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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1934-02-22, Page 6THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATETHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1934 - SHINING PALACE - by Christine Whiting Parmenter 'They sat facing each other, sep­ arated by thirty-seven years, two utterly different temperaments, and six feet of priceless wine-colored Bokhara that covered the old dav­ enport. James Lambert who found it difficult to relax when he intend­ ed to be unrelenting, sat stiffly, arms folded, at his end of the six feet. Leonora at here was curled up in a manner of a little girl, her head with its aureole of pale gold hair resting upon a velvet cushion-—one small silvei’ -clad foot dangling against the gorgeous color of the old Bokhara like some barbaric jewel from the Orient. Though a log blazed cheerily on the hearth, the atmosphere of the room was tense with disapporval— James Lambert’s disapproval. Said Leonora, resuming a discussion which dinner had interrupted: “But that’s no reason, Dad. No reason at all.” “No reason!” James paused, pre­ sumably to clear his throat, but in reality to curb his temper. Past ex­ perience had taught him that it was futile to rage at this bewildering foster-daughter. She merely laugh­ ed at you. He wondered, the old wound aching for a moment, if the baritone who had lured his wife away from him, possessed that quality. The girl’s mother had been quick to anger; but Leonora simply wouldn’t get mad no matter what the provo­ cation. She laughed and that made a man feel foolish—disarmed his dignity; and dignity, James some­ times thought with bitterness, was all he had, unless one counted a fat bank balance. His sense of humor that Nora loved, but which too of­ ten raised its head in disconcerting moments, he refused to consider* an asset. But dignty was something one shouldn’t trifle with, so he en­ deavored to be reasonable. “Unless a house is founded upon a rock, my child, it will not survive.” “Nor will one that isn’t founded upon love,” retored Leonora. “You can’t beat that, Dad.” “In my case,” he replied coldly, “love did not prove a firm founda­ tion.” And added, not wishing to pursue the subject of his own mar­ tial catastrophe: “Be sensible, Nora. That boy will never in the world provide for you.” He threw an ap­ praising glance at the silver slippers “Just face the facts honestly, my dear. He is twenty-seven. By his own unabashed confession he drop­ ped college after a few months merely because it bored him; and what has he accomplished since then in the years' that should have given him a start in life? Nothing. Absol­ utely nothing. Can you deny it? A maddening smile curved Leon­ ora's mouth. “That depends on what you con­ sider a start in life, Dad. He's got some perfectly corking memories.” “Memories!” ‘James was obliged to clear his throat again; then said with sarcasm: “You’ll find I fear, that even the most delightful mem­ ories won’t pay the butcher.” “And a thousand dollars,” added the girl naively. “It’s in the Farm­ er’s and Merchants Bank down town The sense of humor popped up and grinned at James. His mouth relax­ ed a little even as he contended: “It it indeed An appropriate place for the savings of a—a vagabond.” This brought a laugh from Leon­ ora, a delightful laugh which bright­ ened the whole room, “Sometimes, dad,” she told him, “you are simply priceless. It’s an enigma how so bright a man as you can be so dense. But the truth is Don earned some of that thousand on a ranch in California. That’s farming for you, And down at San­ ta Fe he worked three months at a garage, driving tourists. If any­ thing’s mechanical that ought to be but you’ve no idea the amount of history he picked up along the way. And in South Africa—■ James Lambert’s hand went up in the forbidding gesture popular with traffic officers. “Don’t go all over South Africa again, I beg of you. All this re­ markable young man did there was to get into a diamond rush that net­ ted him nothing. That is, “he glanc­ ed at her sternly, “nothing but mem­ ories.” “Now look here, Nora. It’s no use quibbling. You're blinded just at present by all the fellow’s exploits; but