Show t WITH AN NE RS emilie lor i n 9 A SYNOPSIS dromke reyburn visits the office of led jed stewart a lawyer to discuss the terms of an estate she has haa inherited from mrs mary amanda dane unwittingly she overhears jed talking to mark trent a nephew ol of mrs dane who has been disinherited d mrs dane had lived at lookout house a huge structure on the sea built by her father and divided into two for her and marks father brooke had been a fashion expert and mrs dane a shut in hearing her on the radio had invited her to call and de a deep affection for her mark discloses that mrs dane had threatened to disinherit him it he married lola from whom he Is now divorced lie says bays he does not trust henri and clotilde jacques acques mrs danes servants ile he says he is not interested in an offer of brookes to share the estate with him leaving her department store lob job brooke refuses an offer to go stepping with jerry fie field I 1 d a carefree yo young g man who wants to m marry arry her at afla a family rally conference she learns she must live at lookout house alone since Luc lucette elte her younger sister who Is taking her job her klunger rother brother sam a young playwright and her mother plan to stay in the city jed and mark are astounded when they hear bear from mrs gregory a family friend that she had witnessed a hitherto unknown will with henri and clouyde two weeks before mrs dane died brooke had arrived just as she was leaving jed suggests that mark maik open his part of lookout house get friendly with brooke and try to find and out about the will jed agrees to stay with him mark accepts brookes invitation tor for a family thanksgiving dinner at lookout mrs reyburn announces on thanksgiving eve that sh she and has been invited to england sam and lucette decide komove to move in with brooke and sam plans to produce a new play locally alter after the thanksgiving dinner brooke tells mark that little of mrs danes silver collection is left jerry field and his sister daphne drop in and announce they will be neighbors for the winter sam adds them to the cast of his play later inspector harrlson harrison of 0 the local police visits mark and is informed about the missing will and silver As harrlson harrison leaves lola arrives changed by years and indiscriminate love affairs she announces that she and her new husband bert hunt have started a neighborhood filling station CHAPTER V continued 7 please mease stewart and I 1 have given up y c cocktails ik tails too effeminate we have become tea minded since we came here the cup that cheers offsets to a degree the pound of the surf outside have a sandwich empress you forgotten that nickname have you mark I 1 like it from you you use your mothers silver dont you by the way what be became carfie of that gorgeous antique service of your aunts I 1 seen any of it at lookout house brooke the girl felt as it if the eyes ot of both men were regarding her with suspicious pi clous attention she finished filling ga a cup added a slice of lemon and two lumps of sugar for mrs gregory mr stewart t will you have yours the same strength oh about mrs danes silver there any you say there any silver where is it then did your aunt relent and give it to you mark no miss reyburn and I 1 were wondering about it on thanksgiving day glad you brought up the subject aunt mary amanda speak of having disposed of it the day you wit the last day you saw her did she why had bad mark trent floundered in hi his question what had he meant by the day you wit why change the end of the sentence witness was the word he had start ed to use what haders had mrs gregory witnessed ff an fn n icia t even while she was driving mrs gregory home under a sky already freckled with stars making what she hoped were intelligent responses to her monologue of question and answer brooke was weighing and disposing of conjectures as to the meaning of the hunt womans comans warn ing it was with a sense of strain lifted that she helped the older woman out of the car mrs greg ory laid her hand on her arm youre a darling brooke iap aap I 1 ap prec re fate now the color and the sense ot of gods in ills his heaven alls right with the world you brought into mary amanda danes life I 1 had intended to start a boycott against you and your family here because you had cut mark out of his bis inherit inheritance anc e but he asked me tobe to be nice to you 1 I adore that boy I 1 would do anything for him he lived to in a nightmare of humiliation with abife a wife who came home night after night barely able to keep her feet why why cant women realize that Ws its their pr lille ie to keep keeli up the standards of decency he stood by her though and held his head high and allow his soul to be warped by the experience brooke left her town car in the 9 garage rage when she reached lookout house she aia thoughtfully drawing ol 01 her gloves as the she approached the garden door of her house bousi A Z stream of light laid a golden path ort on leafless shrubs and graveled walk A woman was at the dohrl A woman in a fox cape mrs hunt talking with henri brooke stepped into the purple shadow of a spruce she could see and she could hear it if you keep a level head we can cant it lose henri the mans murmur was indistinct he closed the door softly as the woman went down