Show V Vt Vt t 1 t its r AI k 1 iy t e e ae a I IRWIN HAYNES INEZ IRWIN SERVICE T THURSDAY THURSDAY Continued Continued 14 14 He reached into one pocket and then another another and another I cannot keep a pencil he muttered I 1 moved in the direction of ot my desk Before I could reach it however however however how how- ever Doctor D Marden had offered Patrick a fountain pen Patrick busied himself a moment or two writing handed the pen pen back Thank you very much Doctor Marden I wont won't detain you any longer Oh by the way Doctor Marden Marden Marden Mar Mar- den den den- Patrick reached into his do do recognize pocket again you that Doctor Marden answered instantly instant instant- ly Yes Does it belong to you t Yes I When did you last see it t 1 The Thelast last time I noticed it was when I put on my slippers to go goto 4 to the masquerade Its It's one of a pair of or 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 offin offin offin in that walk I took It seems to tome tome tome me that that had it been lost in the house I would have noticed it it Did you make any attempt to find it Yes Yes I got up very early Sunday Sunday Sunday Sun Sun- day morning and went over the road rODd I took to see if I could find it It Dont you think that that n might look suspicious Perhaps But I suppose 1 would also thi think that whether it looked suspicious or not would depend on my st st. standing ding in the community community- my reputation for decency and hon hon- or I am am m perfectly willing to adt ad- ad t th that t. t I 1 didn't want to be involved involved involved in in- as a witness in this case Naturally Iy I did not want to get into it M Moreover the buckle is an nn extremely extremely extremely ex ex- valuable one It is part of a set sett and although that was not in view of f the great tragedy of momentous importance it if was of some importance decided ded I J Well Patrick dec guess that will be all Doctor Mard Marden n arose nrose He bowed to Patrick came over to my side bent ben low over my hand Dear laIdy lady lady la la- la- la dy Idy he said I I cannot tell you how bow much I l think of ot you in these distressing days Something in his voice brought the tears to th my eyes again Then with his quick light step he started to goIm goIm goIm go Im afraid Doctor Marden Patrick said his last word wor I 1 shall have to ask you not to leave the Head until I give you permission I give you my word I shall not leave it it IL Well Mary Patrick said in a weary tone It all makes sense Here we have a perfect design design- Torriano first Margaret next then Marden No one of the them seems to have told anything but the truth They're all dying to tell the truth If somebody would only lie maybe I 1 could get the answer Of course Margaret Margar t said she thought she heard something stirring in the ashes 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 and and- andOn Oh On I dont don't know who killed Ace Blaikie Im I'm no nearer knowing than I was Satur Satur- day Who's that Vaguely in th the back of my mind mindI I had hc heard rd Doctor Marden drive of off In the back brick of my mind I heard a a second motor turn into the drive It s stopped slopped Presently a light swift step came through the halland hall halI halland and Into the living room room room-a a light swift step strangely step strangely stiffened by determination fon Ive come back to tell you the rest of my story Mr OBrien O'Brien said Eald Myron Marden I haven't told you all ali alio o of it yet yeti i t I Involuntarily we all three sat down I will begin it by telling you Doctor Marden took up the story ta b a the quietest voice I had ever heard from him WIn something that will I think come as a great surprise sur surprise sur sur- surprise prise to you He paused as though to summon his strength for tor the revelation Ace Blaikie is the father fa ather a- a ther of my granddaughter Caro Prentiss He paused again as though for tor a question or comment from us But neither Partick Pattick nor I spoke We did not stir His statement had worked too great a paralysis for forus forus forus us either cither to speak or move Ill IU have to go back of course to tell you jou how It came about I will begin with my own marriage My wife v was a New York woman j met her about forty years ago she was a widow She had been widowed twice and both tImes tunes under tragic conditions Her first husband Theodore Prentiss also a aNew New Yorker was thrown from his horse a month after their marriage He died Instantly She became the mother of his posthumous child child n a aboy boy Theodore Prentiss Five years later she married again again Addison Addison Dacre He too was a New Yorker While they they- were traveling in France he died in Paris of a case of pneumonia She was pregnant at the time and the shock brought broughton on the premature birth of a little girl who was to be named Eleanor Dacre I was established as a physician in Paris