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Show G O LDEN DAW N Lanny knew that during the day a psychological door had opened and Nance Belden, otherwise personality B, the abnormal, had walked through It and emerged Penelope Gatlln, or personality per-sonality A, the normal. Also, she knew now that Penelope Gatlln probably prob-ably had more or less amnesia for her former personality aB Nance Belden. Lanny had heard Doctor Burt dlscusi such rare cases and she glowed with pride in the knowledge that at least he had secured a perfect specimen. "I decided we wouldn't have broiled lamb chops, Lanny," the girl went on brightly, "so I've made a ragout" "You mean, In good old Americanese, you've concocted an Irish stew." "You're so amusing, Lanny. A stew, of course. The difference between a stew and a ragout Is entirely geographic. geo-graphic. A ragout in France, an Irish stew In the United States." "Have you lived in France?" "Eight years, Lanny. Went to school in Switzerland and learned French there." "Are your people French?" "I think I was there alone." The girl appeared puzzled. "I don't remember re-member my mother, but I had a father. fa-ther. He was such a dear, but he's dead." "Were you happy there?" "No, I was perfectly miserable." "Why?" "Because my father wasn't with me. We'd been such pals." "But you must have lived with somebody." some-body." "There was Laurette, the cook, and Babette, the maid." "Did you graduate?" "No, I left school when father died. He was killed In a motor accident en route to Europe. I've always had a feeling he was coming over to see his Penelope. He loved me very much, Lanny. He was adorable. He used to tell me that I was all that made his life bearable. Somebody I forgot who told me he wasn't my real father, fa-ther, that I was a foundling he adopt- 8 PETER B. KYNE Copyright by Bell Syndicate WNTJ Service. "Dan speaking, Lanny. Tomorrow morning you had better buy our pet nuisance a lot of clothes, so she'll be all ready to get out of town when I send for her. I think I'll have to fly her out and down to Tia Juana, Lower California." "What will she do there?" "I don't know. We'll think about that when she gets there. At least my two dicks won't be there and Tia Juana is one place where that saddle nose of hers won't surprise anybody. And when she acts rough and tough in Tia Juana nobody will pay any attention atten-tion to her. They have experts down there in that line." "I'll think that Tia Juana stunt over," Lanny decided. "It has possibilities. possi-bilities. Is there a good hospital there?" "I don't think so. Why?" "You numbskull, Dan McNamara ! We have to find a quiet hospital where we can have her poor nose operated oq." "Well, if we can get her beezer restored re-stored and change that black bob of hers to a movie-tone gold, she could take Flynn and Angellotl out to dinner din-ner and they'd never suspect her." "Stevie says her nose must be operated on first. Her present state of dissociated personality probably started In an Inferiority complex, and the inferiority complex probably arose out of the knowledge that her nose made her unlovely. When it's safe to bring her back to this city, Stevie will take her soul out and look at It, dust it off, put it back and do a Little Jack Horner." "Can he do that?" McNamara's heavy voice was freighted with awe. "He can, provided he can find a starting point for his investigation into her past life. There is always a reason rea-son for a dissociated personality. The ground for the mental shock that causes it is usually prepared long before be-fore the psychosis occurs. Rebellious thoughts, unhappiness, brooding all these eventually have a serious effect upon sensitive and highly Intelligent ed. I wouldn't believe that at first, but when I read his will I knew it was so." "What sort of woman was his wife nr did hA hnvp nnp?" , . SYNOPSIS Theodore Gatlln adopts a baby, "Pe-aelope," "Pe-aelope," In an effort to solve his matrimonial matri-monial troubles. But his wife has Btver wanted her, and their affairs end la the divorce court At a baseball game a ball atrlkes ten-year-old Penelope Pe-nelope on the nose. Mrs. Gatlln spirits the child to Europe. Gatlln wills Penelope Pe-nelope all his money, and Is about to begin a search for her when a motor accident ends his life. Some ten years later, In San Francisco, Stephen Burt, rising young psychiatrist, is presented 07 Dan McNamara, chief of police, with new patient Nance Belden, a girl with a dual personality, for which her "saddle nose" is In part responsible. McNamara does not think she Is a criminal and obtains Burt's testimony in court Lanny, the doctor's office nurse, is also won over. Nance's criminal crim-inal record outweighs Doctor Burt's explanation of her case and she Is sent to San Quentln penitentiary. Nance scapes, although shot, and goes to Lanny's apartment, from which, by McNamara's Mc-Namara's orders, she Is removed to the chief's home. From one of the men In the boat on which the girl escaped McNamara Mc-Namara learns that Nance's real name It Penelope Gatlln. He also discovers that she Is heiress to $750,000. Fearful ef McNamara, In his official capacity, Nance flees. Lanny finds her In her apartment, sound asleep, curled up on the