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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1952-05-30, Page 7d4' J69' JAMES M. CAIN CHAPTER VIIi Synopsis • Despite Leonard. Borland's pro- tests that his 'hank account is ample, though the contracting business in New York is dead, his pretty, opena.etruck wife Doris( .resumes her "career," interrupted by her marriage 'at 19 and' the birth of two children Borland knows her avowed purpose, to bolster the family income, ie just -another subterfuge. Hugo Lor- entz, orentz, her teacher, always around, irritates him. After Doris gives a Town Hall recital, Cecil Carver, opera singer, phones Borland. At YOUR FAV?URIiE BEVERAGE KIST TIN , T IN ALL FLAVOURS 1 her hotel, Cecil says. Doris has a good voice but llagks style, Cecil • is Ito sing for war veterans 'but hasn't the words. of •a certain song. He sings it aid she gayis he has a fine' baritone voice. Cecil , knows of Doris through Lorentz, says Hugo is 'hopelessly in •love with Doris, and that Doris tor- tures every man she 'gets in her clutches. Leonard ought to wake her up 'by giving a recital, she says. "Go get yourself a triumph. Hurt her where it hurts." Cecil demands payment for lessons— kisses. He pays but declares he loves hie wife. He spends much time with Cecil, making good pro- gress. Doris tells him Jack Leigh- ton is, getting her an engagement in a, movie palace. Cecil, on tour, wires 'him, he sings in upstate re- citals, makes a hit and she gets him an engagement with an opera company. Again he makes good and tearfully 'Cecil, telling him she loves him, •says he's making a man of himself and can bring Doris to his. feet, Leonard further establishes 'himself in opera by learning a role in Faust during one morning. At the end of the - run he returns to New York. He is at home waiting for Doris. "Yes, he did." • SI AFORTH MONUMENT WORKS OPEN DAILY — PHONE 363-J T. PRYDE & SON ALL TYPES OF CEMETERY MEMORIALS Enquiries are invited. Exeter Phone 41-J Clinton Phone 103 Town of Seaforth TAX PRE -PAYMENT RECEIPTS for 1952 The Town of Seaforth will pay 4% per annum, up to August 31, 1952, on all Prepaid Taxes. Certificates and full particulars may be ob- tained at the 'Town Clerk's Office in the Town Hall. D. Hr WILSON, • • Treasurer Your Business Directory• LEGAL A. W. SILLERY Barrister, Solicitor, Etc. Phones: Office 173, Residence 781 SEAFORTH ONTARIO McCONNELL & HAYS Barristers, Solicitors, Etc. PATRICK D. McCONNELL H. GLENN HAYS, Q.C. County Crown Attorney SEAFORTH, ONT. Telephone 174 OPTOMETRIST JOHN E. LONGSTAFF Optometrist Eyes Examined. Glasses Fitted. Phone 791, . IN ST. : SEAFORTH Hours: 9 - 6 Wed. 9-12.30; Sat. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CHIROPRACTIC D. H. McINNES Chiropractic - Foot 'Correction COMMERCIAL HOTEL aiioneay, Thursday — 1 to 8 p.m. MEDICAL DR. M. W. STAPLETON Physician and Surgeon Phone 90 - Seaforth JOHN C. GODDARD, M.D. Physician and Surgeon Phone 110 Hensall JOHN A. GORWILL, B.A., M.D. Physician and Surgeon Phones; Office 5-W ; Res. 4115-J Seaforth SEAFORTH CLINIC E. A. McMASTER, 8.A., M.D. Internist P. L. BRADY, M.D. Surgeon Office }ours: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.., daily, except Wednesday and Sun- day. EVENINGS: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday only, 7-9 p.m. Appointments made in. advance are desirable. ACCOUNTING RONALD G. MCCANN Public Accountant CLINTON : ONTARIO Office: Phones: Royal Bank Office 561, Res.'455 AUCTIONEERS HAROLD JACKSON Specialist In Farm and House- hold Sales. Licensed in Huron and Perth Counties. Prices reasonable; satis- faction guaranteed. Per Information, etc., write or phone HAROLD JACKSON, 661 r 14, Seaforth; R.R. 4, Seaforth. JOSEPH L. RYAN Specialist in farm stock and Im- plements and household effects. $atiallaetion guaranteed, Licensed in limon and Perth Counties, Per particulars and open dates, write or phone JOSEPH L. RYAN, R, R. 1, Dublin. done 40 r 6, 3)ablin. 4217163 EDWARD W. ' ELLIOTT Licensed Auctioneer (Correspondence promptly answer- ed. Immediate arrangements can be made for sale dates by phoning 466-1, Clinton. Charges moderate and satisfaction guaranteed. PERCY C. WRIGHT Mee !sed Auctioneer - Cromarty Livestock and Farm Sake a Specialty Tor a better aection sale, call the WIUG1tHT Awotlb'dee't. Phone Hem a' VETERINARY' TURNBULL & BRYANS Veterinary Clinic J. O. Turnbull, D.V.M. W. R. Bryans, D.V.M. Phone 105 : Seaforth THE McKILLOP MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE CO'Y. HEAD 'OFFICE—SEAFORTH, Ont. OFFICERS: President - J. L. Malone, .Seaforth Vice,Pres. - J. H. McEwing, Blyth manager and Sec.