and nd I was called in on the case This was Immediately immediately immedi immedi- after the funeral I I never met Addison Dacre Mrs Dacre was a beautiful ul woman woman woman-a 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 premature premature pre pre- mature little littIe waif and waif and I did save her I took care of her for months Of course that constant attendance brought Mrs Dacre and me very close By the time Eleanor was a year old we realized that life meant nothing to either of us without without with with- out the other Six months later we wew w were re married quietly in Paris My practice was there and we h have ve lived In Paris except for our holidays holidays holidays holi holi- days ever since My wife died two years ago ngo a and d after I had a n little recovered from my grief I decided d to return to America But ButI I am nm running ahead of my story I. I must I 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 hi face and figure lovely lovely lovely love love- ly in heart and spirit I 1 adored h her r. r herA rA A beautiful ul child Eleanor grew to be a beautiful ul woman I do not think that this is prejudice Everywhere Everywhere Every Every- wh where r her appearance m made de a sensation sen sen- That was not entirely due to her beauty perhaps It was partly partly part part- ly iy her coloring It was the most delicate blonde I have ever seen seen seen- ethereal Often Mrs Marden and andI I discussed the proper adjective to apply to Eleanor She was not angelic angelic angelic an an- nor seraphic nor cherubic She was too tall to be fairy 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 ather ather her and in Spain and Italy she created created created cre cre- such a sensation that she did not like to go out on the street alone She had courage enough Y c C Cw w 9 d c P t 1 i 9 s ar arDo 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 he was too vigorous to suggest that sort of thing But she was absolutely honest She was sweet She was kind We worshiped her hermy hermy hermy her her- my wife and L Doctor Marden came to a full stop He put his hand over his eyes and sank back into the past with a deep sigh he emerged Into the present again When the war came I enlisted as a volunteer volu teer in the French Fren h medical medical medi medi- cal service I will say here that we are a medical family so 60 to speak Before the war was over over there were a ball half dozen Mard ns working In in France When the United United United Unit Unit- ed States came in tn 1 I was transferred transferred trans trans- to- to the American service He pa paused sed and looked Inquiringly at Patrick Patrick nodded He did not speak I knew that no nc nomore nomore more than I would he have interrupted interrupted interrupted inter inter- the flow of that story Doctor Marden went on My wife wile threw herself he into war work too For four years years she worked daily at the American Ambulance in Neuilly Eleanor perhaps Eleanor perhaps now I had better belter tell you about Eleanor Eleano Elea Elea- no nor Eleanor was a natural nurse She never took a course in nursing nursing nursing nurs nurs- ing but I taught her everything I knew She volunteered when I Idid Idid Idid did and the French sent her to the hospital at sur Courcy She stayed there for about a year I saw her only at nt irregular intervals I had an occasional permission from the front and then she and my w wife e and I would try to manage a reunion at our home in Paris s. s But ButI I did not see mu much h of Eleanor durIng during during dur dur- ing the first months of the war I went through what many husbands were going through in France then I saw my wife wile getting more and more fatigued nervously fatigued nervously exhausted exhaust 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 tight lips Ups the of every line and curve I know that you Mrs Avery are acquainted with the factors of Ace Blaikie's war experience because because because be be- cause Ive I've heard you discuss them so often orten And besides I reminded him my h husband was in France Well then I will m merely rely say that it was while he was in the llie Foreign Legion that he met Eleanor It t seemed to have been a case of love at first sight Certainly with Eleanor And as she afterward told me Doctor Blaikie said it it was so so with him But when it comes to Doctor Blaikie and love love love- The expression on Doctor Marden's Marden's Marden's Mar- Mar dens den's face deepened s so horribly that it was as though the blood behind the flesh had turned to ink he he did not know really what wha love was On that tha t side he was not notman notman notman man but beast At t an any rate they met as often oHen as his permissions and hers allowed Wh What t happened of course was that that Ace Blaikie discovered dis discovered discovered dis- dis t covered that in order to possess my daughter he must offer her mar mar- Understand Understand- Doctor