guest-room bed. CHAPTER VII Continued "Did your men scout the street In front of this house before pulling up In front of it?" asked McNamara sharply. "Certainly. We circled the block twice." "Feed our Nance, Lanny," McNamara nrged happily. "She's a smart girl. How's the shoulder, dearie?" "Fine. It'll be O. K. in another week." "So am I." Mr. McNamara grinned horribly. "Flynn's home eating his dinner din-ner now, and Angellotl must be on guard In that alley. I'm going to mistake mis-take Angellotl for a suspicious character, charac-ter, lurking there In the dark and put a mark on him so I can recognize him later. He Just can't stand to mix it With me, and get recognized, of course, so when he runs I'll Are In the air. He'll know who I am but he'll never suspect I know who he Is." McNamara bade Nance, Lanny and Stephen goodnight and hurried away In a taxi. A block from his home he alighted and walked down the side of the street opposite his own house. He was whistling softly as he came abreast of Angellotl's hiding place, where he turned at right angles, apparently with the Intention of crossing In the middle of the street to his own house. A step from the curb he halted, turned, bent his head In a listening attitude, then stepped resolutely Into the alley. "Who's there?" he demanded. Receiving Re-ceiving no answer, he got out a small flashlight; he seemed to have some difficulty flashing it on, for he cursed softly, and suddenly a beam from the flashlight Illuminated his own face for an Instant, but long enough, he decided, to permit the watchful Angellotl to recognize rec-ognize him. The alley was empty, but In a little garden strip a large syringa bush grew, and Instinct warned, the chief that his prey was behind 1L So he walked past it, his flashlight held close to the bush, and as he had anticipated, an-ticipated, it was snatched from him. As he turned, one of his stout legs was Jerked from under him by a man crouching low ; so, before permitting himself to topple backward, McNamara dropped his good right arm to the level of his knee and swung a short, stabbing stab-bing punch. He felt a cheekbone and the side of a nose; so he punched again, a little higher up, and then fell over backward. Instantly his assailant rose and fled like a doe. "Halt I I'm an officer," McNamara shouted, and fired into the air. But the running man did not even hesitate. In the morning he sent for Angellotl for a report on - certain case, and was charmed to note a faintly lemonish spot on the Italian's left cheek and a very noticeable iridescence under the left eye. The chief grinned. "What does the other fellow look like, Angle?" he queried innocently. "He couldn't have been more'n a flyweight or he'd have done more damage I How come you let some runt one-two you like that?" "It was a dame I picked up for drunkenness," Angellotl lied with the gllbness of lonsr nractlce. people and particularly, women of the hysterical type." "All women are hysterical," McNamara McNa-mara said with conviction. "You're a dear booby, Dan. Eight women out of ten can throw a fit of hysterics as easily as you'd break an egg, particularly if there Is a man to be impressed. They never simulate hysterics to Impress a woman, however, how-ever, because tbey know better. However, How-ever, there are women who have hysterics hys-terics that are real, bur it has been the experience of this office that most of these are Just a trifle balmy neurotics." neu-rotics." "Well, you get our girl a trousseau and warn her to keep away from the window and not to answer the doorbell, door-bell, or do any telephoning, or leave the house until she has my permission. permis-sion. I don't expect she'll obey, so tonight to-night when you go home have some hysterics to Impress her." "Dan, dear, I couldn't I'm hard as a picnic egg. Did you stage your little comedy after leaving us last night?" "I did and it worked out exactly." "Good gracious. Well, I'm busy. Good-by." Nance Belden's personalities were a source of keen professional Interest to Lanny, who regretted that for the present Doctor Burt was unable to share her observations with her. She had, as yet, had no opportunity for ascertaining anything regarding the girl's past history, but she had a suspicion sus-picion that Nance had had advantages superior to most girls. Her hands were the very first thing (with the exception of her poor wrecked nose) that Lanny had noticed. no-ticed. They were soft, shapely, small and well kept, decidedly not the hands of a factory girl. While her vocabulary vocabu-lary was a trifle "salty," running at times to the Idiom of the 111 bred and ignorant, her "oice was soft, with well bred intonations. Her clothing, on the occasion of her visit to Stephen Burfs office, had been, in Lanny's judgment, in splendid taste; rich but not flashy, up to the mode but not beyond it-Then, it-Then, too, Nance had a slow, leisurely walk, she knew how to enter a room, "I haven't the slightest idea, but I remember the will stated very positively positive-ly that be had settled with her, that she had accepted the settlement In full satisfaction of her dower rights, and he made my income from the trust just sufficient to support me decently until I should come of age. He said in his will that