The Hermiston herald., February 18, 1937, Image 7

THE HERMISTON HERALD, HERMISTON, OREGON.
Thursday, February 18, 1937
DEPUTY of the DEVIL
Copyright, Ben Ames Williams.
CHAPTER VII—Continued
— 9—
He stared at her; and suddenly
he demanded: “Nancy, how far
have things gone between you and
that young man?”
“Dan and I are — going to be
married, Father.” She realized
suddenly that the issue postponed
till this hour was joined now. If
there were ever to be opposition
on Doctor Greeding’s part, the time
for it was come. Ana she added,
to placate him: “Of course, not
right away. But — soon. Father!”
He met her announcement with a
composure she found in some fash­
ion alarming. “Sure of your
ground?” he asked calmly. “Sure
you want him?”
“Sure as sure!”
He said gravely: “Dan can’t take
care of you. I'll talk to Dan. He’ll
see my point of view "
Something shook her; some dark
fear beset her. “You sha’n’t!” she
cried defiantly; and then, seeing
his frown, already repentant: “Oh,
Father, can’t you see that he and
T have to be the ones to decide?"
“Nonsense!” he retorted, “you’re
too young to decide anything ” And
then, urgently: “Nancy, don’t you
realize that Mr. Jerrell wants to
marry you?”
“He doesn’t!” she denied.
“I
know—"
“You know nothing, Nancy,” he
retorted, in a deep exasperation.
“You're a witless child. I tell you,
Mr. Jerrell—” He checked him­
self, spoke more calmly: “Ira has
spoken to me, Nancy,” he said
urgently. “He came to me, like
an honorable man, to ask what my
attitude would be. Yes, he wants
to marry you. And Nancy, he is
my good friend. I am under many
obligations to him.”
She was afire now with a deep
anger, and cried in furious scorn:
“You mean you want to use me to
repay him?”
Her wrath warned him to cau­
tion. He spoke in the tone of one
whe reasons with an unreasonable
child. “I mean only that I think
you ought to treat him with ordi­
nary courtesy,” he said. “The cour­
tesy to which a strong man’s de­
votion entitles him. I only ask that
you defer any decision until you
have had time—”
She was cold, trembling. “I’m
sorry,” she said. “I can’t pre­
tend!”
“Can’t? You mean that you
won’t!” he corrected stiffly.
“I mean I won’t, then!” she as­
sented.
There was silence. Then he said,
half to himself, in a hushed tone:
“It might be better for Dan, and
for you, to be a little reasonable!”
She cried, in a quick terror:
“Father, you mustn’t try to scare
me! That isn't fair!”
He looked at her for a long mo­
ment with eyes she had never seen
before ; then the flame in them died,
and he managed a wary laugh.
“I’ll talk to Dan,” he said. “He
has some common sense.”
“You sha’n’t say anything to
Dan!” she exclaimed. “You can’t
scare Dan. Or me!”
And he reassured her with words.
“I’m not trying to scare you, dear.
Just to talk some reason into that
stubborn little head of yours. You
and Dan are in love, swept away,
lost to all sensible considerations.”
She backed away from him, and
her hands raised as though to push
him from her. “No, no,” she cried
in a whisper; and then, desperate,
seized on a reckless expedient:
“You can’t do anything to stop us.
It’s too late!” she exclaimed.
His eyes widened in shock and
then in wrath. He was over the
net in one bound. He gripped her
arm like a vise, dragging her to­
ward him.
“What do you mean?” he de­
manded.
“I mean we’re married!” she
cried. "Let me go. Father! We’re
already married. So it is too late,
you see!”
He stood for an instant motion­
less, his eyes probing hers. Then
he asked in curt incredulity:
“Where? When?”
Her wits, paralyzed by an un­
reasoning fear of him, found no
ready answer. She evaded the di­
rect inquiry.
“And even if we weren’t,” she
cried, “Mr. Jerrell doesn’t want to
marry me! He’s in love with Mary
Ann!”
As though he had been struck
in the face, he released her. He
recoiled from her, and his coun­
tenance was black and terrible. She
pressed her hands to her eyes to
shut out the sight of him.
