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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1938-08-18, Page 2THURSDAY. AUGUST .18th, 1983 ..THE EXETER. TIMES-ADVOCATE “AFRAID OF LOVE” by Phyllis Moore Gallagher Victor -did not answer, but dozed off. When he roused again an hour later he saw her still sitting quietly beside the bed, sweet and dependable, her blue eyes compassionate on him. His mind bad cleared a little no a and the effect of the mourhine was slowly passing, leaving every nerve crying in its wake and a cruel stab­ bing pain burning the soles of his feet. What Happened to Victor He struggled once more to remem­ ber what it was he had to tell Patsy. But he couldn’t. For all at once his mind was tortured with a hideous memory—-those gang leaders hand­ ing him $40,000 when he had been unable to ipay off on the numbers and demanding it be paid back in a week at an exortetant interest—or else! He hadn’t been able to raise the money in New York or Annapolis and, though he had stayed in hiding, they had found him and they kept their threats. With an agonized groan he rolled ovex* on his back and tried not to re­ member the soles of his feet that had been burned with candles as they told him “funny” stories. ■Suddenly, his low groan became a scream, far beyond his realization of it, for Butch Ricco and Tony Bruck and all the others were around him in that vacant garage, laughing about how they were going to riddle his body with gunshot, put him in a barrel of cement to dry and drop him into the Hudson. That was their favorite rub-out. He wouldn’t be the first racketeer and gambler who hadn’t been able to pay oft who had gone that way. Now his own screams were mixed with the screeching of a police siren, the rattle of machine guns, the deep- throated groans of men falling dead around him. ■He jerked up in bed, fighting the air wildly, sweat streaming down his blanched face until the nurse jab­ bed something into his arm above the elbow—something that made the pain pass swiftly ajyay and with t thought—even hideous memories. He lay there then, tense, breath­ ing 'hard. His tongue felt swollen hot and dry in the mouth. He Patsy’s terrified little face, said thick mumble: “Patsy—Patsy— going to die; I’ve—got—to— —you—” And then he closed his and wondering why Admiral War­ field’s granddaughter was in a man who had been with the underworld, who tortured almost to death of its members. As Patsy confusedly thanked the old lady for her kindness, Miss Mit­ chell came around from behind her big desk and laid a detaining hand on her arm. She said, in her usual brusque fashion: "I can’t understand a girl like you, Miss Warfield, getting mixed up with a man like Victor Caldwell. Yo-u see, here in the .hospital we see life as few people see it. We’ve had dangerous criminals coldly murder patients, who might, if they survive their wounds, turn out to be squeal­ ers. We’ve seen hideous things happen to people who innocently in­ terest themselves in such characters. Two of the men who tried to kill Victor Caldwell got away that night. The other seven were killed by the police. Caldwell is the left now who could talk, you taking an interest might put you in a very position.” Patsy, wide-eyed, her lips apart, her heart pounding said, quickly: “I—I don’t understand! I was told that Mr. Caldwell has pneumonia.” “Pneumonia, yes,” said Miss Mit­ chell, equably. “Pneumonia brought on by a gunshot wound above the heart.’ » “Oh. there must be some mistake!’ Patsy cried, her lashes winking. “I have known Mr. Caldwell ever since I was 6 years old! Surely you’re con­ fusing him with some one else?” ■She waited then, her breath short in her mouth. “Hardly,” said the grim-lipped su­ perintendent. And crumbled newspaper from basket and shoved it across the desk to Patsy. “It’s obvious you .haven’t seen the newspapers during the past four days. Victor Caldwell is an ex-convict. He serve® a term in pris­ on for bank robbery as an accessory to a murder. There’s the story.” Patsy had not seen the recent pa­ pers. Worry over Lee and the de­ parture of the expedition and her own preparations for sailing to Italy had left no time for reading any­ thing. She glanced at the head­ lines now, the two pictures of Vic­ numbers