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Show I sSTIl as I could get leave, I took my wife and daughter to Spain." He paused. For an Instant he bit his lower lip as though to fang out of it the emotion which made it tremble. "There my daughter killed herself." her-self." Neither Patrick nor I made com-ment com-ment He himself made no further comment "When we returned to Paris, however, there was never any question of Eleanor's not being be-ing Theodore Prentiss's child Caroline Car-oline Prentiss. And so she grew up. She has no more idea of her relationship to Ace than you had before I told you this story. As she is a minor, I got her passport She has never seen it "Concealing her real name from Caro has been one of the minor troubles of my life. But I've accomplished ac-complished it I brought tier up in Paris, as you know. But as she grew older, I wondered about her forbears in America. I knew that people thought of Ace Blaikie as a rich man. I knew that he had property in Satuit Massachusetts. I began to wonder if, as he grew older, he would not want his only child if only child she were to inherit in-herit that property. At first I put this thought out of my mind. But He paused and looked Inquiringly at Patrick. Patrick nodded. He did not speak. I knew that no more than I would he have inter-rupted inter-rupted the flow of that story. Doctor Marden went on. "My wife threw herself into war work too. For four years she worked daily at the American Ambulance in Neuilly. Eleanor-perhaps now I had better tell you about Eleanor. Elea-nor. ; "Eleanor was a natural nurse. She never took a course in nursing, nurs-ing, but I taught her everything I knew. She volunteered when I did and the French sent her to the hospital at Courcy-sur-Seine. She stayed there for about a year. I saw her only at Irregular intervals. I had an occasional, permission from the front and then she and my wife and I would try to manage a reunion at our home in Paris. But I did not see much of Eleanor during dur-ing the first months of the war. I went through what many husbands were going through in France then. I saw my wife getting more and more fatigued nervously exhausted. exhaust-ed. But Eleanor stood up to it marvelously. But every time I saw her, it seemed to me that she had become more of a woman, more and more beautiful Then Ace Blaikie appeared in her life." Again Doctor Marden came to a pause and now he did not cover his face with his hands. He presented, unscreened, the hard bitter eyes, the tight-shut lips; the setness of every line and curve. "I know that you, Mrs. Avery, are acquainted with the factors of Ace Blaikie's war experience because be-cause I've heard you discuss them so often." "And besides," I reminded him. "my husband was in France." "Well then, I will merely say that it was while he was in the Foreign Legion that he met Eleanor. It seemed to have been a case of love at first sight Certainly with Eleanor. And as she afterward told me, Doctor Blaikie said it was so with him. But when it comes to Doctor Blaikie and love " The expression on Doctor Mar-den's Mar-den's face deepened so horribly that it was as though the blood behind the flesh had turned to ink. "he did not know really what love was. On that side he was not man but beast At any rate they met as often as his permissions and hers allowed. What happened of course was that Ace Blaikie discovered dis-covered that in order to possess my daughter, he must offer her marriage. mar-riage. Understand" Doctor Mar-den's Mar-den's voice shot to us a peremptory peremp-tory order. "Understand that this was not a subject that Eleanor would discuss with any man. He had to learn that to sense it And he was apparently extremely acute in sensing the reactions of the other oth-er sex. At any rate they were married mar-ried secretly. That was before the United States came in. It was in the Bummer of 1915. I will not go into all the ins and outs of this. I will say only that marriage in France is a very complicated matter. mat-ter. Ace Blaikie had made friends with a French officer who had a long pull. He fixed it so that Ace and Eleanor were married secretly. secret-ly. "Presently Eleanor found herself pregnant She told me afterward that there was nothing in the world she wanted so much as to bear a child. It was several months after aft-er this discovery before she saw Ace Blaikie. At their first meeting, meet-ing, she told him that she was going THURSDAY Continued 14 He reached into one pocket and then another, another and another. "I cannot keep a pencil," he muttered. I moved in the direction of my desk. Before I could reach it, however. how-ever. Doctor Marden had offered Patrick a fountain pen. Patrick busied himself a moment or two writing, handed the pen back. "Thank you very much, Doctor Marden. I won't detain you any longer." "Oh by the way, Doctor Marden" Mar-den" Patrick reached into his pocket again "do you recognize that?" Doctor Marden answered instantly. instant-ly. "Yes." "Does it belong to you?"-"Yes." you?"