OCR Text |
Show I The Qirl j l in the , Mirror ! I ? j i Bq I l Elizabeth Jordan t ? ( br Th Ontnry Company.) WNU Service CHAPTER XVII 22 A Little Look Forward "So Shaw told you !" muttered Ep-te!n Ep-te!n a few moments Inter. "Ton bet he did!" Laurie blithely corroborated. "He had to, to save his skin. Bnt he was pretty gameT I'll give him credit for that. I had to Are one shot past his head to convince con-vince him that I meant business. Besides, Be-sides, I had said, I thought he was reaching for something. I suppose I was a little nervous. Anyway, we clenched again, and well I'd have killed him, I guess, If he hadn't spoken." He smiled reminiscent!?. -All three were tactfully Ignoring Bangs, who had walked over to the window and by the exercise of all his will power was now getting his nerves nder control. "Shaw didn't do the tale ustlce, he hadn't time to," Laurie continued, "and I was In such a hurry to get back to Miss Mayo that I didn't ask for many details. But on the way to the garage It occurred to me -that I had a chance for a come-back that would keep you three from feeling too smug and happy over the way I had gulped down your little plot. So I planned It, and I rather think," he added complacently, "that I put It over." "Put It over !" groaned Epstein. "Meln Gott, I should think you did put It over ! Ton took twenty years off -my life, young man; that's von sure thing." "You'll revive." Laurie turned to Rodney, who was now facing them. "All right, old manr "I guess so," gulped Rodney. There was no self-consciousness In his manner. man-ner. He had passed through blazing blaz-ing hell In the last twenty minutes, and he did not care who knew It. "Then," urged Laurie, seeking to divert hlra, "you may give me the ' details Shaw had to skip. How the dickens did you happen to start this frameup, anyhow?" "How much did Shaw tell you?" Rodney tried to speak naturally. "That the whole adventure was a plnut you and Epstein had fixed up to ; keep, me out of mischief," Laurie repeated, re-peated, patiently. "lie explained that you had engaged a company to put It over, headed By Miss Mayo, who Is a friend of Mrs. Ordway, and who has a burning ambition to go on the stage. He said you promised her thnt If she made a success of it. she was to have the leading role In our next play. That's about all he told me." "That's all I know," ended Laurie. "But I want to know some more. Whose bright little idea was this, In the first placer' "Mrs. Ordway's." "Louise's!" Unconsciously Laurie's face softened. "Yes. I went to see her one day," Bangs explained, "and I mentioned that we couldn't get any work out of you till you'd had the adventure you were Insisting on. Mrs. Ordway said, 'Well, why don't you give him an adventure?' That," confessed Rodney, "started me off." "Obviously," corroborated his friend. "So It was Louise's Idea. Poor I,ouise! I hope she got some fun out of It." "You bet she did !" corroborated Bangs, eagerly. "I kept her posted every day. She said it was more fun than a play, and that It was keeping here alive." "Humph! Well, go on. Tell me how-It how-It started." Laurie was smiling. If the little episode Just ended had been, as It were, a bobolink singing to I.oulse Ordway during her final days on earth, It was not he who would find fault with the bird or with those who hud set It singing. "The day we saw the caretaker In ttie window across the park," continued con-tinued Rodney, "and I realized how Interested yon were. It occurred to me thnt we'd engage that studio and put Miss Mayo Into It. Miss Mayo lives In Richmond, Ya., ami she had been making a big hit In amateur theatricals. She wanted to get on the legitimate stage, as Shaw told you; to Mrs. Ordway suggested that Kp-Btein Kp-Btein and I try her out " "Never mind all that!" Interrupted Laurie. "Perhaps later Miss Mayo will Ml me about II herself!" "Now, what I meant to do was this -" Rodney spoke briskly. He was recovering poise with extraordinary rapidity. His color was returning, his brown eyes were again full of life. And. as always when his thoughts vere on his work, he was utterly oblivions ob-livions to any other Interest. "The second act was to be " Ho stopped and stared. Epstein had rtfcen, nad ponderously approached Btr.i up1 hod resolutely grasped him bv on ear. ostentatious