across the identification. She interested involved had been by some only man And with in him it dangerous she lifted a a -wire and saw in a I’m .tell- blood-shot eyes in deep slumber and the student nurse ■touched Patsy’s shoulder gently and told 'her that she couldn’t stay any longer. Patsy got up heavily from tile chair beside the high white bed and stared at the slim dark girl in the blue-striped uniform and crisp white cap. The nurse looked very tired and depressed, she thought, even though she was young and quick and deadly serious. Nevertheless a little quiver of apprehension swept Patsy. the who while stood, over that tall, had she be-' tor with long breast—(prison had the usual capacity for belief in what was printed, yet she cried out: “I can’t believe it! I can’jt!” But she did believe *it. All the old gossip of Annapolis, the suspic­ ious and the memory of that strange, enigmatical Victor in the long green­ room witli the cherubs dancing on the ceiling—Victor, who .had struck Kitty Cavendish and nad almost killed her—swept painfully through her mind. She believed it and was terrorized. Victor Cannot Talk She realized all at once this student nurse and handsome young interne looked in once or twice was there were all that tween Victor and death. Patsy said then, her face very grave: “I wish you’d take me to the superintendent of nurses. I want a doctor for Mr. Caldwell — a pneu­ monia specialist. I want graduate day and night nurses too, and a private room.” When the nurse looked surprised and puzzled, Patsy went on quickly, mistaking the expression back of honest brown eyes: “At my exiepse, of course.” her A Still Older Love Miss Rachel Mitchell, superinten- J ' dent of nurses, sitting both old and), tprim, white and efficient, behind her I, big desk, rose when Patsy entered ’ the office and stood there, inspected her through thick glasses, saying over and over in her mind: “So this is Patsy Warfield! This is his grand­ daughter.” She listened quietly to Patsy’s request, said that Victor was much to ill to be moved from the ward to a private room, but that she would attend to everything else. Then a strange silence fall between them and Miss Mitchell carefully eyed Patsy’s innocent face, her grave heavily-lasliei’ blue eyes proud tilt of her clear through, she thought, hardly a bit of her mother or grandmother. And from who she inherit that glorious voice icame .over the radio so often? kept staring—-unaware that was flushing tinder her scrutiny- and the ■chin. Warfield with her did that She Patsy A Coated Tongue Means Bad Breath Once the liver fails to filter the poisonous bile from the blood there is a poisoning of the#circulation and digestive Bystems. You have bad taste in the mouth, bad breath, constipation, sick and bilious headaches, specks floating be­ fore the eyes, a feeling as if you were going to faint. Milbum's Laxa-Liver Pills stir dp the sluggish liver, clean the coated tongue, sweeten the breath, and regulate the bowels so that you may have a free, easy nation every day. The T. Milburn Co.f Tcmnto, Ont, Miss Mitchell shrugged her thin ■ shoulders and gave Patsy a hard, sharp glance. “Well, just as you say, Miss Warfield. I only .hope that your foolish generosity won't involve you in something that may prove dangerous.” She paused and mois­ tened her pale, dry lii.S. cThen she concluded: “Mr. Caldwell’s been asking for you ever since the police brought him in. He moaned days that there was something had to tell you, something you to know ...” Patsy frowned .“People rave : that when they’re desperately m, I don’t they? Suffer hallucinations— iwild ideas?” Miss Mitchell said in her thin vo’ce 'Yes—yes, they do. Only somehow i I believe .he has something he wants • to tell you, Miss Warfield.” Then she thought: “I suppose I should telephone her grandfather in Annapolis, I suppose it’s my duty to save her from this 'folly.” But even as the thought raced through her gray head she knew that she wouldn’t ’call Admiral Warfield. The long, hard years in public hospitals among the sick and the dying hadn’t been kind —old and might not true. He ber that one night in Shanghai when she had been a pretty navy nurse-- when he had held her in his arms and had sailed away with the fleet the