Show IF blowing 0 0 0 emilie loring service SYNOPSIS S brooke reyburn visits the office ot of jed stewart a lawyer to discuss the terms of an state estate she has inherited from mrs mary annanda amanda dane unwittingly she overhears jed talking to t mark trent a nephew ot of mrs Dane who has been disinherited mrs dane had bad lived at lookout house a huge hug structure on the sea built by her father and ad divided into two for or her and marks father broche had been a fashion expert nd Sirs 5 dane a shut in ti hearing her on the me ra radio d 0 o had invited her to call and developed a deep affection for or her mark discloses 10 lo s that mrs airs dane had threatened to disinherit him if 1 he married lola from rom whom he be is now divorced he says he does not trust henri and clotilde jacques mrs airs danes servants is he says he is not interested in an offer of 0 brookes to share the estate with him leaving her department store job brooke reuses refuses an offer to go stepping stepp step pino ln with jerry field a carefree young man who wants to marry her at a family inference she learns she must live at lookout house alone since Lue lucette ette her younger sister who is taking her job her brother sam a young playwright and her mother plan to stay in the city CHAPTER III 4 4 through the open transom above the office door came the hum of typewriters mark trent behind his desk scowled in the direction of the sound he had paid good money for those machines on the understanding that they were noiseless curious that he never bever had been annoyed by them before must be this confounded note in his hands he read again dear mr trent many times your stint aunt has told me of the thanksgivings you spent with her at lookout house wont you dine here on the coning coming holiday my mother sister and brother will be with me there are many family treasures which you should have I 1 would like to go over them with you and more than au I 1 want to thank you for pulling me out from under that car I 1 really so ungrateful as I 1 sounded this ibis is a late invitation because I 1 have been bolstering up my courage to ask you please come bury the hatchet or accept the olive branch or peace between enemies T am not fo lor a moment your enemy is being accomplished now sincerely yours brooke reyburn lookout house he dropped the note and frowned at the red carnations in a crystal vase on his desk he lived over the instant he had seen a girl go down in the street had seen a speeding car almost upon her how had he managed to save her colorless and dazed as she was he had thought her the loveliest thing he ever had seen as she looked up at him As for a second he had steadied her in his arms his brain had fought against her attraction and the live warmth of her body had prompted him to growl at her no wonder she had been angry and no wonder he admitted honestly mary amanda dane had been taken in by her well one victim in the family was enough she hypnotize him he drew letter paper toward him and picked up a pen hed settle thi this s question of friendship between t them hem for good and all little schemer dear miss reyburn he wrote As he hesitated as to how to word is S regrets another picture of the girl as she had appeared between the kingings hangings hang hing ings in stewarts office flashed in his mind with startling clarity he must get along with that note his frowning regard of the opening door changed to a welcoming smile as a head poked in come in jed on the little litte mind now jed stewart perched on a corner of f the flat desk he pulled one of the red carnations from the vase and drew the stem through the buttonhole of the lapel of nis ais checked coat im taking a lady to tea need a posey to make me look like a million so combined utility with business and came here knew you always had them the business if youve been een sent s e nt again to ask me to take halt half of that hold everything a all washed up the matter has not been mentioned to me since the day you and brooke reyburn met in my office I 1 guess you killed her interest in you by your infernal sarcasm th hope ope enjoy the h house ouse and fortune tune miss reyburn happy land digs perhaps id better say safe landings I 1 aez you oh you think so read that TW jed stewart wart frowned over the note mark trent tossed to him he read it 11 through rough reread it looked at bis s friend going going what do you think M mark ark answered a buzzer who mrs gregory of course IU ill see her he explained hurriedly to stewart its an old friend of aunt mary amandas she sailed for france a week before my aun aunt t died ashes a martinet one of those terrible women who dont care where the lash of their tongue falls and a CO confirmed matchmaker this is mighty good of you mrs gregory and its a clear case of thought lit transference not ten minutes ago I 1 was thinking of you p A wave of feeling menaced the clarity of marks voice as he bent over the white gloved hand of the woman who had entered the office she had been a vital part of the life at lookout house which now seemed so irretrievably far behind him A smile tugged at his lips as he observed that the floppy wide brimmed picture hat was the model she had worn since as a boy he had admired the deeply waved blonde hair it shadowed the hair was still faultlessly marcellea mar celled but it was snow white she settled into a chair with the same rustle of taffeta he remembered and adjusted a diamond brooch of a size and brilliance to 7 7 J 0 W 4 A handsome as ever arent you aou make a discriminating thief avidly flex supple fingers she peered up at him through a jeweled lorgnette with eyes once a brilliant blue now the color of faded larkspur handsome as ever arent you mark in spite of the way those two women let you down first that wife with a grande amour euse complex and then mary amanda I 1 dont wonder that your hair at the temples looks as if it had been touched by frosty fingers if you are only thirty chos he she waved her lorgnette toward stewart who back to the room apparently had been absorbed in a study of the calf bound books on the shelf stewart of the firm of stewart and stewart attorneys jed come here I 1 want to present you to mrs gregory my first love amp flatterer you always could coax my heart out of my breast with your wonderful smile and your voice mark she peered through her lorgnette as jed stewart took the hand she extended with the air of a sovereign stewart and stewart you were mary amanda danes lawyer you the contempt