The Wingham Advance-Times, 1939-12-21, Page 17»V ■A
PHE WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES
erous — risking'discovery before he
had had time to make the necessary
explanations, Now the worst had hap
pened.; discovery had come and had
roused distrust in her, On an impulse
Tony spun the car into what Jan had
once called a “bay window” — a park
ing place high on the Drive where
cars were permitted to linger while
traffic whirred and flashed behind them and the Hudson, below them,
took its dignified way to the sea.
’’Listen,. Jan.” Tony ran up the
window beside him, shutting out the
cold, yanked off his driving gloves,
and caught both her hands between
his two palms. "You understand why
I did it, don’t you?”
“I suppose I do,” said Jan faintly.
“You don’t sound as if-you mean
it,” Tony accused her.
“Well, what do you expect me to
do? Shout with joy?” Jan, fighting to
keep back her tears, .took refuge in
anger. “It’s not something that—that
can be. overlooked,” she floundered,
"You’d overlook it if you loved me.”
With a sudden movement she pull
ed her hands free, “It’s not a ques
tion of l-love,” she managed. “It’s a
question of c-character.”
’’Then you don’t think that love.—
• it is love, Jan! — explains anything
that a man might do?”
“I don’t think it is love unless —
unless it ennobles a man, or a woman
either,” exlpairted Jan, gently. ‘“I don’t
think it should be used to condone—
well, dishonesty.”
“You yourself can’t condone any
dishonesty?” Tony’s voice sounded a
lititle grim. “Not when I say I love
you?” ... .
“I can’t believe that it’s love.”
"Jan!”
His voice was low with an ufcgent
note in it. Involuntarily she turned
her head. In a swift gesture he kiss
ed her, and for the space of a pulse
bpat she clung to him — this was as .
it should be, her heart sang to her.
“Darling. I’ll prove that I love you.
I’ll give you everything in the world
— p—earls for your lovely throat —”
"No,” cried Jan jvildly, pushing him
away, her hand against his chest. She
had made things worse, not better.
She was inciting him to further theft
— he would go on and on, end up in
prison! She could not — would not—
. love a thief!-‘Take me home,” she said brokenly.
"Right—”
Tony backed the car, his face white
and set, and headed it toward down
.town Manhattan. As they neared the
Devon Arms he inquired: "Shall I
stop as usual, down the block?”
“Please do.”
He drew up to the curb.
“Don’t get out.” She had the door
open and was on the sidewalk before
he could move. “Good-by, Tony.”
. “Good-by.”
That was all. Jan heard him start
athe car as she hurried away. This was
the first, time in all these meetings
that he had left her without arrang
ing to see her again.
“Guess what Dr. Curtis said.”
Dora was able to sit up now atid
Jan, spending every possible moment
at the hospital, looked at her propped
up against her pillows, Pussy-puff’s
diary in her thin hands.
“That you look like a Christmas an
gel in that lacy bed jacket?” asked
Jan absently. “Who sent that huge
basket of fruit?” She pointed to an
enormous bright red basket piled
high with oranges, pomegranates and
. strange tropic fruits she could not ev
en name.
“Paul Harris,” confessed Dora,
“wasn’t it nice of him? But listen.
Jan, to what my doctor man said—”
‘ “I’m listening, darling. What did”
he say?”
“He said I’ll be home by New
Y Ctir’s
“Not really!” Jan hugged her. “I
can hardly believe it.”
“It’s going to -be merry Christmas
this year, all right,” said Dora with
satisfaction.
“It Certainly is!” Jan assured her,
so heartily that she was afraid ( she
Was overdoing it. But Dora didn’t
notice.“Paul brought the basket himself,” *
she offered.
A nurse brought in Dora’s lunch
eon. Later Jan went shopping ofr
Christmas presents for Dora — a list
of rifts made out by Dora for Pussy
puff, including a catnip mouse and a
red rubber ball. <tl was nearlv four
o’clock when Jan returned to the ho
tel, , ’ ; . .
She had started to fit the key into
the’lock when to her surprise the door
’ — which apparently had not been
quite shut, swung open. The house
keeper w fa wlttifig ropm ^treet-s
&
mg a maid and a man Jan recognized
as a handyman around the hotel. New
curtains had been hung at the win
dows, the girl noted in one startled
glance. The housekeeper was motion
ing her two helpers to place a small
divan in front of the fireplace.
