Show BEAUTYS rs I 1 DAUGHTER by kathleen nonis IV 0 haudeen vents harris j narle arvice Sr vice CHAPTER V continued the thing happened quite simply about ten days later victoria had taken kate down to dr H hardis dib tys offices to have one of the younger men there look at a small sprained elbow he stood looking thoughtfully at vie vic and the child for a long minute finally asked her I 1 in n almost an absent voice if she would see him in his own office before she went away vie vic found her way to this guarded and inaccessible sanctum made strangely easy kate had a wrapped molasses peppermint to con sole bole her for recent indignities and vie vic sat earnest and pretty in her new spring clothes looking in puzzled expectancy at the doctor 1 I want to talk tak for a few mi minutes n tes and then yo you talk quentin began egan he drew four firm parallel lines ines in pencil on a scrap of paper looking at them crumpled the paper JP and threw it aside 1 I thought you said the other night ight that you were lonesome that you 0 u were thinking of going to honolulu because you were lonesome 1 I said it to vi vie vic admitted after ter a moment her heart thump A why do you say that you said t to vi in that funny way I 1 1 I know I 1 said it in a fun iy ay way I 1 suppose I 1 meant that I 1 say it to you I 1 there was waa a pause after which le he man recommenced the thing is w he hesitated the thing is that I 1 want ant a home ie said 1 I want my little girl with ne e I 1 told violet about it and ask d her if she thought take I 1 he job she said did she tell you his she tell me anything well she said ayou mean as nurse and housekeeper or as a eife I 1 said well if you put it hat way as a wife ayou get ahat I 1 mean he finished 1 I had een saying housekeeper but faybe what I 1 meant all along was eife he sat back 1 I see victoria mused not boving her eyes from his color same ame into her face and receded again and they both laughed nervously and and thank you she aid then a little confusedly 1 I need a wife badly the man added everyone knows hat violet and john everyone youre coure the kind of woman I 1 want 0 marry I 1 admire you ay asly I 1 I 1 like you very much you mean without loving me victoria asked 1 I thought I 1 thought that was low you wanted it to be the man aid simply victoria looked at him thought arlet ully carlet her breath uneven her face heres the thing quentin baid aldas as she did not speak id be awfully ully proud if do it really would if you wont im going to et out for a while ill go to gerany but id much rather not get ut on account of gwen and my lo spital work everything what 30 0 you say 1 I think better try gerany for a few seconds victora really thought she had said it ft rhen she knew that she had said I 1 lothing audible but that she was looking at him with her throat alry and her heart beating hard md ind all her senses in wild coffus 1 ion on if a man wanted you he could get you she heard him savin if a man wanted you he could ret pet you j 1 I say yes ye s of course she said steadily god he said ill come out to dinner tonight and well tell vi and johnny goodby good by b y kate give me a kiss the gill no this is the way out victoria left him standing there in ills his white coat with little instruments st still in his big hand she was quiet that evening quiet during the days that followed there were but few between the odd sudden talk in quentina Quen tins office and the hour when they two were married only catherine and the witnessed the very simple ceremony victoria with a smart loose coat and a small hat was like a serious child obeying docile seemingly bewildered she had arrested quentin with a small hand on his arm when they went into the clergy mans study had spoken in abick fear arid nervousness quentin youre sure arent youa you the man looked down at her with his wide smile why arent you yes I 1 am she said staunchly afterward when the doctor and violet had kissed her and she and quentin were vere down beside the parked car she had another moment of irresolution 11 are we going to mil MH valley well you knew that quentin said yes I 1 know victoria got into the car well be back monday vi she said through the opened window the waved quentin started the engine they were moving CHAPTER VIE VI the hardisty house on washington street overlooked the presidio wall and the long lines of pines inside the military reservation and the shoulders of the hill ranges that descended on either side of the golden gate there was plenty of fog out here on the summer mornings and victorias back garden descending behind the house beside other hillside gardens was often dripping with milky mist each one of the five floors had three rooms except the basement floor where there were a kitchen two maids rooms a laundry and a servants sitting room in the