-"Yes." "When did you last see it?" "The last time I noticed it was when I put on my slippers to go to the masquerade. It's one of a pair of old paste buckles that I bought some years ago in Paris. I lost it that night." "Had you any idea where you lost it?" "I thought it must have dropped off in that walk I took. It seems to me that had it been lost in the bouse, I would have noticed it" "Did you make any attempt to find it?" "Yes. I got up very early Sunday Sun-day morning and went over the road I took, to see if I could find it" "Don't you think that hat might look suspicious?" "Perhaps. But I suppose l would also think that whether it looked suspicious or not would depend on my standing in the community my reputation for decency and honor. hon-or. I am perfectly willing to admit ad-mit that I didn't want to be involved in-volved as a witness in this case. Naturally I did not want to get into it Moreover, the buckle is an extremely ex-tremely valuable one. It is part 'of a set and although that was not, in view of the great tragedy, of momentous Importance, it was of some importance." "Well." Patrick decided, "I guess that will be all." Doctor Marden arose. He bowed to Patrick; came over to my side; bent low over my hand. "Dear lady," la-dy," he said, "I cannot tell you how much I think of you in these distressing days." Something in his voice brought the tears to my eyes again. Then with his quick, light step, he started to go. "I'm afraid. Doctor Marden," Patrick said his last word, "I shall have to ask you not to leave the ago, she was a widow. She had been widowed twice and both times under tragic conditions. Her first husband, Theodore Prentiss, also a New Yorker, was thrown from his horse a month after their marriage. He died instantly. She became the mother of his posthumous child a boy, Theodore Prentiss. Five years later, she married again Addison Dacre. He too was a New Yorker. While they were traveling in France, he died in Paris of a case of pneumonia. She was pregnant at the time and the shock brought on the premature birth of a little girl who was to be named Eleanor Dacre. I was established as a physician in Paris and I -,vas called in on the case. This was immediately immedi-ately after the funeral I never met Addison Dacre. "Mrs. Dacre was a beautiful woman a very lovely woman. I felt that if the child died, her very reason would go. I threw myself heart and soul into saving that premature pre-mature little waif and I did save her. I took care of her for months. Of course that constant attendance brought Mrs. Dacre und me very close. By the time Eleanor was a year old, we realized that life meant nothing to either of us without with-out the other. Six months later we were married quietly in Paris. My practice was there and we have lived in Paris, except for our holidays, holi-days, ever since. My wife died two years ago and, after I had a little recovered from my grief, I decided to return to America. But I am running ahead of my story. I must go back to Eleanor. "There could not possibly ever have lived a more lovely child than Eleanor. And when I use the word 'lovely,' I use it advisedly. She was lovely In face and figure; lovely love-ly in heart and spirit I adored her. "A beautiful child, Eleanor grew to be a beautiful woman. I do not think that this is prejudice. Everywhere, Every-where, her appearance made a sensation. sen-sation. That was not entirely due to her beauty perhaps. It was partly part-ly her coloring. It was the most delicate blonde I have ever seen ethereal. Often Mrs. Marden and I discussed the proper adjective to apply to Eleanor. She was not angelic an-gelic nor seraphic nor cherubic. She was too tall to be fairy-like. She was sprite-like. Her hair was the palest gold, her features what we used to call mignonne, her eyes deeply violet "The French always stared at her and in Spain and Italy she created cre-ated such a sensation that she did not like to go out on the street alone. She had courage enough, Then He Took Up Ilia Story Again. it kept recurring. It troubled me. I finally found it was keeping me awake nights. Sleepless nights began be-gan to recur a little too often. I made inquiries and found that Ace Blaikie was not only accepted as a bachelor but that nobody knew that he had ever been married. Ultimately Ulti-mately I decided to come to the United States, to establish myself at Satuit It made tilings easy for me because I had never met Ace Blaikie. In the war somebody started start-ed calling Eleanor 'Sister Dora,' after an old novel, the heroine of which was a nurse. I confess I have never read it Ace Blaikie never called her anything but Sister Dora. Although Eleanor's name was Dacre, the name of Marden might of course linger in Ace Blaikie's mind. Still, as I said before, be-fore, there had been at least half a dozen physicians named Marden working in Paris during the war. Last spring, as you both know, 1 came here to Satuit I met Ace Blaikie socially, of course, although I made no effort to meet him. Caro's name was neither his nor mine. If the coincidence of a physician phy-sician from Paris by the name of Marden gave him pause, he did not let me know it He may have thought of me only as one of the Marden connection in Paris. "In the meantime I studied my man. I found that he was engaged to be married to a beautiful, charming and estimable young girl That girl became Caro's most devoted friend. I confess to you I did not know what to do. If he married. Ace Blaikie was likely to have children. In the matter of inheritance, in-heritance, his legitimate heirs would of course take precedence over Caro. And the last thing in the world I wanted for Caro's sake was a scandal. I let the summer drift by in a welter of indecision." in-decision." He paused again and seemed reminiscently to survey that long direful period. .Then he took up his story again. "And then Drina