"Oh, there you are, Jan!”
. Paul Harris, stepping from behind
a screen, set down the Christmas
wreath he„was carrying close to a pile
of evergreens on the table,
'Jan’s face paled. Paul had given her
suite to someone else!' A wave of an
ger swept over her suddenly, How
could a man think enough of a-girl
to visit her every day and take pres
ents to her, as Paul had done for Dora
— and at the same .time be plotting
such a trick!
“Somebody else — taking these
rooms?” she asked, trying to keep the
quiver out of her voice,
Paul, to her astonishment, moved
across the room and pinched her
cheek.
"Always the little worrier.” he com
mented. “I’ll have to begin giving you
lessons, Jan,' in looking at the bright
side of things. We have to have the
place looking nice for our Dora when
she . comes home, and of course we
want you to be pleased, too, Jan.”
Jan stood mute as he went on: “The
Devon Arms must take good care
of its most important guests!” He
clapped his hands as a gesture to his his
I
“I hate him! It’s wicked - and cruel - for one person to have so much
money he can make everyone else unhappy. I hope I never meet him.”
housekeeper and her aides to follow
him, and left- the room.
Chapter XVIII
“I am going to find out what this
all means,” thought Jan, a little later.
She found Paul in his office still look
ing pleased with himself.
“I came to thank you again for the
beautiful way you fixed up our
rooms,” Jan began.
“Think nothing of it,” said the man
ager. “We have been vei;y happy to
have you girls here, Jan, and we hope
you have enjoyed your stay as much
as we have.”
“Goodness!” thought Jan, that
sounds as if he expected Us to be go
ing soon.”
More bewildered than ever, she
tried again. “I really don’t know how
to thank you, Mr. Harris, and I know
Dora will be more than delighted.
She thinks that apartment, you know,
is absolutely the most beautiful place
in the whole World.”
“Well” — Paul cleared his throat
— “I am very glad to hear that —
very glad. I hope both of you, Jan,
will always keep a Warm spot in your
heart for the Devon Arms.”
That farewell note again! Jan de
cided on a sudden attack.
“Where does Mr. Deverest come in
on this?” she inquired as casually as
If they had been discussing that gen
tleman just ithe moment before.
f'What a bright little fatty we are,’*
said Paul, smiling, “Mr. Deverest
bound me to secrecy.”
. Instantly Jan knew that in order to
find out anything at all she must pre
tend to have information she did not
possess.
"He’s a big kid,” she said indulg
ently, "with his Christmas secrets, Of
course there’s no secret, really, except
in his own imagination.” _
Paul looked relieved. He had won
dered if he had made a mistake in
rousing Jan’s suspicions, but of course
the girl knew what was actually at
the bottom of it all. No girl smart
enough to get herself engaged to a
man like Tony Deverest co-uld be
really in the dark about his Christ
mas eve surprise for her.
“Well, since'you do know the facts’
Paul told her, “I see no harm in giv
ing you a hint that ought to make the
surprise even more enjoyable for you.
Mr. Deverest is planning to announce
his engagement with a magnificent
party here, ',at the Devon Arms, on
Christmas eve. He is having the
whole supper room made into a Christ
mas scene, with the biggest tree in
town and all the trimmings,.
“You’d .like a new dress for the
party, wouldn’t you, Jan? I know
you haven’t been getting enough mon
ey, due to, unfortunate circumstances,
to splurge on a new party dress, so
as a Christmas present I have arChristmas present I have ar-
ranged with Mary Elizabeth Howard
for an engagement dress for you, and
She’s expecting you to call tomorrow
morning for a fitting appointment.”
“That’s sweet of you, Paul,’’ said
. Jan unsteadily. Paul beamed’ at the
impression his generosity had made,
and he sincerely hoped that his pres
ent handsome behaviour erased from
Jan’s mind any memory of past mis
understandings.
He could not know that t'o Jan he
no longer existed. Her world had
crumbled. This time there was no
mistake about it. The remnants of
her happiness were vanishing before
her eyes!
Back in her apartment Jan felt lost.