“Father, don’t!” she pleaded.
“Don’t look like that at me!”
She heard him mutter hoarsely:
“So!” Then terror whipped her so
that she turned and ran, in stark
panic, down the path and away.
But Doctor Greeding stayed
where he was; and after a moment
the chaos of his thoughts settled
in a simple, inevitable pattern. Jer­
rell and Mary Ann! Jerrell and
Mary Ann! He remembered small
incidents, forgotten words, each one
trivial, yet in their sum enough to
By Ben Ames Williams
confirm the truth of what Nancy
had said. Jerrell and Mary Ann!
But if Nancy had been free, Jer­
rell would never have turned to
Mary Ann. And Nancy would have
been free, but for Dan.
Dan! On this rock his plans were
shattered, then.
Then he walked calmly toward
the house. He went to his room
and opened a drawer in the bureau,
and took from its holster the pistol
there.
CHAPTER VIII
Nancy that night did not come
down to dinner. She could not bear
to face her father. That mask of
anger which she had seen upon his
countenance left her sick and shak­
en with a fear she could not name.
She stayed in her room, sent word
that her head ached.
At dusk from very weariness she
slept, and dreamed and woke cold
and terrified; and thereafter she
lay wide-eyed in the darkness. After
a long time she heard her father
getting up and then he opened the
dor r into her room.
Entering, he said gently: “Awake,
Nancy? Feel better now?”
His tones were soft and reassur­
ing.
“Yes, Father,” she murmured.
He sat down on the edge of her
bed and touched her hand. “I came
to teli you I’m sorry, my dear,” he
said, smiling, his tone humble.
“Forgive me."
She whispered piteously: “You
mustn’t ever scare me, Father."
He repeated: “I’m sorry. You’re
ah I’ve got now, Nancy!” And he
urged, pleading in his own defense:
“But since your mother died, my
nerves—”
“1 know,” she confessed. “I un­
derstand.” There were sudden tears
in her eyes; she loved him and
pitied him. “1 do understand. And
—I didn’t mean to—defy you. Fa­
ther. Only, Dan and I—”
He asked quizzically: “Are you
two youngsters really married?”
She shook her head. “No. I just
—said that because I was desperate.
I was—fighting for everything I
want. Father. We’re not. ne.” She
added quickly: “But we will be.”
“I know,” he assented. “And I
know you would—do as I wish, if
you could. But 1 know that love
can be too strong for a girl, for a
woman.” He added, watching her:
"For a man, too.”
“Yes,” she said gravely.
He laughed in an abashed fash­
ion. “I’m in a confidential mood to-
night, Nancy. Don’t—blame me, too
much; but you know, men — even
men of my age have sometimes
thoughts, dreams, hopes they can’t
control.” And he asked slowly: “Do
you understand what I'm—confes­
sing, Nancy? What dreams I’m
telling you?”
She whispered: “Yes. I think
I’ve guessed before.”
“Do you blame me, terribly?”
She pressed his hand.
Poor
Father," she whispered.
He bent to kiss her brow. "But
of course,” he said ruefully, “since
she and Jerrell—” He left the
sentence unfinished. “So I’ve only
you, Nancy.” And: "Sleep sweet,”
he bade her. “Good night.”
“Good night, Father!”
The door closed behind him, and
darkness wrapped her close. But
not terror now. His magic had
worked its miracle. She was at
peace.
She slept till full dawn, and woke
refreshed ; her father joined her
for a swim and breakfast afterward.
The interminable morning somehow
sped. Dan and Mary Ann would
arrive on the noon train, and Nancy
insisted that Doctor Greeding come
with her to meet them. It was a
fifteen-minute run in the fast boat
to the landing by the station. . . .
Nancy kissed Mary Ann, kissed Dan
only with her eyes; and ther they
went down to where the boat was
moored, Dan and her father carry­
ing the bags, stowing them in the
after cockpit. Her father took the
wheel, Mary Ann beside him; and
Nancy and Dan sat just behind.