next day and had forgotten her But she remembered him. She would die remembering and loving him. Patsy left the little old woman then. She realized suddenly that she was desperately worn in body and mind, too tired to talk any more —too tired to even try to solve the mystery of Victor or what had made [him cry out, day after day, that he had something to tell her, New Danger Threatening ■She walked slowly down the ridor, looking about her uncertainly. Suppose some thugs, as Miss Mit­ chell had warned, were watching Victor’s ward, had seen her with him and believed that he had told her too much about that awful night when they had tried to murder him? for he had to .her. She was old now withered and tried. He remember her, that was might not even remem­ » i I i i cor- Su4 pose—suppose—? A cold fear gripped her and beads of ice broke out on her temples. She was very close to the breaking point in that moment and tried to calm her jerking nerves by telling herself that a whole night of sleep, of com­ plete rest, would restore her peace and equanimity--would even ease The pain of knowing that with every hour -Lee was sailing farther and farther away from her. Still, her legs were so weak and trembling beneath her that she could not go on. -She stumbled blindly in­ to the sun parlor where .countless people have sat, wide-eyed and stricken, waiting news of beloved ones on the operating table. The room, fortunately, was dark and en­ tirely deserted and for that Patsy was thankful. With a little sound—half sob, half cry—elm fell miserable and exhaust­ ed into a deep leather chair and buried her face in her cold palms. She was never to remember just -how long she sat there like that. She would never know either just how long it ..had been when she heard stealthy footsteps in that long white -corridor, footsteps that ran and then stopped short at the sun parlor. Patsy didn’t even look up until she heard heavy breathing near and instinctively felt the presence of someone. She opened her tired, heavy lidded eyes, and the shock of who she saw lined there in the door made her body snap rigidly awake, made her heart beat like a ’ tocsin in her own ears, sent her hand crushing against her mouth to stop the cry that rose in her throat. CHAPTER XXIH Patsy crouched deeper in the leather chair of the sun parlor, a part of the shadows and as silent, as them. She sat as motionless as a portrait, ’hating herself for the nerves that clutched at her throat like tense fingers and the intolerable pounding of her heart. Like a giant yellow- eye the Au­ tumn moon stared through the tall windows of the sun parlor and beam­ ed on the slendei’ figure of Kitty Cavendish, who had slipped quietly and unobserved from the corridor and stood pressed 'dose against the framework of the door, It was ob­ vious that she was avoiding the whispering group of nurses who were on their way to the midnight mass supper or perhaps a cigarette on the wrought-iron balconies. Kitty’s face wore a curious expres­ sion. Now, as on the night when she had returned to Annapolis from Reno to find Lee and Patsy in each other’s arms, she smiled a strangely measuring smile that showed teeth without lighting her eyes. It was a smile that a man might wear who lurks armed in the dark places and watches his victim approach. What Patsy Saw She did not see Patsy. She did not know that the sun parlor held any one or anything but the dim shapes of the shabby hospital fur­ niture. Her eyes steadily on the corridor—-dark/’ and quick „and anxi­ ous. Several times she made a mo­ tion as if to hurry on her way, but a voice, the flicking signal of a pa­ tient’s light or the closing of a dis­ tant door kept her—Kept her— Kept her from what?—Patsy won­ dered. What was Kitty doing in the hospital? Had her visit any connec­ tion with Victor? Was she keeping a clandestine tryst with a doctor’.’ Why was she hiding like this? Why? Crouching there in the deep lea­ ther chair, fearing every second that Kitty would -hear her excited breathing, that her teeth chattering like distant musketry would make Lee’s wife conscious -of her presence, ■Patsy studied the ‘Woman’s face. This woman who had twister and dis­ torted iLee’s life—and her own. Once she thought Kitty Mitchell Cavendish the most beautiful crea­ ture she had ever seen, with her white skin, her shining black hair and that certain vividness about her that made men turn to look at her. Once she had wondered how such a sweetly exotic person could teart Lee as she had. It had been hard to reconcile Kitty’s caustic conversation, which Lee had repeated in detail, with hex’ almost serene countenance. “You can’t get a divorce, Lee, without the delicate ceremony of bringing a man and a bed or both into court. I haven’t the slight­ est intention of furnishing you with the ne’cessary evidence.” “Wherever you go, Lee, I shall follow like a devoted slave to com­ bat the suit.. Money will be in my favor there, you 'know. I be­ lieve the destiny of man is engrav­ ed on the face of a dollar bill!” “Mental cruelty, eh? Vague, ephemeral term that satisfies the imagination! No sane - minded Judge could look at me, Lee Cav­ endish, and give you a divorce on such grounds! Forget it, for I shall never divorce you nor permit you to divorce me. At least, not until I have a better reason than handing you over to Patsy War- field on—-shall we say—a silver platter? John the Baptist’s head was served that way, I believe!” Awaiting—Whiit Yes, once it had been difficult to reconcile those words with Kitty's beautiful fave. But not now! Not now! There, standing partly ixx the moonlight and in the light from the hall, Patsy saw the revelation Of Kitty Cavendish herself, us a picture under a stereoscope lens takes on a third dimension. Saw there in that unguarded expression and in those eyes narrowed to gleaming slits a look that puzzled, then repelled, then horrified. Under her inextinguishably lovely exterior, strange, cruel — perhaps brutal — forces held revelry and shone through to the surface; tend­ encies that delighted in mental tor­ tures as she had for years tortured Lee by holding the court-martial over hie head. Hers was the face of a woman who loved to cause and watch the emotional squirmings of other beings. The ‘hospital corridors were very quiet now. Kitty leaned a little for­ ward, looking right and left. Then she slipped like a soft breeze into the hall and hurried silently down the long shadowy .corridor toward the puhlL- ward, her, silver foxes pulled high and luxurious around her chin. In utter ^bewilderment Patsy stood in the door of tihe sun parlor watch­ ing, not daring to trail that black velvet-clad figure, for Kitty was glancing back frequently, with the reckless look of a woman who fear­ ed that wild beasts or malevolent enemies were tracking her. or malevolent enemies were tracking her. All at once a light flickered above a patient’s door, a chair at the far end of the corridor scraped softly on the rubberized flooring and a nurse got up to answer the beckon­ ing light. Patsy saw Kitty jerk erect, wheel around in a panic of indecision and dart at last beyond the swinging door of the hall kit henette. When the nurse, hex’ starched skirts mak­ ing the only sound on the floor at the moment, crossed to the blinking light and shut the door behind her. Kitty emerged from hiding and stood there in the hall. Waiting. Listening. Nervously fingering her throat. Patsy Follows Hospital noises and odors. A low moan. A child’s agonized cry for his mother. Some one's sobs growing fainter and thdn—silence! A hall window on the fire-escape was up a little from the sill and a soft, cool breeze swept in, mingling together the heavy odor of tlxc nurses’ supper, antiseptic, iodoform. Kitty tipped quickly down the corridor: then, looking about her cautiously, she hurried straight to the unlighted public ward. When she disappeared through the high door, Patsy stepped out of the sun parlor. She staggered a little with fatigue, her breath short with excitement and crowding pain­ fully in her throat. What could all this mean? If Kitty wanted to see Victor, why must she choose this way-—? Why must her visit be shrouded in mystery? Patsy reached the end of the cor­ ridor, slid carefully along the wall, stopped at the ward door. Not ,a sound issued from the long, dark room. At the far end of it a nurse was bending over a table shaded by a lamp draped in green. Her elbows were resting on the table edge and hex* forehead was on her clasped hands. She looked as if she