OCR Text |
Show iTRAILER GIRL juag. By VERA BROWN CHAPTER XXIV The day after Christmas "Manhattan "Manhat-tan Idyl" was hung in the Knodler Galleries, and Mrs. Austin went early ear-ly in the afternoon to see it. Like Wild, it fascinated her, and a crowd of people were milling around before be-fore it She left shortly, afraid that Wild might come along, for he and Lynn were due there at 5 o'clock for tea. She had made sure of that face, and because she was so sure of what was going to happen, she went directly from the galleries to Mr. Harlen's office. "Have you heard anything yet?" "I don't expect word for a while. Just be patient. Just what do you expect to find?" "I don't know. But there must be something!" Mrs. Austin waited, her hands clenched in her lap. "I can wait. It does not matterl" Wild and Lynn went to the tea for Rene, and crowds flocked to see the picture. Later they dined quietly and Wild got Lynn home early for she was very tired. When she hung up her coat at last she stopped suddenly where she stood. There on the floor was a half-used half-used paper packet of matches. Puz-iled, Puz-iled, she picked them up. They were from the Hotel Astor. She threw them on the table, thinking Wild must have dropped them, and tried to settle herself at the table to write letter to her sister. . When she opened her desk she had an off feeling feel-ing that things seemed awry. "I'm nervous tonight." She got a few words down on the sheet of paper, pa-per, but her ring winked up at her maliciously, and she threw down the CHAPTER XXV Lynn in her bathrobe stood facing Wild, dazed with the bright light, the sudden, sharp ring of her door bell. "Lynn." His voice was harsh. "Get dressed immediately. We're getting married tonight. Now." "Married?" Lynn's voice sounded strange to him. "Now, tonight, this morning! Get dressed, Lynn." He did not come near her, and she stared at him, thinking of that other night, wondering if he were drunk. He read her thoughts: "I'm not drunk. Hurry. It will take us at least three hours to get into Maryland." Lynn did not move. With one hand she leaned heavily on the table ta-ble as though to steady herself. As she looked, his eyes told her the whole story. He knew! She did not stop to ask how. Her terrified eyes did not move from his face. "I said, get dressed, Lynn. We're getting married in three hours." He came toward her as though to take her in his arms. "No." The monosyllable stopped him short. He swayed slightly as he stood there. His eyes were desperate. despe-rate. Lynn's teeth were chattering in the cold of the room. He looked at her until it seemed to her she could bear his eyes no longer. He brushed his hand over his face. "It is true, isn't it." Even then, there was an unbelieving note in his voice. Even in her own desperation despera-tion she felt a terrible pity for him. put her on the couch. He knelt before be-fore her and tried to quiet her, but it was long time before she coulC listen to him. "My dear, my dear!" Rene's voice broke as he looked into her eyes. "My poor baby!" He took her to his arms then. "He'll come back, dear. He 1J come back if I have to bring him at the point of a gun!" To neither of them did it seem ironical that Rene, the husband, should talk so. He made coffee and forced her to drink a scalding cup. Then he went off to dress and came back to make his plans. "I'll see him just as soon as I can. Can I telephone him at home?" T don't know!" Lynn could only moan. He got Austin Manor on the wire after a little while, but the butler refused to call Mr. Wild until he knew who was telephoning. Rene gave his name and waited. The butler came back: "Mr. Wild is not here." Then Rene tried the office. The same response. Rene hated to go back to the bleak studio, but he hurried hur-ried there just the same. Lynn's eyes were beseeching when he came in the door, but she asked no questions. ques-tions. She knew the answer. "I'll try later in the day." By 10 o'clock Lynn could stand it no longer and Rene went again to try his luck. The butler was on the line again. Rene tried to change his voice. "Mr. Wild is sailing this morning for Europe." That was enough for Rene. He pen. A sudden panic seized her. She rummaged into a drawer, hunting hunt-ing for the damning piece of paper. It was there, folded neatly, under some letters from Bangor. Lynn tried to think straight "If I tell him honestly and squarely, just how things are, he'll believe me. But his mother? What will she do? She'll have to know." While Lynn