Thursday, November 21, 1940
CHAPTER VI
Synopsis
Audrey Swan is the only
daughter of a highly respected
horse trainer. His farm adjoins
the estate of Judge Castle,
whose only son, Jeffrey, and
Audrey have been lifelong
friends. Jeffrey's engagement to
Olive Cooper, just divorced, is
announced. Judge Castle's de
sire to make Jeffrey a partner
in his law firm does not fit in
with Jeffrey's plans, nor Olive's,
but Annie Dodds, the Judge's
elderly secretary, is forced by
111 health to retire, and Jeffrey
must help his father through
the summer. Audrey Swan
meets Jeff's friend, Victor
Qninn. She is walking with
him to a favorite spot of hers
and mentions that her idea of
a real time once was to come
here with a good book and a
couple of apples.
"I don't wonder. It's beauti
ful." Vic looked about soberly,
then down at Audrey. "I'm in
love with you, little Audrey Swan.
Deeply and truly. And there it is."
Until this sunny Sunday after
noon, no man had ever told
Audrey Swan that he loved her.
In the manner of every normal
young woman she had dreamed
her dreams in solitude, dreams
unknowingly influenced by ro
mantic stories and pictures. If
they awakened no perceptible
longing for love they did bring a
knowledge of the thrill that must
come when the words were spoken
softly by the man to whom she
was ready to give her heart.
"I love you, little Audrey
Swan." No one could have utter
ed those words with quieter sin
cerity than Vic. Yet there was no
thrill, no particular sensation of
amazement or resentment. In
stead, a little feeling of pity. It
might be akin to love, but it
wasn't love.
"Why did you?" was her low
question. "Oh, why?"
Vic's smile was pathetically
twisted, but Audrey was looking
down into the water and did not
see. There was no smile in his
voice or eyes.
"I guess I had to, Audrey.
Would I ever have a chance?"
"I can't tell you, Vic. It's be
cause I don't know. Honestly."
"And that's fair enough."
There was nothing to cry about,
but Audrey felt perilously close to
tears. There was something pa
thetic in Vic's acceptance of
things. "If I behave nicely," he
asked, "can we keep on being
friends?"
"Oh, of course, Vic! Your
friendship does mean a lot to me.
Really it does. I want it to go on."
"Then everything's all right
with the world. We'll omit all
this from the record and start
where we left off. O. K.?"
"It's a bargain."
Vic's principal reaction to his
visit at the Swans' was a suspi
cion that he probably had made
a first class fool of himself and
destroyed any possibility of fu
ture happiness by being so pre
cipitate. Yet he could feel no
genuine regret. His love for Au
drey had become such a part of
his life that he had been unable
to suppress a hope that she had
in some way felt it. The great
wonder was that she even had
been kind to him, that she hadn't
dismissed him forthwith and per
manently. As long as she hadn't,
there was some hope. He would
never give up, but he must have
sense enough to watch his step
from now on.
The following morning he pre
sented himself at the Castle of
fice promptly at nine-thirty. To
has surprise, he found his friend
in the private office, feet up on
the desk and puffing contempla
tively on a pipe.
Jeff's soles came down with a
crash. "Well, of all things!
Where the dickens did you come
from, Vic? And at this time of
day! Come in and have a seat,
fella."
Vic shook hands and dropped
into a chair. "Why, I'm on tour
at the moment. Vacation. After
reading the paper yesterday
morning, seemed to me that it
would be no more than decent to
break my trip long enough to
offer congratulations and all that
sort of rot?. So here I am. Ac
cept my good wishes, if you will."
"Thanks, Vic. This sure is a
tough burg in which to endure a
Sunday. Why in the world didn't
you go out and put up with the
folks? They would have been
tickled to have you," Jeff added
reproachfully.
"Well, as a matter of fact . . ."
"As a matter of fact, you were
dangling around Audrey. Maybe
you need congratulations."
"Be yourself. Just dropped in
to pay my party call for the
breakfast I had there when you
wouldn't feed me. That was all.
I did want to see you, too. Looks
to me as if double congratulations
were in order. Nice to see you at
work. Permanent, I hope."
"Oh, sure." Jeff deliberately
relighted his pipe. "Trying to see
what your coaching was worth.
After all, a family man has to
contemplate the sordid aspects of
an existence."
"Good for you. Seems to me
that will be rather an ideal set
up—you and your father here to
gether."
"Everybody seems to thlnir so."
"I wonder if that lad's serious,"
Jeff mused to himself after Vic
left the office. "He's about the
only guy I know that's good
enough for her. Queer how things
happen."
* * *
Audrey Swan did not see Jeff
rey Castle during the interim
that preceded his marriage. Nor
was she surprised. She knew that
he was spending most of the time
at home; all Parville knew. She
wondered frequently, in spite of
assuring herself that it was none
of her affair, what would happen
after the couple were married.
Olive had been positive in her
determination to live in the city.
It was hard to believe that she
would change her mind. But, of
course, they must have reached
some agreement or conclusion by
this time.
For one of the city papers had
revealed the date of the wedding
as September 10th, adding that
the bride and groom had planned
an extended tour, but had made
no announcement regarding their
future residence.