In a moment they were in the open
lake; and Nancy leaned secretly to
Dan, to kiss him.
Her father said with a chuckle
over his shoulder: “You two
showed an admirable restraint, to
wait so long.” His tone was amused
and kindly.
Dan was startled, and then he
laughed. “Nancy has told you about
us, then, sir?”
“Of course.”
Nancy held tight to Dan's arm;
and the young man said: “I want to
talk to you about Nancy, while I’m
here.”
Doctor Greeding chuckled. "This
brother of yours has a fine old-
fashioned courtesy in him,” he told
Mary Ann. "Not many young men
trouble to consult the girl’s father,
nowadays.”
Mary Ann smiled happily. "Dan
has been very well brought up,”
she agreed.
“I know I can’t give her —” Dan
began, but Nancy pulled him back
to her side.
“Nobody asked you," she said in
crisp, amused reproof. “Don’t al­
ways grovel, my dear. It bags your
trousers at the knee. Now pay
attention to me.”
They were at lunch when the
telephone rang, and Thomas took
the call. “Mr. Jerrell, sir,” he re­
ported. “He will be at the land­
ing in half an hour.”
“Thank you, Thomas,” Doctor
Greeding assented.
He was watching Mary Ann, saw
that her eyes were brighter, her
cheek faintly tinted. She felt his
scrutiny, and asked disarmingly:
“Mr. Jerrell? Is he coming?"
“I’m afraid you and I won't get
much work done over the week­
end,” Doctor Greeding confessed.
“Dan and Nancy will be—absorbed
in each other, I suppose, so we
must keep Jerrell entertained."
“We’ll go meet him,” Nancy vol­
unteered. “Dan and I.”
But her father shook his head.
“Nonsense! Mary Ann and I will
do that.” And when presently they
rose from the table, he said: “Nan­
cy, you and Dan perforate a few tar­
gets. We’ll join you after we fetch
Jarrell.” He asked Dan: “Ever
try pistol-shooting, Dan?”
“Some, yes,” Dan confessed. “I
used to belong to a club. I rather
like it.”
“I’ll take you on for a round,”
Doctor Greeding offered. He
chuckled. “Jerrell tried it, when
he was last here; but he’s hopeless.
We’ll give him a lesson.” He spoke
tc Mary Ann. “By the time we get
to the landing, he’ll be there.”
Nancy said, half laughing: “Do
we have to shoot targets, Father?
Dan and I might rather—just take
a walk or something.”
“I know you would,” he told her
good-humoredly. “But there’ll be a
moon tonight; much pleasanter for
—walking. Do as I say, my dear.”
He led Mary Ann away toward
the boathouse. Nancy looked at Dan
“What Is It?" Dan Asked. “Hear
Something?”
with a grimace, amused, perplexed.
“I suppose we have to humor him,”
she confessed.
Dan caught her close. “Say, when
he’s been so decent, I’d spend the
afternoon standing on my head if
he asked me to.”
She stood silent, frowning, intent,
as though listening. “What is it?”
Dan asked. “Hear something!'
Nancy shivered in his arms. ‘ No,
no. I felt—it’s funny, but 1 felt
cold.” She freed herself, caught
his hand. “Come, we’ll get the tar­
gets and things,” she said.
Jerrell was on the wharf when
the boat pulled alongside, and he
reached down to shake Doctor
Greeding’s hand, and across the
Doctor to Mary Ann. Doctor Greed­
ing saw their glances meet.
Then Jerrell’s bags were in; they
were away. Returning along the
shore of the island, they saw Dan
and Nancy on the court, screened
by the intervening trees; and the
girl waved to them.
“We’re having a shooting-match
this afternoon, Ira,” Doctor Greed­
ing explained. "Dan says he's a
good shot, and Nancy's fair. I know
you’re rotten, but we’ll teach you
the rudiments, give you a handi­
cap." And he asked Mary Ann:
"Have you ever tried it?”
She shook her head. “Oh, no.”
"Mary Ann and I will be the
gallery,” Jerrell proposed. “You'll
never make an Annie Oakley out
of me.”
