Show fri by MARY i A tario thrilling tan g mystery ayd e ry story about a man who lost his courage and the diroberts girl who helped h him i m to find it again RINEHART t T t CHAPTER XVI continued 13 that would be foolish it when you have done so well and besides since you are not guay gul ty sidney 1 I didat do itt she cried passionately but I 1 cant keep on nil all there Is to it I 1 keep saying to myself you do it you do it and all the time something inside of me Is saying not now perhaps but sometime you may 1 she looked up at him blin forlornly 1 I am just not brave enough IL it tie be braver to keep on arent you giving up very easily her world was in pieces about her and she felt alone in a wide and empty place and because her nerves were drawn taut until they were ready to snap sidney turned on him 1 I think you are all afraid I 1 will come beck back to td stay N nobody really wants me anywhere in all the world I 1 vot not at the hospital not here not any place I 1 am no use when you say that nobody wants 3 son ou said K not very steadily 1 I I 1 think you are making a mistake she sha scanned his face closely and reading there something she did not understand ilie she colored suddenly 1 I believe you mean joe drummond mond no I 1 do not mean joe drummond if he had found any encouragement in her face he be would have gone on recklessly but her black eyes warned him if you mean max mas allson son said sidney you are entirely wrongs wrong ijes hes not in love with me anyhow after this disgrace there Is no disgrace child hell think me careless at the least and his ideals are so high ka K you say he likes to be with you what about you sidney had been sitting in a low chair by the fire she rose with a sudden passionate movement in the ln in formality of the household she had visited K in her dressing gown and slippers and how she stood before him a tragic young figure clutching the folds of her gown gowa across her breast 1 I worship him K 11 she s said aid tragically 1 when I 1 see him coming I to get down donin and let him walk on me when I 1 see him in the operating room coot cool and calm while e everyone v else Is flustered and excited he he looks like a god then half ashamed of her on outburst she turned her back to him and stood gazing at the small coal fire it was as well for K that she did not aee see his face its real all this he asked after a pause youre sure its not just glamour sidney its real terribly real iier her voice was muffled and ile he knew that he was crying she was mightily ashamed of it tears of course except in the privacy of ones closet were hot ethical on oa the street perhaps lie he cares very much too give me a handkerchief said sidney in a muffled tone and the little v ione cne was broken into while hile K X searched through a bureau drawer then K questioned her alternately soothing eco thing and probing who else had access to the medicine cl closet oget carlotta harrison carried the keys heys of course I 1 was olt off duty from four to six when carlotta Carl olta left the ward iha probationer would have them love lave you reason to think that elac ac one of these girls would wish harta harm none nona whatever began sidney ve 1 bently and then checking herself atless Qi iless br bet t rather ridiculous what Is ridiculous ive thought that carotta carlotta but I 1 ani am sure she la Is perfectly lair with me why KC she t would be murder murder of course urse said K in in ent lou anyhow of course slie she SQ 0 it im only trying to find out whose tel tIl stake it was soon after that she said goodnight good night ltd iid 1 rut it out Y it she turned in the door way and smiled tremulously back at him you have done me a lot of good you ton almost make me believe in myself because I 1 believe in you with a quick movement that was one of hr her charms sidney suddenly closed the door and slipped back into the room K hearing the door close thought she had bad gone and dropped heavily into a chair my best friend in nil all the world I 1 said sidney suddenly from behind him and bending over she kissed him on the cheek the next instant the door had closed behind her and K was left alone to such wretchedness and bliss as the evening brought him joe drummond came to see sidney the next day she would have avoided him if she could but had ushered him up to the sewing room boudoir before slie she had time to escape she had not seen the boy for two months and the change in him startled her he was thinner rather hectic scrupulously well dressed why joe she said and then wont you sit down ne he was still rather theatrical he dramatized himself as he had that night the june before when lie he had asked sidney to marry him lie he stood 4 I 1 I 1 y I 1 9 IF 1 1 1 I 1 I 1 ti I 1 AL im just eating my heart out for you just inside tile doorway he offered no conventional greeting Nihat whatever ever but after surveying her briefly her black gown tile lines around her eyes youre not going back to that place of course 0 1 T I 4 I 1 decided