Show 40 by BEIM AMES C ben ames williams I 1 CHAPTER IX LX continued 20 this harried man upon the stand was vas her husband whom she loved she saw his bps mumble and felt her own breath short as his was chort short now mr sentry I 1 ask you to come to the period during which miss wines was in your employ you remember when that was i in july I 1 think perhaps late july y or early august she did some work for you personally so nally she took my letters on several occasions her work satisfactory I 1 she made many mistakes but you kept her on for about two weeks yes did you tell miss randall her work was unsatisfactory 9 I 1 no I 1 knew she was temporary 1 I you could have had miss ran dall find someone who was satis fac tory could you not it wasn gasn t worth the trouble f for or so short a time I 1 and you liked miss wines not at all I 1 why not she was pretty young pleasant courteous was she not I 1 I 1 didn dian t dislike her I 1 thought nothing about her she was part of the office furniture that s all but attractive I 1 suppose so I 1 you didn dian t notice no to didn dian t notice that she was pret ty mrs sentry sensed what was corn com ing perceived the trap prepared wished to cry out in warning but arthur stumbled blindly on into its very jaws no he said come now mr sentry any man must notice a pretty girl unless there s something wrong with him I 1 dont don t you dont don t notice such things aren t interested in pretty women no so the trap closed the jaws snapped shut then if you don t notice such things mr sentry why did you take this mysterious enid to new jersey last august I 1 she heard arthur mumble some thing shaken speechless perceiving too late the pit which his own words had dug for his unwary feet questions rained upon him he an helplessly and mrs sentry wished to cry out comfort to him to say it is all right arthur arthurl 1 now mr sentry have you told us in general all there is to tell about your various encounters with miss wines I 1 I 1 in general you had no personal relations with her no at any time 8 my only conversation with her on personal matters was when she came to my office three weeks before I 1 before you shot her before her death to ah yes I 1 forgot you do not like that phrase but you did shoot her yes by accident and arranged things in a way to suggest that someone else shot her I 1 yes to hoping the police would think someone else had shot her mrs sentry watching arthur saw that he was strung to the break ing point knew that in another mo ment his iron control would shatter and then suddenly falkman was on his feet and he and mr weldon were involved in some argame argument nt meaningless to her yet thrice wel come since while they argued AT ar thur could fight back to some corn com kosure she watched him not hs lis bening to them till fill suddenly the jury was filing out and arthur too between his guards his face hag gard and drawn mrs sentry and phil did not hear the rest of mr sentry s crossed cross ex district attorney flood sought them during the noon re cess to urge them to stay away from court that afternoon phil and linda walked for miles at a swift striding gait and at first he talked bitterly reciting to her his father fathers s testimony as though it were a relief to twist the knife in the wound she listened not comment mg ing but her hand rested on his arm I 1 I 1 don t know why I 1 tell you all this I 1 he said at last you c can an read it all in the papers it was awful I 1 I 1 I 1 don t read the papers phil to she replied and you need tell me e nothing but if it makes you feel better to talk you can talk to me all you want 11 1 I couldn coulden t have gone through it this far it if I 1 had you I 1 I 1 rn glad I 1 want it to be so it must be tough on you t though h h it isn t it s sweet to think I 1 in helping liel ping mother s so darned bravel ft of course but gosh linda it its s awful to hear him saying those things thing sl 1 and he cried why I 1 d rather think he did it than believe the things he s saying about himself himsel fl he was choking I 1 lm lin he s my father half of me is him himl no phill phil I 1 no I 1 you are all your self and she challe challenged liged if you did a rotten mean thing would you try to get out of it by blaming it on him I 1 well no I 1 guess not I 1 d have to stand it myself then don t talk so sol I 1 but it makes me feel rotten to th think that he has anything to do with me phil she urged children are born because two people love each other you were born because your father loved your mothe and she loved him and love is clean and fine and beautiful just remember that I 1 and she said besides boys are always more like their moth er anyway and your mother is grand grandl you ought to be so proud of her it she sure is I 1 well then she cried you see he grinned a little you re grand yourself you know lm lin grand to me I 1 don t see why she looked up at him serenely because I 1 love you phil I 1 he walked for minutes without speaking nor did she speak beside him but he said at last I 1 I 1 know it lm lin I 1 ve tried to pretend I 1 didn dian to t but I 1 do I 1 I 1 don t mean to bother you about it phil I 1 she said and laughed a little 1 I know you ve too much else to do to love me very much just now but that