“You’ll be surprised,” Doctor
Greeding assured him. "After I've
given you a tip or two.”
“I'm much more likely to shoot
some perfectly innocent bystander,"
Jerrell demurred.
"No fear,” Doctor Greeding prom­
ised. “We'll all keep out of the
way, keep behind you." He brought
the boat to the landing with an
expert hand. “Thomas will fetch
your bags,” he said. "Leave them.
We'U go on up to the court.”
Jerrell urged: "See here, Ned,
you and Dan do the fireworks. Mary
Ann and I—”
But the Doctor was so insistent
that Jerrell had in the end to sub­
mit, or by an outright refusal seem
ungracious. “You act as if this
were life or death, Ned,” he pro­
tested, amused and yet annoyed,
too.
Doctor Greeding nodded. “It’s my
hobby,” he assented, laughingly. “I
suppose I do ride it hard.”
There was in fact a strange ur­
gency in the man. He shepherded
them up the path to the court like
a dog nipping at their heels, and
Dan and Nancy met them there,
and Nancy proudly showed her
father a target with bullet-holes
close grouped in the center.
“Here’s Dan’s very first, Father,”
she boasted. “You never did as
well in your life!”
Doctor Greeding chuckled. "All
that I need is some competition,"
he declared. “You’ll be surprised!”
Dan had the pistol in his hand, and
Doctor Greeding took it from him
and turned to Jerrell.
“But first, Ira, you give us a
horrible example," he suggested
laughingly. “Show us how not to
do it!” He looked up the court, and
saw that there was a fresh target
on the frame; he examined the
pistol. “Here,” he said. “It’s ready.
All you have to do is point it at
the target and pull the trigger.
There was an unreality about
what so swiftly followed. Jerrell
was driven like a sheep. Reluctant­
ly he took the weapon in his hands,
thoroughly ill at ease, handling it
gingerly.
“I don’t know anything about
these things,” he protested.
“You don’t need to. Just point
and pull,” Doctor Greeding insisted.
“Go ahead! Aim at the black spot
on the target. Hold the pistol so
the fore sight is just in the middle
of the notch in the rear sight. Then
press the trigger slowly, till it
fires!”
And Jerrell, after a moment, in­
differently obeyed. A splinter flew
from the edge of the batter-board.
Greeding laughed. “Six feet wide,
Ira! Don't you see the target,
man?”
Jerrell, hoping to finish this or­
deal, hurriedly tried again, and then
again. But his shots were vild. Be­
tween shots. Doctor Greeding
coached him, showing him how to
stand, how to hold the pistol, how
to press the trigger; but Jerrell
at length lowered the weapon,
turned aside, shook his head, laugh­
ing uncomfortably.
“That’s enough,” he insisted. “It’s
not my game.”
He had swung halfway around,
facing them; and Doctor Greeding
cried quickly: “Look out, man!
Point that thing somewhere else!”
Jerrell stared stupidly at the pis­
tol in his hand. It was in fact
leveled at Doctor Greeding'. body.
He dropped the muzzle, “lorry,”
he said. “I thought I had it pointed
at the ground. You can see I’m
not to be trusted! Here, take it.”
Doctor Greeding chuckled, and
received the weapon from Jerrell’s
hand. “Wait a minute. Don’t give
up yet,” he persisted. "Let me
show you how it’s done!”
He fired rapidly, two or three
times. “There,” he said. “Like
that! Now Dan, go put up a fresh
target, will you? Ira’s got to score
one hit, at least, before I let him
off.” He took the empty magazine
out of the pistol and turned to
Jerrell. “Try it without actually
shooting,” he suggested,
and
pressed the weapon into Jerrell’s
hands. "Maybe your’re flinching,
afraid of it. Just aim, and snap
the trigger!”
Dan had gone obediently toward
the other end of the court to fix
a new target on the frame. Jerrell
protested half angrily: “Ned, I
don’t want to shoot, I tell you.”
But Doctor Greeding still insisted.
“Don’t be an ass, Ira. If you can
make the stock-market sit up and
beg, you ought to be able to point
a pistol at a target. I’ll stand be­
hind you, see whether you're aim-
int properly!”