the steps she flung a furtive look at the tha windows of the house before she vanished in the dusk that seems to be that brooke said to herself before she started around mark trents arents house hous e that she might enter her own front door unobserved by a possible watcher in the garden As she entered the living room at lookout house she rang for henri the green parrot squawked I 1 stop ruffled his feathers and hopped up and down in his cage she was standing near the fire letter opener in hand looking over the mall mail she had found on the desk when the butler entered did anyone call henri on the phone miss at the house henri opened the door of the parrots cage mr Mic micawber awber hopped to his shoulder and began tweaking his ear never mind about the parrot henri answer my question but I 1 take him out like this for a walk around three times a day miss the old madame wanted him to have a change of scene not a person called at this house were you expecting someone yes the lady who Is to have charge of selling tickets or the play phoned that she might come come this afternoon probably she make it all her eyes followed him as he the room with the green bird muttering on his shoulder always she had ad distrusted the manof man of ot whom Mary Amanda dane had been so fond why should he have lied to her about mrs hunts presence at the garden door of lookout house H ouse because the woman was there to see him of course with her thoughts still on henri and his evasions she slit silt one of the envelopes in her hand and drew out the lettjr it contained all ali thought of the butler fled as she saw that the letterhead was that of the firm for which she had been fashion adviser dear miss reyburn Rey buro she read any chance ot of your wanting a lob job we are opening a dress shop at palm beach under the name of 0 carstons inc very swank very expensive celeste will be business bubines manager wed like you to be top ma mannequin cluin with a salary 0 of course and percentage on the sales ol of the frocks you model well put on a fashion show later in the season society girls as mannequins well open this year january first dont say no until you think it over come in and well give you more details celeste ancl aar the directors are au all for y you ou on the job yours truly brookes face flushed as she reread the letter of course she accept some girl who needed the money should have the chance but it was thrilling to know that wanted palm beach all sunshine and fragrance and flowers what a contrast to this stern and rockbound coast with the pound of surf the wall wail of the siren and the cries of gulls to which she was wai anchored for the present the contents of the letter g glowed in her mind as she dressed for the evening it was heart warming to know that her hard work had been appreciated not until later as snuggled in a big chair before the fire in the liv ing room she waited for lucette an and d sam to change for dinner did the memory of mrs hun hunts ts presence at the garden door recur to her now it surged to the top ol of her mind with unseeing eyes on the green parrot back in his cage she thought ot of the womans comans warning to her of her threat to mark maik trent it had been a threat in spite of that sugary darling what had she meant what object could henri have had in denying her presence why should the remembrance ot of the low voice valce declaring it if you keep a level headge head we cant lose henri send icy pr ickles crawling up her spine and coasting down brooke thoughtfully smoothed the lace of 0 heidinger her hei dinner frock lace the very shade of the high lights in her ha hair ir it this were were a movie there might bi be a trick cupboard rd in the green pane paneling lingin in which the silver had bad been hidden but there wai was nothing so exciting here she had been at lookout bouso when the walls and trim were painted calling car 51 car 51 5 car 51 the frenz frenzied led call brought Brooke to her feet act her heart thumping madly then she laughed as th the 2 parrot with a squawk preened his s green and yellow feathers she made a disdainful lace face at the chuckling bird mr Mic micawber awber sometime when you yell like that ill forget that im a perfect lady and wring your neck sam did you teach the parrot that police radio call she demanded as her brother entered the room his eyes twinkled behind the lenses ot of his horn rimmed spectacles he pulled a piece of cracker from the pocket of his blue coat sure I 1 taught him ive been at work on that bird ever since I 1 came here stout bellat th the parrot carrol twisted his plemely round blinked lidless eyes before he nipped at the reward which sam had thrust through the bars of his square cage that birds a peach brooke you c can an teach him anything if you try hard enough boy I 1 wish I 1 had him in the play hed show some of the stiffs how to speak their lines chos chos the biggest problem Di daphne pline field ashes pretty enough but dumb shell stop the show all right but not because ashes an actress hers Is a feed part for the tha leading woman ashes one of those darn fool girls who go 90 off their heads in a crisis in real life I 1 mean not in the play glad shelo not in the lead laura crane who Is Is good ashes got plenty on the ball how is jerry in his part okay