Show l 1 2 A INEZ haynee IRWIN SYNOPSIS mary avery a widow who lives in the harbor town of mass man with two flear malda maids sarah darbe catbe and bessie williams writes a manuscript describing the famous aloir second licad head murder which occurred on her estate next to mary live mr and nd mrs mr reter stow who every year give a 8 summer masquerade party one of 0 the guests of 61 ahli unction function li Is murdered nearby live dr and nd mrs mr geary their martlea married daughter edith and tier bet husband alfred bray draya doctor myron marilin and his hi crep granddaughter cars caro prentiss Iren tim IL beautiful young girl who wasl wa born in france next live paul and lora lor eames find iid their daughter molly molly was en n kaend to the tha murdered man ace ac blackie Bl alkie she bhe had previously been engaged to walter treadwell who had bad been Blat klei secre ury but the engagement was wai suddenly lud dealy broken and nd to he had left town other neigh bors bor are re the fairweather st aters nor floraa i e hopeless invalid and margatet all but th tho lattur two attend the masquerade maique rade we barrt I 1 year old niece sylvia sard sara li Is litan tier her for or the summer lummer the wooded part of 0 marys maryi estate it called the spinney la in 16 i li Is a tiny log cabin called the little litti house home on the day of 0 the masquerade excitement Is I 1 hlad mary decided to tab sylvia who ho li Is an unusually observant obi ervant child caro rrene fren use and molly eme barnes drop in burloe th the afternoon molly seems preoccupied pre occupied soon B car arrive and ana e doctor marilen marden nd n d boruca bruca fferson it a f friend tie ili of aces ace slight light molly Is impatient to leave and they all 11 ex cuu cuse themselves at the party sylvia id idea e n tibits each of the ali masked guests gleif as ai th their e arrive ace comes comei garbed as jullin julius caesar molly eames appears as a snow queen a so compacted com panted by a man in armor whom sylvia identifies as a walter treadway they dance together continuously caro drentla Pr entla and marden arrive dressed in revolutionary costumes cottu mci the tha doctor wearing jeweled jewel ed shoo buckles when t iho I 1 lo 10 guests unmask nn malt ace walter glad and molly have disappeared sarah darbe confides to mary that someone ap P patently parent ly had pent the night in the little house sylvia bindi a hoe allot bucklo in n tha t he spinney and mary drops it into a jewel box and nd forgets it sarah w walk alks down to ilia jlyle and ret re lurns screaming slie sha has aund found ace blaikle stabbed to death in the spinney mary summons au nunon patrick chief of police who had bad been a schoolmate of here her and aces ace I 1 SATURDAY continued 5 tho the period which I 1 might do meribe as aa late into babyhood provides mo me with no picture of ace although it la Is possible that I 1 did see sea him then at sunday school or on the beach already tho the boys had shortened his old new england name ot of asa to acci little know knew liow how appropriate that nickname was to become I 1 was exactly eight when I 1 first became conscious ol of his existence I 1 remember ly hoy how ho he looked the first time I 1 1 laid observant dyeson eyes on him the th had spent that summer fil H europe drope ace was their only child and naturally their pride and joy well Q might bo be thail there was no period in his life when whatever tho the occasion ho he the tha most handsome malo male creature present the most striking and debonair it ii was typical ot of ace that not only did he ha appear tho the first day ol of school wearing a scottish costume which hla his mother kotlier had bought in ed hit h it was typical of him that hel ha carried it oil off with distInct distinction lon ana and complete unconsciousness I 1 suppose that every other girl in the class fell dead in love with aco ace that day I 1 did not however already yes even then mark avery and I 1 were meeting at the crossroads cross roads to go to school er acs ace broke hearts left and right in his cocksure pilgrimage through life t am glad he did not break mine ile he never cau even a suspicion of heartache I 1 saw more and more of ace however we became groat great friends ile ha always entertained and interested me lie was fascinating i i ace patrick obrien and I 1 were tho the leading spirits in our class patrick as I 1 have said beat me in the race for scholarship and was graduated at tho the head however although he was salutatorian I 1 was valedictorian ace never stud led ile he was never in danger of reaching the head of the class but riot not once onca diche did he tall fall below the tha middle middie how remained he so far above ailt M was a miracle ile he had a good mind an instant and retentive memory anything lie ha could read to in fifteen minutes before class opened lie he could remember rememberT tho lia rest was a winning audacity and a charming impudence lie ile was be yond discipline yet tho the teachers all adored him ace might hive have gone far but ho he was not ambitious except for his one splendid adventure all ho wanted put of life was easy money for or lavish entertaining the no had always been important people la in plymouth county their house la is without doubt the most beautiful