were dozing or going, slowly over the stack of patient’s charts’ before her. Patsy could not see Kitty. Could not even hear the soft p,ad of her expensive soles. But she could see the outline of Victor’s (incumbent body iu the high narrow bed near the door. The screen was still at his bandaged feet and threw over him weird purple shadows. He was deep in a drugged sleep, and once, while she stood there leaning heav­ ily against the wall, stxe saw him turn over on his back, heard him moan like a wounded anmal. For one instant Patsy wondered if she had lost consciousness from nerve strain and fatigue in that sun parlor and had dreamed all this. She wanted to believe that she had. She wanted to believe that this sense of impending disaster meant actually that her nerves had cracked, that seeing Kitty was only a fantastic nightmare that had clung, as if real, upon awakening. Bcliind the Screen But in the next instant Patsy knew it was reality after all. For shet saw Kitty emerge dark and slim from 1 behind the screen. Uo oe Continued) Worth Quoting The following editorial from The Times, London, England, is worthy of wide publicity, not only in Canada but throughout the world. It makes for good will based on “informed sanity. “Mr. Mackenzie King announced that the ’Canadian Government have offered to provide facilities ixi Can­ ada for training recruits to the Royal Air Force. This training will be given in establishments belonging to the Canadian Air Force aud under the control of the Canadian Govern­ ment. The plan appears to contem­ plate a considerable expansion of the facilities of the Canadian force to enable them to train the Canadian who now enlist in large numbers in the R. A. F. and who at present have to be trained in Great Britain. Under this new system they will be under rhe authority of the Canadian Minis­ ter of National Defence until they are qualified in accordance with R.A.F. requirements, when they will be transferred. The Canadian offer will certainly be appreciated in this country. It opens up the prospect of a welcome addition to the train­ ing facilities of the R.A.F. and, even more important, it shows the readi­ ness of the Canadian Government to cooperate with the other British Gov- vernments in assuring the safety of the whole Commonwealth of British Nations. It is known that the Air Mission which recently visited Can­ ada and the United States was im­ Established 1873 and 1887 at Exeter, Ontario Published every Thursday mornlni8 SUBSCRIPTION—? 2,00 per year In advance RATES—Farm or Real Estate for sale 50c. each insertion for first four insertions. 25c. each subse­ quent insertion. Miscellaneous ar­ ticles, To Rent, Wanted, Lost, or Found 10c. per line of six words. Reading notices 10c. per line. Card of Thanks 50c. Legal ad­ vertising 12 and 8c. pot line. In Memoriam, with one verse 50c. .extra verses 25c. each. Member of The Canadian Weekly Newspaper Association Professional Cards pressed by the posibilities of the Dominion as a training-ground for air-pilots. Apy idea that the R.A.F. might set up a school of their own was impracticable, since the Cana­ dian Government naturally regarded it as an excepted constitutional prin­ ciple that, in time of peace at any rate, there could be no military es­ tablishment in Canada which was not owned, maintained and controlled by the ’Canadian Government. As the result of the conversations which have takexx place in 'Ottawa they have now suggested an arrangement which is intended to give the R. A. ‘F. all the facilities needed without derogat­ ing in any way froxn the constipt- ional status of the Dominion. Reports, based upon some misun­ derstanding, were recently current in Ottawa that the British Govern­ ment had made a request oix the sub­ ject which har been refused. There­ upon Mt. Bennett roundly attacked the Canadian Government, emphasiz- ig the necessity for Canada to help Great Britaiix to provide effective means fox1 maintaining not only hex­ own life, but the life of the whole ■Commonwealth. At the National Convention of the Conservative Party Mr. Meighen, ex-Prime Minister and leader of the Oppositioix in the Sen­ ate, took a similiar line. His speech was given a great ovation iix the Convention and made a deep impres­ sion