce court toi ten year old penelope I 1 to given elven into the keeping of mr hire gatlin gatlan at a baseball earn cam a ball strikes penelope on an the cose no mrs birs gatlin spirits the child to europe gatlin retires retire from rom business will penelope all hi his money and is if about to begin a search march for hla his daughter when a motor accident ends end hi his life some ton ten years year later in san francisco stephen burt to la a rising you young n g psyche ila he la Is presented by dan tic namara chief of police with a new pa tient lent nance belden a girl w with ith a dual personality raona lity tor tar which tier her saddle addle nose was wa in part responsible CHAPTER II 11 continued lanny stephen reproved her then to dan mcnamara Namara SIc do you mean to tell me you left her out there unguarded low would you explain tier her escape if she had chosen to dis appear I 1 1 I dont think shed duck doc rut nut even if the elie tried it 14 I 1 got a plain clothes man on guard please belue the patient in lanny stephen pleaded and then thea you might lie he glanced eloquently at their empty glasses lanny I anny glared at him so BO he smiled and she ceased to glare but she went on mumbling dan mcnamara ghouls his head sage ly nothing wrung wrong with that comans womans woma as thinking apparatus he informed stephen and then lanny ushered the new pa vent in she paused just inside the door swept the room with a slow glance and permitted her gaze to come to rest on stephen burt who rose and bowed to her instantly the frozen hos tillay in her glance faded and she smiled Ite minds nic me of a gargoyle stephen reflected sleet meet my friend dr stephen burt nance dan mcnamara introduced her airily doc this Is nance belden alias dorothy case alias fay barham alias elizabeth vernon stephen Step lien said gald politely that he was de lighted to make her acquaintance and nance replied with acrid directness why whereat stephen burt laughed and set a chair tor for her nance plumped herself down in it with a weary sigh jerked off her jaunty hat and threw it on stephens Step liena desk all alg right it steve shoot 1 the idea of the big convention another fishing expedition now nance dan mcnamara marn soothed tier her you cut that out youre oot talking calking to doc Bl Cleth ethea cn doe curts burts a gentleman nance remembered her manners sly error she apologized from the doorway leading into the waiting room lanny gazed upon the girl with frank disapproval over nances bances shoulder she caught stephens Step liens eye and shook tier her head sorrowfully the old girls shocked kedi nance naacp laughed softly without looking g around while lanny disappeared how do you know bliss celden belden stephen inquired mirror and nance belden pointed close your eyes stephen commend ed and describe this room to me all ri right bl there are two empty highball glasses on the telephone stand welk of you she sniffed bourbon the stands three feet high and the telephone book Is to in the compartment under onder the top of the stand the telephone Is one of those combination re celver mouthpiece things like they use ln in english stage scenes and the tele phone cord Is white the desk Is solid walnut I 1 think flat topped and clean you have a bronze combination ink well pen rack and pin tray there la Is it blue crayon pencil and a red crayon steell and a black gold banded foun talim tain pen on the pen rack the fountain pen has green ink in it I 1 know because on the calendar pad on the desk which Is opened at november 23 al though this Is the alth youve writ ten something with the pen very recently youre sitting bitting in a walnut swivel chair brown leather upholstered and a high nack back up to your shoulder afa tops the chiefs chair la Is an over stuffed rocker and it if you give him another drink hell fall asleep in it on the wall back of you there Is a framed diploma in latin issued to stephen john hurt burt by leland inland stanford junior university medical school and about four feet from it Is the oath of hippocrates in a black frame like the diploma the print to Is old english and done in black and red across the room in back of the chief Is a walnut bookcase built in detachable tiers and theres a white bite washstand in the corner close by it it the rug Is belge beige colored and chinese and on the wall in back of tue rue where you can look at it readily Is a framed photograph of your father it must be a photograph of your father because he be looks a great deal dal like you in back of me a door leads into the old ladys ladya den and two nere nance opened her handbag took auf nt a small mirror heli held it up op antl opened her eyes an instant yes I 1 thought so BO that door to Is ajar and the die old lady I 1 Is werd to every cry word I 1 say ay now ill describe you youre a darling youre tall tail and you started to grow a tummy yet youre nebout ion thirty two or three years year old your hair la Is dark brown and your eyes dark blue and you have nice teeth ind they show when you smile you have nice hands and your coptis were manicured this morning but you have lieve a dirty spot on the inger finger nall of your right index finger no it dirt its irs iodine pardon 1 my error do I 1 win birst prize doc in a walk miss bliss belden you are absolutely the must most amazing person I 1 have ever examined you are one in it a million one of those rare persons persona who arlie not only see everything at a glance but take a mental photograph of it and remember it yes you win a prize ill have a highball with you boys said miss belden composedly not you little tills this and that lanny jnnny countered from behind the door the very ideal idea 1 then the party breaks up here and now low miss bliss belden informed stephen lanny stephen called 1 I hope you arent forgetting the laws of ties hos pit vitality pita allty lity come on kid the girl entreated lanny buy me one and ill get the chief to do something nice for you in return what influence