Show a MOME m an T ai ra im in 0 ira f MAXWELL by 0 ARCADIA HOUSE publications SERVICE CHAPTER IX continued 9 good lordi lord phil buchanan exclaimed incredulously gar youre youre not cry ing 1 my de dear child please dont take this thing so seriously after all the national weekles Wee klys not the only magazine in new york mary averted her face and gazed gaze d blindly out of the window no ll 11 she finally managed to say the national weekles Wee klys not the only magazine in new york but if you say their son is trite and lacks conviction vic tion theres no use in my trying to market it anywhere else and what a fool you must think I 1 ami crying because you dont like my story I 1 1 I bet im the only woman who ever bawled in your office buchanan grinned showing those strong teeth that looked so startlingly white compared with the tan of his face well perhaps you are but lets forget it mary smiled through her tears maybe you can but im sure the memory of my making a fool of myself before an editor will haunt me to my dying day mr buchanan yes mary throw that script in your waste basket why I 1 cant do that its your property you know 1 I never want to see it again no I 1 wont be mailed to you in proper form now tell me the new tale about and do you feel that youve allowed yourself enough time on it mary looked at him with troubled eyes why I 1 dont know I 1 worked on it constantly for two days and a half and after all a short is only a thousand or so words in length do you thinkie thin kId better take it back home no leave it here ill glance over it myself instead of submitting it to the regular routine then it if I 1 feel it should be improved upon ill return it to you for revision before putting it through the usual reading procedure are you having that picture taken this afternoon by the way mary glanced at her watch yes I 1 am and its time I 1 was getting to the photographers thank you mr buchanan youve been nice and im sorry I 1 acted so silly phil buchanan followed her to the door well theres something you might do to ah make up for having floored me just a bit there for a moment mary smiled at him obliquely and what is that never darken your doors again to the contrary I 1 have to drive oscar up to westchester this afternoon and I 1 wish go alo along ng oscar dont tell me youve forgotten oscar my dog you know hes working up an attack of something or other and I 1 want to get him to the before he breaks out with distemper or the rickets or whatever great danes have we could call for you at the photographers if go then after getting oscar settled drop in at trudis on the boston post road for a beefsteak dinner mary hesitated she had accepted an invitation with count Bali anci for dinner somewhere and one of their usual walks but an evening with phil buchanan suddenly appeared far more desirable than an evening with the suave italian she could phone Bali anci cancel her engagement with him id love to go with you and oscar she finally said 1 I dont imagine the photographer will keep me more than an hour do you 1 not a chance shall I 1 call for dor you say at five yes at five good goodby by he was by the grace of a friendly policeman waiting for her in his low slung coupe when she came out of the building at five minutes after five oscar looking regal in spite of a nose that was definitely dripping occupied the rumble seat mary hastily slid in beside buchanan and slammed the door 1 I know anybody short of the mayor could park on fifth avenue 1 11 she said hows oscar oscars got a decided case of the sniffles phil replied looking really worried and spike says you can hear a sort of wheeze in his chest like an organ in in a country church when the organist misses a note mary turned about and looked at the big dog through the back window he seems to be enjoying life right now she reported sitting up very straight and regarding the traffic with enormous interest eventually they arrived at doctor Hor homers ners country retreat for city dogs and cramped and cold alighted from the car mary could discern through the gathering dark of the march night a rambling frame building once a barn so phil buchanan informed her now a model hospital for canine pets A united howl from the inmates had set up the moment phils car had pulled into the driveway oscar feeling he had been betrayed by his master and this girl who had allowed lo 10 wed him to lean so comfortably against her slunk beneath the car and for exactly ten minutes steadfastly refused to budge eventually they wheedled him out doctor horner having produced some bait in the shape of a very large hunk of round steak finally assured by the veterinary that oscar merely had a cold and would probably be in the pink of condition within a few days they told the dog goodby good by and followed by his accusing eyes made their way to the coupe it was nearly midnight when mary reached home lelia had just got in and was rifling the icebox ice box while miss corswell Cot swell propped up in bed was reading come on in