Show D I H 1928 INC It f hY ELEANOR EARLY TillS THIS U S n. Sybil Thorns Thome Boston DOlton ocl ty girl has had a a. dramatic and anI lire life When she WM wa very young she Zeli fell ell desperately desperate desperate- Iy ly In Jn love with a. a soldier John John Lawrence Lawrence Law Law- aw- aw rence renee who went to France with the AE A A. E E. a F. F on the very ver- eve eTC of ot their mar mar- rises and And never r returned Years later Sybil married Richard ois Js philanderer and adventurer after ecter a II five-day five courtship The They lived together r only ony two weeks A son was born wh whim ln Sybil for her own dead deai fath father r. r When h little Teddy was was' a a. year jear ear old Syi l decided to divorce her Iter hu husband band It was Wall wasa a a. highly sensational cue case in return brought suit against Craig yen Xen- e hall hail for alleging alienation of ot Sybil's affections Craig cral had loved Sybil tenderly and devotedly for but butas was as guiltless of ot Eustis Eustis' contentions Finally the day comes to bring It au auto all 11 to court Sybil sits with her family awaiting the arrival of her husband hus Suddenly tragic news Is brought to the judges judge's b bench Richard EustiS motoring from New Haven with his attorney has been Deen killed In an n automobile accident Sybil offends her her- family and scandalizes scandal izes her friends by going that nl night ht to the theatre and giving a tea on the day dayot of ot her husbands husband's funeral Her friend trl d Mabel Blake la is apartment apartment apart- apart ment hunting and anti asks Syb Sybil ll to accompany pan pany her The real estate agent is II to call for them When h hs opens the door Sybil shrieks John Johnl I Ha He recognizes her and nd falls fails fainting In n the doorway doof SOW OW GO ON OS WITH TUB TIlE STORY STOEr CHAPTER It was Mabel iMabel who lifted the still figure and pressed her handkerchief handkerchief chief chiet to the blood that tri trl trickled kled I from his forehead Theres whisky in the decanter decanter decanter decan decan- ter ter she said sal In the highboy Sib Get it between his lips No h let he-let here let e-let let me do it Get some water The two girls knelt oyer him and Mabels Mabel's compassionate glance was divided between the boy who lay like a corpse and the girl who looked like death Presently his eyelids fluttered and he gazed wild- wild eyed eed into Sybil's face Its YOU lie e whispered She wet his cheeks cheeks' with her tears as she cradled his head in her arms They were were alone Mabel had taken talen Tedd Teddy and left them John Lawrence Lal passed his his' hand wearily across his forehead Gazed absently at the blood bloo 1 that streaked d his fingers lingers and turned like a wondering wondering won von dering child chUd to Sybil I forgot he said Its very ery strange The war war and and everything It tt was vas all all' before the war wasn't it She nodded Somewhere she had read ead stories about amnesia Once Once Once- long ago she ago she had believed John Jolla would c come me back But nobody ever ever did only did only In books and movies And those stories about amnesia People didn't put much faith in them There Ther was that boy the papers called the Mystery Hero One arm gone They thought he lost It It inthe Inthe in inthe the Argonne PeoPle made such a fuss luss over him him him- him alienists and psychiatrists pay pay- and rich old w women m n. n Some woman with barrels barrets of oC mony money married mar mar- ried ned him Then they discovered he wasn't a soldier at all Hed He'd lost his arm in Ia an explosion And that soldier ex-soldier In Roxbury Roxbury- lii Ills his wife had him arrested for non- non support He lie claimed to have lost his Ills memory mory and when she ho he faced him In court with their child he ho said he had never seen either cither of or them before But t the e judge die wouldn't believe him and sent him to jail There were lots lotsof of ot stories Am Am- nesia like charity covered a a. multitude multitude multi multi- tude tudo of sins But John John John-John John wouldn't tell such lies Why should he He lIe loved her her didn't he Of Ot course he had w. w wanted to come home to he her e Its very strange he lie murmured And in dumb anguish she inclined her head It WAS Very strange The baby Is baby is It yours oms She nodded They said you were dead At first I wouldn't believe it it I waited and waited But Thit you never never came I was married two and a half years ago My My-my My my husband is dead John Lawrence groaned God In heaven He struggled to his feet exploring exploring exploring ing his pockets nervously On his outstretched palm he ho extended a small white box Look Look Its Its It's a. a wedding ring I bought It this morning The banns were published last Sunday Oh I my God Sybil What are we we going to to do He put his hands over his face and she kissed his fingers ers timidly II John look at me dear Its It's so long long so so long ago Do we care dear still still She pried his fingers from rom his his hair and he took her het hands and kissed them wildly Then sh she was in his arms arms struggling gling protesting entreating Deaf Deat to her pleas he caressed her Kissed her lips and her eyes and her poor pale face and her ler white throat Until spent with ardor they sank on the divan like tired children and her hez head fell tell limply in the hollow of his der del derTell Tell me me she whispered and her voice oice was was was' small and wear weary Begin at the beginning a a STruth S Truth they s say y is stranger than fiction Here then is the story John Lawrence told fold Sybil The war played strange tricks on men And for exquisite cruelty psychosis turned the screws that screws that dread affliction that spared the body and the soul He lIe told his story disjointedly dl They were marching in squad columns rh The objective objective oh oh h no matter Earth and trees sprouted up like ie geysers sers There were were weird lights in the sky and shells sheIls screeching screeching screech screech- ing like hell let loose He was