Show LADY LARKSPUR by MEREDITH NICHOLSON OT bj chute n awn baal CHAPTER I 1 I 1 1 th the troops it we ana hard I 1 luck kaid said searles Se arlea that I 1 should spend a year car arld writing 9 that jt A play for a woman old only ato to fili find that she had va vanished rishel jil jumped roped off 11 th the earth I 1 into t amul imul ke this th ie I 1 was m my hi highest twit flight Sing letort I 1 the h best writ ing as I 1 ever or did and ad after the vast as pains I 1 took with aith the wag thing t the me on only I 1 woman I 1 ever saw who could possibly art act it I 1 Is unavailable available worse thin that absolutely un discoverable I 1 nobody knows I 1 1 has bae this script to ive kept quiet about it simply because I 1 im in not going to be forced into accept accepting B dg a star I 1 do dont t want wl w L I 1 I 1 twe bae a fact feeling g bout about ill tills play that I 1 never I 1 had about on my oth other or things thing the public I 1 has hoon been so no k kind ad to my 1 small I offerings iffe elg that met I 1 im in to trying lug to lead food em on an to the best I 1 I 1 can do 1 something 1 a little four finer and deb more imaginative tit v TIM ith a touch of poet poetry it if you P please amse and now he glared at me as though I 1 we were re r responsible for hla it troubles As he knew I 1 I 1 had been flang ali lug in the french aviation julian corps come for two years yeara and be had it been bidd home I 1 adt didn t think it I 1 necessary to an a aliba libl lt fate had been it kind ad to dick hod scarier bear ie in college he had written a play or two too that dor demonstrated manstra hs I 1 talent and oil it a rigid apprenticeship ap pp lip as A scene shifter and assistant pro producer he 11 had bad made ad I a killing with I 1 I 1 it et am do it a far farce that benm ed enough to put him at sill ease suit and mike k be poun thle nn an upward step into straight comedy elon as ue ne talked a capac icv hruse via laughing at 11 me his skit who killed cock ink jut just round around who the on corner mor fr from am hi his bodong so bis it story nas as not the intention of I a re dij to boier it the an non apol of a B play Y which blell nobody tul T hougil ul d prod produce as iu t it binum a ink instill till to write a play toy for or a pm olao star let I 1 I 1 I 1 bug a betted seems to me tm I 1 ve e read same come there I 1 that at that 1 la am amona athe the behcet njg at sins a of you play playa rights old copy in my but bov but this tall t t one of f cases s T the he it prou brou u I 1 had ban in mind into P fr I 1 this pi wahib aji I 1 a star but a beginner quite quit it was when I 1 on nas 1 in 1 I ondon putting on 11 fairy fair gold that I 1 saw aw 1 her I she h had a small imell part in a ral pantomime aart ad 1 la the sever severest tt tolt test of no an aktor acar concra you know A it tile little later ater she appear appeared odi in honorable Rono rable wo ape in nen a c wool capital play that died early but there them agam again I 1 folt felt her peculiar charm it ft was j just u st the that she we was ex quartel 1 no ho one ever captured my law imagination gh tam as a ali she 11 did id I 1 watched her night might after night light I 1 was afraid that when I 1 heard her voice it would break the spell poll and I 1 actually shook like a man with an nene ague when hen she tripped out on the stage As g the 1 in genus genue in honorable women and her laughter laught ert you know how hollow the usual stage mirth Is but that at girl q ciraldi laugh I 1 A an had bad the joy jay of the lark me it ascend ing T by jove I 1 ejaculated there them a more here than appears you years re in love with till the girl ib rubbish bob aith he be cried led impatiently you on 11 think I 1 ca talking rot ont but thin thia girl was the visualization of a the char actor acter I 1 had bad dreamed of and groped A after tor far years year theta that 9 all but it a a w whole hot lot I 1 co can tell you let us be practical for a moment searles I 1 urged emperors Empe rora boost dents deals an and d popular m murderers aide are not t are more ca conspicuous ri P than mot the P people up C of 1 I abir the stage no girl talented enough 1 to get two tuo engagements even for small IT ite parts 1 in a marst class london land th theater could vanish with your acquaintance in the prof lou you d be ab able I 1 e I 1 to 0 trace her an anywhere u here 0 on it earth th by th hie dav what did the th paragon P can call her self 1 H I violet vilet dewing was her stage name and the only name came the managers knew her bv be I 1 assumed that of course all I 1 had bad to do man to finish fili ill my pie and then have dalton who ho represents top r oscar have lu me over there hem make an appointment apoi n to read it to her but dalton worked far or three months trying to find her without success sue I 1 basit gasn wasn t the only person who was uns interested in her dalton aid t that hot halt half a lintow dozen 1 mana I gers gem bad MIT their vve flu her but 1 after 1 cut hoo lisai delft honorable wom women closed lose a she stepped p into the vold void I 1 knew what loure thinking that at the other members 0 of f the two companies she appeared with eith must base bae had some inkling of I 1 0 A esl J riyad oh im 1 not knocking Krook bill the dead her identity but I 1 tell you dan daltou and ad I 1 exhausted the I 1 I 1 it was As bv b accident that she got at her chance lu in the pantomime some nome one wanton t do at the last minute and ad they gave g miss allia dewing a trial she was well liked by her associates lot in ht spite pit of the tact fact that she be was a bit offish and vani vanished shed from their world the minute the me in cur t tain on f tell oll A clever governess out of a job a coulm tor for mellea excitement urt and pi ing the fermus tom role as A a part of the adventure A am I 1 to