Show SOH itys dap MW WE baz M ar m IN h ate I 1 e atna Kt kathleen norris Na by HV KATHLEEN NORRIS service CHAPTER XV XIV continued 20 dali ah but non nonsense 1 quentin said in his honest troubled voice of course it serena said she went over and clung to quen tins arm he disengaged her hand without seeming conscious of her pres presence ence and turned to victoria why did you come here dear he asked in a concerned tender voice it will only distress you horribly you dont belong in this spencer asked for me quent vie vic raised her eyes to his and saw serena pale and tense and watching looking at them and she felt an odd twist of something like pity in her heart nonsense or not little dr cudworth said inflexibly 1 I professionally I 1 could not ascribe this to a natural illness serena faced him down you could mind your own business 1 she said with a hiss on the last word if you dont want to do it knowing as I 1 told you when you got here as everyone knows that hes been a sick man for years I 1 say that if you dont believe that a man who takes no exercise and is not strong could eat something or take an opiate that would make him desperately ill youre a foell you to be practicing medicine it happens a all 11 the time men die every day of acute indigestion coupled with heart failure and if you wont take the responsibility of saying so dr hardisty will that be done serena quentin said quietly 1 I have never had this case but via rm positive I 1 dont believe I 1 know dr cudworth seriously suggesting you may do as you think best doctor the other doctor said abruptly 1 I would have entire faith in anything you saw fit to do but I 1 personally must decline the responsibility 1 I have nothing to do with it quentin said briefly serena turned on him spencer had acute indigestion and hes got a bad heart she said but believe me if theres any investigation vesti gation it if theres one word of talk youre in this too quentin in Hardis tyl IU ill not stand it ill not face a coroner and be questioned while you are quietly enjoying yourself over there on the lawn with your wife laughing and carrying the children into the housel house 1 1 I dont think happen quentin said but vicky saw that his face was pale 1 I wish called me ear earlier lierl how do you know hap peril serena said 1 I know I 1 can tell youl you I 1 we had a coroners investigation when gitas father died I 1 know what it meanest means I 1 have to sign that death warrant quentin or ill have to drag your name into it you and ive talked of what wed do if he died you cant deny that if they put you on oath everyone knows what weve been to each other you had a motive for giving me something that would put him to sleep he told dr cudworth here that I 1 wanted to get rid of him vie vic do you want vant to stay quentin asked in an undertone as the breathless voice died to silence this your sort of thing no vie vic wont go serena said at white heat you dont think vi vie c know that you love me that youve been following me making in me presents writing me letters quentin looked at vicky looked away he spoke quietly vicky knows just how badly ive treated her serena he said ashes always known from the beginning im not trying to wriggle le out of that if you were really fool enough to give spencer sleeping powders or anything else im in it with you theres no question that you can drag my name and my childrens names in the mud if you want to you can take those letters into court letters saying it if it for spencer serena interrupted him letters saying everything quentin said in a low voice with a level glance at her letters saying everything he repeated but one thing true he went on slowly ive never loved but one woman in all my life never no matter what I 1 said or wrote or did ive always loved my wife always always held her in a place lace by herself vicky went over to him and dropped her hand into his but he did not glance at her or seem to tc know that she was there how nice serena said so sol I 1 pay the bill alone how very nice no you and ill both payl pay quentin said and shell pay too it means disgrace tor for us all there was a sound at the door of 0 the in invalids room the amah came cam out with an agitated face shaking her head serena gave a short ajac and turning went across acres the hall to her own room and went wen nto into it and closed the door thi the two doctors and vicky faced thi the chinese woman as she came toward them her jargon was unintelligible telli gible to quentin the promised nurse coated cold rosy came upstairs amah says spencer heard your voice and wants to speak to you vicky interpreted my god when I 1 saw her face I 1 thought the poor fellow was gonel gone dr cudworth ejaculated so did 1111 II 11 vicky said do you mean quentin had clutched her arm his fingers bit into it like a vise he was almost shouting what ayou mean he gone oh no but quentin theres no hope vicky said master say other doctor come now the amah said in a singsong yes come in with me for gods sake hardisty and see what you thiekl cudworth said as they all went together to spencers door f A ff K 4 47 ive got an even break spencer asked vicky heard quentin mutter as if i he spoke to himself we all stand there talking while the poor fellow diesl dies then they were in the sickroom vicky watching her husbands rather than the patients face her own face reflecting the fluctuations fluctuations of feeling she saw there quentin the sick man said clutching at his hand all personal feeling forgotten in the grips of life and death you can do something for