but I 1 dont like the man who is playing the male lead iles hes a spotlight hog I 1 wish mark trent would take it hes just the type and a natural I 1 think hes great and hes darn friendly but sam leaned against the mantel and faced his sister have you ever thought that he is not particularly keen about the family brooke said thoughtfully would he be likely to be keen as you express it about a family which was spending money that he felt should he be his I 1 think he has behaved decently who said he I 1 have a kind of feeling all he told jed stewart that we might take anything we liked from his house for stage setting but all things considered ill be glad when the show is over sometimes I 1 think ive writ rn 11 lpg ipg ai N z I 1 j how perfectly grand ten a smash almash hit and sometimes that the play Is just a lot of tripe I 1 barent hope for one or two first string critics to give me the lowdown on it anyway a manager who liked those two sketches I 1 wrote for the workshop is coming for the 0 pening opening to give it the once over and hell bring a new york producer really saml saint how perfectly grandl grand I 1 we MI hi soft here comes lucette I 1 dont want her to know that be in front it might rattle her there was the sound of running g feet on the stairs a gay voice singing lucette dashed into the room her black hair was silky her thin frock was only a shade redder than her lips and cheeks and fingernails she dropped to the rug in front of the fire hugged her knees and looked up at her sister how soon do we eat brooks brooke im m starving arving Et Ft henri waits till he hears you Itu tumble downstairs before he announces dinner what kind of a day did you have hectic every woman in the city apparently has gone sports clothes minded stopped boasting of the extreme age of their frocks and hats bats and have begun to spend real money they are buying for themselves and tor for christinas inas gifts in spite ot of the fact that prices are being stepped up I 1 should worry I 1 get a sliver silver of commission on my sales the girl who has taken your place had just one of those days today madame celeste was on the warpath karpath war path I 1 brought jerry field down in the car car he was a gob of gloom when he be came in and you were not here by the way who do you think runs that new filling station in the white cottage mark billark trents arents ex wife and her husband CHAPTER VI brooke stood before the fire in the softly lighted eted living room at lookout house three days dais had bad passed since she had received the letter offering herthie her the tiie palm beach position since she had he heard ard that the hunts were the proprietors of the filling station she had been patron izing she had refused promptly the business offer and had dropped it from her mind but she forget the other sometimes she wondered if she would ever think ol of anything else questions were ever lastingly popping up had lola hunt gone to mark trents arents house to toll tell him about it it or had he ha known already why later had the woman been talking so confidentially to henri at the garden door of lookout house what had she meant by if you keep a level head we cant lose henri what was behind that snapped off wit of mark trents arents Tren ts why was she spending a moments thought on mark trents arents problems she plenty of her own she frowned at the empty gilt cage where was mr micah ber when she had come in this afternoon henri had been wringing his hands he had gone completely french as he chattered but she had gathered from the jargon that when lie he had stepped out on the lawn with the parrot on his shoulder the door had banged behind him and the frightened bird had flown away it that she cared tor for the parrot she detested him but mrs dane had loved him and she sha felt as if she had broken faith with her benefactress wake up sl si serl sterl lucette prodded from the doorway sam and I 1 have been staring at you for three minutes trying thought transfer once nothing doing we penetrate your skull youve been scowling as if addressing a hall full of women who refused to rally to your onetime one time battle cry old age necessary it is nothing but a geral watch out that you dont pick it cupl brooke laughed 1 I had no idea that the precepts of her elders made such an impression on our little sister had you sam no I 1 where is mr micawber Mic awber brooke told him no kidding what do you know about ill bet henri let him go he do that sam though he should have known better than to go to the open door with him mrs dane have the birds wings clipped of course he ha would fly when he got the chance henri takes all the care of him thank heaven I 1 think he adores him if he can adore anything curious mr micawber Mic awber likes henri and you he try to conceal the fart fact that he dislikes lucette and me im really troubled about the parrot he may be flying outside and mrs dane was so careful never to expose him to draughts who Is calling I 1 wonder brooke asked as a s the butler passed in the hall on his bis way ay to the front door kyl I 1 jerry field is coming to dinner thought we could all go to rehearsal together do you mind brooke of course not lucette did you tell te henri to set a place for him lucette nodded before she greeted jerry field how are you |