Show ja M 0 N olde 9 n B PETER B daw 1 le KYN E ty bell SYN dacate kte continued 25 As stephen hung up the telephone receiver chuckling miss ordway brought in his nail mall in it he found a registered parcel that had been through the custom house with duty prepaid on it it contained the finest and most eapen sive combination stopwatch stop watch and timepiece he had ever seen and a note that read dear doctor burt 1 I know it would not be au fait for me to ask you for fora a bill for professional services for I 1 realize that what you did tor for me was done as one liu man anan being to another and quite without thought of financial remuneration moreover I 1 prefer to remain forever your debtor you will never know what you have done for me christ restoring life to the dead son of the widow of nain performed no greater miracle than did you in restoring life and happiness to my dead soul I 1 would d t try y to thank you if words were not so pitifully inadequate to express the profundity of my gratitude will you not please accept the enclosed trifle as a token of that gratitude anil and add one more debt to those already owed you by me it Is not easy to learn to live with my secret now thit that I 1 have found it out I 1 am trying to regard the past as one harks barks back in memory to a very serious illness some days when I 1 have achieved sufficient courage courage I 1 am curious about my other self evolved from darkness there are blanks in my life perhaps you can fill them in perhaps you will not care to knowing that they are better left blank bin I 1 do not think however that I 1 was ever terribly wicked if so I 1 have hare no recollection of it your grateful penelope old mother nature Is speaking to penelope he soliloquized and replaced his bis fathers old watch with the one penelope had sent him give nature a chance give her an even break and shell prove herself the greatest greate sr physician of a all 11 11 after some consideration he wrote the follon following ing to penelope come home and let me iron out the few remaining wrinkles so your life will be as smooth as you could wish the watch Is wonderful thanks and I 1 think you are very wonderful too ton love as usual stephen it occurred to him to tuck that last phrase in for good measure love not merely the love of a man for a woman but the love that Is a fine friendship was he knew very necessary to penelope she must he knew be assured that in all the world somebody really cared nobody knew better than he the wreckage tb that it kindness and love denied can make of human lives never a day passed without leaving him evidence of this lie he was not getting quite his little slice of life money success the joy of accomplishment professional standing in the respect of his colleagues he be had plus some good friends and true but he was lonely lie he decided not to dine alone it would be far better to drop in unannounced on an lanny and dan take pot luck for dinner CHAPTER XII it was late fall stephen had bad just returned from his vacation it was his first day back at the ollice and he was a bit rebellious at the flood of patients that awaited him ile he finally got rid of the last one at five thirty and following ills his custom settled back bach for a of tobacco when miss ordway entered theres a young lady calling she announced she says site she Is miss ott 1 I dont know her miss ordway A prospective patient tl 1 I imagine she Is I 1 ask tell her its beyond odice hours and suggest that aie he call during ollice hours tomorrow miss bliss ordway departed to deliver the message but returned presently to say that the young lady begged to be permitted to see him very well show her in ID he acquiesced irritably but bui remember professor finnegan it she stays too long miss elliott entered stephen rose and waved her to a chair then well miss elliot what seems to be the trouble does my general appearance indicate to you even remotely that I 1 am one who requires the services of a neurologist and psychiatrist she asked him stephen smiled scarcely what Is it then you want a subscription to something now how astute you are doctor I 1 a am m 80 soliciting 1 citing subscriptions to ito 0 a f und fund d designed e to furnish expert medical attention to a very deserving public servant I 1 refer to detective sergeant patrick joseph flynn 1 I know him miss bliss ellott wrong with flynn nis ills blood pressure seems to be very high Noth nothing lD doing miss elliott El llott stephen interrupted 1 I admit I 1 sold this terrible flynn the notion that he be had high blood pressure but I 1 did that hat for a reason I 1 do not care to explain the man has the arteries of 0 ft a boy flynn to you and just who might you be you have hare my name what I 1 want to know Is this are you ashamed to take me out to dinner no ot of course not stephen blinked 1 I appear eminently respectable quite in fact a most presentable lady not so homely eh eb on the contrary but I 1 shall not go to dinner with you why well while the experience might be delightful I 1 think youre too pert the lovely face drooped sorrowfully f u ily oh stephen would you be that mean to poor little penelope good god of love stephen almost Y yelled belled are you my little penelope of course I 1 am oh stephen you great booby not to recognize me mel I 1 lie ile came from behind his desk took her fiercely by the shoulders and gazed down at h her er too amazed to speak a pretty good secondhand second hand nose cose it penelope queried with just the suspicion of a quaver in her tone dont tell me you disapprove I 1 adore it myself very soberly he be quoted and you my sweet penelope out there somewhere you wait f for or me with buds of roses in your hair a and