Thursday, January 14, 1937
THE HERMISTON HERALD, HERMISTON, OREGON.
DEPUTY of the DEVIL
By Ben Ames Williams
Copyright, Ben Ames Williams.
SYNOPSIS
Dr. Greeding, a wealthy and talented
middle aged surgeon, is possessed of seem-
ingly supernatural powers. Occasionally he
can wish for something extraordinary to
happen and have the wish fulfilled. Greed-
Ing meets Ira Jerrell, a wealthy business
friend of his own age, who tells him he
loves his daughter Nancy and would like to
marry her. Dr. Greeding is pleased and
tells Jerrell he has a clear field. Nancy,
however, is in love with Dan Carlisle, on
assistant professor at the University who
has little means. They discuss marriage,
but decide to delay talking to her father
about it. Nancy, who has been playing ten
nis with Dan that afternoon, tells her father
she had been playing with a irl fr iend.
Greeding knows this is untrue and is secret
ly enraged. Stepping into his wife’s room,
his eye ’falls on a marble statuette which
he dislikes. He picks it up, wishing he
could smash it to bits. Suddenly it is
snatched from his grasp as by an in
visible force and burst asunder. Mrs.
Greeding is greatly disturbed over the mys
terious destructor of the statuette. The
doctor reveals that Ira Jerrell wants to
marry Nancy. On the way to a dinner
party a car cuts in front of G reeding’s He
angrily expresses the wish that the driver
would break his neck. An instant later an
accident occurs in which this very thing
happens. At the dinner the Greedings meet
Prof. Carlisle, Dan's father, and his daugh
ter Mary Ann. Dr. Greeding is intrigued
by Mary Ann, who is a surgical nurse. Mrs.
Greeding tells Prof. Carlisle about the de
struction of the statuette and he indicates
it might have been caused by a "polter
geist,” a "racketing, mischievous spirit.”
CHAPTER II—Continued
He said quizzically: “That’s not
the same Judith Plank with whom
you played tennis this afternoon.”
“Judith?” she repeated in aston
ishment, forgetting her mendacity;
and then suddenly she remem
bered. and her cheeks were crim
son. She retreated from him, white
and startled; turnea and ran up
the stairs. He had only meant to
tease her; but by her flight his al
most-forgotten anger was a little re
vived.
“Nancy!” he called. She stopped,
half turning. “You mustn’t ever lie
to me, Nancy,” he said sternly.
She hesitated, facing him doubt
fully; but after a moment she de
scended to meet him ascending. On
the step above him, she said ap
pealingly:
“I’m sorry, Father. I—a girl—"
She laughed in confused dismay.
“Well, a girl instinctively wants to
keep some things secret.” she con
fessed happily.
And before he could speak, she
added: “You’re right
It wasn’t
Judith, this afternoon. It was Dan
Carlisle. When you asked me who
was here, we’d only just found out
that we love each other! That was
why I—fibbed to you!”
Doctor Greeding touched her
shoulder affectionately, guarding
his tones
‘‘No reason why you
shouldn't tell me and yout mother,
is there?" he asked quietly.
“I was afraid you wouldn't—”
“Never be afraid of me, l.ancy,”
he urged. ‘‘You'll always And me
on your side.”
"Then you don’t mind my—loving
Dan!”
“I mind your being afraid of me.”
He kissed her again, and he added
judicially: “As for Dan, I hardly
know him, Nancy.
Bring him
around more often. Let your moth
er and me get acquainted with that
young man.” And he suggested:
“After all, there's no hurry. You
and he will want to treasure this
new happiness in secret for a
while.”
Then, before she could either as-
sent or demur, he said: “Good
night. It’s late, my dear.”
She hugged him warmly. “You’re
sweet!” she whispered. “Good
night, Father!” And ran up the
stairs.
He followed more slowly; and in
his own room, the door closed be
hind him, he stood fixed and rigid,
frowning. But in the end he dis-
missed Nancy for the present from
his mind, and opened the volume
he had bi ought upstairs.
CHAPTER HI
Next day Doctor Greeding was
not his usual self while in the op
erating-room. Ordinarily he worked
without conscious effort, smoothly
and swiftly; but today each proced
ure required a conscious concentra
tion.
