Show are U r 17 GWEN BRISTOW E STORY THUS PAR FAR spratt her s motion picture producer met aine an married elizabeth whose first husband arthur kittredge was reported killed in world war 1 I the Her longs had three children dick 17 about ready to enget the service cherry and brian arthur had not been killed but taken to a ger man hospital badly disfigured he did not want to live and wanted elizabeth to believe he was dead when dr ja coby started treating him arthur was wa almost helpless lie ile recovered hid part of his facial disfigurement behind a beard and went to hollywood he soon start ed to work tor for spratt under the name of kessler CHAPTER XII what was left of arthur quivered with rage you brute he said you damned brute he conti continued nuee giffith irth epithets worse than that lie he never been addicted to N w nw and was surprised to find such language coming so readily to his hi lips but the words were there an he used them and continued usine them every time he saw the doctor later he asked jacoby if he had understood anything of what he had been saying then jacoby smiled with the grim humor arthur had learned to recognize not the vo cab but I 1 did not need the vocabulary to understand what you were saying to me and just then I 1 did not blame you but at that time jacoby paid no attention to the protests he simply left arthur there to contemplate his shattered body and go wild with the prospect of being forced to live in it nere litiere was nothing else jacoby could do he was working eighteen hours a day on a pittance of food that in prewar pre war germany would not have been thought enough for an idle man Be besides gides since he knew so little english and arthur knew no german at all he had to let arthur go on believing what he believed there was no way then for jacoby to explain that four years of this war had almost annihilated his bis faith in the human soul there was no way for him to say that he too was on the edge of despair searching desperately for some reason to believe that men could be saved from the evil they had wrought before the war jacoby had never doubted the essential worth of the spirit he had not thought mankind was vas perfect or likely to become so tit t he did respect his fellowmen fel be deause he thought that for the most part pari they deserved it he had no patience with those contemptuous pessimists who shrugged at the human race as though they had looked it over and decided that it would never amount to much to them he had been accustomed to say most people have a lot to put up with and most of them put up with it very well I 1 know some of them are fools and scoundrels but theres a lot of courage in the world and a lot of quiet unostentatious nobility people in n general are all right and find it out it if take the trouble to know them better that expressed in homely language was his faith in the fundamental value of life he had believed in it but that was in the pleasant days before the war lathen then came the four years he had just lived through the physical wrecks brought to him had been dreadful enough but they were not the worst some of those he could heal and some he could not but he had been appalled sickened and at last reduced almost to hopelessness as he saw the disintegration of humanity lie he had seen men turned into brutes incapable of any emotion but hate he had bad seen it over and over so often that he wondered why he should be trying to save their ives when they had nothing left that nade them fit to live the fury and error around him had come close a 0 uprooting all the confidence he ad ever had in mens being funda mentally nen tally better than this he want d to believe they were if this was ill they were good for the sooner hey destroyed themselves the beter it was very hard in this last ear of the war to go on believing n anything arthur had been brought to him ahen he had begun to feel himself giving g in to a brutal cynicism when ie examined arthur he suddenly elt that here was a man who could prove the ultimate test not ofa of a hunan nan body to recover but of human bourage to overcome disaster when his american realized what had een done to him his mind would be lack with hate and horror even it if t had never been before at first ie had wondered if he had the right 0 prolong such a life as this but after several of those examinations inder which arthur had screamed ind cursed at him jacoby had on vinced himself that with labor ind patience he could guarantee hat his patient would not be help ess arthur would have something 0 work with if he could be made 0 use what he had and with it regain ain any wisdom or generosity in spite of what he had lost jacoby promised himself that he would take t as meaning that humanity could lo jo the same As he worked with him as he saw arthurs fury and despair arthur became to him a symbol of the worlds wreckage it this shattered american could come back there was hope the damage of the war was done to the world as it was done to arthur but it if arthur could be made to go on could be made to want to go on there was a reason for living by this time jacoby was not sure that there was but he was going to find out arthur still hated him he had ceased to doubt that jacoby meant exactly what he said jacoby was not going to let him die but was going to restore as much as he could of what had been lost that there was so much he could not restore made no difference to his eagerness much of the work was necessarily experimental but its the sort of experiment he looks for arthur told himself bitterly its not often he finds a patient who simply cant be any worse off no matter how many mistakes he makes when he gets one like that he gives him the works one man is better than a thousand guinea pigs I 1 can see the reasoning only I 1 never thought of its happening to me when he did have a chance to talk to arthur again jacobbs Jaco bys difficulty with the language was so great that he could tell him very little but after many attempts he managed to say when you were begging me to let you alone I 1 was trying to make sure you would keep your right arm believe me kitt if you had lost both arms or if there had been blindness with all the rest I 1 should have done what you asked me arthur said angrily why dont you do it now jacoby gave him a look of real surprise do you still want me to yes I 1 do not want to be a subject for vivisection kitt do you still think that is what I 1 am doing to you you know it is jacoby shook his head he fumbled tor for words he said 1 I watched you for many days I 1 fought a battle I 1 cannot say it well perhaps in english I 1 cannot say it at all you are a man kitt but also you are mankind you must live you must want to live you must do you understand me he spoke so intensely that he was almost fierce kitt he exclaimed let us try though he did not realize it cheri arthur remembered later that his own resistance was gradually beidl worn away by the power of jacobbs Jaco bys determination As time went on he came to recognize the enthusiasm jacoby was feeling he had felt it himself aben there was some al most impossible job to be tackled if I 1 can do this I 1 can do anything he knew what it meant to roll up his sleeves saying that what he did not realize at the time was that this was not what ja rill kitt if you will tell me spelt it slowly the name of the woman coby was saying jacoby was saying