nd kisses on your mouth oh stevie Stev lel I 1 she whispered ta take ke one ile he took three and penelope rested contentedly in his arms 44 4 ile he hugged her fraternal fraternally rater nally v sly 3 dear dear girl lie he declared it if I 1 were a praying man id get right down on my knees and send up a prayer prayer of gratitude to omnipotence youre well oh ob yes indeed I 1 am the girl cried with a catch in her voice im happy not perfectly happy but hug mel me oil oh stephen stephen it was so hard not to come back when I 1 received your cablegram but I 1 had to fight things out and I 1 want to come home until I 1 could meet you bravely stephen are you truly glad to see me again 1 I am he answered and marveled that lie he should be so glad as lie he was P E ANN I 1 j with buds of roses in your ha hair ir and kisses on your mouth ills heart for some mad reason was sing singing ing within him sit down he be commanded and went back to ills his own chair im going to talk to you tor for five minutes and then the subject will be taboo for ever imagine a long hill with a deep pond at the foot of lt it a pond all scummy green and slimy a miasmatic pond imagine that you started running docu that hill bill in tile the dark that you stubbed your toe and rolled the remainder of the way into that pond well exactly what happened to you you were brunni runni running ng in the d dark ark and you st your too toe and landed la in a social Str stratum attim equivalent to that scummy pond do you remember your fos ter mother faintly as one remembers faces and events of ones childhood well dont bother to remember her her cruelty almost ruined your life but she Is out of your life now never to return there are four human beings in s living who know that penelope gatlin and nance belden were one and the same I 1 wrote you yon a meticulous account of your illness so co you understand all about that but what I 1 want you to know now la is that no power on earth can ever discover you tor for the purpose of making you pay the penalty for the misdeeds of nance belden by the way where did you get that name 1 I had bad forgotten who illo I 1 was and I 1 had to have a name so I 1 picked that one out of a book the new nose has helped wonderfully it she nodded 1 I do not want to hide from people now stephen you must not that would be depriving the people peaple of the sight of something very sweet and wonderful the eager wistfulness in her fine eyes thrilled him do you think im sweet and wonderful stephen I 1 want you to most of all my ally dear come here he commanded and sit bit on my knees lost just as you used to do when you were nance belden find and a simple child of impulse when you yort the least compunction about making love to me penelope flushed but nevertheless obeyed stephen drew her check down to ills his 1 I want to tell you something he murmured the fi first night I 1 saw sal you my heart went out to you and when dan told me how it all happened I 1 had a tremendous admiration for your bourn courage ge and I 1 love brainy people penelope and you have brains I 1 knew what was wrong with you and I 1 felt so sorry for you my poor dear I 1 wanted to help you more than I 1 ever wanted to help any human being I 1 understood all about you you were just a little lost atom crying so 90 pitifully to be saved to know love and protection and happiness that you developed into a game and lanny and dan lind and I 1 just had bad to play it to the 11 have you thought of me sometimes iftner Oft ner than I 1 cared to admit to myself penelope I 1 know all about you in this box on my de desk sk are a all 11 the records look at them penelope dear then you bothered to find out everything you cared for me just a little bit A considerable bit just how much I 1 realize until now I 1 want you for my patient always or as long as we both live what do you mean stephen im clumsy I 1 dare say but I 1 have more than a suspicion th that at ive been in love with you and now that I 1 have you back im quite certain I 1 love you enough to want you to marry me I 1 think my love for you will grow with the years that we are going to spend together and never think back never be ashamed of me never regret your course and are you sure this just pity pity Is akin to love it started in pity alty sweetheart and its growing every minute vast fast work my penelope but im not afraid to trust my instinct youre my woman you love me a little do you ant why sald penelope soberly ive loved you from the day dan brought me to this off ollice lice you were kind to me and you seem to see my nose I 1 was so grateful and ever since ive been waiting walten out there here somewhere she hugged him fiercely oh stevie darling all the rest of my life I 1 shall devote to you ill not be oppressive with my love and ill not be possessive but I 1 do want the task of adding to your happiness I 1 know what happiness Is I 1 c can an appreciate even a little birti bit and ill never forget to cherish what you gave me and give back all I 1 ca can n that way happiness lies you seem to have the formula he replied gravely the door from miss Ord ways office opened and the nurse looked in im sorry doctor curt burt but professor finnegan has just telephoned that you are fifteen minutes late to your engagement to meet the great german savant herr doktor but I 1 press the button miss ordway 1 I know you stevie dear penelope spoke up but I 1 did accidentally ordway blushingly withdrew who Is professor finnegan l darling penelope wanted anted to know just a person lanny and I 1 invented to help rid me of nuts that stay too long sweetheart you dont have to consider him at a all 1 I of course sald said penelope im queen here am I 1 not THE END |