-Treas. ,- M. A. Reid, Seaforth, DIRECTORS: E. J. Trewartha, 'Clinton; J. L. Malone, Seaforth; S. H. Whit- more, Seaforth • Chris, Leonhardt, Bornholm; Robert Archibald, Sear forth; John H. McEwing, Blyth; Frank McGregor, Clinton; Wm. S. Alexander, Walton; Harvey Fuller, Goderich. AGENTS: 3, E. Pepper, 'Brucefleld; R. P. etsitArsher, Dublin; Wan. Leiper, 3a'., Londesboro; J. P. Prueter, tirodbligett; Selwyn taker, Brus- 'Did he offer V150? He said he would." "He came up to $200." ."What did you say?" "I said no." "Why?" "I'm no singer. What would I be doing trailing around with this• outfit after you're gone?" "They play (Baltimore, Philadel- phia, Boston, and Pittsburgh before they swing west. I could visit you week -ends, maytbo oftener than ,that. I—I might even make a .ly- ing trip out to the coast." "I'm not the type." "Whole the type? . . . Leonard let me ask you something. Is it just because his $200 a week looks like chicken -feed to you? Is it be- cause a big contractor makes a lot• more than that?" "Sometimes he does. Bight now 119 doesn't make a dime." 'If, that's what it is, you're mak- ing yaking a,,, mistake. Leonard, every- thing has come out the way I said it would, hasn't it? Now, listen to me. With that Voice you can make money that "a big contractor never even heard of. After just one sea- son with the Americanicala Opera Company, the Metropolitan will grab you sure. It isn't everybody who can sing with the American Scala. Their standards are terribly high, and very well the Metropoli- tan knows it. Once yod're in the Metropolitan, there's the radio, the phonograph, concert, moving pic- tures. Leonard, you can be rich. You --you can't help it." "Contracting's my trade." "All this—doesn't it mean' any- thing to you?" "Yeah, for a gag. But not what you mean." "And, in addition to the money, there's fame—" "Don't want it." She 'sat there, and I saw her eyes begin) to look wet. Then she said, "Oh, why don't we both tell the truth? You want to get back to New York—for what's waiting for you in New York, And' I—I don't want you ever to go there again." "No, that's not it." "Yes, it is . , . I'm doing just exactly the opposite of what I thought I was doing when we start- ed all this. I thought I would be the good fairy and bring you and her together again, And now, what am I doing? I'm trying to take you away from her. I'm just a— home-wrecker-" She looked comic as she said it, and I laughed and she laughed. Then she started to cry- I hadn't heard one word from Doris since I left New York. I had wired her from every hotel I had• stopped at, and you would thing she might" have sent me a post card. 'There FN:•aef't eire.II tltat,,Isat there! We4ht ing Ceeeil' anal trying to let her be a 'tyome-wrepkor a the ca'P,ed' it. I knew e'he was swell I rtrspeeted everything about' her; I didn't have to 'be teed • to- Peel I. Ware "3n-' love with her, so I Could say let's both stay with this outfit and lee the rest go hang I couldn't. And then the next thing I ''knew I was crying, too We hit New York Monday morn- ing. I put Cecil in a cab and wept on home. On the way, I kept think - Ing what I. was going to say. I had been away six weeks', and what had kept me that long? The best I could think of was that I had taken a swing around to look at "condi- tions." When I got home I let myself in, carried in my grip, and called...to Doris. There was no answer I I went out in the kitchen, and it was empty. There wasn't a soul in the house. About eleven o'clock Nils came home. He was the houseman. He had been out taking the children to school, he said, and buying some stuff at a market. He said he was glad to see •me back, and I shook hands with him and asked' for Christine. 