subtlety, "you don't know It, but you got a date up-town In five minutes." His voice nnd manner enlightened the obtuse Mr. Bangs. "Oh, er yes," stammered that youth, confusedly, and reluctantly got to his feet. "Walt a minute," said Laurie. "Before "Be-fore you fellows go, there's one more little matter we've got to straighten out." They turned to him, and at the expression of utter devotion on the two faces the sternness left young Devon's eyes. "I was pretty mad about this business for a few minutes min-utes after Shaw explained It," he went on. "You folks didn't have much mercy, you know. You fooled me to the top of my bent. But now I feel that we've at least broken even." "Even ! Meln Gott I" repeated Epstein Ep-stein with a groan. "You've taken ten years " "You've got back ten already," the young man blithely reminded him. "That's fine! As I say, we're even. But from this time on, one thing must be definitely understood: Henceforth I'm not In leading-strings of any kind, however kindly they are put on me. If this association Is to continue, there must be no more practical jokes, no more supervision, no more Interference Interfer-ence with me or my affairs. Is that agreed?" "You bet It Is!" corroborated Epstein. Ep-stein. Again he wiped his brow. "I can't stand the pace you fellas set," he admitted. - Bangs nodded. "That's agreed. You're too good a boomerang for little Rodney." "For my part," continued Laurie, "I promise to get to work on the new play, beginning next Monday." "You will !" the two men almost shouted. "I will. I've got to stand by Louise for the next two or three months, and we'll write the play while Pm doing "You'll Make a Man of Me, Doris," He Said Brokenly, When He Could Speak. It. Then, whether America enters the war this spring or not, Tin going to" France. But we'll talk over all that later. Are you off?" He ushered them to the door. "And It's all right, boy?" Epstein-asked Epstein-asked wistfully. "You know how veil ve meant. You ain't got no hard feelings feel-ings about this?" "Not one." Laurie wrung his hand. Then, with an arm across Rodney's shoulders, he gave him a bearish i hug. "I'll see you a little later," he ' promised. Rodney suddenly looked self-conscious. "Perhaps then you'll give me a chance to tell you some news," he suggested, with a mixture of triumph and embarrassment. Epstein's knowing know-ing grin enlightened Laurie. "Sonya?" he asked eagerly. "Yep. Great, isn't It?" Laurie stared at him. "By Jove, you have been busy !" he conceded. "Between manufacturing manufactur-ing a frame-up for me, and winning a wife, you must have put In a fairly fair-ly full week, even for you." His arm tightened round his chum's shoulders. "I'm delighted, old man." he ended, seriously. "Sonya Is the salt of the earth. Tell her s.'ie has my blessing." When-he re-entered the room he found Doris standing In Its center, waiting for him. Something in her pose reminded him of their first moments mo-ments together In thnt familiar setting. set-ting. She had carried ofT the original scene very well. Indeed, she had carried car-ried off very well most of the scenes she had been given. "Laurie " Her voice trembled. "You have forgiven the others. Can't you forgive me?" "There's nothing to forgive." he quietly told her. "You saw a chance and you took It. In the same conditions, condi-tions, I suppose any other girl would have done the same thing. It's quile all right, and I wish you the best luck In the world. Well try to make the new play worthy of you." "You're not going to forgive me!" she cried. "And 1 dou't blame you!" She walked uway from hlra. and, sinking Into the chair Epstein had so recently vacated, sat bending forward, for-ward, tier elbow resting on Its broad Arm, her chin In her hand. It was the pose he knew so well and had loved so much. "Can't you understand?" she went on. "I've hated It from the start. I didn't know yon when I begin. I thought It was just a good Joka and awfully Interesting. Then, when I met. you, and you were so stunning, always, al-ways, I felt like a boast I told them I simply couldn't go on, but they coaxed and begged, and told me what It would mean to you as well as tf me They made a big point of that." He took his favorite position by the mantel and watched her as she talked. "I don't waDt