That hurdle had been cleared
more easily by the prospective
groom than he had dared antici
pate, when he was finally forced
to bring up the matter for discus
sion with Olive. "Why worry over
that?" she asked calmly. "For
the present, you have given your
father all the help he has a right
to expect. Surely he doesn't
think we are going to Niagara
Falls and back on an excursion.
My idea is a leisurely cruise."
Jeff was thinking busily. This
was new and unexpected. He had
anticipated a honeymoon of a few
weeks. Now it appeared that
Olive might be figuring in terms
of months.
If the young man had not been
so hopelessly in love, he might
have suspected that Olive was
carrying out a well-laid plan. In
fact, she was doing just that. She
believed that a few months of
happy indolence would be a com
plete cure for Jeffrey. He would
be anxious to compromise, would
willingly do anything to escape
the drudgery which she could see
was growing more and more dis
tasteful to him.
It was about this time that
Jeffrey, after long hours spent in
wrestling with the dilemma, had
what he believed was an inspira
tion, and he voiced it to Olive at
the first opportunity. "You
know, darling," he began with his
familiar elaborateness, "I was
thinking about old Vic today.
Been quite on my mind."
"Why? she question a little
sharply.
"Maybe he'd like to take a
crack at my job while we're away.
Father has a lot of respect for
him, I happen to know."
Olive appeared to muse over
the idea. "It would be perfectly
splendid, darling. Why don't you
call him up?"
"I will. Right now."
The same afternoon Jeffrey
found himself in the offices of
Brand, Blumenthal and Brand
where an office boy ushered him
into a small consultation room.
Almost at once Vic appeared.
"Vic, I'm going to put my cards
on the table. You're the only one
I can talk to. I mean it. And
you're the only one I know who
can help. It's like this. Olive
and I are getting married the
tenth of next month."
"The papers beat you to that
one, son.'
"Don't kid. It's serious. Olive's
told me point-blank that she
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Intend to live In Parville. Frank
ly I've been stalling. I told Olive
that I had to help Father out for
a little just now, because his of
fice help is leaving. But now she's
talking about an extended cruise."
"In what possible way do I fit
in this?" Vic asked.
"Well, it's like this, old chap. I
don't know what you're knocking
down here or what you think your
chances are. So I was wondering
why you couldn't arrange for a
leave of absence for a time, pinch
hit for me with the old gentle
man while I'm away. You'd be
so much better than I, he'd be
glad to be rid of me. I mean it."
"I'm not sure I get that," Vic
admitted slowly. "You mean I
should give up a permanent job
for a temporary one?"
"No. Get a leave. If your boss
gets fussy, you can easily line up
another berth. I know darned
well that Father would make it
worth your while."
Vic slowly shook his head."lt's
the craziest thing I ever heard
of."
"Just the same, it appeals to
you."
"In a way. I don't think you
appreciate the reputation your
father has in this state as a
jurist. It would be quite an op
portunity for any cub like myself
to be associated with him.. That's
the only reason I'd ever consider
it . . . not at all for the reason
you have in mind. That's crazier
still."
"Please think it over carefully,
Vic. You can save the happiness
of several people, I swear."
"I wonder. It will take a heap
of consideration. See me next
time you're up. I won't promise
a thing. I still think it's crazy."
* » •
Jeffrey Castle's suggestion that
Victor take his place in the office
while he would be on his honey
moon brought the consideration
the young lawyer promised, and a
great deal more. Victor realized
that he was yearning to accept it
because it would bring him so
near to Audrey Swan. Now he
cursed himself helplessly for hav
ing told her of his love.
Desperate, he put in a call for
Audrey without any clear idea of
what he was going to say. He
would have to trump up some ex
cuse for an interview; then what?
Unforunately, the operator re
ported that his party was not at
the number given. Would he talk
to anyone else? It was Mrs. Swan
who took the call. "I wanted to
speak to Audrey just a minute,"
he attempted, "will she be at
home after dinner?"
"I doubt it," Martha replied.
"Audrey's in the city. She broke
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this morning. She hoped the
dentist would be able to take care
of her today. If not, she said she
would stay over. Her dentist is
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Medical Arts. You might Just
happen to catch her there. I
know she would be glad to see
you."
"Thanks a lot. I'll do that.
Goodby." He found Audrey there.
"We're going some place to have
lunch," Vic enlightened her as he
led the way to the elevators.
At a small table in a secluded
corner of a grill room Audrey
said, "Now tell me what it's all
about."
"Well, it has to do with our old
pal, Jeff." '
"What's he done? Trying to
back out of things?"
I "No. Trying to back in." Vic
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tor briefly sketched the situation.
"He thinks he's stuck for a
lengthy honeymoon and he's beg
ging me to pinch hit for him with
his father."
"Why don't you?"
"Let's skip that one for a min
ute." Victor pondered a little
over his next words. "If the sit
uation were different I'll admit
I'd jump at the chance to be
around the old Judge, more or
less. It would be the post-grad
uate course of a lifetime."
"What's holding you back?"
' (Continued Next Week)
THE GIVER
"Who gave the bride away?"
"Her little brother. He stood up
right in the middle of the cere
mony and yelled: "Hurrah, Fan
ny, you've got him at last!"
Say Holsum