here girls she called from her bedroom and bring some cheese and crackers where in the world have you been mary mary stepped into the bedroom why aunt linnie addle addie I 1 dw NI darling youre not falling in love with him are you give you my message I 1 telephoned about five but you in and I 1 told her to tell you I 1 was driving d riving J i to westchester with mr buchanan he had to take his bis dog to a barys and asked me to go along it heavens how domestic and unexciting oo but it was fun aunt linnie really lyl we stopped at trudis on the way back and had beefsteak and german fried potatoes and pancakes and we sat in front of a big log fire in a room that cant be a day less than a hundred years old no one else was there and after trudi served our dinner he and his wife who cooked it came and sat with us and we talked 08 sounds cozy commented lelia entering the room with a tray of food phil buchanan loves to hobnob with all kinds of people perhaps why hes so successful e he knows every phase of life half the policemen in new york have named their first born son after him miss corswell Cot swell regarded her niece with speculative eyes darling youre not falling in love with him are you the butter knife with which mary had been spreading some cheese clattered to her plate no she said coldly im not falling in love with him and a darned lot of good do me if I 1 were hes interested in me as a writer not a woman and not so terribly interested at that he turned down their son today said it was trite and banal urn uni murmured linnie and bit into her cracker well I 1 cant say my dear that I 1 can shed any tears over that the sooner you discover you were never meant to be an author the better be for you something will have to wake you up to the advantages of marrying jerome taylor mary placed her plate on the tray with a bang that was almost fatal im never going to marry that silly old man aunt linnie and you might as well know it right now also I 1 have umberto bal lanci with his brillian tined hair and perfumed cigarettes for a gift im sick to death of their fatuous glances and their silly speeches it was wonderful simply wonderful to spend this evening with a man who never once mentioned my so called beauty nor attempted to kiss me no aunt linnie im not falling in love with phil buchanan Buchana nl 1 and heavens knows he certainly is not falling in love with me in fact there are times when I 1 feel quite sure he even like me that he secretly thinks im something of a fool and leaping to her feet her eyes burning with unshed tears she fled from the room CHAPTER X the script of their son had reached mary the second morning after the drive to westchester with phillip buchanan and the very sight of the long envelope in which it came and the printed rejection slip that automatically had been enclosed sent a wave of nausea over her there was a small fire burning on the hearth in the living room the march morning being chill and mary seeing that aunt linnie was engrossed in her mail stepped to the hearth and dropped the script on the burning logs that she told herself 1 I never want to see the thing again only remind me of how futile my efforts are in that same morning mail there had come a letter from janet loring and mary seeking what privacy she could seated herself in the wing chair by the window and slit it open with a hairpin mary dear I 1 am getting more and more worried about dad every day he Is so terribly discouraged and as yet not one ray ot of hope has come our way concerning a position for or him also he Is not well and has contracted a hacking backing cough that keeps turn him awake night after night ive urged him to go ee doctor cragg chos back from his honeymoon you know but dad always says oh its nothing ill be better tomorrow I 1 know however the truth of the matter Is hes bes afraid at 0 what the doctor will tell kim him and also he feels he cant spend the money even on such a necessary thing he wont tell me now how much money we have left in the bank but I 1 know it must be practically gone after petes operation two years ago and what dad dads S had bad to draw tor for expenses lately morning after morning he leaves the house right after breakfast just as hes done for twenty five years when there really was some work to be going to each morning he bathes and shaves and dresses so carefully and there act actually U seems to be some hope in his face but he be always comes back to noon dinner and again tor for supper with no news to tell us and a look of defeat in his eyes ive come to the conclusion that we ought to tell linnie about our affairs ask her for a loan five hundred dollars would be a lifesaver life saver for us right now would give dad some relief until he can find a position but when I 1 mention this to him his face gets red and he says no jenny janny we come to that yet I 1 dont mind your sisters sending you valuable presents and giving mary a lovely time to in new york but I 1 cant allow you to ask her for money to teed feed us