Show w lary LADY LARKSPUR lj A xv aw ule it ta by MEREDITH NICHOLSON copyright by charles scribners sees boo a tady LADY LARKSPUR if lady larkspur is a delightful little of a story by meredith nicholson author of the house of a thousand candles candies a and n d other charming romances that nearly everybody has read its short and sweet and full of the fanciful charm which has made nicholson deservedly popular bob singleton is the hero hes an aviator invalided invalid ed home his uncle bashford has married an englishwoman in japan in his old age died and left a widow whom bob has never seen said widow present whereabouts unknown is mystery no 1 mystery no 2 is via violet dowing dewing an entirely charming english detress actress also missing from public view bobs friend searles has written a play lady larkspur especially for her and naturally is combing the universe to find her bob goes to the bashford farm at barton in now new england to recuperate tile the household is made up of broken down hotel employees befriended by the uncle comedy material A young and attractive woman arrives and says ashes the widow bob is quickly captivated appear in due course a puzzling stranger a remarkable fan and a suspected german spy material for adventure and incidents both exciting and entertaining to say nothing of mystery deep and dark in the end but 11 th the u use in spoiling read it for yourself CHAPTER 1 I 1 I the troops Tro opa it was bard luck said searles Sa arlea that hat I 1 should spend a year car writing t x play tor for it woman only to find flint alint she had vanished jumped oft off tile earth into bowl ire thin wits my iny highest flight singleton the best writ ing I 1 eyer ever did and after the vast enst lining r T took with the tiling thins tho the only woman I 1 ever saw who could possibly act it Is unavailable worse than that absolutely nobody knows I 1 have tills this script ive kept quiet about it simply imply because ini 1111 wit IRA going to he be forced into accepting a star I 1 dont want I 1 have a feeling about this ids play piny that I 1 never had about my other things tile tho public has been so 0 kin kind d to my small offerings that im trying to lend em cm on oil to the best bese I 1 eun do something a little liner and more imaginative with a touch of poetry it if you please and now lie ile glared nt at tile 1110 us as though I 1 were responsible for ills bin troubles As lie knew I 1 bad been flying HI ing la in the french aviation corps for two years find had bad just been invalided Invalid ed home I 1 think it necessary to establish mi all itil lil rote hail had been kind to dick 4 Searl earles cs in collego college lie he had written a play or two that demonstrated tits lus talent oil and after a rigid apprenticeship na as sceneshifter scene shifter prid and producer lie ho had made a killing with let george ceorge do dd it 11 a farco farce that earned enough to put hin him at ease case and make possible an tip upward word step into straight glit comedy even as wo we talked a capacity house was laughing at tits his skit who killed cock just around the corrier corner from ills his lodgings so tits ills story was waa not tho the invention of a rejected playwright to cover the nonappearance of a play which nobody would produce it elways a mistake to write a play piny for a hinr itar star 1 I suggested seems to tile me ive rend read somewhere that that Is among tile the besetting blansit you playwrights olo old stuff atu my boy but this isn t one of those thoo cases the person I 1 had in mind for this play i a star W ut a beginner quite unknown it was when tansin I 1 ans in london putting on fairy gold cold that ant I 1 saw her sit slip had a small part in ili a bild jo ii lie severest severed I 1 test of n nn an i nr pemp rs y vou I 1 it conw in r f A little 0 later inter slie site appeared in W women 0 a capital play piny that hint died early but there again I 1 felt tier lier peculiar chann it ft was just that sit sim was ex no ono one ever captured my iny imagination its as site bho lid did I 1 watched tier her night lifter after night I 1 was vas afraid that when I 1 heard tier her voice it would 1 break the lie spell and I 1 actually shook like ti a mail with will un art ague when site tripped out on the stage as tile ln in genuo gentle in women 1 and tier lier laugh laughter terl 1 you know liow how hollow hollo w the he usual stage mirth Is but that girl girls 18 laugh hat flu tile joy of the lurk lark ascending I 1 ily fly johei covol I 1 ejaculated theres tho more inoru here than appears youre tn in I 1 love ove with aldi the gurll 4 lie he cried impatiently think im talking rot but his girl was the visualization of a character I 1 had dren ined of and groped after for years all but its a whole lot I 1 can call tell you I 1 lot let us its bo be practical for a searles I 1 urged B emperors inper ors presidents and popular murderers are no not t more conspicuous titan than the people of tile alio stage no girl talented enough to got get two engagements even tor for small ports parts in tt a first class london theater could vanish with your acquaintance in ili the profession bo be able to trace nice tier her anywhere on earth ily by the lic way what aliat did the paragon call herself violet dewing was her fier stage name mid and the alio only name the managers ma lingers knew tier lier by I 1 assumed that of course counge all I 1 lind had to do was to fiaush my illy play and then have dalton who ro represents resents tile mo over there mako make fin an appointment to read it to tier her but dalton worked for three mouths months trying to find her without success I 1 the only person who was interested in tier her dalton said that halt half a dozen managers had their eye on oil tier lier but after honorable women closed slie site stepped into the vold void I 1 knew what youre thinking that the other members of tile two companies site she appeared with must havo have had sonic BOIDO inkling of if W v 1 t if oh im not