Show WITH aa ap Z RO SYNOPSIS brooke reyburn visits the office of jed stewart a lawyer to discuss the terms of 0 an estate S she he has inherited from mrs mary arm armanda ada dane unwittingly she overhear overhears jed talking to mark trent nephew ol 01 mrs dane who has been disinherited mrs dane bad had lived at lookout house a huge structure by the sea built by her father and divided into two tor for her and marks father brooke 11 had ad been a fashion expert and mrs dane a shut in 1 hearing her on the radio had invited her to call and developed a deep affection for her mark discloses that mrs dane had threatened to bisin herit him if he married lola from whom he Is now divorced he says he does not trust H genrl arl and clotilde jacques mrs dane a s servants er he says he is not in te forested rested in an offer of brooke brookes s to share the estate with him leaving her depart ment store job brooke refuses an offer to go stepping with jerry field a carefree young oung man who wants to marry her at a family conference she learns she must live at lookout house alone since lucette her younger sister who is taking her lob job her brother sam a young playwright and her mother plan to stay in the city jed and mark are astounded when they hear from mrs gregory a family friend that the he had witnessed a hitherto unknown will with henri and clotilde two weeks before mrs dane died brooke had arrived lust just as she was leaving jed suggests that mark open his part of lookout house get friendly with brooke and try to find out ut about the will jed agrees to stay with him mark accepts brooke a ineita tion for or a family thanksgiving dinner at lookout mrs reyburn announces on thanksgiving eve that she has been in kited to england sam and lucette decide to move in with brooke and sam plans to produce a new play locally CHAPTER IV brooke noticed mark trent s quick glance about as he entered the dining room at lookout house she felt an instant of self consciousness as she took the seat against the variegated yellow background of tall mimosas and acacias which filled a broad bay window which her ber mother refused with a quick shake of her head and a smile she immediately forgot herself in pride of her sporting family each one was so gay so determined to do his or her share to make the party a real festivity holidays were hard days since her father s death but always someone who was alone had been invited to keep the feast with them thinking of others helped immeasurably to bridge the sense of loss celia argued the dinner was a success brooke breathed a little sigh of relief as she rose from the table this thanks giving dinner had been the first en in her own home of course the guests had been her fam ily fly and mark trent only but she had felt pride in having it a quo cess As she served coffee from the massive silver tray in the living room she glanced at mark trent standing before the fire with his elbow on the mantel he was talk ing to celia reyburn seated in m a corner comer of the couch the orchids he had brought her added the per feet touch to her amethyst frock orchids for her mother gardenias for lucette and deep fragrant pur pie violets for his hostess he ile had said it with flowers A lavish gen tieman had henn henri turned chalky as he had announced dinner or had she imagined it he had stared at mark trent as if seeing an dunwel come apparition with a groan of repletion sam pulled himself out of a deep chair boy lets let s get out and falkl I 1 feel like a stuffed trussed turkey why do we eat so much more on thanksgiving 7 because we haven t any sene sence notice that I 1 in acquin ing the analytic method question and answer anybody here got the energy to take the shore walk I 1 U go with you sammy celia reyburn smiled at her tall son elaine jaffrey is a great hiker she will probably walk me all over the british isles I 1 must get in practice just wait until I 1 change my shoes boy I 1 m glad we have one sport in the family bet lucette has a heavy date and is expecting someone coming brooke corn com ing mr trent mark to you I 1 hope sam do come miss reyburn mark trent urged its it s a grand day after hours of storm there is enough wind to make the surf worth look ing at worth looking at were colorless words to express the grandeur of the shore brooke thought as standing on a jutting crag holding on her beret with one hand skirts blowing she looked down at the driving current cold and stealthy in places in others foaming and tossing white edged green waves against ledges transformed by the magic of the slanting sun into rud dy copper dark brown in the arev ices spray diaphanous as a mist from a giant atomizer iridescent as jeweled malines shimmered in the light beyond the surf a dozen lavender winged gulls floated on the water an amber green wave out lashed its predecessors hissed roared broke against a ledge and showered brooke with crystal spray I 1 oh ohl instinctively she clutched mark trent s arm it it took my br breath eathl he ile drew her back to the path pulled out his handkerchief and wiped her wet face I 1 I 1 should have known better than to let you stand there it wasn gasn t our fault I 1 adored it lt it made me feel as if every inch of me had been electrified why is it that when we are to by emilie loring C emille lorinc loring service gether I 1 need to be rescued froni from difficulties I 1 want to thank you for please don dont t she wondered at the embarrassed fierceness of his voice I 1 wont won t except to add that I 1 know I 1 owe my life to you there that s over I 1 promise never tc to mention it again spurred by the stimulating lating air she took her courage in both hands and plunged won t you please be friends I 1 didn dian t know mrs mary amanda dane had any money really I 1 didn dian t mr trent in the instant that she waited for his answer sun sea the roar of the surf were blotted out only his straight gazing eyes meeting hers were real they touched her heart quickly passionately then mark trent thrust his handkerchief into his pocket forget that mr trent tuff be mg ing legatees in the same estate my aunt left me a bank account you know ought to make us friends t it his voice was light but she sensed a tinge of irony we d better keep going if we are to walk around the point before dark your mother and sam went on some time ago what did she mean when she spoke of hiking over the british isles she is going to england to visit her college classmate of course I 1 in crazy to have her go but but I 1 t realize how precious she was until I 1 thought of her being so tar far away are your brother and sister go ing no they