me cant you for gods sake get me out of this operate do anything that ass there h he e whispered with a flickering glance at that agitated cudworth tells me im washed up theres something so methin 9 you can do quentin spoke urgently definitely vie vic get to a telephone and tell anna to come over right away with that big package on my desk its from Leng felds she cant miss it rush it and just as soon as youve done that get the amah to get plenty of hot water boiling water I 1 suppose theres a table here a long table flat you think so doctor faltered the other doctor 1 I know sol so quentin shouted suddenly mad with impatience just lie quiet there spencer he added to the patient and well get you out of this if we can ive got an even break ll 11 spencer asked not quite so good we wont know quite what chance youve got until weve gone a little further ah heres our nurse we want a surgical bath here nurse as fast as you can manage it weve no time to waste vicky ran downstairs ran upstairs for sheets serena was not in evidence and nobody asked for her the nurse suggested a rubber sheet and anni anna panting in wi with th the big bundle was sent flying back to the Hardi for one presently there was nothing for vicky to do except sit on a chair in the hall and wait and think and wait quentin came out wit with h a nurses white apron tied on him back to front and asked for soda just plain kitchen soda and you might as well go home vie vic take it out of you no ill wait quent has he a chance im afraid not but well try putting him under now well know in an hour 01 she vicky glanced at the closed door of room whispered 1 I dont know but its not for him im fighting vie vic quentin said its for all of us its touch and go now if lie he lives wo we live and it if he dies I 1 may have gotten you into something never get out of my dear be in it too ill be in it too oh she get MP in as an accomplice quen tin said but she could do enough to ruin us all wed have to go 90 away vie i wed go away and the story would follow us and follow the children all ive done to youl quentin said the woman the amah has produced a bottle half full that would j kill ten men our one hope is that it was about a ten times dose and i in lemonade lemon is the only anti acid that touches it if anything saves him save him that is if we get to the kidney in time you hilll vicky said with her faithful eyes on his and her world rocking about her and her lips white you believe in god dont you quent asked almost absentmindedly ill 1 I do I 1 then while im in there you pray vie vic ile he kissed her without smiling without seeming even to see her released her from his arms my god you are a tower of strength to me he said you are a rock of hilpl pray for everything weve got while im in there the kids and the home everything 1 I 1 always thought I 1 alwa always ys thought quentin muttered turning away that id like my boys to be proud of their father my kids he went into the sickroom and vicky waited there was a big spanish sli chair in the upper hall of the morrison place and she sat in it and clasped her hands to keep them still and prayed A navajo blanket richly striped with yellow and black and scarlet had been hanging over the black iron railing of the stairway she wrapped it about her the night was bitterly cold CHAPTER XV silence and night and vigil unseen somewhere a clock struck the hours and the half hours outside in in the dark a rising wind whined uneasily and now and then a broken branch skittered ered on the tiling of the roof in the upper hallways of the morrison house one lamp burned softly steadily from the half open door that led into spencers room came sounds low voices the creaking of a bed and the clinking of ice and once a sort of bubbling groan that made heart stop for a moment in terror she prayed trying not to think drowsed awakened with a start to find that it was not all a strange dream she really was here in the morrison house in the middle of the night quentin was behind that bedroom door bringing au all his skill every ounce of strength t and knowledge and inspiration that he could muster to the saving of spencer morrisons Morri sons life and serena was in her bedroom only a few feet away somehow living through the hours that would decide whether or not she would be tried on a charge of murder what was she doing vicky wondered she had swept away from th the e g roup group hours earlier had closed her bedroom door upon whatever she was experiencing suffering furious with fear the accusing eyes of both doctors upon her their flat refusals to perjure themselves in protecting her still ringing in her astounded ears and spencer struggling in death throes of her causing she had angrily withdrawn had she flung herself down on her bed and fallen into dreamless sleep vie vic wondered but im just magnifying the whole thing into an absolute bugaboo victoria told herself it wont happen that way I 1 spencer will die of an operation quentin can sign a certificate about that a anyway and cudworth wont talk lies hes got his own professional rep reputation to protect he want to be mixed into any murder friall shell go away and this time next year well be worrying about something else she could reassure herself for a moment then the solitude and silence sile le n C 0 of f the night began to work their spell again and victoria felt with a sort of desperation that if quentin come out of that room pretty soon the amah appeared presently looking like a little old mahogany carving in a black and white cotton coat TO BE CONTINUED |