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Show R3CHARD HOFFMANN J COPYRIGHT V RICHARD HOFFMANN Viy W.N.U. S E RVIC CHAPTER IX Continued 16 "Slie's certainly kept nice and clean tills way," said Hal, with a half lau'li tlii't somehow turned its taint back on himself. . "Of course it's she that's done everything," Kerrigan agreed. "To her this thing was ull like the plot of a hook she'd just finished; she knew what was going to happen; no excuse for her making any mistakes. mis-takes. Human beings don't niake mistakes." Hal drew breath to Interrupt, In-terrupt, but Kerrigan tightened his calm as he went on. "You remember remem-ber the time when we three were at lunch somewhere and she asked you If you were Frederick Ireland's son?" "Oh, yes," said nal drily. "There was some special innocent reason wliy she wanted to know, too, I remember." re-member." "You told her you were Ireland's son. Did she ever show any sign of thinking you'd lied to her?" Blandly Hal shook his head and said, "Quite the opposite." "So then she told Crack you were Ireland. That's what made It so easy for you to bluff Crack, I s'pose." Hal was scared then and he knew it; but there was still the necessity ne-cessity of getting away whole from the room before he beat down these swarmings of fear. The chill in Kerrigan's voice began be-gan to warm ominously now as he went on. 'Ton come into Barry's life with enough sense after a while to know what she is: lovely as morning, brave as a bullet, honorable hon-orable as a sword, chaste as water. You have the criminal luck to make her fall in love with you the one thing that could happen to make her life about ten times harder to handle. "What do you think about then? About the help you can give her? About the way you can bring her to her happiness, as well as yours? About the honor and consciousness and courage that's in her even to try to fight a thing she'd go to hell.-to get? Xof You think about how unfair she Is to you. You think you ought to walk In and wipe out twenty years of her father fa-ther in a week, with the honor of a last promise to boot. You think she ought to see that your happiness happi-ness is all that counts, all that makes the world fit to grow little apples in. "She puts up with that for the only reason under God's sky there would be for putting up with it. And you drive ahead between your blinders till you drive on to the last edge of the one thing she hoped to keep you out of. And when that one thing happens, too, what do you do? Like a shot. You leave her to stew. You let her kill her own heart so that you'll go on your way; and you go on It. Go on it with your head full of the most Important things in the world, a fundamental of all decency de-cency outraged, all good in everything every-thing ended because you, you were made to look like a fool for a few days in another man's little mind. Ireland, you ought to lie down on that floor and die." Hal's teeth were clenched terribly upon red anger, curdling shame, panic; and he turned so that Kerrigan Ker-rigan shouldn't see those things stinging Into his eyes. "So she had It happen," he said ; "she had Crack catch me there so that I'd be free, so that I'd " The urgency of his despair came thick into his throat, and he broke oh". Kerrigan's stillness filled the room cruel, steady, incriminating; and Hal had to keep his scalding vision on him so that something shouldn't snap In his head, a signal sig-nal for madness'. Dread braced itself it-self hard in him as Kerrigan rose, a Judge at Doomsday, with the extinct ex-tinct cigarette far from incongruous incongru-ous In the corner of his merciless I lips. j "Vain," he said quietly: "Yain. j stuck-up, self-indulgent, flabby, j without faith except in the impor- tance of money. Why did I think j you weren't so cheap?" j The last word lashed Hal to his feet, and it took all his quivering strength to force definition upon the thick words that came of thern-j thern-j selves: "Kerrigan, you're a liar A G d d d liar! And If you were young " Something was stran- gling him Inside his throat. It w.t as If torture, finally re-j re-j leased upon him, came to full lm-! lm-! pact upon the numb obstinacy of ' his faculties, with a tautly balanced rocking to siiow that something must plunge massively away In the next second. Hal found his desperate desper-ate voice