Doctor Mayhew, his assistant, ob
served this; and Miss Rimes, the
surgical nurse, likewise felt it, and
reacted to Doctor Greeding s ten
sion by a definite fallut e in her
usual efficiency Once when with
out looking toward her he reached
for dissecting scissors, she offered
him the knife instead, and the point
punctured his glove, so that he had
to change.
Such accidents had recurred be
fore; but today Doctor Greeding
was in no case to meet the incident
equably and calmly. Fortunately
the skin was not even pricked; yet
many a surgeon had lost a finger,
or a hand or an arm as easily as
this; and he told Miss Rimes so, in
dry, cutting tones.
Even while he spoke he realized
suddenly that he disliked Miss
Rimes intensely. She was an effi-
cient nurse; but he recognized now
that she was a dark, unlovely wom
an. He had never before thought
of her except as an automaton; and
his physical distaste for her lent
an unintended heat to his rebuke.
She made no defense; but after
ward in the corridor he saw her
talking with Doctor Mayhew; and
there was a hint of tears, of hyster
ia, in her manner. So Doctor Greed
ing belatedly repented his heat; and
back in his office, he summoned
Doctor Mayhew and by way of
amends bade him grant Miss Rimes
a month’s full-pay vacation.
Doctor Mayhew suggested doubt
fully: “I’m afraid, after her mis
take this morning, she may feel
this is a reproof?’
“Not at all,” Doctor Greeding in
sisted. “It is simply that I think
she is overworked, tired.”
But the othei man persisted in
his view; and Doctor Greeding re
luctantly summoned Miss Rimes
and in Doctor Mayhew’s presence
made amends.
“I owe you an apology, Miss
Rimes,” he confessed. "I was tired
this morning, nervous; and I blew
off steam at your expense. I’m
sorry.”
She assured him, eagerly: “I was
clumsy!” But when he spoke of the
vacation he proposed that she
should take, she protested: “Oh, 1
can’t just now! With Miss Johnson
ill, there’s no one to handle the
work; and I’m not tired, really.”
“Nonsense!” he said in fraternal
kindliness. “We’ll manage!”
After she had left the office, Dr.
Mayhew asked: "Who will you use
in her place? Miss .Ryan?”
Doctor Greeding hesitated. He
had not considered this problem;
but now he smiled in swift appreci
ation of the fact that luck once more
had played his game. But he only
said guardedly:
"I have some one in mind. Let
if rest for now.”
But when Doctor Mayhew was
gone, he rang for his secretary.
“Will you phone Miss Mary Ann
Carlisle,” he directed, and gave
Professor Carlisle’s name and ad
dress. “Ask her to come in and see
me, if she can; say I may have
some work for her.”
An hour later. Miss Carlisle was
announced.
“Our meeting last
night may have been fortunate for
us both, Miss Carlisle,” he said to
her. “I don’t know if my secretary
told you why I wished to see you?”
She shook her head, and he ex
plained: “My surgical nurse, Miss
Rimes, has been working too hard.
I’ve given her a vacation, and that
leaves us short-handed Naturally, I
thought of you. I believe you said
you’ve had some experience in as
sisting?”
“Yes,” she agreed. “I worked
with Doctor Homans.”
“His specialty was the brain, of
course.” Doctor Greeding com
mented. in no hurry, content to
watch her, to go slowly. “My work
ir more general.”
He added:
“However, a few days will give
you the routine. I’m sure.” And
he smiled. “I’m proposing, you un
derstand, that you come in and work
with me.”
She said: “I’ve been doing spe
cial nursing; but—I should be glad
ot a more steady income.” She
smiled faintly. “As you may imag
ine, with two rather improvident
professors in the family—”
He chuckled. “Naturally.” They
discussed finances. “Then suppose
we try it,” he suggested “If we
are both satisfied, there is no rea
son why you should not stay on in-
definitely. Even after Miss Rimes
returns. You can alternate with her,
and there are a lot of details out
side the operating-room which you
can divide between you ”
She asked calmly: “Shall I start
now? Or report in the morning?”
And thus swiftly the matter was
arranged. Doctor Greeding drove
home that afternoon in his usual
easy mind. The tragedy of the
day before, he began to dismiss
as the coincidence it had appeared
to be; he could ignore the form
less. terrifying shapes that floated
in the background of his thoughts.