you're young and impressionable. You can forget him. I’ll send you abroad again if that will help. I’ll even go with you myself though I loathe travel. Ned tells me—” “I see,” interruped Nora, as one enlightened. “So Ned has been poisoning your mini, I might have known." She spoke evenly, coldly, yet hot color dyed her face and something told her foster-father that she was nearer anger than he had ever seen her. But he was angry himself as he retorted in a voice like ice: “Is it anything deporable for a manjtp be interested in the welfare, of his own sister?” “I’m only his halt-sister,” the girl corrected, “and there are times enough when he wishes I wasn’t. Oh, I know what a good egg New is—in his own way; but he hasn’t a spark of imagination. He never sees the other fellow's side. He’s content to eat breakfast at precisely the same time each morning and to know where he’ll be every hour of the 24. He’s perfectly statisfied with Corine and her beautifully kept house which changes with every changing style so you can’t find your way round if you happen not to go there for a month. Corinne never does any­ thing that isn’t ‘done’, you know; she makes him comfortable and that’s all Ned asks of life—comfort, plus an increasing bank balance. He’s a superb example of the success­ ful, whie-collored business man, like—” Nora paused, suddenly inarticulate and James finished her sentence with j a question: “Like his father?” “You’re not his father,” began the girl, then stopped, fearing to hurt him. ‘I—I mean—” “I’ve been Ned’s father longer than I’ve been yours, Nora,” he re­ minded her with unaccustomed gen­ tleness. “The boy was less than 2 years old when I married his mother; and he’s been compensation, as far as such a thing is possible, for all the trouble that came later.” “Meaning—me?” She shouldn’t have said that, of course; but her lips trembled a little and James forgave her. He respond­ ed instantly: “Don’t be a goose, dear I've never regarded you as a trouble not for a minute. A problem, perhaps because I don’t always understand you, and you often rub me the wrong way. But I want you to be happy, Nora, and safe; and I can’t see safe­ ty for a woman, or happiness either, unless there’s a certain stability in ' the man she chooses. Don Mason hasn’t got that stability; and I doubt if it’s possible for him to ac­ quire it now. I don’t call him a ne’er-do-well, though—” James stopped. The curains at the door parted, and a maid announc­ ed: "Mr. Mason is in the reception room. Miss Nora.” “Ask him to step in here, Flease,” replied the girl. Then to her fether “Perhaps you’d better tell Don how you feel. Ned and 'Corinne made their attitude quite plain last even­ ing at the Country Club. It hurt me frightfully. That’s why I blew up just now. If I felt that Ned really cared about me it would be differ­ ent; hut he’s never cared, not like a real brother—not as—as you care, Dad. Sometimes I feel—'“Oh, hello Don! Come in, Dad wants to. see you.” | The young man paused on the threshold. He did not speak, yet' one knew instinctively that he was’> asking: “Is this a declaration of war or a friendly counsel?” It was, per-i haps, only a few seconds that he J waited in the illuminating silence, | but, facing him, James Lambert was conscious of a pang of envy. Here was youth! Youth at its best and Severe Pains in His Back So Bad Could Hardly Hove Mrs. Errol Hamilton, IL R. 1, Cataraqui, Ont., writes:-— My husband had been suffering, for a whole year, from severe pains in his back and they were so baa at tunes he could hardly move. He tried many different remedies, but got no relief. I was told to get Doan’s Kidney Pills for him, which I cud, and ho has never been bothered since, and his kidneys work Bne. ’ . rn'°£,AlV<! driiR .and genei-n) stor*put up only by The T. Milburn Go., Limited, Toronto, Ont. brightest. What arguments could a man of sixty uee, he asked himself, to counteract the sense of high ad­ venture which this boy brought with him into the quiet room. Years afterwards James was to re­ call every detail of that scene; how as Don stood there his hair seemed to be blown back from his forehead by a mountain breeze—how tanned his neck had looked above the col­ lar—how broad his