Demoyne died. The newspaper accounts of her career said that she had married but once to an actor, Allan Banks. This was before the war. They said that once the two separated for a few years, but were never divorced. Subsequently, they came together again and lived together until Miss Demoyne died. She left him all her property. I have in my possession Banks' affidavit that he never was divorced from Drina Demoyne. Ace had mistakenly thought he committed com-mitted bigamy in marrying my daughter but Drina Demoyne had actually committed bigamy in marrying mar-rying him. That changed the whole complexion of affairs. Caro was no longer illigitimate that is, provided provid-ed Ace Blaikie had married no other woman. She. was the heir to his estate. (TO BE CONTINUED) Head until I give you permission. "I give you my word I shall not leave it" "Well, Mary," Patrick said in a weary tone. "It all makes sense. Here we have a perfect design Torriano first, Margaret next then Marden. No one of them seems to have told anything but the truth. They're all dying to tell the truth. If somebody would only lie, maybe I could get the answer. Of course Margaret said she thought she, heard something stirring in the bushes. Marden apparently noticed nothing like that Now there may have been another person involved or any number. For that matter, Margaret Fairweather may have returned and Oh, I don't know who killed Ace Blaikie. I'm no nearer knowing than I was Saturday. Satur-day. Who's that?" Vaguely in the back of my mind I had heard Doctor Marden drive off. In the back of my mind I heard a second motor turn into the drive. It stopped. Presently a light swift step came through the hall and into the living room a light swift step strangely stiffened by determination. "I've come back to tell you the JJj If hi to make their marriage public. She could see, as she told me subsequently, subse-quently, that Ace Blaikie was appalled ap-palled at this discovery. He tried to get her to withdraw from ' the hospital and go to America. And if not to America, to Italy or Spain. Eleanor steadily refused. Finally, she told him if he gave her no help, she must apply to me that the marriage must be announced. Thereupon, he told her that she was, in reality, not married at all That a few years before, he had secretly married in the United States an actress by the name of Drina Demoyne " "Drina Demoyne!" I interrupted. "I've seen Drina Demoyne. Why, what was it I read about her Just the other day? She died recently." "Yes," Doctor Marden answered. "Her death has a great bearing on this story. That revelation of Ace Blaikie's was really Eleanor's death warrant She never saw him again. But she communicated with me once. I got a permission and came back from the front She told me the whole story. My wife and I had but one idea to save Eleanor's reputation. Now it happened hap-pened that my wife's son by her first marriage, Theodore Prentiss, was living during the war in a remote re-mote village in southern France. He volunteered for both the French and American armies. But he had always been an invalid and he could not be used either as a soldier sol-dier or in any civilian capacity. He was married and his wife was pregnant I sent Eleanor to them. My step-son's wife died bringing a dead child into the world. Theodore Theo-dore survived her only six months. In the meantime, Eleanor bore a perfectly healthy baby whom she named Caroline after my wife. This was the Caro whom you know. Before Be-fore he died. Theodore suggested a plan. We carried it out We registered reg-istered her in the Marie of Laitry as Caroline Blaikie. We registered her under that name as an American Ameri-can citizen, with the consul of Marseilles. Mar-seilles. I can show you that she bears that name on her passport But we told all her friends in Paris and have told them ever since that she was Theodore's child. As soon rest of my story, mi. w said Myron Marden. "I haven't told you all of it yet!" Involuntarily we all three sat down. H "I will begin it by telling you. Doctor Marden took up the story in the quietest voice I had ever heard from him, "something that will, I think, come as a great surprise sur-prise to you." He paused as though to summon his strength for the revelation. "Ace Blaikie is the father fa-ther of my granddaughter Caro Prentiss." He paused again as though for a question or comment from us. But neither Partick nor I spoke. We did not stir. His statement had worked too great a paralysis for us either to speak or move. "I'll have to go back of course to tell fou how it came about I will begin with my own marriage. My wife was a New York woman. When I met her, about forty years "Do You Recognize That?" but she hated the little incidents which occurred here and there along the way. I will not say that Eleanor was an angel although she was a kind of modern angeL She was too vigorous to suggest that sort of thing. But she was absolutely honest She was sweet She was kind. We worshiped her-my her-my wife and L" Doctor Marden came to a full stop. He put his hand over his ye, and sank back into the past Presenty with a deep s.gh he emerged into the present agaiiu "When the war came. I enlisted as a volunteer in the French medi-"iMrvice. medi-"iMrvice. I will jay here that we are a medical family, so to Trlnlt Before the war was over, S we half dozen Marden. working in France. Wher , the Umt-ed Umt-ed States came in. I was trans ferred to the American semce. |