lie ile stared at her incredulously credulously Ift you dont mean that you are going to stand for tills this sort of thin thing every time some borne tool fool makes make s a mistake are they going to blame it on you please dont be theatrical come in and sit down I 1 cant talk to you it if you explode like a rocket all the time her matter malter of fact tone had its effect ne ile advanced into the room bus he still scorned a chair 1 I gaess guess youve been wondering why you heard beard from me he said rye ive seen you more than youve seen me sidney looked uneasy the idea of espionage Is always repugnant and to have in a rejected lover always in the offing as it were was disconcerting 1 I wish you would be just a little bit sensible joe its so silly of you really its not because you care for me its really because you care for yourself you cant took fook at me andray and say that sid ne ile ran ills his linger finger around ills his collar an old gesture buethe but abo collar was very loose lie ile was thin his neck showed it im just eating my heart out for or you and the truth and it only that L everywhere ivery where I 1 go people say theres the follow fellow sidney page turned down when she went into the hospital ive got so I 1 keep off the street os as much as I 1 can sidney wits was halt half alarmed halt irritated this wild excited boy was not the do dos godly faithful youth she had always known it seemed to her that underneath his quiet manner and care fully repressed voice there lurked something irrational something she could not cope with she looked up at him helplessly but what do you want roe me to do you you almost frighten me youre going back absolutely because you love the hospital or because you love somebody connected with the hospital sidney was thoroughly angry by this time angry and reckless she had come through so much that every nerve was crying in passionate protest it if it will make you understand things any better she cried 1 I am going back for both reasons she was sorry the next nest moment dut 13 ut her words seemed surprisingly enough to steady him for the first time he sat down then as farns far as I 1 am concerned its all over Is it yes joe I 1 told you that long ago he seemed hardly to be listening ills HIS thoughts had ranged far ahead suddenly you think christine has her hands full with palmer dont you well it if you take max wilson youre going to have more trouble than christine ever dreamed of I 1 can tell you some things about him now that will make you think twice but sidney had reached her limit she went over and flung open the door el every very word that you say sho ws me how right I 1 am in not marrying you joe she said real iteal rn men n do not say those things about each other under any circumstances youre behaving like a bad boy I 1 dont want you to come back until you have grown up ile he was very white but he picked up tip his hat and went to tile door 1 I guess I 1 am crazy lie said ive been wonting wanting to go away but mother raises such a fuss ill not annoy you any more he left her standing there and ran down the stairs and out into the street at tile foot of the steps he almost collided with doctor ed back to see sidney said doctor ed genially fine joe im glad youve made it up the boy went blindly down the street CHAPTER winter relaxed its clutch slowly that year march was bitterly cold even april found the roads still frozen and the hedgerows hedge rows clustered with ice but at midday there was spring in the air in the courtyard of the hospital c con on vale scents sat on the benches and watched for robins the fountain which had bad frozen out was being repaired here and there on ward window sills tulips opened their gaudy petals to the sun harriet had gone abroad for a flying trip tell in march and came back laden with new ideas model gowns and fresh enthusiasm grace irving having in made good during the elte sales had been sent to the spring cottons she began to walk with lier her head higher the day slie she sold sidney material for a simple AN white bilte gown she was very happy on sidney on K and on christine the winter bid bad left its mark heavily liea hed vily christine readjusting her life to new condit conditions ions was graver gravel more thoughtful she was alone most of the time now under K 1 3 guidance she had given up the duchess and was reading real books she was thinking real thoughts too tor for the first time in her life sidney us as tender as ever had lost a little of the radiance from her eyes eves lier her voice had deepened where she had been a pretty gill she was now lovely she was back in the hospital again tills this time tilde in tile the childrens ward K X going in one day to take johnny dolinny RoS a basket of fruit saw her nith ith a child in her arms and a light in her eyes that he had never seen before it hurt him rather things being as they were with him when he came out lie he looked straight ahead K had bad fallen into tile the habit after ills