shoulders—how strong his hands. And how, as the girl came forward, his eyes which had been shrewd and questioning, changed, softened, lighted as if by magic . . . “You wish to see me, sir?” James thought-; “I wish I may see your handsome face again.” but he gripped the outstretched hand in not unfriendly fashion as he re­ plied with crisp finality: “Qnly to say that I’m taking Nora abroad for the next year.” For one startled moment Don’s eyes met Leonora’s—held them, What he read there James never knew. He said a smile curving his engaging-mouth: “Our tastes are similiar! I meant to do that very thing myself.” “Indeed-” There was a world of sarcasm in the lifted eyebrows. “On a thousand dollars?” Don said, quite seriously: “It shouldn’t take a thousand, Mr, Lam­ bert, “I’ve been from Persia to—” “See here," James broke in with impatience, “it doesn’t in the least matter where you’ve been. I’ve no doubt you travelled steerage, rough­ ed, even mixed with the darkies as a deck passenger. May I ask if you ever travelled with a woman-” “Sit tight, my dear. Your father’s not insulting me. He’s merely pointing out that a feminine compan­ ion complicates things on a journey. “He’s right, of course; but as it hap­ pens, Mr. Lambert, I did travel for ten days with a girl I picked up out­ side Shanghai. We—” He paused because (James Lambert had made a strange sound in his throat. Nora resognized it a© the forerunner of a storm—a sort of dis­ tant thunder. If possible that storm must be averted and she said hurriedly: “Don didn’t mean, dad/—’ “And do you mean,” blazed her father, thoroughlyx aroused, “that you’ll consider marrying a fellow who admits travelling with strange women—'‘picking them up’ here and there, G-od knows where? Do you understand, child?” To his amazement a short laugh came from Don. “Calm down, everybody,” he pleaded, “Calm down. The lady in the case was above reproach. This adventure of mine which sounds so wicked to you, Mr. Lambert, occurr­ ed during a Chinese rebellion. The girl got separated from her family and I took her under my brotherly wing, as it were, until we found them. Would you have had me leave a fellow-country-woman to the tender mercies of the bandits who had wrecked our train?” (Nora laughed; while her faher experienced the unpleasant sensa­ tion of appearing foolish. This made him angrier .still, and he exploded. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” “I’m under the impression,” re­ plied the young man sauvely, "that you didn’t give me time. What I started to tell you, (Mr. Lambert, is that we got on famously despite un­ natural conditions and innumerable hardships. She was a sport, that girl. I’ve often wondered why I didn’t fall for her—that is, I won­ dered till I met Nora.” James, still slightly ruffled, snort­ ed like an angry horse. “Very pretty. Very pretty indeed: hut you must consider the fact that my—that Nora has been accustomed to every luxury. “Hardship is something she doesn't dimly glimpse. v I doubt if she’s ever known the minor discomfort of an upper berth, not to mention a lower. I’ve known her to take a drawing room for a night's trip.” “She’ll have to get over that!” Don grinned at Nora. “But the truth i<s, siry an upper berth’s more comfortable than a lower. You ask any porter or conducter. As for a drawing room, I’m forced to admit that the nearest I’ve aver come to such gilded splendid, consists in awestruck glances when passing by? A giggle scaped from Leonora; but her face made an impatient ges­ ture. “Look here, my boy, comparison of thl© sort get us nowhere. The uoint of the matter Is that you’ve pretty well proved, yourself—-(he floundered in an effort to be tactful "a—perhap# what I mean is that you’re not the stuff which makes a good provider. I think you'll admit it. You’re twenty-seven and accord­ ing to Nora you’ve accumulated only a thousand dollars. If she mistaken, I apologize. If she’s right, what, may I ask, alive you to offer her compared to what dozens of men she knowns could offer!” iSo it was war ! The young man comprehended. Af if a bleak, cold wind had swept across it, all the amusement died out of liis face. His captivating boyishness vanished as if it had never been. His eyes were