are to be with me while mother is away I 1 am so glad it will give me heaps to do I 1 in m not used to this poison ivy lei 0 fo ir neighbor I 1 sure that looked so alluring before I 1 had tried it my life was so full before before you had lookout house stuffed down your throat you mean I 1 don t see why the dickens aunt mary amanda tied that string to her legacy forced you to live in this house it wasn gasn t a string and she didn dian t force me I 1 like old towns and I 1 love lookout house 0 my mistake trent s laugh turned to a frown what wha t are the town fathers thinking of to allow a gas station stuck out on this road has that house been sold brooke promptly defended the brilliant equipment in front of a small white cottage I 1 don t know who owns the place but doubtless the town fathers were thinking of giving the poor man who has started the filling station another chance I 1 heard that he had money lost it afan to drink too much and that a friend set him up in business here hoping to steady him who told you the story of his life henn henri henn henril does he know the mana man he will have to answer that ques tion he asked me to buy gas at the new filling station and I 1 do to encourage the poor fellow to keep on trying to make good f how about encouraging honest mike cassidy who started the ga rage at the end of the causeway years ago and has served the public faithfully and unselfishly he has a wife and five children to support why did his voice rouse opposition in her brooke wondered she had doubts herself lately as to the per manenty of the filling station own er s reform twice when she had stopped for gas a young irish girl had reported the boss as sick and she had wondered if he were backsliding mark the magnificent need not know that however don t you believe in I helping a man to come back she asked crisply I 1 do most decidedly but I 1 be I 1 eve also in helping an honest hard working man like cassidy who has had the strength of character to leave drink alone to keep his kids in shoes come on we are almost quarreling par why should you and I 1 fight over a filling station owner owners you re right when we ha e so many other things about which to disagree brooke s brown eyes met his in tent and darkly gray wistfulness tinged her voice as she urged speaking of disagreeing will you please behave like a sensible person and take the family treas ures which belong to you aunt mary amanda left them to you I 1 know but it isn t right for me to have them and what s more I 1 don t need or want them I 1 d rather go without rings all my life than wear one of those gorgeous things she left which are rightfully yours mr stewart has put all the jewelry i a bank vault for you I 1 have mother s lovely china and glass and furniture which have been in stor age since our home was broken up I 1 ve had everything which belonged to your family moved to the chaff deurs s apartment over th garage there seems to be very little silver perhaps your aunt gave it to you youa silver very little silver she had the trent service which came originally from england and any number of beautiful pieces that silver is a family tradition where is it she didn dian t give it to me what does 0 es stewart say about it he thought that because of the epidemic of crime reported in the newspapers mrs dane might have become timid about keeping valuables in the house and had it stored in a bank but he found no receipt for it among her papers do you think she sold ita it sold it I 1 no bet he broke off abruptly see that great rock sticking up off shore I 1 used to imagine it the peak of a submerged island rising from the sea perhaps it is islands arise grow old and disappear that isn t original sam has taken the title for his comedy from it the first night I 1 spent at lookout house I 1 was kept awake by the wailing of that distant siren now I 1 don t notice it you 11 notice it if you stay here during the winter as jed told me you were planning to do there goes the sun behind the city they walked in silence back to lookout house on the threshold of the living room she stopped in startled unbelief jerry field stood by the fire talking to her mother who was the brown haired girl in blue beside lucette couldn coulden t wait for you to send out at home card brooke jerry field greeted jauntily you re member that you said I 1 could come to lookout house when you were settled don t you I 1 wanted to meet your family wanted them to know that I 1 in in your stag line for sure his eyes flashed beyond her to mark trent on the threshold there was laughter in his voice and a hint of challenge before she could an awer he commanded come hither daphne and meet our neighbor this is my sister neighbor Neigh borl brooke smiled at the brown haired girl as she welcomed her with a cordial handshake I 1 I 1 would know that you were jerry s sister you look so like him but is the neighbor stuff a joke no miss reyburn we really are staying on the point daphne field s smile disclosed small teeth as perfect in color and size as a row of matched pearls she turned to sam I 1 ve heard that you are the corn com mg ing playwright mr reyburn that yo you u have a touch of 0 nell neil s tragic outlook a seasoning of kaufman s humor and a hint of coward s so sam grinned Is that original or did you get it from the times 7 the girl pouted of course its it s original why mark daphne field s breathless excia mation the radiance of her face repealed aled so much that brooke had the embarrassed sense of having looked for an instant at a naked heart trent came forward was the firelight playing pranks or had his face gone dark with color where did you drop from ne nea how are you field why didn dian t someone say some thing and the strained si lence brooke wondered impatient ly it was as if the firelight had cast a spell and tied all their tongues her mother mothers s eyes were on daphne field as she thoughtfully pulled her gloves through her hands sam back to the room was poking at the parrot he hated emo dional scenes off the stage the at mo sphere fairly quivered w with I 1 t h things unsaid lucette came to life turn on the lights sam this gloom may be artie artistic tic but it gives me the merry pranks this has turned out to be meet your neighbor day chasn t it who s the dame in the floppy hat brooke who looks like a super animated bo peep and carries a cane which easily could be mistaken for a shepherd s crook there s the chance of a lifetime for you to get in a little missionary work as clothes adviser you d bet ter begin with a streamline diet she thinks everything here ing mother charming TO BE CONTINUED |