'Christine is his wife and does the cooking, and in "between acts as maid to !Doris and nurse to the children, He said Christine had gone with 'Mrs. Borland. He acted llkeeI must know all about it and I hated to show I didn't, so I said, oh, of course. :About a quarter to 'twelve the phone rang. It was Lorentz: "Bor- land, you'd better come down and get your wife." "What's the matter?" "I'll tell you." "Where is she?" "The 'Cathedral Theatre, Come to the stage door. I'll• meet you." I had a glimmer, then, of what was going on. I went out, grabbed a cab, and hustled' down there. He met me outside, took me in, and showed me a dressing -room. I rapped on the door and went in. She was crouched on the floor leaning her head against a chair and a theatre nurse was with her, and, Christine. She was in an awful state. She had on some kind of the• atrical-looking dress, and her face was all twisted. and her hands were „clenching and unclenching, end, I did'n't need anybody to tell me she was' giving everything she had to fight back hysteria. I went out in the corridor with Lorentz. "What's this about?" "She got the bird." There it was again, this thing that Cecil had said if I ever heard I'd never forget. "She sang here, then?" "It didn't get that far. She went out there to sing. Then they let her have it. It was murder;" "Just didn't like her, hey?" "She got too much of a build-up —in the 'papers." "I haven't seen the papers. I've been away." "Yeah, I know . . . 'Socialite em- braces stage career—that kind' of stuff. It was all wrong, and they Start Them Young Junior farm club work is rendering a practical service to Canadian agriculture. The organization and its leadership train young people in the best farm practices and home economics, which lead to "self- help and community betterment". The Canadian Bank of Commerce has pleasure in sponsoring this new booklet, in recognition of the valuable work being done by the Junior farm clubs across Canada. You can help to widen the usefulness of this organization by taking an interest in its work, and giving it your support and encouragement. The Canadian Bank of Commerce weiv ready for heat, los' 'one, ; those nice morning crowds:." I .began to get sore. "It wolf ae,eM to me you .should have ma a sense t'h,an to put her o here."'didn't.' :- . "Oh, you did your part." "I pleaded• with her not to do it Listen, Borland; I'm not kid- ded about Doris, and I don't think you are, either. She can't sing for buttons. I tried my best to head her off. I even went to Leighton. I seared him, but not enough. You try to stop Doris when she gets set on something." "Couldn't you telt her the truth?" "Could you?" That stopped' me, but I was still sore. "Maybe not.. But you start- ed this, „ just the same. If you knew all this, what did you egg her on for? You're the one that's been giving her lessons, from 'way badk, and telling het how good she is, and—" "All right, Borland; granted. I'm in love with your wife. And if egg- ing her on is what makes her like me, I'm human. Yeah, I trade on her weakness." "I've socked guys for less than that." "Go ahead, if it does you any good- I've about got to the point where a sock would be just one more thing. if you think being chief lackey to Doris is. a little bit of heaven, you try it—'or maybe you have tried it . . . This finished me with her, if that interests you. Not because I started' it. Not because I egged 'her on_ No—but I saw it. I was there, and 'saw them nail her to the cross, and rip cher clothes off, and throw rotten eggs at her, and ask her how the vinegar tasted —and all the rest of it. That'•s un- forgivable." He walked- off and left me- I found' a pay phone, put in a call for a private ambulance. When it came I went in 'the dressing room again. Doris was. up and Christine was helping her into her coat. She was over the hysteria, but she looked like something broken and shrunken. I carried her to the am- bulance, put her in it, anade her lie down. 