Jerrell was flushed and furious,
yet it was impossible to refuse with­
out actual offense. He lifted the
weapon and faced the target yon­
der; and Doctor Greeding said, be­
hind him:
“All right, now go ahead.”
Jerrell pointed the pistol in the
general direction of the other end
of the court; but as he did so,
Dan, his task concluded, turned and
saw him and cried quickly:
“Hey, don’t aim that thing at
mef”
Nancy had been watching Jerrell,
sorry for him because her father
pressed him so tactlessly, but also
puzzled by something in his coun­
tenance. She saw his lipa compress,
and veins on his forehead swell as
though he were engaged in an actual
physical struggle. But when Dan
called his protest, she looked that
way.
Her father, here at Jerrell’s shoul­
der, said reassuringly:
“Don’t worry, Dani Gun’s
empty!”
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And then—the shot, in the still
air of midafternoon, rang loud and
startlingly. Nancy saw Dan, in the
very act of moving to one side out
of line with the pistol’s muzzle,
clasp his middle with both hands
and slump quietly forward on his
knees. He bowed down and fell, a
little on his side, very quietly.
There was something terrible in
that quietness.
Nancy, just before the shot, had
been watching Jerrell, puzzled by
the contortion of his countenance
with its suggestion of violent physi­
cal effort, and at the same time
sorry because he must submit to
her father’s urgencies. But at the
sound of Dan’s voice she looked
toward him, just in time to see
his garments flick and twite! at the
bullet’s stab, before his hands
caught at his body and he went
down.
Nancy was standing a little to one
side, near Mary Ann; and when Dan
fell, she remained a moment mo­
tionless, all her senses in suspen­
sion, unable to think or move, able
only to see.
She saw Dan lying there so quiet
on the ground and she saw Jerrell
staring incredulously at the pistol
ir. his hands. She saw her father
turn to Jerrell, leap toward him,
snatch the weapon away. He cried
out, furiously:
"You clumsy fool! Give me that
gun!”
Then some one brushed her shoul­
der, spinning her half around. It
was Mary Ann, darting past her,
running to where Dan lay.
Nancy was still too dazed fully
to understand. This was one of
those occurrences which the mind
cannot quickly grasp.
Now Nancy felt at first neither
grief nor fear. She knew that Dan
lay yonder on the court, but her
only emotional reaction to the fact
was annoyance. She went toward
him, saying aloud:
“Dan, don’t pretend! You’re scar­
ing me!”
Mary Ann, already by his side,
kneeling there, looked up quickly
over her shoulder at the girl; she
said gently:
“He’s shot, Nancy!”
Doctor Greeding and Jerrell came
toward them; and Jerrell said
hoarsely :
“The gun insisted on pointing at
him. I couldn’t drag it away—”
His tones were hollow and flat. “It
was as though some one had hold
of it,” he insisted, in a stubborn,
dazed bewilderment.
Doctor Greeding said icily: “It
was pure clumsiness, Ira.”
But Mary Ann spoke to him.
“Doctor Greeding," she called. She
was crisply insistent. “Never mind
blaming anyone now.
Here,
quickly!”
Nancy moved aside to let her
tether come at Dan. He knelt
there, but he shook his head. “He's
dead,” he said.
Mary Ann said sharply: “He’s
not, either! See!”
"Not dead?” Doctor Greeding ex­
claimed. There was in his tone
incredulous surprise like dismay.
He stared at Mary Ann. “He must
be!” he muttered; and his eyes
were wide, glassy, staring.
Mary Ann shook his arm. “No!
W hat’s the matter with you. Doc­
tor? Quick! He’s still alive!”
"But I tell you—” Doctor Greed­
ing insisted.
"Look at him!” she exclaimed.
Then, more sharply: “Look at himl
Don’t stare at me!”
And after a moment he did turn
his eyes from her to the man here
on the ground.
Then Nancy saw Dan looking up
at her, his lids half closed. He
grinned. “All right, Nancy,” he
whispered.
(TO RE CONTINUED)
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