again, nnd In a quicker nger lie cried ut Kerrigan: "You're right. It's true every rotten word of it's true." lie went to Kerrigan, took his big arm above the elbow, and sank his forehead awkwardly to the bulky shoulder. "Heaven forgive me," he said in the calm of an exhausted ex-hausted breath. "You, Colonel, you've got to forgive me, -you ". In a moment Kerrigan's hands came up under Hal's elbows and moved them gently. "I'm glad you didn't like t any better'n I did," he said, his voice low, untrium-phant untrium-phant deeply comforting nround an odd sort of humility. Like a divine Intercession to spare tliem both an impasse of embarrassment, embarrass-ment, the telephone bell broke into startled clamor, and Hal went to it without looking at Kerrigan. It was Sister Anastasia ready now to go. "You'll call Barry up, Colonel," Hal said quickly. "To be sure she's there. You'll keep her there: do anything, tell her anything to keep her there safe till I can get to her, till" Hal's voice lowered to a pitch of bitter shame "till I can kneel in dirt to her." Kerrigan nodded, saying hurriedly, hurried-ly, "Yes, but move: get back soon's you can." "Six hours outside," said Hal, glancing at his watch. "Back by midnight sure. And, Colonel, look do anything, anything to me, but don't ever talk to me like that again, will you?" "D'you spec I could, even If . 1 ever had to?" he said softly. When Hal got to the place where Sister Anastasia was waiting, he felt he was somehow serving Barry in disciplining himself to the nun's service. Anastasia said: "I did not know when I telephoned tele-phoned you : they 'ave told me there is a train to Santa Barbara In twenty minutes; and they 'ave given me money for my ticket, from my brother." "Ah, but sister," said Hal in sincere sin-cere reproof, ;'I was so happy to take you myself. I want to." "I was 'appy, too," she said, keeping keep-ing her eyes from him till she'd said it. Then, looking up at him with tranquil sureness : "But !he Is r 11'" 'H "But She Is Not 'Appy Not at All." not appy not at all. You can do something for 'er now, tonight instead of taking me on this long journey." "But at least i may iake you to the station see you on the train." He touched her arm to turn her toward to-ward the car. and she got In. "Sister," said Hal, after he had started Basputin into the traffic, "1 have been a very great fool, and- 1 have been near to being even a greater one. Now I see things clearly. Sister, I know who her husband is: I know he is evil. It doesn't matter how much I hate him nor how much I am ready to do to get her away from him. What matters mat-ters is that whatever I do, I should be stronger and happier for her, sister, and for myself if you could tell me, as her friend and, I so much hope, mine too, that you also feel I n'ust s.'Ct her from him. It cannot be wicked to take evil from her life, no matter how It Is done, can it? ICven If she will not love me now. for the fool I've been and the wrong I've done, I know about that evil and. loving her, I cannot leave her with it, can I?" lier eyes were on nis full of a frightened seriousness, a deeply fearful solicitude for what he had told her. Looking at him her eyes large. Inarticulate in hopefulness, touched too with some longing sorrow she barelv nodded, once, and then brave-lv brave-lv s aid "You should do something." ' Hal burst Into the room without knocking, hot for Kerrigan's word that Barrv was at her hotel, that he could go 'straight to her now nnd humble himself Irrevocably, before he went on to whatever else must be done in final swiftness. Kerrigan looked at him as if he didn't believe w hat he saw. "She went by train." Hal told him quickly. "You called Barry. She's all right. I can" "I can't get her," Kerrigan said, "hut she's been here. That envelope she left it. I've been trying to think I ought to open it." Hal snatched the envelope and tore it open, nnd fresh fear ran at his heart as his eyes began to follow fol-low the decisive lines. "I shouldn't write, my darling, but I've got to. Being with you, losing you as I shall forever, has shown me my way out and given me strength to take it. When you get back from Santa Barbara, it will be done and there'll be no good in trying to stop me. You mustn't try. I shall be all right. I'm so tired of trying to decide what's good, what's best. I can't have