as sume that t you ve burned your play alith an and that t the he incident 1 is closed I 1 oh I 1 didn dian t burn bum it I 1 have bum a colv looked locked in a safety vault and dalton left on one heavily sealed led at a lown ex co clu elusive ive land london hotel where he be found aft after much difficult the girl had bad lodged during her two too engagements jim ou re A morbid I 1 said old show we me her photograph re he laughed never a boom let lou JOB haven t 1 yet I thomm got the idea that this woman Is out a of ali the ordinary wpc she to be pho photographed a rachad croie rate it into 1 her r tv o mot contracts 11 ll our that this ij aus not t to b be ahkee I 1 aber c diw w lia her off the fla stage and I 1 ca can t g give ITT buu ml a d cehi option of tier her that would be of the ii lightest assistance to the ke keenest berrt detective alive in that panto bonlore she wits was a frolic the loans daught erand at although one cuba nobody saw it sum she was the u bhole hole piece the elusive elusion sprite that can could evoke eulue and ad abc tears by a a son gesture Z a lifting of the amun a grimace B utterly differ ent art me methods th ads to in honorable Honor atile women kiture she he in proved lod lier her wide range eg of appeal hers hem was the one true chare tion alon in the pit altce ca Is when hen terry uns in 11 her prime you yet I number how we tiled prime to ro say hint it at only on one bit baril bang as ill C e h hut I 1 find and dmn par arilie ie it flou flew 7 IN well it this ahls bird sings on the ewe breath I 1 her he tol voice was cpr he chare chann made audible ble I 1 rev rave some inno more rec I 1 you re reo never o talked better in ID your life non t he an asa he said sourly hourly let lets forat her and ike tie a or at your afir juit what hot it do you mean to do with yona yourself solf my aly shoulder still creaks take a little and the doctors advise me to sit around for far a while tim they offered me some mine jobs in pi washington ashIngton but desk work and I duty are too tame mine after I a couple of years bearg poat in star able climbing 1 ng I 1 ro in going up to barton on tac sound and 11 C CP camp P I 1 in the garage on my uncle a place piece your lour uncle played you a nasty ty trick interrupted searle Se arlea getting married tried and ad then the adding to the crime comi by dying you mulan couldn t beat that for far general spitefulness do you remember ibe he immortal 11 lines I 1 oh akalp in your 1 I dear e u uncle plo T the sell bell nun an AJ en h ruty tinkled br 1 belat 11 oh I 1 in not knocking the dead r 1 ha be protested tested vr air bashford always ara track struck ni me as a pretty poetry docent decent square sort of chap and not lot at all at th the e familiar CIA grouchy uncle of fiction an and d thed the ma I 1 roade notes ou him from al it time to time with a lew to building a play armourd and hithe hi hani the perfect uncle unobtrusive never bl blustering at his neph nephew translating tall tile the adall avuncular for bat relationship h P into something 1 I ih grenan remote and wid T chaste ilk like a cis distant new w a of manor washington in winter buter it was jut juat ju t ilk like him to retire fro flat n mun business on hi his sixtieth birthday and depart for the orient there to commit tile shameless indiscretion of matrimony like him I 1 it As was the greatest chork of my life to the bet best of my knowledge he never knew any women woman ig cocopti the A widow adow of his partner tn alie importing house she was about eighty and perfectly safe he spent t twenty tty ty beals in the the bullet and ad most ot respectable emble hotel I 1 in the world and his chief rochea thou lion was a leisurely walk in the park before going to bed yap you old set act your clock by him pretty thin p alck it ing tor for a dramatist I 1 should think i he he used to take me to the theater regularly envery other thursday it waa a ditte date and hia big favorite entertainment bit tain ment was vann ovill with on embellishment preferred pre terrel furm his sh shy f hion he was an kind kim and generous and mighty good to me ine if you all hadn haan I 1 gone to war or hut but had bad kept right at his elbow the marriage might have bum boom been averted tied suggested searles he did leave you something lee fifty thousand cash and the right to use the barage at t the e barton farm calling it I a far farm la in I a joke it a 3 awas mostly he bought the two house to he have a place to store nia his prints and jap ceramics lie he hated motoring except in taxis issis up and down town and ana when 1 I urged it han biro to set act up a machine blue he be told 1 he 1 to go bond ahead and buy one a and ad build the garage told roe me rd fd better hi fix up the studio in the garage and be have to it ai A place to work in nis hill will provides provide that I 1 may lodge in the garage I 1 tor I 1 life Is eche the estate footed a million as I 1 remember so an I 1 can t praise his hia generosity genera a Y but bill the widow your unknown throw code auntie the body snatcher who annex ed 1 the old boy what of her ea I 1 ve to asked it the I 1 trust t company p peo pie whether she ashes 1 in sight eight anywhere and they assure we me that she Is not on these then abu shores ace torrence termites tile the third laird vim pro president i doi you ow know terry tarry he be was in the c class ass ahead of us its at col 1 loge lege the wall man who ho neer mner 11 arr torry y wild said she he acknowledged the last at tance three mouthy ago from bangkok ab wherever that lost I 1 Is 1 I 1 suppose a hie the old aid girl s resumed aher her ta tour or of th clr world looka looking 9 for ALL ler retired lived merchant to add to her list tes very likely to what nation it tribe or human group does this pred limit story atory p a belong unrest at the barton farm ITO TO BE |