Show bolden daw by peter 13 kyne copyright by bell syndicate caf service r SYNOPSIS theodore gatlin adopts a baby which be he names penelope I 1 in n a final effort to solve his matrimonial troubles but hie his wife baa has never wanted her and their affairs end in the divorce court ten teri year old penelope Is given into the keeping of mrs gatlin at a baseball game a ball hall strikes penelope on the nose mrs gatlin spirits the child to europe gatlin retires from business wills penelope all his money and act 1 about to begin a search for his daugh ter when a motor accident ends his life some ten years later in san francisco stephen burt ie Is a rising young pacchi strict he Is presented by dan me ale namara chief of police with a new pa tient nance belden a eirl girl with a dual personality for which her saddle nose WEL was in part CHAPTER 11 II continued 4 lannot stephen reproved her then to dan mcnamara do you mean to tell me you left her out there unguarded how would you explain her escape if she had chosen to dis appear 1 I dont think shed she d duck doc doe but even if she tried 14 it 1 I got a plain clothes man on guard please bring the patient in lanny stephen pleaded and then you might he glanced eloquently at their empty glasses lanny glared at him so he smiled and she ceased to glare but she went on mumbling dan mcnamara shook his head sage ly nothing wrong with that woman s thinking apparatus I 1 he informed stephen and then lanny ushered the new pa tient in she paused just inside the door swept the room with a slow glance and permitted her gaze to come to rest on stephen burt who rose and bowed to her instantly the frozen hos tillay in her glance faded and she smiled reminds me of a gargoyle stephen reflected sleet meet my friend dr stephen burt nance dan mcnamara introduced her airily doc this Is nance belden alias atlas dorothy case alias fay pay barham alias elizabeth vernon stephen said politely that he was de lighted to make male her acquaintance and nance replied with acrid directness why whereat stephen burt laughed and set a chair for her nance plumped herself down in it with a weary sigh jerked off her jaunty hat and threw it on stephens desk all right steve shoot I 1 what a the idea of the big convention another fishing now nance dan mcnamara soothed her you cut that out you re not talking to doc doe blethen doc doe burt a a gentleman nance remembered her manners my error she apologized from the doorway leading into the waiting room lanny gazed upon the girl with frank disapproval over nance nances a shoulder she caught stephens eye and shook her head sorrowfully the old girl girls a shocked kedl 1 nance laughed softly without looking around while lanny disappeared how do you know miss alias belden stephen inquired mirror and nance belden pointed close your eyes stephen commend ed I 1 and describe this room to me all right there are two empty highball glasses on the telephone stand back of you she sniffed bourbon the stands three feet high and the telephone book Is in the compartment under the top of the stand the telephone Is one of those combination receiver mouthpiece things like they use in english stage scenes and the tele phone cord Is white the desk Is solid walnut I 1 think flat topped and clean you have a bronze combination ink well pen rack and pin tray there Is a blue crayon pencil and a red crayon pencil and a black gold banded toun foun tain pen on the pen rack the foun tain pen has green ink in it I 1 know be cause on the calendar pad on the desk which Is opened at NoN november ember 23 al though this Is the you ve writ ten something with the pen very re bently you re sitting in a walnut swivel chair brown leather stored and a high back up to your shoulder tops the chiefs chair Is an over stuffed rocker and if you give him another drink he 11 fall asleep in it on the wall back of you there Is a framed diploma in latin issued to stephen john burt by leland stan ford junior university medical school and about four feet from it Is the oath of hippocrates in a black frame like the diploma the print Is old en english ilsa and done in black and red across the room in back of the chief Is a walnut bookcase built in detachable tiers and there a a white hite washstand in the cor ner close by it the rug Is beige col ored and chinese and on the wall in back of me where you can look at it readily Is a framed photograph of your fati fatter er it aust must be a photograph of your father because he looks a great deal like you in back of me a door leads into the old lady a den and nare w nance opened her handbag took out a email small mirror held it up and bened her eyes an instant yes I 1 thought so that door la Is ajar and the ld 11 lady 1 Is listening to every word I 1 say isow now III describe you youre you re a darling youre you re tall and you haven t started to grow a tummy yet you re about thirty tw two or three years old your hair Is dark brown and your eyes dark blue and you have nice teeth and they show when you smile you have nice hands and your nails were manicured this morning but you have a d arty spot on the finger nail of your right index finger no it isn t dirt its ifs iodine pardon I 1 my error do I 1 win first prize doc doe in a walk miss belden tou you are absolutely the most amazing person I 1 nave have ever examined you are one in a million one of those rare persons who not only see everything at a glance but take a mental photograph of it and remember it yes you win a prize III have a highball with you boys said miss belden composedly you 11 not you little this and that I t anny countered from behind the door the very idea 1 then the party breaks up here and now miss alias belden informed stephen lanny stephen called I 1 hope you aren arent t forgetting the laws of hos vitality pit pita allty lity come on kid the girl entreated lanny buy me one and get the chief to do something nice for you