'Christine got in. We started off. At home, I carried her upstairs, undressed her, and' put her to bed, and called a doctor. Undressing Doris is like pulling the petals off a flower, and a catch kept coming in my throat over how soft she was and how beautiful she was., and how she wilted into the bed. When the doctor came he said she had to be absolutely quiet, and gave her some sleeping pills. He left, and I closed the door and sat down beside the bed. She -put ter hand in mine. "Leonard." "Yes'?" "I'm no good." "How do you know? They didn't even give you a chance to find out." "I'm no good." "A morning show -in a picture house—" "A picture house, a vaudeville house, an opera house—it's all the same. They're out there, and' it's up to you. I'm just a. punk who's been a 'headache to everybody she knows anw who's got' wise to herself at last. I've got voice, fig - use, looks—everything but what it takes. Isn't that funny?" "For me, you've got everything it takes." • "You knew, didn't you?" "How would I know?" "You knew. You knew all the time I've been just rotten to you, Leonard. All because you opposed my so-called career." "I didn't oppose it." "No, but you`ditln't believe in it. That was what made me, so furious. You were willing to let me do what- ever I wanted to do, but you wouldn't believe I could sing. I hated you for it." - "Only for that?" "Only for that .. . Oh, you mean Hugo and Leighton and all my oth- er official hand -kissers? Don't be silly. I had to tease you a little, didn't I? But that only 'showed I cared whether you cared," "Then you do care?" "What do you think?" Doris took my head in her hands and kissed my eyes and my brow and cheeks, as though I were some- thing too holy for her to be worthy to touch, and I u -as so happy I couldn't even talk. I sat there a long time, my head against here, while she held my hand against her cheek, and now and then kissed it. . . The pills are working." "You want to sleep?" "No, I don't want to. I could stay this way forever. But I can't help it." "I'll leave you." "Kiss me." d kissed her, and she put her arms around me, and sighed a sleepy little sigh. Then she smiled and I tiptoed out. .I had. a bite to eat, went down to the office, and shad a look at what mail there was. Then I sat down at the desk, hooked my heels on the top, and tried to keep my head from swimming till it would be time to go back to Doris. I was' so excited I wanted to laugh all the time, but a cold feeling be- gan, to creep up my back, and pretty soon I couldn't fight it off any more. It was about Cecil. I had to see her, I knew that. I had to put it on the line how I felt about Doris and how she felt about me, and there could be but one an- swer to that. Cecil and I, we would have to break. I tried to tell. myself she wouldn't expect to see me for a day or so, that If I ji.1 t let things. go along she would Shake the move anyway. It was no good'. I had to see her, and' I Couldn't stall. I walked around to her hotel. She had the same suite, the same piano, the same piles of music lye ing around. She had left the door from the lobby, and when I went in she was' lying on the sofa, staring at the wall and didn''t even say hello. I sat down and ask her how she 'felt after the trip. She said all right. I asked her when her re• hearsals started. B.he said tomr•o rause' I said that was swell. "What is it, Leonard?" Her voice sounded drys and mine was shaky whenpend•." I answered, "Something. bap- .— , eel l li'esrd'Y 1t» --broke her Up," d "It generally does." had ""It's—Made her feel d fleren,.t n •about a lot of th'ngs, Abnut...=gt}it0 a „.few. things." "Go on, Leonard. WI t did y au come here to tell me? , y it." "She wants me back ' "And you?" "I want her b'u'k, too "All right." •,. She closed her eyes ' here was no more to say - nd 1 new it. I ought to have waked " et of there then. I couldn't do it. I at least wanted her to know ow 1 elt about her, how mush sh' eant to me. I went over, sat d» n beside her, took her hand. "Cecil there's a lot of things I'd like to "ay," "Yes, I know." "About how swell you've been, about how much I—" "Good-bye, Leonard " "I wanted to tell you—" "There's only one thing a man ever has to tell a woman. You can't tell me that; I know you can't tell 'me that; we've ,peen all over it —don't offer me consolation prizes." "All right, then. Good bye." I bent over and'kiase-1 'bee. She didn't oxen her eyes, didn't move. "There's only oce thing I ask, Leonard." "The answer`'is yea ,vh (ever it is." "Don't come back." "What?' "Don't come (eek You're 16144 t0? any best wig#e serge,sa, leges ` that, pt "l'yg1`'heen• i,,, a d IC've nA e+9P41445.4 1 ed to niQ, Rnll eleavtier All persons in the Municipality owe or harboring dogs must purchase 1 License for same on or before lune" 1952 Licenses will be issued from the Trea04. urer's Office in the Town Hall, or by the Tax Collector, H. Maloney. 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