in abe gardens are the pride of tho the countryside inside are gathered the tha inherit ed cd family treasure in furniture pictures book of nearly two sen cea aurles the had bad always had money ind and very soon ace aca began to entertain at first it wai was chil drenk drans parit parties les candy pulls pulla and the like later it was dances and plenty of them ace beni went to harvard harvard was a tradition in the blaikie family ile he went to harvard medical instead of finishing oft off in germany as most doctors did in those days he choso chose to stud study in paris ile he was there when tho world war broke in the autumn he joined the foreign legion ile he was wounded that winter when he recovered he volunteered for aviation ile he flew with tho the french army until we entered tho the war then he joined our army ile he became an see ace strange how life fulfilled the tha prophecy ot of lia ile ho had five enemy planes on his record ile ha believed himself that he had brought down two or tareo more moral but that he ha could not prove when he came back from france the town gave him a party partino par no one in missed it we asked him to come in uniform wearing all his decorations the french and belgian croix do de guerre the me baille daille the tha legion ahon neur and the I 1 thought him that night jhb handsomest male creature I 1 ever laid eyes on then acs ace settled down to a practice in of course he could not make money in so small a place but instantly he became a great success personality helped here his own tremendous strength his robust vitality for with aces entrance to a alck room koom came a gust of health giving air but perhaps h ap 3 hl his s greatest asset was that sympathy with the sick the old the weary and the discouraged it even helped that he liked girl ba MOB bies so much however fathers felt mothers always knew an infinite pride when they pleased doctor blankle by bringing forth a girl but tor for other reasons the countryside adored ace one was vas his reckless generosity anybody ody who i Avant 91 to sell tickets or to get up a fund for charitable charl tabla purposes purposed sei made a beeline bee line for ace lie he understood human fiuman nature on the side hide of frailty perfectly mothers of girls in trouble fathers of boys in trouble went at once to ace to get him to treat with seducers and police nothing illustrates ace more perfectly than the story of his treatment jentof of tom boylan tom was the hs village drunk ace was waa always having to take care ot of him free of course Tom had no money for alcoholism once he brought tom through delirium tremens cremens tr emens yet when tom got well ace always gave him his first drin kafter after tom had bad begged long enough for it and yet andyes An dyet something had happened to ace I 1 dont mean to his body something had happened to his bis soul in the meantime I 1 had married mark avery I 1 used to talk ace over with him my husband who was a nerve specialist no like doctor geary with an domce in boston had served as a physician in the world war ile ha had great wisdom ile he sala said tp to ru mo dixe alary the strange thing about abou war is that it frequently ruins good men and rehabilitates bad and ones men are return returning in to this country on every transport trans transport who 4 9 they had not been caught at the right moment by the discipline of an army would have spent most of their lives in jall on the other hand war frequently ruins able men it s rigid discipline its inherent immorality war must have been bad medicine for ace it must have un loosed something in him that he had always held la in abeyance before at any rate from the time he came back he seemed to me to disintegrate not ilot physic to the very end he be kept his magnue magnify cent body in condition he wasal was always inheriting money yet no matter how much company filled the huge blankle house ace was always leaving on sudden calls how often when I 1 have been there he has returned with a wearle wearied d but triumphant A bl big 9 eleven boyll boyl or A nice little garlt once and this was the apex of his medical twins the countryside always surged with gossip about ace ile ho was had always been would always be ba a ter terrific rifle I 1 use the word of my generation lurf flirt I 1 will not say bay that he desired oil all women but I 1 will say that any pretty woman seemed to servo serve as a challenge to hirl him why when mark first began regularly to on me ace looked upon that as a challenged chal lengel I 1 laughed his tentative wooing sul cut r of existence along with this tremendous susceptibility let mo me call it although it exactly that came an equally tremendous fickleness As I 1 havo have hinted to see a pretty woman meant at once on aces part a desire to conquer her and to conquer tier her was at once to begin to tire of her rumors ot of his conquests both at home and abroad choked our tea talk for the last few years other rumors had spread reports of financial embarrassment it was sale said that ace had run th through roub all his patrimony and his varl various s inheritances that each year increasingly crea singly he spent more than he earned and then occurred the strange complication to which I 1 have already twice referred molly eames came back from