Show 0 0 0 C emilie loring service SYNOPSIS brooke reyburn visits the office of jed stewart a lawyer to discuss the terms ol of an estate she has inherited from mrs mary armanda dane unwittingly she overhears overbears over bears jed talking to mark trent nephew ot mrs dane who has been disinherited mrs dane had lived at lookout house a huge structure by the sei sea built by her father and divided into two for her bar and marks father brooke tad abeen been a fashion expert and mrs dane 1 shut in ID 11 hearing her on the radio tad had invited her to call and developed a deep affect loi loiA tor for her mark discloses that mrs ME dane had threatened to disinherit him if he married T ila aa aiom whom he be Is now divorced he says he does not trust henri nd clotilde jacques mrs danes servants he says he Is not interested te rested in an offer of brookes to share the estate with him leaving her department store job brooke refuses an offer to go stepping with jerry field a carefree young man who wants to marry her at a family conference she learns she must live at lookout house alone since lucette her ber younger sister who is taking her job her ber brother sam a young playwright and her ber mother plan to stay in the city jed and alark are astounded when they hear from mrs gregory a family friend that sh had witnessed a hitherto unknown will with henri henn and clotilde two weeks before mrs dane died brooke had arrived just as she was leaving jed suggests that mark open his part of lookout house get Iri endly with brooke and try to find out about the will jed aggee to stay with him mark accepts brookes indita dioz for a family thanksgiving dinner at lookout mrs reyburn heyburn announces on thanksgiving eve that she has been invited to england sam and lucette decide to move it in with brooke and sam plans to produce a new play locally CHAPTER IV brooke noticed mark trents arents quick glance about as he entered the dining room at lookout hour she felt an instant of self consciousness as she took the seat against the variegated yellow background of tall mimosas and acacias amacias which filled a broad bay window which her mother refused with a quick shake of her head and a smile she immediately forgot herself in pride of her sporting family each one was so gay so determined to do his or her share to make the party a real festivity holidays were hard days since her fathers death but always someone who was alone had bien invited to keep the feast with them thinking of others helped immeasurably to bridge the sense of loss celia reyburn argued the dinner was a bucce success ss brooke breathed a little sigh of relief as she rose from the table this thanksgiving dinner had been the first entertaining in her own home of course the guests had been her family and mark trent only but she had felt pride in having it a success As she served coffee from the massive silver tray in the living room she glanced at mark trent 0 standing before the fire with his elbow on the mantel he was talking to celia reyburn seated in a corner comer of the couch the orchids he had brought her added the perfect touch to her amethyst frock orchids for her mother gardenias for Lucette and deep fragrant purple violets for his hostess he had said it with flowers A lavish gentleman had henri turned chalk chalky Y as he had announced dinner or had she imagined it he had stared at mark trent as if seeing an unwelcome apparition with a groan of repletion sam pulled himself out of a deep chair boy lets get out and walk I 1 fe eel e like ke a stuffed trussed turkey i why ly do w we e eat so much more on i Thanks thanksgiving nga because we j any sense notice that im acquin 1119 g the analytic method question i and answer anybody here got the energy to take the shore walk r go S with YOU sammy celia I 1 ya cybur smiled at her tall tall son alame la ne jaffrey is a great hiker she will probably walk me all over we the british isles I 1 must get in practice just wait until I 1 change tty my shoes boy oy im m glad S we have one sport in 1 the family ill bet lucette has a beav heavy Y daie date and is expecting someone Orne orie coming brooke com ing mr trent 4 mark to you I 1 hope sam do come bome miss reyburn mark trent ur ged feed its a grand day after ho U r ot storm there is enough no d to make the surf worth look ing at aj 5 1 worth looking at were colorless 4 words to express the grandeur of the e shote shore brooke thought as on n S on a jutting crag ho holding adin L tier her beret with one hand skirts 6 blowing S she looked down at the 1 driving IB current cold and stealthy in places in others foaming and tossing white edged green waves against ledges transformed by the magic m agic of the slanting sun into ruddy copper dark brown in the crevices spray diaphanous as a mist from a giant atomizer iridescent as jeweled i malines shimmered in tho the light beyond the surf a dozen lavender winged gulls floated on the water an amber green wave out lashed its predecessors hissed roared broke against a ledge and showered brooke with crystal spray oh instinctively she clutched mark trents arents arm it it took my breath he drew her back to the path P pulled out his handkerchief and W wiped aped her wet face 1 I should have known better than to let you stand there it your fault I 1 adored it it made me feel as if every inch of me had been electrified why is it that when we are together I 1 need to be rescued from difficulties I 1 want to thank you for please dont she wondered at the embarrassed fierceness of his voice 1 I wont except to add that I 1 know I 1 owe my life to you there JOHN I 1 10 1 I 1 6 I all i INE all X A ar A 0 4 neighbor over I 1 promise never to mention it again spurred by the stimulating air courage and plunged wont you please be friends I 1 know mrs avry acry amanda dane had any money really I 1 mr trent in the instant that she waited for his answer sun sea the roar of the surf were blotted out only his straight gazing eyes meeting hers were real they touched her heart quickly passionately then mark trent thrust his handkerchief into his pocket forget that mr trent stuff being legatees lega tees in the same estate my aunt left me a bank account you know ought to make us friends it his voice was light but she sensed a tinge of irony wed better keep going if we are to walk around the point before dark your mother and sam went on some time ago what did she mean when she spoke of hiking over the british isles she is going to england to visit her college classmate of course im crazy tc have her go but but I 1 realize ho how W precious she was until I 