Marden's Marden's Marden's Mar- Mar dens den's voice shot to iO us a peremptory peremptory peremptory tory order Understand that this was not a subject that Eleanor would discuss with any man He had to learn that that to to sense it And Andic nd he ic was apparently extremely acute in sensing the reactions of the other other other oth oth- er sex At any rate they were married married married mar mar- ried secretly That w was s before belore the theU U United ted States came in It was in inthe inthe inthe the summer of 1915 1515 I 1 will not go into all the ins and outs of tHis I 1 will say only that marriage in France is a very very complicated matter mat mat- ter Ace Blaikie had made friends with a French officer who had a along along along long pulL He fixed it so that Ace and Eleanor were married secret secret- ly Presently Eleanor found herself hersel pregnant She told me afterward that there was nothing in the world she wanted so so 50 much as to bear a child It was several months after after after aft aft- er this discovery before she saw Ace Blaikie Blaikle At their first meeting meet meet- ing inge she told him that she was going to make their marriage public She could see as she told me subsequently subsequently subsequently that Ace Blaikie was appalled ap appalled appalled ap- ap ap- ap palled at this discovery dIs overy He tried to get her to withdraw from the hospital and go to Am America rica And Andi i if not to America to Italy or Spain Eleanor steadily refused Finally she told him if i he gave her no help she must apply to to me that me-that 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 o of Drina Demoyne- Demoyne Demoyne Drina Demoyne I Interrupted Ive seen Drina Demoyne Why what was it ft I read about her just the other day She died recently Yes Doctor Marden answered Her death has a great bearing beiring on this story That revelation of Ace Blaikie's was really Eleanors Eleanor's death warrant She She never saw y him again But she communicated with me once 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 idea to to save Eleanors Eleanor's reputation Now it happened happened hap hap- that my wife's son by her first marriage Theodore Prentiss was living during the war in a remote remote remote re re- re- re mote village in southern France He volunteered for both the the French French and American armies But he had always been an invalid and he could not be used either as n a a soldier soldier soldier sol sol- dier or in any civilian capacity He was married and his wife was was pregnant I sent Eleanor to them My step sons wife died bringing a n dead cl child ld into the world Theodore Theodore Theodore Theo Theo- dore survived her only six months In n the meantime Eleanor b bore re a perfectly healthy baby whom she named Caroline after my wife This was the Caro whom you know Before Be- Be Before Be fore he died Theodore suggested a n plan We carried it out We registered registered reg- reg her in the Marie of as Caroline e Blaikie We registered her under that name as an Ameri American Ameri- Ameri can citizen with the consul of Mar Mar- seilles I 1 can show you that she bears Dears that name on her her- passport But we w told all her friends in Paris and have told them ever since that she was Theodores Theodore's child As soon as I could get leave I took my wife wire and daughter to Spain Spam He paused For an instant he bit bithis bithis bithis his lower lip as though to fan fang out of it the emotion which made it tremble There m my daughter killed herselL her her- selL self Neither Patrick P trick nor I 1 made comment com com- ment He himself made made- madeno no further comment When we returned to Paris however there was never any question of Eleanors Eleanor's not being being being be be- ing Theodore Prentiss's child child Car Car Caroline oline Prentiss And so she grew up She has no more idea of her herrel rel relationship to Ace than you h had d before I told you this story As she is a minor I Y got her passport She has hns' seen it Concealing her real name from Caro has been one of the minor troubles of my life me But Ive I've accomplished accomplished accomplished ac ac- ac- ac it I I. I brought her up in Paris as you ou know But as she grew older I 1 wondered about her forbears in America I knew that people thought of Ace Blaikie as a rich man I h- h knew that he had property in n Massachusetts I began to wonder if il as he grew older he would not want his only child child if If only child she were were were-to to inherit inherit inherit in in- herit that property At first I put this tills thought out of my mind But ButE E r ri r i L. L r r tit tier r ri i mow 1 1 l 4 Then lie He Took Up His llis Story Again it kept recurring It troubled me I finally found it was keeping me awake nights Sleepless nights began began began be be- gan to recur a little too often orten I Imade Imade Imade made inquiries and found that Ace Blaikie was |