a year in europe the most beautiful girl that had ever produced in three months she was engaged to walter treadway aces secretary it seemed to every everybody bod that they were passionately in love and yet alter after six months molly broke her engagement to walter six months later she became engaged to ace no one of us who had known ace no one of us who loved molly felt happy over this turn of events but one thing ace brought to us from the war which meant more to as a whole thab than all his dec oration lons sand and that was his friend bruce bexson bruce alexson was a lawyer he was in paris when the war broke and volunteered immediately to drive an ambulance for the french army he met ace in the hospital when we entered the war he volunteered ered for aviation the two men served in the same squadron long before the tha armistice they had become inseparable pals bruce too was a man of private fortune he lived in pennsylvania ile he came regularly every summer to and visited ace for two months at a time and then suddenly an unexpected thing happened to him to use the old pat phrase bruce got religion but not somehow in the usual sense ace always avoided talking about his friends spiritual seizure but lie he told me oace that he attributed braces frenzy to the long strain of the war if ho he had been wounded once 11 he said to me it would have been better for him aviators often went haywire the officers watched us like doctors the instant any one of us showed the first sign of psychological ch strain they gave him a long leave in paris if a man were slightly wounded the change to the hospital helped bruce never got a pip he never showed tin any Y signs of nerve breakage my explanation whatever the reason the result was definite and permanent bruce whole life changed he f IQ V te A j fa bruce rented the camp from ace cameto came to every year but now for the whole summer lie he did not as formerly live with ace ace owned a little camp on the indian river like everything ace touched it was charming and conVen convenient tent bruce rented the camp from ace lived there with his two colored servants adah erston and berry vale bruce drexson had become a social fixture in summer nowadays he never came to our parties but always broodingly tender we felt him there SUNDAY I 1 remembered hearing the clock strike four before I 1 fell asleep that night but once asleep I 1 lay like a log for perhaps an hour afterward I 1 remembered that early in the morning just niter after dawn I 1 awoke with a searing scaring thirst gradually I 1 pulled myself up out of bed and staggered to the bathroom on my way back to bed I 1 paused to look out the window A grayish tog log covered the landscape trees blurred shadowy through it like foliage in a faded photographic film yet tri motion caught my dead eyes down bilow emerging from the spinney I 1 saw but I 1 must not anticipate here for what I 1 saw made but a fleeting impression on my sleep clogged consciousness still bemused I 1 fell into bed and into another deep slumber lumber I 1 entirely what I 1 saw it was sylvias little voice which next awakened me come get in bed with me my pet I 1 invited she snuggled down close beside me putting dorinda belle between us on the pl pillow did you have a nice ume with aunt mattle malua I 1 asked oh yes aunt mary aunt mal mattie put a little pitcher of cream in front of my plat ejust tor for n me ie what time did aunt mattie and uncle peter got get home last 1 I dont know caddie put me and dorinda belle to bed before they came and so you did not see aunt mattie and uncle peter until this morning to they came into my room and they hugged me and kissed me ah ohi 1 almost forgot aunt mattle told me to tell you that she wanted to come over to see you after breakfast as soon as possible I 1 reached out and touched the bell sylvia I 1 said putting my arm about her and drawing her closer do you remember how you danced with doctor ace at the masquerade sparkles gathered in sylvias eyes oh yes I 1 remembert rem emberl he guess who I 1 was he tried and ho he tried and he tried but he doctor ace has gone away I 1 said to her hes gone away for a long long time but I 1 want you to remember as long as you live how he looked and how kind he has always been to you promise me you wont forget him oh ill never forget doctor ace sylvia vowed easily enough she did not ask me where ace had gone sarah came in with my tray now run downstairs to the piazza 11 I 1 bade sylvia and dont leave it without asking me sarah did not seem herself the deep umber of her flesh still showed a quality 1 I hope you feel better this morn rung ning mrs avery she said 1 I feel rested sarah but you dont seem so very spry 1 I 1 feel that were all under sus sarah commented somberly everybody on this head headway WO w women amen as well as the men I 1 made myself smile we dont have to worry sarah I 1 reassured her nobody in this household has to worry doctor geary says doctor blankle was murdered somewhere about midnight probably before baldre we all have alibis and then sarah it seems to me very unlikely that a woman could have committed this c rime crime how could a woman have stabbed a man so tall and big as ace blaikie ki e A woman chos big enough and mad enough mrs avery can do anything will you call up mrs stow at |