suddenly the unflinching eyes of a man who has seen life in the raw and understands it. He said, with the frankness of his generation: “I’ve a clean bill of health, sir, When I was a kid of ninteeen and carried a message from a wonderful English girl who had stayed at home because she was going to have a baby, to her husband stationed in China (a man, by the way, whom you’d have been proud to introduce to Nora) and found the fellow liv­ ing with—well. Well, I won’t go in-, to details; but it gave me a jolt which wasn't easy to forget, I’ve rubbed elbows with a lot that’s sor­ did, Mr. Lambert, but I’ve hurt no woman. Balance that, please, against my depleted bank balance.” For the third time that evening James cleared his throat. He was silenced. He was also a bit uncom­ fortable. In his own youth a man didn’t mention such affairs before his lady love; and if he had she wouldn’t, nine times out of ten, have known what he meant. He threw a furtive glance at Nora only to find her slip­ ping a small, beautifully cared-tor hand into Don’s tanned one. James realized with something of a shock that the embarrassment was all his own. “Well, daddy?” she prodded af­ ter a moment. “That’s all very well,” respond­ ed James, “all very commendable but it doesn’t change the financial aspect of the case. Suppose,” he said turning to Don, “supposing you per­ suade this girl of mine to marry you. What assurance can you give me that, unless I continue to sup­ port her, she won’t during the next ten years or so, know poverty and hardship?” “Only these,” said Don,, and held up two strong, browned fists. It was an argument more eloquent than words, but the older man refused to see it. For a moment there was a silence so profound that one was conscious rof the cracking fire and the ram ^beating against the window at the far end of the big room. Then James said quickly, as if to get it over; “I suppose you know that Nora is not my daughter—I should say, my legal daughter?” Don nodded. “What he means, Don,” explained Nora, throwing a perfectly amicable glance at James, “is, that I’m not en­ titled to one penny of the Lambert fortune So if you’ve that in mind, darling, Dad’s giving you a tactful chance to vamoose gracefully." “I’m still here,” said Don, his eyes smiling at her. Watching the young people, James stirred uneasily. “Nora misunderstood me,” he wen on. “She often does, though I think she knows $ wouldn’t he un­ just to her. If at my death her brother inherits more than she does, it’s not because I adopted him legal­ ly when I married his mother, but because he’s helped build up the business I Started as a youngster, What I referred to was—.See here, Nora, suppose you leave me alone with this young man.” oAVOID StiPmESS /•//A in Kinard’s J* There’s nothing to equal this fine old liniment for rubbing out pain gK and soreness. IT It is equally good, taken internally, K** for a cold or a cough or stomach L. cramp. Made for 50 years by Minard’s Liniment Co., Ltd., Yar« mouth, N.S. 37 Sales Agents t Harold F. Ritchie Co. Ltd.,Toronto 46 SAFE WAY TO REDUCE 39 lbs. off—and She Feels Better A woman who has found a sure, safe way to lose fat—without freak dieting or dangerous drugs—writes: “A year ago I was eaten up with rheumatism, and was far too’fat. 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Miscellaneous ar­ ticles, To Rent, Wanted, Lost, or Found 10c. per line of six wordi Reading notices 10c. per Un® Card of Thanks 50c. Legal ad­ vertising 12 and 8c. per line, In Memoriam, with one verse 60o extra verses 25c. each. Member of The Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association Professional Cards GLADMAN & STANBURY BAB BISTERS, SOLICITORS, Ao. Money to Loan, Investments Made Insurance Safe-deposit Vault for use of our Clients without charge EXETER and HENSALL CARLING & MORLEY BARRISTERS, SOLICITORS, LOANS, INVESTMENTS INSURANCE Office: Carling Block, Main Street, EXETER, ONT. At Lucan Monday and Thursday A laugh of merriment bubbled from Leonora. “Poor father! You can’t get us­ ed to this generation, can you? We­ ’re so outspoken! Don knows, the whole .story, darling: how when at the call of my poor, dying, deserted mother and found me, a gangling six year old whose