long walks ot of dropping into chrls chris tines little parlor for a chat before he went upstairs those early spring days found harriet kennedy busy late in the evenings and save for christine and K tile the house was practically deserted the breach between ralmer palmer and christine was steadily widening she was too proud to ask him to s spend end more of ills evenings with her on those thos occasions when he voluntarily stayed at home with her ho he was so that lie drove her almost to 0 distraction although she was convinced on that he was seeing nothing ot of the he girl who had bad been with ith him the night light of the accident she did not trust him not that girl perhaps but there were others there would always be others into christides Chri stines little parlor then K turned one spring evening she was reading by the lamp and ahe door into the hall stood open the little room always cheered K X its warmth and light appealed to his esthetic sense after the bareness ot of his bis bedroom it spelled luxury and perhaps to be entirely frank her evident pleasure in ills his society gratified him chris tines small coquetries coque tries were not lost on jilin him the evenings with her did something to reinstate him la in his own self esteem it was subtle psychological but also it was very human come and sit down said christine heres a chair and here tire are coga rette sand there are matches bowl behind him christine stool stood watch ing ng his head bead in the light of the desk lamp amp what a strong quiet face it Is she thought why did gild she he get the I 1 impression pr easlon of such a tremendous reserve power in this man who was a clerk and a clerk only behind him sho she made a quick unconscious gesture of appeal both hands bands out for an instant she dropped them guiltily as K turned to her 1 I wonder it if you know E K 11 she said what hat a lucky woman the woman will be who marries you he laughed good 1 I wonder how hoi long I 1 could hypnotize her into thinking that ive had time to do a little thinking lately she said without hitter bitter ness palmer Is away so much now ive been looking back wondering it if I 1 ever thought that about him I 1 dont believe I 1 ever did I 1 wonder t she checked herself abruptly and sat down alter after a moment has it ever occurred to you how terribly mixed up things are take this street for instance can you think of anybody on it that that things have gone e entirely right with its a little world of its own of course I 1 said K and it has plenty of contact points with life but wherever evir one finds people many or few one finds all the elements that make up life joy and sorrow birth and death and even tragedy rather trite fint it christine was still pursuing her thoughts 1 men alen I are different she said to a certain extent they make their own fates but when you think of the women on the street harriet kennedy sidney page myself even mrs rosenfeld back in the all alley ey somebody else molds things for us and all we can do Is to sit back and suffer I 1 am beginning to think the world is a terrible place K why do people so often marry the wrong people why cant a man care for one woman and only one all his lif life ea why why Is it all so complicated there tire are men who care for only one woman all their lives youre that sort fort arent yo you U 1 I dont want to put myself on a any ny pinnacle if IE I 1 cared enough tor for a woman to marry her id hope to but we are being very tragic christine 1 I feel tragic theres e going to be another mistake K unless you stop it ile he tried to leaven leaved the conversation with a little fun if youre going to ask me to interfere fere between mrs mckee and the do deaf af and dumb book and insurance agent I 1 shall do nothing of the sort she can both speak and hear enough for both of them 1 I mean sidney and max mas wilson hes wad road about her K and because ashes the hie sort she Is hell probably be mad about her till all his III S life even if he marries her but hell not be true to her I 1 know tile type now 11 K leaned back with a flicker ot of pain la in his eyes what can caa I 1 do about it astute as lie he was he did not suspect that christine was using this method to fathom ills his feeling for sidney perhaps she hardly knew it herself you might light marry her yourself 1 K but he had bad himself in hand by this time and she learned nothing not liing from either his voice eor or ills his eyes eye s on twenty dollars a week and without so 60 much as asking her consent so lut ile he dropped his light tone pm im not in a position to warry marry anybody even it if sidney cared for me which she ot course then you dont intend to interfere youre going to let the street see another failure do you believe the there r e is moral danger for the participants in the growing intimacy of the friendship between christine and K ka would christine be justi tied fled in the cincu circumstances ancis in seeking love or its imitation elsewhere ft TO bli BL CONTIN |