lay there in the shabby apartment trying to straighten out the tangle into which she had got her life, Wild was in his mother's sitting-room at Austin Manor. He was surprised at her agitation. "Wild, you know I love you?" The danger signal! It had always been so, Mrs. Austin could feel him stiffen, become hostile. Tears came to her eyes, and she prayed for the right words, for help. "Wild, that girl was married to Bouchier last Spring. On February 26, in Lu Lu, S. C." Mrs. Austin's voice sounded tired and old. "No, it isn't true. I don't even have to ask Lynn." Wild was angry. "I know Rene, and I know Lynn. Rene knows I'm going to marry her." "Raymond!" She never called him that, only in a crisis. "Raymond. Look at me. One of Mr. Harlen's men found the marriage license in her apartment today!" Wild stared down at his mother's bent head. "Mother! You had her rooms searched?" He was unbelieving unbeliev-ing that she would stoop so low. Mrs. Austin raised her head: "I did!" She looked her son straight in the eyes. "I did, Wild. To you that seems dishonorable. I'd do much more than that for your safety!" safe-ty!" The hot color came into the man's cheeks. "It was there, Wild. I knew there was something wrong. I knew when I saw the portrait. I knew!" Wild stood there for a long time, looking unseeingly at his mother. "I do not believe it." His voice sounded unnatural and Mrs. Austin's Aus-tin's heart beat so hard it hurt. He said he did not believe, but at least she had made him listen! Her boy's eyes were hostile. To her horror she saw almost hatred in them. "Wild!" she pleaded. He looked at his wrist watch. It was after midnight He turned abruptly and walked to the door without speaking to her. "Wild!" she called after him, desperate. des-perate. She could not let him go like this. She ran out into the hall and saw the door of his room was open. As she came to it, panting for breath, he met her in the doorway, door-way, his hat and coat on. "Where are you going?" "To Lynn. I am going to marry her, tonight!" She tried to take his arm, but he shook off her touch. "I'm going to her. If you've lied. I'll never forgive you!" Then he ran down the wide staircase. Shortly Wild was driving like a madman over the slippery roads into Manhattan. The faster he drove the more furious furi-ous Wild became at his mother. It was very quiet in the sleeping city when he pulled up in front of her apartment. He parked his car and got out stiffly. When he pushed the buzzer of her apartment, it seemed a long time before the door clicked open. In the elevator he leaned against the wall and he felt dizzy and sick. "God!" Now that he was here, a terror took possession of him. If it were true? But it was not. At Lynn's door he knocked gently. She opened it a crack. "It's me. Wild, dear. I must talk to you." Then in a moment, he faced her in the glare of light He turned to the door. His voice finally broke that stillness: "You are a dirty little cheat!" Then he opened the door. He did not look at her again. In a moment she was kneeling there, alone before the closed door, and she could hear the elevator door clank open. "Wild!" She huddled there on the cold floor, and she wished that she could die. She kept whispering his name, but she could not cry. And always was that voice of her conscience: con-science: "If you had told him yourself! your-self! If you had had the courage!" "I'm a dirty little cheat." She said the words aloud, slowly. Her own voice startled her, and for the first time she wept a little. But Lynn had not tears for this crisis. Worst of all, she had only a bitter regret to comfort her. She could not blame Wild. It was her own fault. But that only made the well of suffering into which she had sunk the more difficult to bear. "If only ..." She framed the words with her stiff lips. She sat there at the window taut with waiting. He must come back! As Lynn sat quiet, bent over with suffering there by the window, Wild drove his car up the roadway to his home. He must see his mother. As he came upstairs he could see a streak of light under her door. He tapped gently. Mrs. Austin, worn and tired, opened the door to her son. "My boy!" "Mother!" As though he were a little boy, she gathered him into her arms. She crooned to him, patted his hair. His shoulders shook. "I'm sorry, Mother." "I know. I was cruel. But it had to be done, Wild. It had to be done." "I know." She was shocked at his drawn face. She tried to comfort him, but he shook his head. "You've been walking, you're