you, but I can have myself free of badness, bad-ness, to remember you and beauty. I can't let you go away thinking I don't love you. "He will find out soon that you are Frederick Ireland's son. But there will be nothing left to show any connection between you and him. So when you see tomorrow's papers, yon must keep quiet. "I love you. I didn't know It would be so much. Darling, forgive me for what I've done to you. Barry." And in postscript: "I don't mean suicide. You'll know that If I couldn't break my bargain for you, I couldn't at all. I'm going to end it." Starting for the door, Hal yelled at Kerrigan: "She's going to kill him. Almighty G d, Kerrigan! She's killing him now 1" In his terror. Hal still had time to be thankful for Kerrigan's agility in pursuit: Kerrigan was behind him, struggling into his coat as they hurried down the hall. Hal's mind was frantic with : Smug, criminal ass, to think I could do this to her, that she'd wait for my rotten apology. Oh Q d, if you're there and you're good, stop her, stop her, stop her. "Battle of Blenheim! drive like a white man," Kerrigan was saying, as second speed began to scream under them. "Get pinched or piled up and you're useless to her useless." use-less." "Kerrigan, If she's not there, you find Crack and stick to him like a thousand leeches," Hal said gently. "I'll find her if G d !" A man, unheeding, darted from among the parked cars at the right. Hal jumped on Kasputin's loyal brakes and felt them drag gallantly at the speed, in a desperate squeal of runner. Then there was a crumpling crum-pling slam of impact behind, and Basputin lunged forward slewing, drunkenly careened by savage force at the rear. As the rigid sedan tipped past the point of recovery, tearing and splintering at the body of a parked car alongside, Hal flung himself upon Kerrigan and fought to make him duck. Then Basputin's solid side smashed upon solid pavement with an abrupt explosion ex-plosion of showering glass. And that was all, except for a small, 'single tinkling, like a distant keyring, key-ring, that diminished in whirls of darkness. CHAPTER X Midweek. rTAL was heavily sick lying in - a bed and heavily sad. His mouth was dry as cloth, and his lips stuck. There was an impression of having hav-ing dreamed a lot of things, crowded crowd-ed close around him and very tiring tir-ing because of their constant demand de-mand for effort. But he couldn't remember anything of what thev were and it didn't matter. There was Barry to think of. Her image appeared quietly in his mind, walking toward him with that straight-legged, inquiring, un-self-conscious grace. Soon he would see her lovely face, her eyes lighted, smiling. It was good to see her walk because last time he'd thought of her last time, she'd been sitting on the edge of a bed, knees clasped hard in her arms, her head bowed, her eyes strange, sullen, dark with Suddenly, oefore ne. knew what it was, Hal yelled her name and struggled against the tight-tucked sheet across his chest; and a dreadful dread-ful avalanche tumbled memory and terror upon his beguilement. He had an arm free before the nurse could get to him. He was breaking the nurse's hold when a young man, in white up Lo the neck, appeared on the other side and forced him back to the pillow. "Listen," said Hal, commanding the attention of. the man's blue eyes: "I'm not delirious; I'm not crazy, you've got to let me upright up-right away. I'll come hack afterward, after-ward, but you've got to let me up. It's a matter of murder murder and I've got to stop It. I swear to you I know what I'm saying. I.0o; in my eyes. I'm sane sane as h i You've got to believe it." The young man said In low assurance", as-surance", "I believe yon, but" "Then In G-d's nanie"-Hal struggled strug-gled heedlessly against the sharp, thorough pain that held his other arm - "minutes, minutes count. Let me up. I've sot to-d-n you, let me up or I'll " "Mr. Ireland!" the young man said sharply. "Listen to me." Then, slowly and significantly, "You've been here for twenty-four hours." Hal knew it was significant even as he wondered why It was said so significantly. Then most terribly ter-ribly he saw; his shoulders fell away from resistance and all his breath went out in a broken cry of anguish and despair. On a swift shadow of hope he said: "But Kerrigan Ker-rigan Where's Kerrigan? The