Show 6 L E 11 ay iy BE all loll 1011 E 5 cwm I 1 L L I 1 A M S 1 C ben den ames williams SYNOPSIS barbara sentry seeking to sober up her escort johnnie boyd on the way home from a party slaps him and attracts the attention ot of a policeman whom the boy knocks down As he arrests him professor brace ot of li harvard arvard comes to the rescue and drives barbara home on the way they see barbara s father driving from the direction of his office at 12 45 but when he gets home he tells his wife it Is 11 15 and that hes he s been playing bridge at the club next day sentry reports his office has been robbed and a M ss wines former tempo employee killed the evening papers luridly confirm the story and sentry takes it hard mary elder daughter in love w th nell bay ray young at the hosp tal where she works goes off to dinner at gus loran s sentry a partner with mrs loran s brother jimmy endle endie mr and mrs sen try call on old mrs sentry and barbara alone receives rece ves dan fisher reporter who advises her not to talk phil sentry son at yale Is disturbed at the poss ble lions and suspicion of miss wines absence from her rooms tor for three days during aug he goes home to help sentry Is ar rested and booked for murder dan fisher explains the evidence against him that the robbery was a fake the sate safe opened by one who knew the combination changed since M ss wines employment there that a back door key a duplicate of sentry s was found in the girls girl s purse and that sentry too had neen een away those three days in august brace calls and backs up barbara to jn her denial dental that sentry could have done tt it because of the discrepancy of time be tween the slaying and their seeing sentry on the road ph I 1 show ng the police over the house finds his strong box forced open and his gun wh ch only h s father knew of gone meanwhile the police find the stolen money burned in the furnace mrs sentry sees her husband who swears his innocence and tells her he had known of the robbery and murder the night before but failed to call the police and came home at 12 30 phil and his mother are doubtful of sentry s innocence but keep silent CHAPTER V 11 while they were at lunch a little later dean hare telephoned to say that inspector irons had decided to bostone his interrogations so for the afternoon they were free mary was to see neil ray when he went off duty and as they finished lunch linda came to propose that phil go for a drive with her I 1 have to go out to those mills in norwood to get some homespun she explained I 1 and I 1 hate to go alone phil looked to his mother for con sent go along she said bar bara and grandmother will be here so phil went and found a measure of peace and forgetfulness in being thus with linda but when she brought him home in late after noon he was reluctant to face them all instead of going directly in doors he walked around the house he heard voices by the muddy stream beyond the pergola and went to lock down over the bank police men were there in boats with things like hinged rakes dragging up debris from the bottom of the stream one of them saw him lum and spoke quietly to the others and they all looked up silently phil went back toward the house trembling he found his mother alone mary s dining with neil nell she ex and I 1 sent barbara in to stay overnight with grandmother professor brace called drove them in she smiled reassuringly so we 11 have dinner together you and I 1 professor brace he echoed he remembered warily that the dis brict attorney had questioned pro fessor brace but he did not say so funny for him to hang around I 1 suppose he s naturally interest ed the scientific mind you know her tone was edged we re under his microscope like insects he introduced himself to the re porters phil recalled almost as if he wanted publicity I 1 see you don t like him either oh I 1 like him all right dinner was served and they went in and since they might here be overheard they spoke of other things phil talked at random steadily fighting down his thoughts thought that his father had taken his gun that his father had tried to burn money in the furnace that his fa ther was a murderer murder erl he must not let his mother guess his dreadful certainty and she as intent to hide her thoughts from phil as he was to conceal his from her helped him keep talk alive but when they left the table and went into the living room and were alone silence crushed them and phil noisily light ed a fire and mrs sentry tele phoned old mrs sentry s apartment to say good night to barbara she reported to phil when she left the phone that professor brace had stayed to dinner with them I 1 suppose he s taking notes she reflected like that german tutor at the foot of the table in war and peace remember 9 there s just a paragraph about him but he s per factly clear cut a complete char acter in your mind afterward phil did not remember but speaking of russians he suggest ed how about some russian bank so they played till mrs sentry said at last that they might as well go to bed the house seemed very big and empty when they went upstairs and parted for the night lat later r mrs sentry stil awake heard mary come in but the girl did not come upstairs so her moth er went down a dressing gown over her night garments she found mary in the living room standing by the hearth her lips bitten red her hands twisting and mrs sentry tried in an awk ward way they were not a demon stra tive family to take the girl in her arms but mary said don t please 1 so mrs sentry sat down I 1 shall we talk for a while she suggest ed or are you sleepy sleepy 1 the word w was as fierce with scorn how is neil nell very sensible blet mrs sentry said I 1 knew he would help you oh help of course I 1 he didn dian t then mary said don dont t worry about neill we were practically engaged but I 1 told him tonight we must for get that that after all this I 1 was hopelessly disqualified to be a mis s wife even in china I 1 mrs sentry waited mary said in a flat voice passionless as ashes he agreed with me after a while her mother spoke on the homeward way barbara returned with them they heard newsboys calling late editions and one bawling youngster jumped on the running board when they stopped for a traffic light to thrust a paper before their eyes A head line inches high sentry indicted mrs sentry closed her eyes and the light changed and the car leaped ahead at home a knot of people scat seat from the entrance to the drive gaped at them as they drove in phil saw that one woman had broken off a branch of rho doden dron and he thought bitterly for a souvenir I 1 indoors barbara asked in a shak en whisper mother what does in dieted mean meana mrs sentry said hush dar ling I 1 and she asked I 1 do you know where mary is whether