So soon as he came home, he
asket for Nancy.
"She’s gone into the countiy with
Dan," Mrs Greeding explained.
"To some little inn for dinner."
She watched her husband doubt
fully; but he said, in a disarming
tone:
“1 saw her for a moment last
night when she came home. We
had a little calk, Myra
Probably
1 was wrong to be—dogmatic, yes
terday, to play the angry parent.
Dan's all right, 1 expect.” He
hesitated, conscious of a faint con
fusion. “As a matter of fact," he
said, smiling at his own thoughts.
“1 think better of the Carlisles than
1 did yesterday. I even engaged
Miss Cailisle to take Miss Rimes'
place, this afternoon."
She stared at him, frank ooubt in
her eyes "Ned. was that wise?”
she wondered. "After all, while
she may be a charming dinner part
ner—”
“Oh. 1 sha n't keep her on unless
she does her work.” he said casu
ally.
“She's entirely too attractive to be
a nurse,” Mrs. Greeding insisted
“Mary Ann is one of these inde
pendent young women, perfectly
sure of herself and ot everything
else; resentful of—conventions.”
“You make her sound dangerous
ly fascinating,” he said, amused,
and touched her arm affectionate
ly. "You’ve always had the notion
some siren would carry me away,
Myra. In spite of the fact that none
has ever even tried!”
She smiled at him. “Nonsense,
Ned. You know I never worry
about you, my dear!”
“You never need to,” he assured
her gently.
So Mrs. Greeding was silenced;
but there was not long any doubt
in Doctor Greeding’s mind that
Mary Ann was competent. She was
like a second pair of hands. At
the operating-table she anticipated
his desires before they took shape
in his mind. She watched his fin
gers and the progress of the opera
tion; and when he was ready for
knife, scissors, snaps, retractors,
he found the desired implement in
her hand, awaiting his grasp. He
found the morning’s work left him
fresh and free from fatigue; he
thought his own teennique im
proved, and told her so.
“Miss Rimes was excellent,” he
said. “But—I shall be tempted to
overwork you, even after her re
turn. You must protect yourself
against my impositions.”
She smiled and said: “I never
saw anyone whose work was at
She Smiled and Said: “1 Never
Saw Anyone Whose Work Was
at Once as Unhurried and as
Swift as Yours.”
once as unhurried and as swift as
yours ” And he was by her approv
al absurdly pleased.
They progressed by degrees from
acquaintance to friendship. Doctor
Greeding committed to her atten
tion the matter of that man whose
death he and Mrs. Greeding had
witnessed.
“I saw the accident,” he ex
plained. “It—touched me. For no
particular reason, I am inclined to
do something for his family, if they
need help of any kind.”
He was not blind to the approval
in her eyes as she promised to in
vestigate.
Subsequently, Mary Ann report
ed that the man was ah automobile
mechanic; and he had been, on that
particular evening, in haste to come
to the hospital, where his wife was
about to be delivered.
"But the accident has its compen
sations,” she confessed. “He ap
pears to have been a worthless sort.
He used to be a chauffeur in a nice
family; and the daughter of the
house eloped with him. I went to
see her, last night. She told me
that after they were married, when
her husband realized that her father
would not support them, he was
furious; and since then he has mis
treated her abominably. Now that
he’s dead, she’s going home, for
given, happier than she could ever
have been as long as her husband
lived!”
Doctor Greeding found in this dis
covery a surprising satisfaction. He
had since the tragedy moved wari
ly, like a stranger in a great pow
er-plant who avoids contact with the
machinery about him, lest he loose
forces beyond his understanding and
control. But now, assured that this
man for whose death he felt re
sponsibly was better out of the world
than in It. a treacherous feeling
of infallibility took lodgment in his
mind.
Yet outwardly there was no
change in the routine of his days,
except that he saw more and more
of Mary Ann. He no longer dis
turbed himself so much (bout Nan
cy and Dan. Nancy hid agreed
with him as to the wiscom of de
laying for a while any formal an
nouncement of her engagement, and
—he had always banked on his luck
He did so now. Jerrel was seeing
WNU Service.
So Dan grinned, and he too dis
appeared. Doctor Greeding sat at
one end of the table, the Professor
at the other; for Professor Carlisle
had filled the pipe which he pre
ferred to a cigar, and the Doctor
had no desire to come near the
source of that scent so offensive to
his nostrils.