birth record named you as my father, you toqk me home and treated me exactly as if I were your own, though you knew with no shadow of a doubt that I was the child of------” “Leonora!” She missed his head, meeting his shocked eyes gravely, “Well Dad, it’s true, isn’t it? I had to tell him. Don knows, what an angel you’ve been to me, and that I’d do anything on earh for you short of giving him up. You really shouldn’t ask me to do that, you know.” “Not when I believe it’s for your own happiness?” asked James. Then as the girl shook her head, he added “Well, clear out both of you. I’ve got to think things over. Clear out? It was long past midnight when James Lambert went upstairs, Think­ ing things over’ had been devastat­ ing process that led him back to his first amazing glimps. of Leonora, her thin little legs dangling forlorn­ ly from a straight backed, uncom­ fortable chair beside a bed on which lay the body of her mother. He had come in answer to a fran­ tic telegram the first word Iris had vouchsafed him since the note he had found after she went away. But he was too late. She had been dead almost three hours; and ever since the woman who ran the rooming house said afterwards, the child had sat there, refusing to move, to eat, to cry, holding tight in one small clenched fist a scrap of paper which she had promised her mother to give to “the dear, kind father,” who was coming for her and to no one else. James never forgot the shock of ■Nora’s presence in that silent room. While he stood below on a sagging, littered porch, the landlady had told him that 'his wife “was. gone, poor soul” but because he was expected the body had not been moved and added remembering the little girl: “She's in the four-floor-back, Mister and if you don’t mind I won’t go up. My heart’s not good and them stairs is something awful.” James did not want her to go up. He was about to look upon the face of his dead wife the woman who had betrayed him, but whom he had ne­ ver forgotten nor ceased to love. He was vastly stirred—stirred and hor­ rified that she had been living in so sordid a place. He had pictured her sharing a life of luxury with her lov­ er—had even attended the man’s concert in the futile hope of catching a glimpse of his beloved amid the audience. It was plain now that the fellow had deserted her—‘damn him! —left her to die in poverty and with strangers , . . (Continued next week) CIRCULAR LETTERS Ah Edmonton may has been re­ ceiving eo maiiy 'circular letters he iq planning to have a round holo nt in his front door. Dr. G. S. Atkinson, L,D.S.,D.D.S. DENTAL SURGEON Office opposite the New Post Office , Main St., Exeter Telephones " Office 34w House B4j Closed Wednesday Afternoons Dr. G. F. Roulston, L.D.S.,D.D.S, DENTIST Office: Carling Block EXETER, ONT, Closed Wednesday Afternoons K. C. BANTING, B.A., M. D. Physician and Surgeon, Lucan, Ont. Office in Centralia Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 2 to 5 p.rn. or by appointment Telephone the hotel in Centralia at ■any time. Phone Crediton 30r25 JOHN WARD CHIROPRACTIC, OSTEOPATH!, ELECTRO-THERAPY & ULTRA­ VIOLET TREATMENTS PHONE 70 MAIN ST., EXETER ARTHUR WEBER LICENSED AUCTIONEER For Huron and Middlesex FARM SALES A SPECIALTY PRICES REASONABLE SATISFACTION GUARANTEED Phone 57-13 Dashwood R. R. NO. 1, DASHWOOD FRANK TAYLOR LICENSED AUCTIONEER For Huron and Middlesex FARM SALES A SPECIALTY Prices Reasonable and Satisfaction Guaranteed EXETER P. O. or RING 138 OSCAR KLOPP LICENSED AUCTIONEER Honor Graduate Carey Jones’ Auc­ tion School, Special Course taken in Registered Live Stock (all breed*) Merchandise, Real Estate, Farm Sales, Etc. Rates in keeping with prevailing prices. Satisfaction a«- sured, write Oscar Klopp, Zurich, or phone 18-93, Zurich, Ont. U8BORNE A HIBBERT MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY Head Office, Farquhar, Ont, President ANGUS SINCLAIR Vice-Pres.^ SWON DOW DIRECTORS SAM’L NORRIS J. T. ALLISON WM, H. COATES, FRANK 'McConnell AGENTS JOHN ESSERY, Centralia, Agent for Usborne and Biddulph ALV-IN L. HARRIS, Munro, Agent for Fullarton and Logan THOMAS SCOTT, Cromarty, Agent for Hibbert B. W, F. BEAVERS Secretary-Treasurer Exeter, Ontario (ILADMAN & STANBURY Solicitors, Exeter