Newspapers / Henderson Daily Dispatch (Henderson, … / Sept. 23, 1937, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE TWO DEAD RECKONING By BRUCE HAMILTON COPYRIGHT BY BRUCE HAMILTON; RELEASED BY CENTRAL PRESS ASSOCIATION Tin* Kennedy, who has been writing a suicide note to himself in his wife’s handwriting, graduated into homicide from the school of armchair murderers. iAt middle age, having made a fortu •nate marriage to Esther Ashwell, and possessing a lucrative dental practice (and an enviable social position in a : small town near London, Tim felt happy and secure. Then Esther was run 'down by a tru.-fc. Weeks later she was brought home, a physical wreck and a fcripple for life, with only a hint of hen '•former beauty left. Tim loses all in-* jterest in his wife because of her ap •pearance. He suggests they hold their ’annual tennis party despite her condi tion. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY: CHAPTER 8 THE HEARTENING lie came [easily to Tim’s lips when he told I Esther she would be playing tennis (again in another year. He paused !a moment, then added, with gentle 'insistence: | “Well, then, we’ll settle for Sat urday on the tennis party, shall we?” I She made a gesture of resigna tion. I “Very well, Tim, I suppose you’re right. I mustn’t be selfish.” He sat down happily on the win idow seat, and took out a notebook (and pencil. j “Well, then. . . . There’s Harold iand the Doughtys our hardy iperennialg. And Cox —his wife’s Away, he must be a-bit lonely. . . . And I think we ought to have someone a bit younger this year.” “What about Mr. Mower?” sug gested Esther surprisingly. . Kennedy frowned, i “Mower. ... I don’t know about that. We hardly know him.” ! “The Doughtys like him. And we never did much about it, after he called. Os course, there wasn’t the chance. . . . But I think we ought to invite him. His being a •dentist —it would be ungracious •not to do something. As if we ’looked on him as a rival.” | "Rival! —what an idea.” Ken- j Inedy considered for a moment, ■ tapping his teeth with the pencil, i (Eventually he decided to concede 1 Mower, for reasons of his own. ; “Very well, dear, if you think < we ought to. . . . Put him down. ] J. , . It seems to me we’re rather i short of ladies.” 1 ; “Why not Phyllis Grantley?” ! ; “All right, down with her. . . . 1 Perhaps she’ll pair off with Mower. 1 We must find somebody for Cox. „ , . I have it, Mrs. Shepherd.” < Esther looked up quickly. 1 f “The wog)sji who’s taken May- 1 bank?” i “That’s her.” I "She’s a widow, isn’t she ?’ ] ; “I believe go—l’ve no official In- i formation. Spit she was in the 1 surgery the other day, and she 1 seemed a nice person. I think i you’d hit it Off with her.” - 1 “Is she attractive ?” i Kennedy laughed easily. s * ( “I didn’t notice particularly. s ’Beautiful teeth; she looks after j them proper#. Tall woman. I i think her hair’s brown, but I didn’t i get the color of her eyes.” ) "Well—have her if you like, ■ dear.” ] “Right . . . that’s seven; just j about enough.” Kenneth closed . Ithe notebook and' looked at his • watch. “Ten to nine—l must be j trotting. I’ll ring ’em all up be- 1 • tween whiles this morning.” j When Tim Kennedy said that he ' had not noticed the color of Alma < Shepherd’s eyes, he was guilty of a falsehood. They were of a very 1 vivid blue, almost cobalt, and quite 1 impossible to overlook. He had . also noticed her warm, brown j skin and full, rather drooping mouth, and her full, rich body, 1 with its deliberate grace of move- 1 ment. He thought she must have ] •Spanish blood in her. She could i loot be more than 32—just the 1 [right age. < ! The lie about the eyes was not 1 the only one fie had told that • morning—at least by implication. 1 •Up to last Thursday he had not I thought about the tennis party at i all; It was only during the week end that it had occurred to him • that the party was the simplest. 