For a little, nothing was said.
Then Doctor Greeding remembered
certain matters almost forgotten;
and he said, making his tone casu
al:
"Professor, Mrs. Greeding tells
me that you gave her, that evening
at the Jordans', quite a lecture on
poltergeists. She had so much to
say about it that I came home and
read up on the subject myself. Do
you seriously think there is any
truth in these tales?”
Professor Carlisle smiled faintly.
“I should hardly expect you to ac
cept them,” he confessed.
Doctor Greeding chuckled. “But
I’m not completely incredulous,” he
protested. "I had a friend once who
confessed to some personal experi
ences of the sort.”
Professor Carlisle looked at him
with a new interest. He said, at
hazard: "It has often seemed to
me that an open-minded physician
must observe in his practice many
things not easily explained by any
medical formula.”
Doctor Greeding nodded. “That
is true,” he said. “I do remember
occasions when things seemed to go
unusually well, in the course of an
operation ; when my fingers were
successful without my mind’s being
fully conscious of the sources of that
success. For instance, there was a
man with a crushed and lacerated
arm, necessitating amputation; it
was during my days at the City,
on relief work. An artery tore loose
and retracted into the upper arm.
Ordinarily, this means a swift and
extensive dissection in order to
catch the end of the vessel and
check the hemorrhage. I did it in
a matter of seconds; and even now,
I don’t know just how it was done.
The artery seemed almost to thrust
itself into my reach.”
He continued: “But I wasn’t re
ferring to any experience of my
own. This friend of mine—” He
hesitated guardedly. “Well, you
know the old belief. Professor, that
to be born under a caul was lucky.
This chap was born under a caul;
and I think he was always secretly
a little proud of the fact, feeling
that he was set apart from other
men by that circumstance.”
The Professor smiled. “He wasn’t
also, by any chance, the seventh
son of a seventh son?” he suggested
in ironic amusement.
Doctor Greeding chuckled. “No.
An only child," he admitted; and he
went on:
“We grew up on adjoining farms,
and if there are poltergeists. I sus
pect that he was one. 1 remember
that when he was a boy. if he was
left alone in a room, something
was apt to fall and break. Of
course, he was always blamed, and
punished. His father used to say
he whipped this youngster not for
breaking the thing in question, but
for lying about it afterward.”
Professor Carlisle commented:
“Boys have bed before, and will
again.”
“I know,” Doctor Greeding ad
mitted stubbornly. “But this boy al
ways denied, even to me, that he
had done the things for which he
vas blamed. I remember once we
were haying, on a hot day in July;
and they put us in the mow to stow
the hay, and the hay caught fire.
The barn, in fact, burned to the
ground. Fortunately, it was a small
hay-barn, across the road Lorn the
house, used only for storage, and
the loss was not serious. But there
again, he was blamed. They insist
ed that he had lighted a match, or
done some other folly.” He chuck
led. “He bore the welts of that af
fair for days,” he said; and he
Doctor Greeding had heretofore asked: "Isn’t this the stuff polter
made of?”
save on the occasion of their first geists are
(TO BF. CONTINVED)
meeting, seen Mary Ann only in
street clothes, or in her nurse’s uni
form; but tonight he thought he saw Pronghorn Not Antelope;
her for the first time Her gown it
Mixture of Three Others
self he could not have described,
The pronghorr is not a true ante
knew only that it was a harmonious lope: rather a cross between a deer,
part of her. Yet she seemed to a goat and a giraffe, with a few
him so radiant that it required a characteristics of each Zoologists
conscious effort on his part to con say the Rocky Mountain goat is
trol his tones and make them no more nearly a true antelope
more than casual.
The pronghorn is one of the
He took refuge in jocosity. “Dan,” swiftest animals on toot, declares
he announced, “we’ve a special a writer in the Washington Star.
Leat for you tonight. A friend of He clears prodigious lengths at a
ours sent Nancy a salmon, and bound, but is a better broad jumper
we’re having it for dinner'”
than high jumper. It is said that
It requires not much encourage- L 4-foot fence will retain him.
ment to lead a fishermai. to talk
On their native plains pronghorns
about fishing, and Dan was full of rely upon fleetness and alertness to
reminiscences of his trip. The din protect them from enemies. The
ner-table conversation was almost warning signal for a pronghorn
a monologue. When Mrs. Greeding stampede is the flash of some wary
rose at last, she said:
leader's white tail.