in return tt iv hat influence has the likes of you with the chief of police lanny was emerging with two highballs do you drive a car miss leaning nance belden whistled sharply to dan mcnamara get out your card dan here a the fountain pen write as I 1 dictate ready to all traffic officers the bearer miss rebecca lanning has the freedom of the city she has my au dhority to park where she pleases and she shall not be tagged she cannot be arrested for anything except murder and even then she must not ride in the wagon signed dan mcnamara chief of police pollee dan mcnamara obeyed nance bel den the card blotted it and handed it to lanny now you tell cm era all who a kind to you rebecca I 1 m some kid am I 1 not you bet I 1 m some kid dan knows it and your boss things about criminal pay psychology cholody and just why it would be rightful frightful social injustice to put this girl in san quen ta tin she turned to nance belden drew the girls girl s face down on her breast and patted the rouged cheek see you tomorrow dearie dearle she promised be a good girl now and be nice to 1 dan mcnamara because he a one of the best friends you 11 ever have kiss me again please nance whig wills and when lanny tanny had corn com piled plied the girl came around the desk to stephen burt I 1 want you to kiss me too she said youre you re sweet thank you a lot when dan mcnamara and hia his pris oner had departed lanny and stephen looked at each other throughout a long silence which lanny was first to break that girls clean stevie not a touch of the slattern about her she could pass the binet billet intelligence test so fast she d meet it on or her way back and she ian t tough at all she a only trying to be and she finds it uphill work defense mechanism largely I 1 he said better go home lanny get a good nights night a sleep and try to forget what a sad world we live in it ltd d be a d d sight sadder if it you didn dian t live in it she snapped under stress of emotion lanny as she grew older occasionally indulged herself in a little mild profanity stephen dlan didn t mind he knew she was disillusioned middle aged in point of years but old with the wisdom and sadness of the world as only a doctor or a trained nurse can be that she had earned her privileges As a sur nurse she had been sworn at by doctors whose nerves grew taut as piano wires during a dangerous opera tion and she had learned to give a a good as she rec received elved wherefore the men of her world respected her and liked her for her courage and efel clency see to it that you re on hand la in court tomorrow morning stevie with a sweet line of scientific argument to bewilder that judge and the district attorney she charged a little later good night my dear boy dear old lanny I 1 once more had occurred to her the miracle of love A stranger a bit of flotsam and jetsam on the muddy sea of life had looked behind her brusque businesslike bel bet ll Il gerent exterior and found the great ar 4 M stephen burt hose rose and bowed to her instantly the frozen hostility in her glance faded and she smiled knows it and if by now you don dont t know it I 1 hope steve fires you you are some kid I 1 admit it thank you dear you shall have a highball have one yourself nance sug grandly lets all be sociable eh steve miss belden steve began call me nance the strange young creature interrupted I 1 why all the he formality I 1 have you any objection nance to telling me your real name none at all I 1 don dont it know my real name who were your parents 1 I don dont t know why did you steal the silk stock ings nance threw back her head and laughed why you silly I 1 had runs in every pair I 1 owned poor dearl lanny was speaking her hand strayed over the girls jet black shiny bob her fingers sought a shell like ear and tugged it gently nance looked up at the nurse sur prise and friendliness shining in her eyes why you re sr sweet beet aren arent t you why you darling I 1 and she lifted her face for lanny to kiss liss lunny lanny kissed her trust lanny tor for that its too late to go further tonight dan lanny said bring her in at nine tomorrow morning cant can t lanny with a bound the excellent mcnamara had bad landed beside lanny I 1 anny in the garden of friendship as one might say she ashes a due in the po lice fee court at nine 0 clock for sen sell tence right away shell be waltzed over to the superior court to the judge that gave her a suspended sentence two years ago she chasn t made good so he hell 11 sign the commitment papers and it 11 be some time before we see our nancy again has she an attorney the public defender that s all lanny looked at stephen stephen looked at lanny both nodded get the best in town dan lanny urged pear the chief doctor burt will ap pear in court and plead tor for a stay of well we 11 tell that judge a few warm heart that yearned so for affect tion and understanding hers here was a strange nature she was so strong and so possessed of the urge to share her strength with those she loved par ticul ariy it they evinced any affection for her that she was singularly demo cratic in her choice of beneficiary nance belden like stephen burt had appealed to her thwarted mother love and nothing that the girl had been nothing she might ever be would alter lanny a opinion formed on an instant s notice that the girl was visa an angel A dark angel perc perchance percha hatice ace and like luct fer fallen from high place but an au angel nevertheless the presence of chief of police daniel mcnamara Mcl samara cleared a lane through the corridor of the hall of justice in which the police pollee courts of san francisco are located he paused before a courtroom door nance Is in there he told stephen ill not go la in with you id have a week of rotten publicity in all the papers if I 1 appeared to have any special interest in the case her law yer s name Is tyrrell and hell he 11 call you as an expert witness TO BB BID |