people dont seem to like chris craggs wife very much I 1 saw her at sullivan and Our werda s the other day and she was being positively rude to poor miss ackley about their tine line of chint chintzes zes I 1 overheard her say with a little toss of her head ill simply have to go to chicago to get what I 1 want why I 1 cant even get a decent haircut or manicure were so excited over the news that your story will appear in the national weekly next month mr chickering called u up the other night t to a get I 1 the he details and hes going to print a nice article about you in the evening paper to think my daughter should hould be a r successful uc author 1 have a good time darling and as ong long as dad is so adamant on the subject act dont let on to aunt linnie in any manner shape or form that we are so frantic about finances here at home mary read the letter again her heart heavy with compassion have a good time darling dont let on to aunt linnie to think my daughter should be a successful au author thorl the brave pitiful sentences danced about in her tired mind poor dadius dad I 1 she thought poor mother so gallant so de feared I 1 wanting me not to tell wanting me to have a good time thinking me a successful author when at sea is probably my one and only story ever see itself in print suddenly unable to bear her thoughts in the narro narrow w confines of aunt linnies home she jumped to her feet aunt linnie she began and her voice was breathless im going out for a walk miss Cot corswell swell glanced up from the announcement of an art exhibit why maryl so early its only nine lo the older woman discerning the girls unrest studied her lovely young profile the matter matte dear you received bad bad news from home have you no every things all right I 1 simply feel restless I 1 wont be gone long linnie corswell Cot swell sympathetic to something she could no not t fathom continued to search the girls face all right my dear she finally said run along but dont forget were leaving for journeys end at eleven geromes Je romes caru carll be here promptly on the hour 1 I know mary murmured as she left the room to get a hat and coat and to herself she was saying journeys end oh my godl god I 1 how can I 1 stand driving out there today filling myself with rich food being shown those thoroughbred horses and dogs talking fool nothings 1 the days wore on fruitless sterile days for mary she longed longe a with every fiber of her being to write but the words would not come it was futile to try she finally told herself until after she had learned the fate of concerning anne if phillip buchanan accepted it her belief in herself would be restored the dried well of her mind would again gush forth until then she must go on in this helpless daze eating bathing dressing attempting to sleep attending farewell parties given for linnie and lelia it was now the twelfth of march and they would be sailing in three days maybe after they had gone and she and addle addie were left alone in the quiet of the apartment shed be able to think maybe it was early in the afternoon of the twelfth that coming home from a dull luncheon at the ritz with some of linnies friends she found a letter from the national weekly on her dressing table her heart flooded with hope when she saw that it was thin and flat that it could not possibly contain a script with clumsy haste she tore 0 off one end of the envelope and snatched out the single sheet of paper it contained why its in longhand she said to herself how st strange rangel did mr buchanan write it himself yes there was his signature phillip buchanan scrawled at the bottom of the page then with joyous anticipation she began to read my dear miss loring ive just finished reading cancer concerning ning anne and my dear child their son was a gem in comparison it at least had possibilities that Is perhaps for some magazine other than the national weekly what nas come over you why cant the girl who wrote at sea produce another perfect short its in you mary loring it Is only something about which I 1 cant possibly know Is destroying your beautiful talent please try to overcome it or shake it off or forget it I 1 feel sure you can do it I 1 have absolute faith in Y your our ability that Is why I 1 am writing you these words which in all probability you WW will consider brut brutal al concerning anne Is not being returned to you by mall mail I 1 dont want anybody in the office to see it instead will you lunch with me at the brevoort saturday the fifteenth and talk things ove overt r sincerely phillip buchanan mary never knew how long she stood there at the dressing table staring blindly at phillip buchan ans letter A dull pain pounded at the back of her neck and for a while she thought she was going to be sick the frankness of his words was reacting upon her with physical violence her mouth felt dry and hot automatically she moved towards the bathroom took the peach colored glass from its niche in the wall and turned on the cold water faucet TO BE CONTINUED |