beginning of her marriage she had said that she hoped to be busy idleness was what jeopardized so many happiness if her duties and responsibilities bili ties in connection with quentin and gwen and the house were not sufficient to keep her occupied then she threatened she would positively take on some work for the blind or for the city orphanage but the blind and the orphanage had no opportunity to experience her kindly charity for from the sunday night when she and quentin had ended their thirty hour honeymoon with a sleepy slow trip to the city and had found temporary quarters in a large hotel there had seemed to be no moment in which vie vic to use her own words had had time to sit down for five minutes to ask herself whet whether er or not she was ter happy whether or not she was glad that she had married as she had so the first year had flown and at the end of it vie vic had awakened quentin in the early dawn of a spring morning and had given him charge of her waiting suitcase and her somewhat silent frightened self there had been a hospital then bright clean rooms flat clean beds everyone telling her that she was behaving splendidly everyone sure of it except herself and after a while the realness of all these things and the city and gwen and the big house and even entin had bad all disappeared into i L hot hurtful fog and still later ashamed and bewildered and apologetic lo vie vic had gratefully slipped anav into nathine no thine just nothing ilist blackness and oblivion and relief from the task that was too h hard ard then th n there had been kenty and vie vic had lain aa n staring at him thoughtfully trinkins not of him awit nt nf her mother mv mother she was so beautiful and young she must have been so frightened and she went through all that for me after the long struggle she had said to quentin 1 I dont want another baby this ones darling I 1 want him but never another but the unexpected ecstasy of having one child after all had made the possibility of having another seem nothing less than a miracle susanna hardisty had swiftly followed her brother and on susans second birthday the crowded hardisty nursery had been enriched by the arrival of richard and robert together even the mother of what she sometimes described as the light infantry had been temporarily left breathless and startled by this promptitude vie vic lived now in a world of small beds small stamping footsteps small shrill voices kenty and sue dick and bobs had filled her life to overflowing she adored them even while she tolled toiled herself into a daily state of exhaustion for their sakes quentin meanwhile was busily building up for himself the most important surgical practice in the city I 1 they rarely went to dinner parties sometimes after their late dinner at home they would slip slin down town for some music fa for r the last acts of a play 0 or the final run of a good film but always they were at home in the evening quentin glad to smoke his pipe to go early to bed vie vic happiest when she was within reach of any call from the nursery other wo men laughed at her perhaps pitied her a little she never pitied herself she was supremely content we like each other she told him on a certain sunday morning when they had been six years man and wife and when an unusual lull in domestic and professional interruptions had by chance afforded them a lazy hour together victoria looked enviously at the comfortable peninsula homes they were passing for by this time the day had somehow rushed about to one and quentin was driving her and the three older children down to menlo park there was a skull fracture to be diagnosed at the hospital and after that the Hardi would go to lunch with the gannetta Gan mrs gannett whose own doctor husband had summoned quentin to this emergency case had hospitably insisted upon the lunch it be until two she had beds upon which the small fry could take their naps please please please come they never e ve saw the Hardi any more they were at the hospital vie vic and the children walked about on the grasi grass while quentin was inside then he came down again and dr gannett came down and the Hardi were to follow the gannett car their way wound up into the hills near woodside they were presently being welcomed by mrs gannett on a porch everything went just as such days always went doctor talk nursery talk spring talk vie vic was alternately proud of her children and anxiously exasperated about them a nurse walked them away with little betsey gannett and there was lunch with chicken and asparagus and beaten biscuit and strawberries and several nice neighbors to share it then all the men went to play golf on the club links a hundred yards away and some of the women played contract victoria played neither and she and her hostess sat talking together vie you mean youre