1 thought of her being so far away are your brother and sister r going no they are to be with me while mother is away I 1 am so glad it will give me heaps to do im not used to this poison ivy leisure that looked so alluring before I 1 had tried triad it my life was so full before before you had lookout house stuffed down your throat you mean I 1 dont see why the dickens aunt mary kr manda randa tied that string to her legacy forced you to live in this house it a string and she force me I 1 like old towns and I 1 love lookout house my mistake trents arents laugh turned to a frown what are vae te town fathers thinking of to allon allota 4 gas station stuck out on this road has that house been sold brooke promptly defended the brilliant equipment in front of a small white cottage 1 I dont know who owns the place but doubtless the town fathers were thinking of giving the poor man who has started the filling station another chance I 1 heard that he had money lost it egan ean to drink arink too much and that a friend set him up in business here hoping to steady him who told you the story of his life henri henri does he know the man he will have to answer that question he asked me to buy gas at the new filling fill ing station st aaion and I 1 do to encourage the poor fellow to keep on trying to make good how about encouraging honest mike cassidy who started the garage at the end of the causeway years ago and has served the public faithfully and unselfishly he has a wife and five children to support why did his voice rouse opposition in her brooke wondered she had doubts herself lately as to the permanency of the filling station owners reform twice when she had stopped for gas a young irish girl had reported the boss as sick and she had wondered if he were backsliding back sliding mark the magnificent need not know that however dont you believe in helping a man to come back she asked crisply 1 I 1 do most decidedly but I 1 believe also in helping an honest hardworking man like cassidy who has had the strength of character to leave drink alone to keep his kids in shoes come on we are almost quarreling why should you and I 1 fight over a filling station owner youre right when we have so many other things about which to disagree brookes brown eyes met his intent and darkly gray wistfulness tinged her voice as she urged speaking of disagreeing will you please behave like a sensible person and take the family treasures which belong to you 11 aunt mary amanda left them to 11 you 1 I know but it right for me to have them and more I 1 dont need or want them id rather go without rings all my life than wear one of those gorgeous things she left which are rightfully yours mr stewart has put all the jewelry in a bank vault for you I 1 have mothers lovely china and glass and furniture which have been in storage since our home was broken up ive had everything which belonged to your family moved to the chauffeurs apartment over ana garage there seems to be very little silver perhaps your aunt gave it to you silver very little silver she ha had d the trent service which came originally from england and any number of beautiful pieces that silver sv er is a family tradition where is it she give it to me what does stewart say about it he thought that because of the epidemic of crime reported in the newspapers mrs dane might have become timid about keeping valuables in the house and had it stored in a bank but he found no receipt for it among her papers do you think she sold it sold it no ill bet he broke off abruptly see that great rock sticking up off shore I 1 used to imagine it the peak of a submerged island rising from the sea perhaps it is islands arise grow old and disappear that ori original ginar sam has taken the title for his comedy from it the first night I 1 spent at lookout house I 1 was kept awake by the wailing of of that distant siren now I 1 dont notice it notice it if you stay here during the winter as jed told me you were planning to do there goes the sun behind the city they walked in silence back to lookout house on the threshold of the living room she stopped in startled unbelief jerry field stood by the fire talking to her mother who was the brown haired girl in blue beside lucette wait for you to send out at home cards brooke jerry field greeted jauntily you remember that you said I 1 could come to lookout house when you were settled dont you I 1 wanted to meet your family wanted t them hem to know that im in your stag line for sure his eyes flashed beyond her to mark trent on the threshold there thera was laughter in his voice and a hint of challenge before she could answer he commanded come hither daphne and meet our neighbor this is my sister neighbor brooke smiled at the brown haired girl as she welcomed her with a cordial handshake 1 I would know that you were jerrys jerryc sister you look so like him but is the neighbor stuff a joke no miss reyburn we really are staying on the point daphne fields smile disclosed clis closed small teeth as perfect in co color lor and size as a row of matched pearls she turned to sam ive heard that you are the coming playwright mr reyburn that you have a touch of ON eils tragic outlook a seasoning of kaufmann Kauf mans humor and a hint of cowards ds so sam grinned Is that original or did you get it from the times the girl pouted of course its original why mark daphne fields breathless exclamation the radiance of her face r revealed so much that brooke had the embarrassed sense of having looked for an instant at a naked heart trent came forward was the firelight playing pranks or 11 had bad his face gone dark with color where did you drop from daphne how ar are eyou you field why someone say something and smash the strained silence brooke wondered impatiently it was as if the fl firelight relight had cast a spell and tied all their tongues her mothers eyes were on daphne field as she thoughtfully pulled her gloves through her hands sam back to the room was poking at the parrot he hated emotional scenes off the stage the atmosphere mo sphere fairly quivered with things unsaid lucette came to life turn on the lights sam this gloom may be artistic but it gives me the merry pranks this has turned out to be meet your neighbor day it chos the dame in in the floppy hat brooke who looks like a super animated bopeep bo peep and carries a cane which easily could be mistaken for a shepherds crook theres the chance of a lifetime for you to get in a little missionary work as clothes adviser better begin with a streamline diet she thinks everything here including mother charming TO BE CONTINUED |