has the likes of you with the chief of pollee police lanny was emerging with two highballs high balls do you drive a car miss bliss lanning nance celden belden whistled sharply to dan mcnamara get out your card dan heres the fountain pen write as I 1 dictate ready to all traffic officers the bearer miss rebecca lanning has the freedom of the city slie she has my au all t dhority to park where she pie pleases ases and he shall not be tagged ragged she cannot lie he arrested for anything except murder ind and even then she must not ride in the wagon va gon signed dan mcnamara chief of police D dan an mcnamara obeyed nance let bel ilen fen the card blotted it and han handed ded it to lanny now you tell em all chos kind to you rebecca Rehe reca im some kid am I 1 not you bet im some kid dan knows it and your boss knows it and if by now cow you dont know it I 1 hope steve fires you you are some kid I 1 admit it thank you dear you shall have a highball have one yourself nance su sug grandly lets all be sociable eh steve miss celden belden steve be began an call me nance the strange young creature interrupted why all the formality have you any objection nance to telling me your real name none at alt all I 1 dont know my real name who were your parents 1 I dont know why did you steal the slik silk stockings nance threw back her head and laughed why you silly I 1 had runs la in every pair I 1 owned poor dearl lanny was speaking her hand strayed over the girls jet black shiny bob her fingers sought a shell like ear and tugged it gently nance looked up at the nurse surprise and friendliness shining to in her eyes why youre sweet arent you I 1 why you darling 1 I 1 and she lifted tier her face for lanny to kiss lenny lanny kissed her trust lanny for that its too late to go further tonight dan lanny ia anny said bring her in at nine tomorrow morning cant lanny wrt with b a bound the excellent mcnamara had find landed beside lanny in the garden of friendship as one might say sties due in the po p lice court at nine for sentence right away shell be waltzed over to the superior court to the judge that gave tier her a suspended sentence two years ago she ninde made good so hell sign the commitment papers and be some time before we see our nancy again has she klie an attorney 7 the public derender defender all lanny looked at stephen stephen looked at lanny la anny both nodded get the best in town dan lanny urged the chief doctor burt will ap pear to in court and plead for a stay of wt wa tince tence well tell that judge judee a few ew th thing ing about cri criminal minni psychology and just why it would be frightful social injustice to put this girl in ID san quen tir she turned to nance belden drew the girls face down on her breast and putted patted the rouged gouged cheek see you tomorrow dearle she promised be a good girl now and be nice to dan mcnamara because hes one of the best friends ever have kiss me again please nance whispered and when lanny had compiled the girl came around the desk to stephen hurt burt 1 I want you to kiss me too she said youre sweet thank you a lot when dan mcnamara and life ht prisoner had departed lanny and stephen looked at each other a in ion silence which lanny was first to break arca that girls clean stevie not a touch of the slattern about her she could pass the binet intelligence test so fast shed meet it on her way back and she tough at nil all ashes only trying to be and she finds it uphill work defense mechanism largely ho he said hetter better go home lanny get a good nights sleep and try to forget what a sad world we live in be a d d sight sadder it if you live in IWI it she snapped under stress of emotion lanny as she grew older occasionally indulged herself in a little mild profanity stephen mind he knew she was disillusioned middle aged in point of years but old with the wisdom and sadness of the world as on only ly a doctor or a trained nurse can be that she had earned carried her privileges As a surgical nurse she had been sworn at by doctors whose nerves grew taut as piano wires during a dangerous operation and she had learned to give ay a good as she recoiled wherefore the men of tier her world respected her and liked her for or her courage and em clency see to it that youre on hand la in court tomorrow morning stevie with a sweet line of scientific argument to bewilder that judge and the district attorney she charged a little later good night my dear boy dear old dannyl once more had occurred to her the miracle of love A st stranger a bit of flotsam and jetsam on the muddy sea of life had looked behind tier her brusque businesslike belligerent li Il exterior and found the great av r I 1 F t 4 Z stephen burt rose and bowed to her instantly the frozen hostility in her glanco glance faded and she smiled warm heart that yearned so for affection and understandings gm tiers hers was a strange nature she was so strong and B so possessed of the urge to share tier her strength with those she loved particularly ticul arly it they evinced any affection for tier her that she was singularly democratic in tier her choice of benefi beneficiary clar Y nance belden like stephen burt had appealed to her thwarted mother love and nothing that the girl had been nothing she might ver ever be would alter lainys opinion formed on an instants notice that the girl was an angel A dark angel perchance percha ace and like lucifer fer fallen from high place but an angel nevertheless 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 the presence of chief of police daniel mcnamara cleared a lane through the corridor of the nail hat of at justice to in which the police courts of san francisco are located lie ile paused before a courtroom door nance la Is in there he told stephen ill not go in with you id have a week of rotten publicity in all the papers it if I 1 appeared to have any special interest in the case tier her lawyers name Is Tyrrell and hell call you as an expert witness TO DB BE CONTINUED