1 and most natural means of insur ing further contact with Alma Shepherd. * fX ' , necessary to act quickly. ] When she had come into the sur- j gery on Thursday, telling him with ] her lazy smile how she had broken • a tooth over an osso buco in a i Soho restaurant a few weeks be- ’ U. S. EMBASSY IN DANGER OF JAPANESE BOMBS \v % wx... V iiMKfli B||k m ' Si i whm U. S. embassy in Nanking, China U. S. embassy in Nanking, capital of China, was | in danger as Japanese aerial bombers struck from J Tim: “What have we this morning?” ,< fore, starting a slight but per sistent ache, he had seen at once that it would be impossible to make the work last for more than two sittings. There was a small cavity in one of the bicuspids, a simple affair that he could have polished off in less than half an hour. But because a careful inspection revealed no other trouble whatever —he was far too conscientious pro fessionally to make work where there was no legitimate ground for it—he decided to give the job an extra session, applying cocaine and i putting in a temporary filling at the first one. The second appointment was for today, Tuesday, and un less he could make one now, an op- : portunity of seeing her again might • not recur. He left his car at Bentwich’s : Garage and walked slowly down the High Street, nodding affably to half a dozen people on the pave ment. It was five past nine— later than usual, but today he had no ap pointment till 9:30. He liked to reach his office early, to fiddle with • his instruments, put everything in ' the meticulous order he loved. He was feeling a little nervous. Alma Shepherd was second on his list, at ten o’clock. • It was not customary to extend social invitations on a purely pro fessional acquaintance and so j short a one at that. It was for- , tunate Esther had been so easy, j But then, she had never been con- ( ventional in that way, though of ( late she had grown sharper, more possessive, almost jealous at times. ( . . . He wondered if Mrs. Shepherd would think the invitation bad \ form. He did not believe she was ( that sort. She had been very . friendly and natural with him, ■ though they had not spoken a great , deal. He turned into his entrance by ] the florist’s. Adams was polishing 1 the banisters of the stairway, j Adams slept at The Wilderness, but always cycled down to the office, where he had a small retreat on the 1 back landing below, about half an hour before his master. He gave Kennedy a cheerful, if slightly too ] servile, good morning. He was a , thin man of medium height, with dark hair, a heavily corrugated forehead, and a pursed mouth that 1 seemed to bespeak perpetual medi-4 , tation. His manner was that of a ; certain type of regular non-com missioned officer or commissionaire, : —deferent to the officer class, ] sharp with < rangers of uncertain ] standing, rc.axingly affable with • his cronies. ( He was a famous billiards and darts player at the Goose Quill, but did not seem to have any other interests outside his work. He was paid twenty-five shillings a week with board, and gave full value for it, for he did a certain amount of valeting and work about the house I the air to‘wipe out the city. The Japanese planned I to make it the greatest air attack in history. |flH folhou shalt not KiS\ as well as making himself useful at the surgery. Kennedy was not sure that he liked the man particularly. He had claimed to have saved Kennedy’s life during the war. Kennedy had no clear recollection of the episode,; but did recall him as an officious; little corporal. Thus, when Adams had aecosted him on the street, he had given the fellow a chance— and had not regretted it. Adams was inclined to drink tdo much, but he had never let that in terfere with his work. Tim also suspected him of picking up occa sional trifles, but he appeared to be scrupulously honest about money, though in fifteen years a good many opportunities must have come his way. Kennedy addressed him pleas antly, “Lovely morning, Adams.” Adams, duster in hand, stiffened; to a position of attention. “Yes, sir. Real spring weather,*, sir.” Kennedy let himself into his front door, aiW changed his light gray jacket for a white linen one that was hanging in the hall. “What 1 have we this morning?” he asked Adams, who had followed him in. “Young Master Johnson at half past nine, sir. Mrs. Shepherd at ten. Mr. Ross at ten-fifteen. Then Mrs. Leeming at ten-thirty.” “Two hours’ job that, eh?” Ha had entered the surgery, and was washing his hands in the basin be hind