in her voice deepened the color of jed stewarts already sufficiently ruddy face 1 I had that honor honor do you call it an honor to help cheat her nephew out of his inheritance IF really mrs gregory jed cant be held responsible hold your tongue mark I 1 ive ve started and now I 1 intend to get rid of a few things that have been boiling and sizzling inside me since the day I 1 heard that mary amanda had of that fas fashion mon cut YO you u out in favor adviser shed gone cra crazy zy about forget it mrs gr gregory egory I 1 dont need the money of course you need it no one has money enough now because no one has a sense of financial security you take over all the lame ducks as your share of your grandfathers property so that your aunt be worried by them arent you making that ex wife of yours an allowance mary amanda told me she been doing since she left you for that french count it was a french count year it they were buzzing round rich girls thick as wasps about a broiled live lobster she has married I 1 understand married after she divorced the counti count the third time getting to be a habit it she entitled to a penny I 1 dont wonder your aunt was furious when she found out that you were giving her money perhaps the real reason she cut you off though I 1 thought it was because she believe in divorce on that subject she was stuck back in the eighties however that what I 1 came here to talk about I 1 just wanted to tell you that if I 1 had known what was in that will I 1 witnessed two days before I 1 sailed for europe it was just a week before she died now stewart dont look at me with your jaw dropped as if I 1 were a moron with a medusa complex of course I 1 know that a person supposed to know the contents of the will she witnesses but I 1 still say that had I 1 known that your aunt was leaving her money away from you mark I 1 would have cut off my hand before I 1 signed mark trents arents heart stopped and galloped furiously on A will witnessed a week before mary amandas death the will which had been probated was of a date two months prior As he opened suddenly stiffened lips to reply he met jed stewarts warning eyes eyes which seemed like flames in a chalky face jed was as amazed as he jed began to speak 1 I was fond of my client mrs dane and your reference to her last will brought back a picture of the delicate woman in her wheel chair with with that disreputable parrot swearing in the cage behind her the bird was there when I 1 witnessed the will I 1 know but that she would insist upon being the other witness but she called in clotilde and henri jacques it was her nurse companions companion Is day off if I 1 had to choose between the parrot and that french butler as my co resident on a desert island id take MT mr micawber Mic awber after they went out mary amanda and I 1 were alone for a few moments in the firelight it was the last time I 1 saw her mrs gregory dabbed her reddening eyes with a lace edged handkerchief she straightened demanded an why am I 1 slobbering slob bering like that I 1 love life I 1 give up my place in this problem logged world for all the starry halos and golden harps you could offer thinking of your aunt set me off the last few times I 1 saw her I 1 had noticed that she seemed distrait as if something were w worrying her ive wondered since if she would have told me what she had done if I 1 had not had to hurry away I 1 called henri before I 1 left As I 1 looked back she seemed white and exhausted As I 1 drove away I 1 saw that girl driving in 11 that girl you mean the reyburn girl of course stewart you ought to get a position somewhere as an echo id met her several times and I 1 liked her too before I 1 knew I 1 w what hat she had done to mark she made me tor for get that I 1 w was as old enough to be her brandmo grandmother ther charming manners well I 1 must run along it thank you for your interest in me mrs gregory im going down to your car with Y you ou wait for me jed the woman turned on the ahr threshold esh 1 I hope if ever you draw another will cutting out a rightful heir young man be swished in in boiling oil stewart grinned not boiling oil madam not boiling you reduce the temperature a degree she smiled well see well see youre an en engaging aging boy it if you are a poor clawy lawyer er im to spend the winter in my country house not far from the dane trent property doing it this year motor down some sunday for lunch sure ill come meanwhile would you mind not telling anyone that you witnessed mrs danes will you dont think im proud of my part in that robbery do you I 1 have mentioned it now but I 1 wanted to square myself with mark mark trents arents mind was in a tumult as he chatted with her in the corridor inquired for her health on the way down in the elevator told her that he thought of her rich fruit cake whenever he attended a wedding she looked up at him sharply as they waited at the curb then you still attend weddings why not I 1 rather like them after your experience I 1 should think you would shun them ever s see ee lola no heres my car dominique at the wheel remember him dont you he drove my horses before I 1 had an automobile and the only thing I 1 have against him is that he recommended his friends the jacques to your aunt she made so much of henri that he got dic minded and tried to run the whole place jed stewart was walking the floor when he entered his office he stopped abruptly well he demanded did she talk any more 7 not about the will why wh y the dickens you ask questions dare dont you see mark boy dont you understand someone has sn snatched snitched snit ched that second will she witnessed did you draw it never heard of it perhaps your aunt had an acute attack of remorse I 1 argued with her as much as a lawyer can argue against cutting you out she come to me about a new will mrs gregory say that she had been distrait the last few times they had been together she thinks it was because mrs dane was making up her mind to disinherit you you and I 1 know that the will to that effect already had been drawn you passed up a grand chance to cross examine her jed dare she thinks the will she witnessed is the one probated know that if it had been she would have been summoned to prove her signature we let a suspicion of this second will get out where is it she khe said the reyburn girl drove in as she left the place do you suppose aunt mary amanda told her what was in it and that she jed stewart stopped his restless pacing his eyes and voice were troubled TO br BE CONTINUED |