he did this not because be-cause of any lack of affection for me, but because If he made me an excessive exces-sive allowance, his divorced wife would have control of It during my minority. He must have despised her." "Well, If she could have control of your income during your minority, she must have been your adopted mother," the practical Lanny reasoned. "And you must have lived with her following the divorce. That's why you didn't see your father in Europe. You must have been there with your foster mother. Laurette, the cook, and Babette, the maid, argue an establishment Do you remember everything that has happened hap-pened to you since that day Dan McNamara Mc-Namara brought you to Doctor Burt's office?" "Perfectly." "Ever have funny thoughts about It?" The girl stared at her shrewdly. "How strange that you should ask that question, Lanny. I do have funny thoughts. Sometimes I'm horrified at the memory and could die of shame; at other times It seems perfectly all right, but those are the times when I've been nervous and sleepless ; sometimes some-times I think there's something wrong with me, because people often refer to me as Nance Beiden and to things I've done and which I know very well I haven't done. And yet it seems to me sometimes as if I had Just a wraith of memory, like an old dream. But still I'm strong and healthy." "But a little given to spells of nervousness?" "I'm moody." The girl seemed Interested In-terested In herself to an unusual degree. de-gree. "Some days I like to do things that are perfectly Intolerable to me on other days. Some days I'm so democratic dem-ocratic I could go out to dinner with a garbage man other rimes I can't bear to be with anybody but nice people." She sighed and turned to inspect her savory ragout "I wish I knew what I wanted in life and I wish I knew somebody that wanted me. Of course I can pay my way through life, but it's terrible to be lonely, Lanny." She faced Lanny again. "Now, when I decided to cast myself on your hospitality, Lanny, It seemed to me the most natural thing In the world to do. But today I'm covered with confusion. I've deliberately imposed myself upon your peace and privacy." "Listen here. Penny, my dear. Ton aren't the only lonely woman In this world. Believe it or not, the first spring buttercup Isn't a bit more welcome wel-come In old lady Lannlng's house than you are." The lost one beamed upon her. "I believe that Lanny. Oh, Lanny, when I'm happy I'm so happy and when I'm wretched I'm so wretched." "You think too much about that nose of yours, my poor child." The girl's hand flew to that organ (automatically, Lanny thought) as If she would hide it. "Isn't It terrible?" she quavered. "I'm so ugly nobody can ever love me." (TO BE CONTINUED.) Following some discussion of the report, re-port, McNamara dismissed him, and sat down to decide what to do with Nance Belden. That Flynn and Angellotl Angel-lotl were keeping his house under surveillance sur-veillance he knew now ; undoubtedly they would enter his house at the earliest ear-liest favorable opportunity. The chief wondered what he would do If he stood in the shoes of his two detectives. "I'd wait for a night when I wouldn't be disturbed for a couple of hours," he decided. "What night would that be? Why, Thursday night, when the board of police commissioners commission-ers meet and I am In attendance there. Stephen will make his usual early evening call and as soon as he leaves the house those two will slip Into It The cellar door, of course. I'll make it easy for them. I'll leave the door unlocked." He concluded that until then, ' Nance would be safe at Lanny's house. In the meantime, however, he must arrange ar-range to get her out of the city at an early date. The detectives were both absolutely satisfied Lanny had once given Nance sanctuary for a brief period ; trust them, therefore, to keep an eye on Lanny's house. He had In his office a telephone line that did not connect with the private "xenange system In the central station, so he called Lanny on his phone at Doctor Burt's office now. she was sure of herself at all times without display assurance. To Lanny, the girl, in his abandoned moments, appeared to be amateurish, a bit of a showoff, unreal. Thus far she had observed the girl only In this showoff phase of her personality. per-sonality. She was amazed, therefore, on coming home from the office after her conversation with McNamara, to find her a complete changeling. As she entered the house she caught the odor of cooking, and going Into the kitchen, she discovered Nance, with one of Lanny's kitchen aprons on her, preparing dinner. "Good evening, Lanny dear," she saluted her hostess. "It occurred to me it must be a very great trial to you, coming home night after night from the office, tired, and having to prepare dinner for yourself. I'm sure you're too tired most of the time to prepare more than a very sketchy meal, and that Isn't good for you." She smiled. "So I thought I'd have a nice dinner for you." "Now, I call that real sweet. Nance." "My name Isn't Nance, Lanny. It's Penelope." "Penelope what?" "Penelope Gatlin. Silly old Lanny, how could you forget?" "You've placed your finger on my dread secret Penelope. When I'm tired my memory falls ma." |