scared seared No use lying Knees shak shak- ins ing There was an explosion Worse than the rest A shell you ou know Right in the middle of oC the squad Oh darling Its It's Its It's Its It's no use I never neVel tried to talk about it before Blood and mud Fellows blown to pieces arms and and legs legs legs- and and-and and jand things S Sybil bil hold my hand Ah All sweetheart Xo No o l I Mans Man's ns n's Land they called it He was sobbing Crying like like 1 a to baby her baby her soldier back from the wars I Oh John John iny my dear My dear He lie had lain there dt It seemed Days nobody Days nights nobody knew Once he found a little p. p pool ol er crawling 6 to It through h the slime And when he lie put his lips to it and drank it was sweet and and sticky Blood Hed He'd wiped It oft off with his sleeve It was wa 5 all over his face B By and ana Ih h dug duga ii a hole with hole with his hands To bury some poor Tellow's fellows fellow's fel Tel lows low's head It lay th there re you rou see staring up at the moon Awful The Tho teeth showed There was a chap he knew All be he could see w was was as his h hand StickIng Stick Stick- ing out of some awful muck heap Recognized the ring A big black stone The 6 Chap chaps chap s m mother ther had given It to him on his twenty first birthia birth- birth ria ia clay H He told John so so Someone to talk to Oh 95 God don dont don't t let him Wm be e dead He reached for tor the hand Touched it It icy icy cold Come on on old man man man- man out ut of oC that damn slime Ill I'll give you a pull A mighty wrench h A there- there thai that's s better He lIe chafed the tIle frozen wrist anc and hunched forward on his elbows to see his friends friend's face It wasn't Jim Sybil Only his arm It came off See See-In you OU see in my hand like that JOHN Dont Don't dear Yes Ive e Y never talked be- be oe- oe f fore Its It's like a dam that's broken Thoughts Thou flowing free again It Jt helps S Sybil S S S e So she let him delier deliver himself of his misery 1 Vaguely Incoherent Incoherent- y At last they found him Took him to a hospital Base hospital No 18 At Ills His leg les was broken and his left armS armS arm S Sec hoW e-how how crooked it is The leg set better Shrapnel scars on my body Ribs caved in Pretty much of a bust And I couldn't tell them thema a thing Sybil Not my m name or my o outfit Nothing at all My mind was wasn a an an n absolute blank Every Everything thins that happened before the explosion might just as well have NEVER h happened so far tar as I was con con- c When squads blew up men were p put ut down as missing presumably d dead ead The presumption was sate safe c cn enough ugh And that was how John Lawrence came to be listed first firsts a as s missing and and finally killed i in n action He had escaped in delirious f light flight from Base Hospital No 18 in in h his is pajamas mas one night If It they had k known his name they would have d him after 10 days as a d deserter But because he was nameless nameless name name- l less ess he was spared that ignominy And when they came upon him in Bordeaux they sent him back a again gain There were months of it He did didot n not ot know how man many Finally the Armistice was declared But I was of off my nut I didn't c care are And you jou ou didn't ever think o ome of me she whispered No dear deai You see I wish i I could make you ou understand It was wasas as 1 if my past was all behind a great wall If It I could pierce the waIl wall I knew Id I'd find the life Id I'd l left eft behind I 1 I simply couldn't get geto getto getto t to o it It was like a a. physical struggle struggle g gle le trying It was as if it I had died and gone Oh s say y Id I'd gone to Mars MarsAnd MarsAnd MarsAnd And after death I knew Id I'd lived o on n a different planet But It was dreadfully far away There was no noone noone noone one on Mars Mais who could help me ma go goback back bade and no one on on earth to come cometo come cometo t to o g get t me Do you see dear Can CanI I make male you ou feel the thing at all i It t was like Ine standing on a brink with darkness behind me Trying t to o remember was was like trying tring to see with eyes eves bandaged There was not one glimmer of light to help I r tried to reconstruct a life such as other fellows had I studied faces photographs faces photographs even Searching for features eyes any eyes smiles any anything t thing hing that would help me ber Middle aged faces Ike like f fathers athers and mothers I tried to re reconstruct reconstruct reconstruct re- re construct m my m childhood Then I began to wonder if there had been a girl A sweetheart I read ead love hove stories stones seeking to relive any romantic episode that had colored colored colored col col- col- col ored my life I closed my eyes eyes eyes- and thought of kisses soft kisses soft arms a beautiful face fac a lovely body And AndI I made m myself sel ache with longing longing- but that was all It brought back nothing I Finally they sent me home home to to the States Walter Valter Reed hospital I In Washington There was a congresswoman congresswoman congresswoman con- con from Massachusetts there there- there Mrs Irs roster Foster Angel el the fellows Tel fel I lows called her i She took an Interest in me methe methe methe me- me the same sort of oC interest she took In every poor devil She had a notion notion no no- tion I was from Boston She talked to me about H Harvard but it didn't mean a thing I knew a little German German German Ger Ger- man and some Spanish Id I'd read a good deal and discovered I could translate Creek Greek But I dont don't know lwow yet et where here I learned those things Youre loure all i I r remember dear Nothing else but you And until I saw you ou when I opened that door you u hadn't crossed my my mind in 10 years Sybil bit her lip on a despairing little moan Do you ou remember everything n now John No No but but I will Its It's coming back I can feel it its it's like seeing figures in a fog I found you ou first Ill I'll find the rest later hater He drew her to him Do you ou love me Sybil To be continued |