to himself if he can do this I 1 can do anything the first time he began to understand that jacoby was not merely a cold scientist was the day when jacoby came to his bedside with a slip of paper and a pencil kitt if you will tell me spell it slowly the name of the woman you kept talking to when you were delirious arthur groaned his impulse was to grip Jacoby shand but he could not do this he could only say in in gods name jacoby be merciful if youve made up your mind to do this to me I 1 cant stop you but dont do it to her without looking at arthur jacoby said 1 I thought it might be possible to get her a message through the red cross arthur did riot not answer after a pause jacoby asked you do not want to tell me who she is arthur said she is my wife jacoby turned his head toward the bed then involuntarily he knew no words to speak and even if he had been using his own language there could have been nothing to say so eloquent as the pity he could not keep out of his eyes ile he crumpled the slip of paper in his fist there was a silence at length jacoby said very well he turned and went away but in the depth of 0 his own despair arthur felt a stir of astonished warmth the man is a human being there are some things even he cant take without a shudder after that slowly but unmistakably he began to discover that jacoby wanted to be his friend he began dimly at first through those days and nights of desolation to grasp what jacoby had meant when he said you are a man but also you are mankind it was a hard realization and at first he was doubtful that it had any meaning he can make me stay alive arthur said to himself wearily but can he make me find any reason for doing it can anybody I 1 dont believe it jacoby came bacle back to his bedside often he never again mentioned the woman arthur had called for in his delirium but there was more work on the arm fofe more on an the jaw the rest had to wait on the patients strength and the doctors opportunities arthur still had very little hope now that he understood ja bobys purpose he tried to sympathize with it but he found this hard to do for after all even after years of labor and pain even with the highest success what was the utmost jacoby could give him power to use his right arm power to sit up and write a letter possibly after a long time power to hobble from place to place with a crutch power to look on hopelessly while healthy men and women went ahead with their healthy affairs doing useful work and enjoying the rewards of it not even jacobbs Jaco bys genius could restore him the sense of knowing he could take care of himself no matter what happened the old happy forthrightness of being able to look the whole world word in the face and tell it to get out of his way jacoby could never restore him his marriage he could never give elizabeth the children she wanted or even the security and companionship she had had with him lying in a helpless huddle on his cot coi in the intervals of being fed and washed by strange hands arthur had nothing to do but look ahead into the sort of life sentence he would be giving her 1 if I he let jacoby communicate with her no doubt he had been reported missing in action when they found him the red cross would have means of notifying elizabeth he was still alive after the war as soon as jacoby had repaired him sufficiently to make it possible for him to go home he would have to go and then elizabeth would offer him everything she had she was too loyal and she loved him too much to dream of doing otherwise she would work and use everything she could earn for his support she would spend her life nursing him amusing him taking care of him himself a broken wreck of a creature who could give her nothing in return except a doglike gratitude her splendid vitality would be spent in a twilight of half living until she was dry and withered like fruit that had been broken off the tree before it had had a chance to ripen As he thought of it he knew more and more surely that no matter what would become of him he could not let this happen to her his decision was not entirely unselfish arthur was too clearheaded clear headed to imagine it was not only could he not do this to elizabeth but he could not do it to himself bearing his tragedy alone would be easier than requiring her to share it he knew almost as it if he were with her what she would suffer er at being told of his death but that would not last forever though at the time she would undoubtedly think it was going to she would pick up the broken pattern of her life and set about putting it together again elizabeth was young vital alert and there would be another man who would find her as lovable as he had found her she would have again the sort of mating she should have he tried instinctively to clench his fist with decision and the pain that went like a bayonet thrust into his shoulder reminding him that he was not even able to make such a simple gesture served to strengthen his resolve when a man dies he told himself with more fierceness in his mind since there could be none in his body it is like taking a teaspoonful of water out of a river the water closes up it is gone and after an instant nobody notices it any more when jacoby came in again arthur told him what he had decided to do he had to speak slowly repeating often and waiting until ja bobys intelligence had limped through to comprehension the effort to make jacoby understand took his attention away from the bleak import of what he was saying 1 I will make you a promise jacoby if you will do one thing for me do it and come back and tell roe me you have done it 1 I understand you go ahead when I 1 was brought in here you found the metal tag of identification and other things maybe take those to the international red cross tell them your stretcher bearers brought in in american who wh 0 died of his wounds you do not know his bis name but you took these objects from his body you will sign a death certificate or whatever you ou have to sign the american army will take care of the rest if you will do this and bring me some sort of proof that you have done it I 1 promise you that I 1 will let you do whatever you please to me but if you will not do it I 1 swear to you that ill make you do it because ill end my life as soon as I 1 have a usable hand to do it with deliberately further to relieve his attention he fixed his eyes on ja abys eyes tender as the eyes of a mother on jacobbs Jaco bys strong wise gentle face and while he repeated his sentences he noticed again what a thin face it was the skin showing the waxiness of malnutrition and guessed as he had guessed before that this man was denying himself part of his own rations to provide more nourishment for the men he was trying to save at last he said slowly and carefully you under stand me you will do what I 1 ask jacoby jacoby used one of the precious night hours hour when he should have been asleep to rig up a sort of shelf across arthurs cot and set the dictionary up on it my english is so faulty kitt and I 1 have no time to improve it why do you not learn to talk to me he read the first words aloud to him slowly so arthur could begin to learn their pronunciation while he be was taking a hasty meal of turnips and potatoes jacoby drew rough sketches of various objects in the room writing their names beside them and set the sheet up for arthur to study during the day TO BE CONTINUED |