shell she 11 be home to dinner she felt cold as iron barbara shook her head I 1 think mary s rot rotten teril phil said angrily we ve got to stick to ge gether therl she s pretty unhappy phil IV ft 24 1 41 3 good night I 1 in going to bed tentatively I 1 wish I 1 could hold you in m my lap dear as I 1 did when you were little and were hurt no thanks I 1 in not little any more the girl stood before the hearth rigid and still her eyes fixed her hands clasped behind her mrs sentry thought of a martyr at the stake surrounded by flames burned without being consumed she began to talk of casual healing things some people called this after noon she said mrs harry murr bulging with questions she wanted to ask and didn dian t quite dare and mrs furness brought miss glen you could see her memorizing ev ery stick of furniture every picture on the walls to use in her next novel the girl cried mother don ta t how can you stand it and that young professor mr brace dropped in mrs sentry persisted he took mother and barbara to town you re driving me crazym crazy mrs sentry sighed wearily sur rendering I 1 ni sorry about neil mary maxy yet it if he couldn coulden t stand the gaff isn t it a good thing to know no it isn tl t mary cried what does that matter if you love a man what does it matter if he s weak a s sniveling coward a drunkard a thiep thief 4 her eyes widened even a murderer she whispered you go on loving him just the same and she cried oh why is love so deep a part of women mother why can t we be reasonable ble I 1 she spat the word like men I 1 and suddenly seeing the old er woman s face she stopped said then curtly good night I 1 I 1 in going to bed the still room ached when she was gone when mrs sentry came down stairs in the morning mary had de parted leaving no message and the older woman felt a deep con cern that was half despair but she hid it from phil they stayed at home together and yet each one alone phil wondered whether his mother knew that the grand jury might act today he thought of a group of strange men in a secret room somewhere hear ing evidence against his father and trembled as though he were ill he thought his mother might suggest that they go again to see his fa ther and knew that he himself had no strength to fa face ce the older man and to pretend he did not know what he did know but his mother did not make the suggestion and after lunch they drove in to see old mrs sentry and heard newsboys shouting the name of sentry and mrs sentry shivered at last and said with a weary smile I 1 think we d better stay oi AL home hereafter phil mrs sentry explained neil ray broke their engagement engagement I 1 didn dian t know they were engaged they would have been in time mary loved him I 1 I 1 d like to knock his block mrs sentry said don t be a child phil I 1 m afraid you 11 find a good many people take the same at now get ready for dinner both of you she thought at dinner while phil and barbara talked to her bravely chee cheerful erful that the world of which they were a part must be just now full of buzzing tongues her own tongue had never been under a curb from the security of an assured position she had spoken as she chose rigorous toward those who transgressed her code now others would have their turn she tried to imagine what people would say what their attitude would be would they speak to her of arthur pro testing they believed him innocent professing friendship and sympathy while they watched her with sly av idly curious eyes she shuddered and she thought I 1 might take the children abroad live the rest of our lives abroad perhaps assume an other name but someone who knew them would find them out there would be whispering whispering she tried to tell herself he did not do of course he had lied to her about the time that night knowing she was too sleepy to recognize his lie but naturally he would lie be after that dreadful moment at the office when he found the dead girl found her dead mrs sentry clung to that thought stubbornly insisting to herself that arthur did find the girl dead as he had told her refus ing to remember the panic in his eyes refusing to remember his tone when he reiterated his assertion that miss wines was dead before he found her found her dead he said and was afraid and left her and came skulking home and mrs sentry hoped suddenly that he would not tell the district attorney that story of chance discovery and craven flight anything was better than that shame she thought that if he did not speak they might find some woman any woman to swear that he had been with her during the hours when the murder occurred that crime at least would be robust masculine not weakly cowardly but of course anything any story true or false that could be made credible was better than to see him convicted of murder it if that happened she could never lift her head again the pride she lived by was worth fighting for even with lies I 1 linda came in as they finished dinner and mrs sentry welcomed her and proposed a rubber of bridge she clung to linda s friend ly loyalty linda agreed but barbara would not I 1 m sorry she said trying to smile I 1 m afraid this is my evening for letting go her tones were tremulously brave if you don t mind I 1 think slip off by myself and cry for a while she darted away phil would have followed her but linda said softly no phil let her go 1 they heard barbara s door close upstairs mrs sentry rose and they went into the living room and talk ran somehow and a little after nine a car grated on the drive it was mary she came in with out laying aside her hat mrs sen try realized that the car had not gone away and she was cold with fear of what mary would say the girl was flushed mrs sentry saw incredulously that she had been drinking when mary spoke her tones were louder than usual harsh defiant she said to linda curtly this is a family council linda she added carelessly oh stay if you like of course phil protested hey mary don t talk like that what s the matter w with ith you he ile exclaimed you re drunk she he laughed derisively if I 1 im in not it s not for lack of trying and she asked linda going all ashore that s going ashore the ship s sin sinking kingl linda said quietly no mary III stay mrs sentry felt desperately that she must speak must mus do something her heart was full of a great corn com passion but old habit of cepres sion bound her tongue mary you re not yourself I 1 she said stern ly myself mary laughed in a shrill way myself who am I 1 who are you who are any of us and she said furiously I 1 oh I 1 thought I 1 knew knewl I 1 thought we were so secure and settled and decent and good her laughter rang mad denin gly decent good no de ce cent nt good people will ever s speak peak to U us s now mary maryl TO BE CONTINUED |