that dav again september I 1 rather hoped you would not guess guess A child in arms would know how old in heavens nam are the twins are they a year old yet A vear weve just 1 had our second birthday celebration well 1 mabel gannet wn rl 1 I think its dreadful goin in for a berh perfectly colv enormous famila these davs with quentin as stun nin as he is and all the women mal m abent hirn birn rh nh icka vicka said as the other women paused and then just before bedfor e the har dillys went home at f five iv e the odd thing happened victoria had led her troop upstairs for last wiping of small faces and buttoning of small coats these operations well under way she had gathered susan under one arm susans brief legs dangling from her hip and preceded the others downstairs to reassure the waiting quentin as to every blodys being just about ready there was a wide lower hall in the gannetta Gan house a hall now filled with soft late afternoon light and empty except for quentin the cheerful voices of the hosts saying farewells could be heard through the open porch doorway victoria had reached the landing and was about to call quentin obviously and patiently awaiting his family when another person came into the hall she came from the direction of the dining rooms a slender graceful woman almost a girl though the voice was a wo mans it was a voice low with reproach and pain now and as she spoke she put her hand on quen tins arm victoria halted baited on the landing had an odd feeling of artise amusement m a surprising feeling that was something like fear as she watched quentin the woman said clearly but in a low tone how can you be so horribly unkind to me victoria saw quentin look down at her from his bis big height sa saw r the good natured smile in in his eyes arn am I 1 horribly unkind to you he asked mildly youre killing me the woman answered passionately with a little choke in her voice oh I 1 say that josephine quentin said you hate me I 1 know that josephine said but I 1 cant help it I 1 have to see you were going friday yes settled it I 1 I 1 think hes crazy but were going and I 1 have to see you before we go will you lunch with me on wednesday operating on old fuller in los angeles I 1 go down tuesday night you know I 1 dont believe you quentin the woman said with a shrewd look but instantly instant Iv her manner changed and softened oh dont be unkind to me be kind to ms me just this once she faltered with unmistakable of tears victoria rooted to the landing saw from quentina Quen tins face that he was embarrassed but he gave no sign of nervousness he was completely master of the situation 1 I dont know what you can have to say to me my dear he said in the kindly masculine look and tone and manner that victoria that all women loved listen youre getting yourself all wrought up he added and he put a hand on her shoulder come into the library with me a minute he suggested they left the hall together to be continued was master of ceremonies and V L cowley was chaplain brigham young was represented by maynard brugger utah of 1847 by miss shirley wilson and utah of 1937 by miss carol cowley sports were enjoyed in the afternoon the days program was in charge of the tip top camp daughters of utah pioneers mrs elwood buchanan is rec recovering ov nicely from an operation she underwent at the sevier valley hospital last week the boy scouts and scoutmaster larue miller enjoyed a fishing trip to fish creek last week wenzil buchanan of mantl manti visited relatives here wednesday mr and mrs airs I 1 A cowley and children mr and mrs D C cowley of richfield and joseph buchanan are enjoying a trip to yellowstone park mr and mrs earl garrett and children of los angeles are visiting mrs garretts parents mr and mrs E D buchanan mr and mrs F W cowley attended d the covered wagon days in salt lake the blue bird girls and their leader mrs sterling brienholt enjoyed a wiener roast wednesday evening mr and mrs isaac spent the week at fishlike fishlake Fish lake visiting mr and mrs marvin and mr and mrs leslie davis mrs lula carson who has been attending summer school at the university of utah in salt lake city returned home sunday mr air and mrs ivan duffin and daughter of draper were guests gues ts sunday of mr and mrs J L reeves the two ladies are sisters mr and mrs H P and family attended the covered cohered wagon days celebration in salt lake city mr and mrs ellis andersen accompanied compa compan nied led by friends from joseph spent the weekend at bryce canyon mr air and mrs J E sargent of sevier and mr air and mrs lee christensen of kimberly were guests sunday of mr and mrs melvin anderson mrs C L buchanan entertained the ladies lub at her home thursday evening mrs susan wilson of richfield and mrs blanch smith of honolulu were guests this week of mr and mrs karl phillips philips |