These were the hours, after rehearsals
were over and before it Was time to
appear in the show, in which she and
Tony had had all those happy adven
tures. Still, as she looked back, the
glamour seemed to fall away from it
all. The places where they ate—the
’dull little roads just outside the city,
which were all they had time to ex
plore — even an Occasional pause for
conversation with a garrulous gag sta
tion man —* no, it wasn’t at all what
they had said, or where they had gone
that had given tho$e few short weeks
their touch of magic.- It couldn’t have
been! It must/‘have been just being
with Tony,'
Everything was changed now. Oh,
Well, Christmas being so near would
be fun for Dora, and there Was some
thing had & VA
— Christmas present wrapping, Re
solutely Jan went to the desk and got
> out the rolls of red and green trans-;
parent paper, the gold-starred ribbon,
the box of bright stickers.
When the gifts were all spread out
on the bed ready for wrapping Jan
suddenly thought they didn’t look
very grand after all. And she had
spent hours choosing them! But Dora
would like these delicate embroidered
handkerchiefs, Arid the length of pal
est blue satin ribbon for her fair curls.
There was a book .of puzzles and a
novel in a gaudy jacket. Jan set about
wrapping them in as many boxes and
layers of tissue paper as possible. It
would be fun fdr Dora to unwrap
them, and Jan wanted to make it as
intricate a job as she could.,
“Dr. Curtis asked to see you when
you came in,” the nurse told Jan when
she entered Dora’s room, “He said to
go up to his office.”
Jan, who had stooped to kiss Dora,
■ looked uncertain as she straightened
up. ’ ' ,
“Go on up right away,” Dora sug
gested, "maybe it’s • important.”
“Darling, I haven’t even seen you
yet! But I’ll hurry.”
Dr. Curtis was not in his office
when Jan reached it. The door was
open; she went in and sat down by ’’
the window.
, “Well, here we are!”
The doctor’s voice brought her back
to the room — she had been far away
— back indeed, to her first meeting
with Tony. She was seeing herself,
rain-soaked and mud-spattered, and
Tony-trying to repair some of the da
mage his car had caused.
“Dora is doing well, isn’t she, doc
tor?” she asked, rising, as he went to
ward his desk1. ♦
“Dora couldn’t be better, and hang
around here,”.Dr. Curtis assured her,
glancing hurriedly through some pa
pers that had been left on his desk.
“I just wanted to ask you to have din
ner with me tonight.”
“Why, I’d love it, Doc - Brad,” she
substituted at a warning look from
the doctor.
“That's better.” he said with satis
faction. "I’ll call for you at vour ho
tel, say at seven? Right?” He came
closed, smiled down into her face.
“Run back to your sister and tell her
I said she’s my prize patient.”. ,
Dora accepted this praise with less
interest than she evinced at Jan’s din
ner engagement with her “doctor
man.”
“Oh, Tan, you’re getting to be so
pontdar,” she cried gleefully.
• “Sillv.” said Jan, laughing. Popu
lar? Why, she was the unhappiest
girl in all the world. Not. only had
she lost Tony - oh, .whv did she let
him go, no matter what he had done?'
but. after Christmas eve. she and Dora
would lose their beautiful apartment
at the Devon Arms. William. Anth
ony Deverest would appear with his
fiancee, Jan Pavson would be known
for what she was, a fraud, and she
and Dora would have to co back to
some wretched little furnished ’■oom.
It was just nosible that Paul Harris
cared enough for Dora to want to
marrv her. of course, but Tan hardlv
dared hope that it would really turn
out to be so.
Brad Curtis’s eyes told Jan, with
out a spoken word, that she had chos
en well when she opened the sitting
room door to him. She was wearing
a frock of gold colored chiffon - one
that Mary Elizabeth Howard has as
sured .her matched her golden eyes.
“All ready?” the doctor smiled at
her. ‘ _ ...
“I know how busy you are - I did
not want to take up any more of your
time than I have too,” said Jan.
"That’s beside the point. The real .
question is, do your want to give.me
as much of your time as I want?”
“That’s exactly what I do want! -
But Jan’s laugh could not conceal her
surprise, the surprise she had had first
felt When, over the luncheon table a
few davs before, Dr. Curtis had seem
ed to be genuinely enjoying4her com
pany. She could hardly belive it. but
here it was again, That half hidden
but inescapable, impression that Dr.
Curtis was making love to her,
Chapter XIX
“I ventured to hope that you would *
have .dinner at my home,” Brad went
on. “My mother is particularly anx- '
ious to meet you; I’ve talked about
you two girls a lot.” .
“Do you live with yoitr mother?”
said Jan, simply because she felt she
had to say something. Dr. Curtis was
helping het into her Wrap.
“That’ a right. She’s very old, hard*