all wet and cold." He did not seem to hear what she said. "I'm a fooL mother." He tried to smile at her. "You warned me." His face felt stiff, and he was inexpressibly in-expressibly weary. Suddenly, he, too, seemed to see the days stretching stretch-ing ahead. "What am I going to do?" His voice was filled with horror. "We all carry on." "I've got to get away. I can't stay here. I'd go mad." He took off his overcoat and turned to Mrs. Austin. Aus-tin. "It's odd, but I feel as though I'd been sick for weeks." He turned away from her. He was anxious, now that he had made his peace, to be alone. "Let me come with you." "No, I've got to face this out, alone, mother." And he left her to cry herself to sleep in the gray of the morning. To Lynn it seemed that the end of the world had come. She watched with surprise, the people going to work in the street below. When it was 8 o'clock, she got up hurriedly and dressed. She'd go beg Rene to help her. She ran most of the two blocks to Rene's studio and came up the stairs panting. She fell into his arms sobbing sob-bing wildly. She clung to him in desperation, her only friend. "Rene, you've got to get him back! Somehow, you've got to get him back!" He tried to get a coherent story out of her, but her sobs choked her voice, and he had to guess most of what had happened. "He's gone!" she kept repeating Rene tried to quiet her, but now that the flood gates were opened under un-der his sympathy, she was hysterical. hysteri-cal. It was cold In the studio and he wrapped a blanket about her and grabbed a newspaper and hunted through the day's sailings. He found it. The He de France was sailing at 11. He came back to Lynn. "Get yourself fixed up. We're going over to Fifty-seventh Street He's sailing." There was not much time. Sailing Sail-ing was at 11. They could not get aboard, but they stood together near the gangplank watching. Suddenly Lynn saw Wild. He was hurrying toward the gangplank. She tried to call his name, but the crowds cut her off from him and he could not hear. Mrs. Austin was 1 with Wild and so was Chuck. His good-bys to them were short, and shortly after he had boarded the ship, the crew began to pull in the gangplank. Lynn's eyes were blurred with tears as the big boat began to move. For a long time they stood there. She leaned heavily against Rene. "Come." He shook her gently. "We must go home." CHAPTER XXVI Lynn did not come to Rene's studio stu-dio to pose the next morning. When she had not come at 11 o'clock, Rene put on his mackinaw and walked over to her apartment. He could not get an answer to his ring for some time, but finally Lynn unlocked the door. She stood there weaving uncertainly. "I'm pretty sick," she managed. Rene got her back into bed and called a doctor. "Bad sore throat Bed for a few days," was the verdict. Rene telephoned tele-phoned Mme. Reanoud and consulted consult-ed with the doctor. They tried to get her into a hospital but they were all crowded. The doctor found a practical nurse and Rene felt relieved. re-lieved. At least there would be somebody some-body to look after the girl. Rene was a poor nurse. He would be of no use in a sick room. Rene came every day, brought her flowers, read to her. The day Lynn was first able to sit up Wild landed at Havre. Lynn hoped against hope that he might cable But it was clinging to a straw. It was that night Mme. Reanoud came to see her little model. She found Lynn sitting up wrapped in a blanket. "What is all this about?" Madam demanded when she saw Lynn's face. "I've been sick." "Nonsense. I mean, what is really the matter with you?" When Lynn would not answer, Mme. Reanoud took a hand. "Now look here, child. You need some plain talking to." She settled herseU in the uncomfortable chair and began: "Of course, 1 kr, what's toe matter. The young man gone off. It was bound to iet Co baPerS- YU can'1 around and be engaged to a millionaire and have him duck on a boat for Eu rope righ in the midst of it with"t having this town by the ears " "I suppose not." Tear, came into Lynn's eyes for a moment. 4he j. nothing to say. Just that he " "What about you?" "What about me'" r,r. was tragic as shdXVord; "I've a little money saved. S go up home for a while " Sh TShl out of the window, & ET" How can I g0 on'" r denly turned appealing MarT' and m a morrient shg y l Ma dam older woman's arms lhe "Poor kid!" Madam's eyes u, wet Lynn seemed so ultedv v " and defenseless Sho y youn throttled Wild BumT haV( been sure this w,JUd h.-,p, had 'TOBKCOYUM , , |