“Ned. I expect Professor Carlisle
The pronghorn shares this warn
and Dan would like a liqueur, and ing signal with the cotton-tail rab
to smoke their cigars here.”
bit.
She and Mary Ann and Nancy
Curiosity has cost the lives of
went into the other room; but Doc many a pronghorn.
The timid
tor Greeding saw Dan's eyes follow beasts will pause in full flight to
them, and he said amiably:
examine an unexplained object.
"No need of you staying with us.
Hunters often lure them within
Dan. I think Nancy has some de range by waving a rag on a stick
sign on you. Go along and see.” while lying concealed in the grass.
much of Nancy, for Dan had gone
to Newfoundland to fish for salmon,
and Nancy’s time was free . . .
Doctor and Mrs. Greeding kept
open house every Sunday afternoon
and evening; and any number of
people were apt to drop in, casual
ly, without forewarning. Jerrell took
advantage of one of these occasions;
and after supper he and Nancy
disappeared together. When later
they returned, Jerrell joined Doc
tor Greeding in the library.
They spoke at first of casual
things; Jerrell said presently:
"By the way, Nancy tells me she
knows Dan Carlisle.”
Doctor Greeding was instantly on
guard. “You know him?” he asked.
“Only through his book,” Jerrell
said. "That is an able piece of
work. A textbook not only for col
lege classes, but for business men,
and investors too.”
The Doctor smilea. “I haven’t
read it,” he confessed, and turned
the conversation into safer channels.
“I suppose you’re as busy as usu
al?”
"Just now, yes,” Jerrell assent
ed; and after a moment’s hesita
tion, he explained: “I’m taking an
interest in a new outfit. Associated
Cottons. We’re proposing to cov
er the field from plantation to re
tailer, in one way or another. Of
course I’m not personally connect
ed with the technical end; only with
the financing. We issued the stock
privately at ten, and then had it
listed. It’s around eighteen now.”
He looked at the ash on the end
of his cigar. “It’s apt to sell off a
bit this month and next,” he said.
“But we expect it to hit fifty by
the first of October.”
“Your profession has always in
terested me,” Greeding assented in
an indifferent tone, but he was not
indifferent. If Jerrell said Cottons
would hit fifty, it was likely to do
so. He filed the information in his
mind. “I never speculate, myself,”
he added, unnecessarily.
But despite his disclaimer, he tel
ephoned next day an order to Paul
Master, who handled his invest
ments, to buy a block of Cot
tons . . .
Jerrell continued to see Nancy
frequently; and Doctor Greeding,
vatching his daughter without
seeming so to do, thought that she
vras faintly ill at ease in the older
man’s company. When Dan came
back from
Newfoundland
and
brought a fourteen-pound salmon to
Nancy, Doctor Greeding proposed to
Mrs. Greeding:
“Why not invite the Carlisles over
for dinner? We 11 have the salmeni”
Mrs. Greeding said sensibly: “I
expect Dan would rather have
steak. After all, he must have eat
en salmon in Newfoundland till he
feels like one himself."
The Doctor chuckled. “He won’t
care what he eats, as long as he
can be with Nancy,” he pointed
out.
Mrs. Greeding suggested: “Mr.
Jerrell has been here so much while
Dan was away. I think Nancy has
—enjoyed seeing him.”
“Give Dan a chance to repair his
fences then,” Doctor Greeding re
torted. He saw her surprise, and
said with a chuckle: “I’m not tak
ing sides, Myra. I’m for a fair
fight and let the best man win.
Dan’s probably all right. If he’s
anything like his sister, he’s an able
young man. Mary Ann has done
very well with me. She’s much the
best nurse I ever had.”
“You mean that we should invite
Mary Ann too?” she asked doubt
fully.
“Of course.” he assured her.
“And Professor Carlisle. Make it
a family party!”
Mrs. Greeding in the end, al
though with a clear reluctance,
agreed. Professor Carlisle and Dan
and Mary Ann would come to din
ner on Tuesday night.
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