knocking the leadill her identity identify but I 1 tell you dalton anil and 1 I 1 exhausted tile it was by accident that site sho pot got tier lier chanco chance ili n tha lie pantomime sonio soine one do at attlio tho last minute and they gave miss dewing a trial she was yell sell liked by tier her associates lit in spite of the lie fact that site sho was wan it bit offish and vanished from their world the the curtain tell fell A clever governess out of a jot job satisfying a craving tor for excitement and playing the mysterious role us as a part of 0 tho the adventure ani am I 1 to ns as sunio that youve burned your play and that tho the incident la Is closed oh I 1 burn it I 1 have a ropy copy locked tn in a n safety safely vault and dalton left one heavily sealed scaled fit at a 0 small exclusive london hotel where lie he found after much illich difficulty tho the girl had lodged during tier her two engagements govro mor morbid tild 11 I 1 said eald show tile me tier her photograph ile ho laughed ironically never it chance Single singleton toul 1 you yet got tho the idea that this young woman itoman la Is out of the ordinary sho she refused to be photographed wrote it into her er two contracts that tills this yas was not to be asked I 1 never saw tier her off tho the stage and I 1 cant give you it a description of tier her that would be of tho slightest assistance to the keenest detective alive in tint panto ailine site bho was a frolic tile tho clowns daughter and althou gli nobody saw it t site sho ans iho whole piece alece tho the elusive sprite that could evoke laughter and cears coars by it gesture it lifting of the lie brows n grimace by utterly different ineth methods tn lit women site she proved tier lier wide range of appeal hers was the one true clarac terla lion holt in ili the lie piece when terry i it lar her prime you remember how t iima d 1 that hint only out bird sang lilt llor lint anil fron paradise lio it flew well all tits lila bird ring on the he kaiue brant brantli li her voice was waa tier charm made andl tile file I 1 ilove some morel I 1 pleaded you never talked bettex belter in yourt liaf lc 11 dont be nn an ass ho he said ball sourly forget tier her and take a at your nur afra affairs irs just what do you mean to do with yourself 1 afy AI sho ulder still creaks a little and the doctors me to sit around for u while they offered tre me somo some jobs in ili washington but desk work an anil ln duty tire too tame after it couple of years spent in star climb ing im going up till to liardon on tic the sound an and ill camp la in tho the garage on nil my uncles place 11 your uncle played you a nasty trick interrupted searles Se arlos getting married and then adding to tho the crime cilmo hi by lying you beat that tor for general spitefulness do you remember the me immortal lines oh ship your dear the bellman Uel linan exclaimed an A ha angrily tinkled his bell T olt oil im not knocking the dead dcarl I 1 ho he protested mr air bashford always struck me its as a pretty decent square sort of chat and not at nil all the familiar grouchy uncle of actton and tile drama I 1 made notes on him from time to to time with it a view to building a play pla around him blin the perfect uncle uti obtrusive never blustering at ills neli fiew translating tho the relationship into something remote and chaste like n distant view of mount Wits washington hIngton lit in winter it was just like ilke lafin to retire from business on oil ills his sixtieth birthday and depart for the he orient there to commit tile tho shameless indiscretion of matrimony like him I 1 it was the greatest shock of my illy life to the best of my knowledge lie never knew any women except tho the widow of his partner in the importing house she was about nebout eighty find perfectly safe lid he spent twenty years in the the dullest and most respectable hotel in the world and ills his chael recreation was a leisurely walk in the park before going to bed you could set your clock by him film pretty thin picking for a dru dramatist matist I 1 should think it he used to take me to if the theater regularly ayery other thursday it was a ditte date and his favorite entertainment tain ment was vaudeville with embellish embellishment mei allt preferred put in ills his shy fashion lie ho was hind and generous and mighty good tu to roe me if you gone to war but had kept right at tits his elbow the marriage might have been averted suggested of searles Searl cs ile he did leave you aou something lie her fifty thousand nd cash and tile tho right to use rise tho the garage at tho the barton farm calling it it a farm Is a joke its ita rocks Til mostly ile he bought tile the house to liam have a place to store tits his prints and jap ceramics lie he hated motoring except lit in taxis up lip and down town own find and when I 1 urged him to set up a mach machine lne h he told lie to go attend ahead and buy one and build the garage told roe me id better ft up the studio in ili the garage and have it as ft a place to work lit hi ills ilia will provides pi 0 idea that I 1 may lodge lit in the garage for life 4 the estate footed a ini million liton ns as I 1 reni ember sh so I 1 cant praise ills generosity nut but tho the widow your sour unknown auntie tile tho tody body snatcher who annex id ed tho old boy what of tier her ive asked the trust coni company parly people whether ashes lit la sight anywhere and they assure tile me that eliat slie Is not on thase shores torrence the third vice ace president you ion know torry lie ho wits was in III tile lie class illic ahead id of us at t college the ninn man who never smiles terry said she acknowledged tho the last remittance three months ngo ago from bangkok wherever that la Is I 1 suppose the old girls resumed tier tour ot of tile alie world looking for retired merchant to add to tier her list very likely to aliat notion nation tribe or human group docs doca this prod atory person belon belong gl unrest at the barton farm TO BE CONTINUED |