s why I 1 rn sticking around so much so that when you do find time j I 1 I 1 never can lm lin he said in a low tone never will never I 1 marry anyone now never s a long time I 1 I 1 know it I 1 let s wait and see to I 1 no honestly he urged please lm lin you ve got to get the idea out of your head probably you ought to stay away from us 11 can cant t she said lightly bar bara needs me and she said be sides it s none of your bu business siness how much I 1 love you yet I 1 in not asking for anything I 1 haven t even asked you to kiss me come on it s almost dark tune time to be head ing for home I 1 by a corner where they turned to ward the house a newsboy shout ed sentry tells love eifel read all about it I 1 he waved a paper headlines screaming phil stopped uncertainly but lm lin drew him past and on and she saw his eyes dulled as though with a sudden thought and she asked what is it phil he looked at her in a dazed way why lm lin he said slowly al most incredulously I 1 just realized something I 1 what phil I 1 I 1 just realized that I 1 believe him I 1 mean about its being an accident I 1 don t believe he meant to kill miss wines at all I 1 bless you dear she murmured they were at the entrance to the drive she stopped him lurn I 1 I 1 in m not coming in phil I 1 she sai said d be over in the morning to stay with barbara while you and your mother are gone but here my dear cheth er you want it or not you need this I 1 she tugged his head down kissed h him im with all my love for always phil she whispered her eyes shining he stood still watched her walk away during dinner dan fisher tele phoned to speak to phil I 1 going to be at home this evening he asked sure I 1 want to talk to you in about an hour I 1 I 1 yes right to said dan back at ta ble phil told his mother dan was coming so is mr falkman Fal kran she said he telephoned before you came home she added steadily I 1 I 1 am to go on the stand in the morning to after dinner phil went up to speak to barbara to tell her dan was corn com ing to see her eyes brighten at that news yet he thought with a cold terror how weak and ill she seemed when dan arrived he came up to join them and touched barbara s hand smiling his manner greatly reassuring and he spoke in calm undisturbed tones she watched him hungrily seemed stronger for his presence but presently dan said too casually phil 1 I ve never seen your room what sort of quarters have you got phil understanding led the way into his own room and closed the door behind them I 1 m pretty wor ned ried about barbara to he confessed there doesn doean t seem to be anything the matter with her and yet she doesn doean t get any better to dan said sympathetically I 1 she s punch drunk just as though shed she d taken a right hook to the jaw it s been tough on your mother and you but it s a lot worse on her she U 11 pull out of it though I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 suppose so where s your mother downstairs she s expecting mr falkman Fal kran I 1 I 1 Is she going to let him put her on the stand yes dan spoke in scornful anger blast him himl he turned sharply on phil you ve got to put a stop to that phil he said earnestly you austri t let her do it he s told her she can help fa ther and he said suddenly dan I 1 believe my father I 1 think it was an accident dan lighted a cigarette strode across the room and back again not looking at phil he asked see tonight s paper only the headlines to well the less you read the pa pers from now on the better I 1 he came close to phil touched the other s arm get your chin up phil he said gently 0 phil s lips were dry he wet the them m painfully and tried to speak and could not and dan said I 1 d don on t blame you for believing him but the jury won t he s done phil tried to shake his head to deny of course anyone looks bad under a tough cross examination dan admitted and weldon was plenty tough he poured it on and your father couldn coulden t take it phil weldon snarled him all up I 1 he gripped phil s arm hard I 1 the only chance is that weldon overdid it made the jury sorry for him to and he said but even if he gets a break youve you ve all got to get ready to go on living black this all out forget it I 1 what did he say I 1 phil asked huskily I 1 it was more the way he looked and acted I 1 dan explained he i for iba C 59 INV MV iv vy with AU ali my love for always phil she whispered heard a car stop in front of the house crossed quickly to the wm win dow to look out it s falkman Fal kran he said lets let s go down come on and without waiting for an as sent he opened the door they de scented together as nellie admitted falkman the lawyer saw the reporter and said guardedly oh hullo dan dan nodded did mr bettle see you I 1 he asked crisply about put ting mrs sentry on the stand yes falkman spoke pompously its but of course I 1 cannot allow the newspapers to tell me how to conduct a case to oh don t make speeches to me I 1 in not the jury 11 mrs sentry said from the living room door good evening mr falkman he turned toward her with that smile so confident and reassuring and took her hand bah iah ah mrs sentry phil and dan followed him dan roma remained ined standing by the hearth the others sat down and mrs sen try asked well TO BE CONTINUED |