the play," she cried passionately. ,"I wouldn't appear In It now under any conditions. I don't want to go on the stage. It was Just a notion, an Impulse. I've lost It, all of It, forever. I'm going back home, to my own people and my own. Virginia, Vir-ginia, to to try to forget all this. I'm going tomorrow." "You're excited." said Laurie, soothingly. sooth-ingly. He took her hnnds and held them. "I've put you through a bad half-hour. You understand, of course, that I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't been made to realize that your whole thought, throughout this experiment, has been of the play, and only of the play." She drew back and looked nt him. "What do you mean?" "Why " It was hard to explain, but he blundered on. "I mean that, for a little time, I was fool enough to hope that that some day you might care for me. For of course you know, you've known all along that I love you. But when I got the truth " "You haven't got the truth." She was interrupting him, but her face had flashed into flame. "You haven't had it for one second ; but you're going to get It now. Tm not going to let our lives be wrecked by any silly misunderstanding." She stopped, then rushed on. "Oh, Laurie, can't you see? Tho only truth that counts between us Is that I I adore you 1 I have from the very first almost from the day you came here Oh, It's dreadful of you to make me say all this!" She was sobbing now, In his arms. For a long moment he held her very close and In utter silence. Like Bangs, but In a different way, he was feeling feel-ing the effects of a tremendous reaction, re-action, "You'll make a man of me, Doris," he said brokenly, when be - could speak. "I'm not afraid to let you risk the effort. And when I come back from France " "When you come back from FraDce you'll come back to your wife," she told him steadily. "If you're going, Til marry you before you go. Then Pll wait and pray, and pray and wait, till you come again. And you will come back to me," she whispered. "Something makes me sure of it" "I'll come back," he promised. "Now, for the first time, I am sure of that, too." Four hours later Mr. Laurence Devon, De-von, llngerlngly bidding good night to the lady of his heart, was surprised by a final confidence. "Laurie," said Doris, holding hlra fast by one button as they stood together to-gether on the threshold of the little studio," do you know my real reason rea-son for giving up my ambition to go on the stage?" "Yes. Me," said young Mr. Devon promptly and brilliantly. "But you needn't do It. I'm not going to be the ball-and-chaln type of husband." "I know. But there are reasons within the reason." She twisted the button ' thoughtfully. ."It's because you're the real actor In the family. When I remember what you did to the three of us In that murder scene, and so quietly and naturally, without any heroics She broke off. "There are seven million things about you that I love," she ended, "but the one I think I love the best of all Is this : even In your biggest moments, Laurie darling, you never, never 'emote !' " CHAPTER XVIII "What About Laurie?" From the New York Sun, January 7, 1919: "Among the patients on the hospital ship Comfort, which arrived yesterday with nine hundred wounded soldiers on board, was Captain Laurence Lau-rence Devon, of the American flying forces In France. "Captain Devon Is an American 'ace.' with eleven air victories officially official-ly to his credrt. ne - was awarded the French Croix de Guerre nnd the American Distinguished . Service medal for extraordinary heroism on August 9. 191S, when he went to the assistance of a French aviator who was fighting four Kokker planes. In the combat the four Gcrmi.n machines were downed and their pilots killed. The Frenchman was badly hurt hut eventually recovered. "Captain Devon Is well known In American social and professional life. He Is the only son of the late Horace Devon, of Devondale, Ohio, and the brother-in-law of Robert J. Warren, of New York. Before the war he was a successful playwright. Jnst before sailing for France last year, he married mar-ried Miss Doris Mayo, daughter of the late Genera! Frederick Mayo, of Rlchmonji'. Virginia. On reaching h!s New York home today he will see for the first time his Infant sou, Rodney Rod-ney Jacob Devon." THE END. |