the Chinese screen. He was; disconcerted to find he had been so 1 careless as to give Ross an ap pointment at just that time. He re called the occasion—Ross had tele phoned, and in a hurried searching, through his book for an odd quarter; of an hour he had noted the worts, 1 amounting to very little, which ha had to do with Mrs. Shepherd, while ' unaccountably forgetting who she was. He picked one of the half-dozen spotless hand towels off the rail to the basin and came out into the room. “Is that the lot, then?” “Mrs. Truelove at half past twelve, sir, with the anesthetist.” \ Kennedy nodded approvingly.! With his more expensive patients! he always engaged a separate an- 1 esthetist for extraction. It was the’ practice of better class Londoq den-i tists, and it gave him a cachet. There were certain patients who could well afford the luxury, and; liked the importance of it. , j “Os course. ... I may be a little! late for Mr. Ross—a quarter of an! hour qt so. Apologize to him, tell! him I’ve a difficult case—the usual • stuff. Also to Mrs. Leeming, of. course, if she’s delayed.” “Yes, sir.” . | “Not that she’s likely to be in a: hurry. I’ll have to give her a bad! time, I’m afraid.” Adams’ features relaxed into a smile. “Yes, sir.” (To Be Continued) HENDERSON, (N. C.) DAILY DISPATCH, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1937 Capital Gossip BY HENRY AVERILL, Pallr Dlnntcb Bureau, I» The Sir Walter Hotel, Raleigh, Sept. 23.—Thad Eure, hand some secretary of state, promised to give Fayetteville folks a hot speech today when he held forth as a booster of the State Fair. If Thad tells his audience the story about pigs he re lated to newsmen here ’and Which he vowed he will use down in the Cum berland capital there are going to be some red faces. Just exactly one day after telling newspaper men he is opposed as a matter of principle to issuing “Pro clamations,” Governor Clyde R. Hoey was practically forced into making the first of his administration. He has “proclaimed” Air Mail Week October 11 to 16, and mailed his pro clamation to Major Paul Younts, postmaster at Charlotte. , The governor says he is always glad to issue “statements’? backing any project he thinks worthy, but he does not like the formality of proclama tions. The report on Greensboro A. and T. Negro college, to be submitted by Holt McPherson, High Point Enter prise editor, on Saturday will not be public matter and its contents will not be divulged except at the complete discretion of Governor Clyde R. Hoey. Mr. McPherson has conducted an intensive probe of affairs at the Guil ford school since he was named as a result of repeated charges of various irregularities made by alumni and students of the college. Word has been received here of the death of James Kelly, brother of Paul Kelly, director of the Board of Conservation and Development. “Now that the farmers of Eastern North Carolina have money in their pockets as a result of tobacco sales, we are beginning to have a hard time,” sai’d J. M. Grainger, engineer of the State Rural Electrification Au thority. “With money, they want to get electricity and they cannot see why they shouldn’t have service just about one day after making an ap plication. I wish it were as simple as that, but it isn’t. Governor Hoey hit the speech-mak ing trail again today, talking at the dedication of a farm building in Tyr rell county, under auspices of the Farm Bureau, and at Tarboro, where one of the Institute of Government’s educational programs is to be held with both Democratic and Republi can county chairman participating. Webb Williams, associate member, is holding down the desk of Cutlar Moore, liquor board chairman, while the latter is in New York adding his bit to the fun and frolic being held by the American Legionnaires in the tig metropolis. WAR ON SYPHILIS IS PLAN OF BOARD Dally Dispatch Boreas, In the Sir Walter Hotel. Raleigh, Sept. 23.