outside. The Conservatives have always been suspicious of the Liberal Party’s attitude on matters of this kind, and for a time it seem­ ed as if the misunderstanding would lead to a fierce and prolonged party controversy in Canada. This danger seems now to have been removed by Mr. King’s announcement, in which, quoting from his recent speeches, lxe maintained that cooperation with the rest of the Commonwealth was not an issue; the sole issue was the se­ curing this cooperation. People in this country will welcome Mr. King’s announcement and Mr. Bennett’s and Mr. Meighen’s downright declaration of faith in the closest possible coop­ eration for mutual defence. Husband: “I wonder why it is we can’t save anything?” Wife: “It’s the neighbors, dear; they are always doing something we can't afford.” GLADMAN & STANBURY (F. W. Gladman) BARRISTER, SOLICITOR, &c Money to Loan, Investmenits Made Insurance Safe-deposit Vaults for use of our Clients without charge EXETER and HENS AT,I, CARLING & MORLEY BARRISTERS, SOLICITORS, &c- LOANS, INVESTMENTS, INSURANCE Office; Carling Block, M|ain Stree®, EXETER. ONT. Dr. G. F. Roulston, L.D.S.,D.D.S. DENTIST Office; Carling Block EXETER, ONT. dosed Wednesday Afte*oone Dr.sH. H. COWEN, L.D.S.,D.DS. DENTAL SURGEON • Office opposite the Post Office, Main Street, Exeter Office 3 6w Telephones Res. 36J Closed Wednesday Afternoons 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 USBORNE & HIBBERT MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY Head Office, Exeter, Ont. President, .......... ANGUS SINCLAIR Mitchell, R.R. i Anew and harmonious note in travel literature is the latest Brinley “Away” book-—“Away to The Canadian Rockies and British Columbia”—by Gordon Brinley, with illustrations by her artistic husband, Putnam Brinley, Drawn to Western, Canada by a booklet on the pleasures enjoyed by the Trail Riders of the Cana-* dian Rockies, the “Travelling Brinleys” Bpent an entire summer in the pursuit of happiness ■— and of notes and illustrations for an addition to their popular series of JUtvel books. In her happy, lucid Style, Gor­ den Brinley, the writer, tells of their visit to Calgary to see the West’s largest rodeo and prepare for a long pack trip to Mount Assiniboine. They spent a holiday with the Sky-Line Trail Hikers and the Trail Riders of the Cana­ dian Rockies, visiting Moraine Lake, Larch Valley, and magnifi­ cent Yoho Valley, and thoroughly enjoyed the novelty of living in Indian teepees, fishing for trout in lakes in the clouds, and thrill­ ing to the changing pageantry of their surroundings. Further adventures . carried tpem to such famous lakes aS Louise, Emerald, and O’Hara, right over1 the Great Divide into British’ Columbia, and on to Van­ couver where they discovered another vivid countryside and ex­ cellent fishing in the Vancouver Island salmon runs. The two adventure-loving Am­ ericans have a> largo following of readers who will see the Cana­ dian West through their eyes, at­ tracted by the charming drawings by Mr. Brinley, the blithe and readable text by Mrs. Brinley, and the definite practical information they incorporate in their book for those who would follow in their footsteps. The pictures above show Mr. and Mrs. Brinley (photo by Peter Whyte) and some of the Cana­ dian Rockies* scenery they Htoe best. Vice-President .... JOHN HACKNEY Kirkton, R.R. 1 DIRECTORS W. H. COATES .................... Exeter JOHN McGRATH .................. Dublin WM. HAMILTON .... Cromarty R. 1 T. BALLANTYNE .. Woodham R. 1 AGENTS JOHN ESSERY ....... ALVIN L. HARRIS .. THOS. SCOTT .......... .... Centralia Mitchell R. 1 .... Cromarty SECRETARY-TREASURER B. W, F. BEAVERS ............. Exeter GLADMAN & STANBURY Solicitors, Exeter Cedar Chests AND NEW FURNITURE A180 furniture remodelled to order. We take orders for all kinds of ca­ binet work for kitchens, etc at the DASHWOOD PLANING MILL Sales Tax is Off All kinds of Lumber is Lower in Price B. C. Shingles Always on Hand A. J. CLATWORTHY Phone 12 Granton > COUSINS' Can and Will are cousins Who never trust to luck; ’Can is the son of Energy Will is the son of Pluck. /Can’t and Won't are cousins too Always out of work;’ Can’t is the son of Never Trv. Won't is the son of Shirk, * * * Satisfaction Is akin to stagnation.