man who was with me In the car. Please, you've got to find out. You will find out quickly, quickly, and let me know. And another thing." What was the other thing? Good G d, he had to hold on till he thought of it something terrible. Yes ! "Another tiling," he said, exhaustion ex-haustion consuming the breath he needed to talk with: "a newspaper one of the morning after my accident. ac-cident. "I've got to see it. I'll go crazy raving unless I know." "Yes, all right," said the interne. After a word to the nurse at the door, he was gone and Hal rolled his head miserably, but In a minute min-ute a white jacket came between him and the wall, and a newspaper newspa-per rustled. They held it over him while he searched the mess of the front page: headlines about Japan, divorce, revelations, a single column head reading, "Man Slain in S. M'ca Blvd. Hotel Room Seek Woman Companion of Martin Crack, PromoterClutched Pro-moterClutched Golf Ball Clew?" Wheels of light spinning against blackness clcsed over the page, and their soft buzzing faded behind thick, deaf cushions at his ears. - Spears, a vice president of the Old Man's correspondent bank in Los Angeles, gave Ha attention and incurious understanding. He came on unsolicited orders from New York, when Hal was finished with the delirious phantom of routed hope. Hal held out his hand and forced the sadness and fatigue out of his, own smile. "Thanks a lot, Spears." "Very glad of the chance to help," said Spears, as though he was. "And what about your father? Shall I tell him anything except that you're coming along well and will drop him a line any day now?" "Oh, yes," said Hal, and tried to think plainly about that too. "Tell him the guy who telegraphed him about me was a nut, that he had nothing on me, that the whole thing's put to bed. Tell him I'm writing him everything and there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Remind him that I never said that before." Then Spears was gone, and the nurse came in to see that Hal was comfortable. He told, her he was Am too, he said to himself, except for shock, slight concussion, compound com-pound fracture of arm, cut head, contusions of hip, d d smell of ether, and Dear God, what were they to the bitter, steady, excruciating, excru-ciating, and just punishment of his soul? The events of his anguish had occurred; they seemed sometimes unreal because his fancy couldn't compass a scene of vicious melodrama melo-drama between the figure of beauty he knew and loved and the figure of evil he knew and hated. In the black, burning chaos of his delirium he had seen Barry standing stand-ing in a room like the one in Saint George; a black automatic pistol, level in her hand, jogged to its own sharp spitting; and Crack stood before be-fore her with his bemused smile, nodding sly approval as each invisible invis-ible bullet punched into him but never even made him drop his indolent in-dolent golf ball. That was unreal, fantastic even in delirium. And yet now, with the delirium behind-marking behind-marking off his new loneliness from his old folly Hal knew something like that had happened. His father had told him he needed need-ed to learn 'about life. He had learned something: he had learned that if you were a vain fool, life in one gesture could give you its lesson and snatch away your most happy chance to apply It, could mutilate you for good in teaching you to avoid mutilation. Did his father know that? Did Sister Anastasia know that? Had Kerrl-gan Kerrl-gan known that? Had Kerrigan O G d, If Kerrigan were dead! .. Then there was another Ion" haunted night maturing its crop of torment to roll Hal's head on the hot pillow, and snatch him from fit-fid fit-fid sleep. And finally another morning morn-ing came, with a new sollditv of hopeless conclusion. The one 'slim shver of recurrent hope, sharp and so very fragile, was still that Kerrigan Kerri-gan might be with Barry. And vet If Kerrigan was well and free 'he would have come here to Hal' or written, or something. I-nter Hal was dozing whpn p heard the nurse saying sonielhin" that sounded like, "It's your sisler to see you." And the name Anasf, leaped Into his niiiul like a cool M of water. He turned his head sn 1''lsl.v that pain ran deep In hi. nrni. "Show her In right away" "Slie's waiting downstairs," 's-,ld thnm-se. "She'll ,,0 up , ,. (TO BE COXTlMw, |