—“ ‘Peacefully if we can, forcibly if we must,’ we will protect the innocent against syphilis,” declared Dr. Carl V. Reynolds, State health officer. “Persons infected with this disease will not be able to evade compulsory treatment, or imprison ment, if they persist their re fusal,” he continued, “simply by mov ihg from one county to another, or from one State to another. “I a,m in receipt of a letter from Virginia asking me to notify the au thorities here to be on the lookout for a syphilitic from that commonwealth who left to come to North Carolina. I am contacting the health officer in the community to which he is sup posed to have gone, in order that he may be located and compelled to con tinue treatment, or go to jail. “In the future, when a syphilitic moves from one North Carolina coun ty to another, the health officer will be requested to notify promptly the State Board of Health and, in turn, the health authorities in the com munity to which he is supposed to gone will be notified. “So, you see, we mean business. The oniy way to see this thing through is to make a thorough job of it, and With the cooperation of our co-work ers, we will do just that thing. I have a letter from a health officer who requested official blanks. He has in mind a syphilitic who will be formal ly notified to take treatment. If he refuses, he will be put in jail and he will stay there until he becomes non infectious and will then be treated until he is cured. “There is law enough on the .books to wage an effective campaign or era dication, if it is enforced; and, so far as the State Board of Health is con cerned, the provisions will be utilized to the limit We will muster all the forces available to fight this disease from now on. No one who wishes to cooperate, whether infected or not, need have any fears—but, once again, 'Peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.” That goes!” BOOKLET AVAILABLE ON WATER SYSTEMS College Station, Raleigh, Sept. 23. Directions for installing inexpensive, hand-pump water systems in the farm home have ; been published by the State College extension service. The circular, prepared by D. s. Weaver, agricultural engineer, in cludes illustrations designed to make the directions as clear and simple as possible. North Carolina farmers who desire copies of the free circuits may obtain them from the agricultural editor at State College, Raleigh. „ The circular is extension folder - 38, “A Complete Hand-Power water System for the Farm Home.’ A new* story ex-Kaise r _Wil- , helm now possesses a fortune | more than f beert pected all along, it must h aV ® I two other fellows who lost the • EFIRD’S Ladies’ New Fall . A Ladies’New Fall Sports coats in all new fall new shades and styles shades and snappy styles. 'SWIHOi a real uy — Values up to $14.95 — $9.95 |g <| *5-95 -. _ „ . V IH Better Ladies’ Dresses New Fall Coats !■■■ JjHR The newest styles In much better quality. Heav- IHU You will be proud to wear one ier material in all fall colors, these dresses— sl2.9s % ft Ladies New Rothmoor Coats, $29.50 to $59.50 Shoes Shoes Shoes Ladies’ new fall oxfords, ties, straps, pumps in black and brown kid, suede, patent trim, also the newest thing in foot wear, multi- AQ colored Jpl.afO New Multi-colored oxfords, Pumps, Ties, Straps, $1.98, $2.95, $3.95 . Ladies Hose jiicw Ladies Hose Ladies’ new hose, pure silk, New Senior Class in all the full fashioned ringless, three thread. There are none in newest fall shades, “Feather Henderson to equal them— Sheer,” ringless , pure silk, its ,-JMik “A Dollar Value”— 5w P“*' 0m / __ 2 pair for *l.lO ' ' 1 111 ■■!■■■ Men’s Fall Hats Fall Hats Men’s fall hats in all colors, ft Men’s new fall hats in lead made of the finest felt. k, x ing colors, exceptionally Medium and QC fine felt. A real buy. 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Every thing new. All suedes, combina tion suede, patent trim, in black and brown, also the newest crea tion in footwear in multi-colors, blue, grey, brown, black, rust, slate, all mixed into QC one shoe, prices at .. «P £fUt3 Men’s Value Plus Oxfords Men’s leather sole dress oxfords, the fin est shoe in Henderson for the AC money, any style, any size .... ty£s*y<) ■■ 1 »i n a— Men’s New Oxfords Men’s new oxfords, black and brown in your favor ite style, Cuban heel, V-8 toes, wing tip, no priced at
Henderson Daily Dispatch (Henderson, N.C.)
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Sept. 23, 1937, edition 1
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