BIX
THE B O N N E V IL L E
Laughing, Brooke dashed for the
front door. It was so like the R ey
burn fam ily to dramatize its arrival.
In a rush of cold air and excited
greetings she piloted her mother
and sister to the library. The star
© Emilie Loring.
tled
parrot shrieked, “ Stop! Look!
WNU Service.
Listen!”
“ Boy, you don’ t need a burglar
feel like a spy, a traitor. The tur alarm with that announcer. You
key would choke me.”
ought to loan him to a bank.”
“ Do you want the truth about
Lucette made a gamin face at
this w ill?”
the parrot as she slipped out of her
“ You bet I do.”
ocelot coat. She dragged off her
“ Then go. Don’ t write. ‘We never la t and patted the swirl of her
send a letter when we can send a dark hair.
man.’ Phone the night before that
Brooke hugged her mother. “ It’ s
you are coming. She’ll have less wonderful to have you here, Celia
time in which to think why you are Reyburn, and aren’ t you devastat
accepting.”
ing in that eel-gray ensemble!”
“ Not as devastating as you are
Brooke Reyburn stood in the door in that shimmery white, daughter.
way of the living-room at Lookout It brings out the copper lights in
House. Behind her in the hall a your hair.”
graceful circular stairway wound up
Brooke laughed.
“ We are like
and up. She nodded approval. The two diplomats exchanging compli
room was the perfect setting she ments, the difference is that ours
had visualized for the duchess of come from the heart. Where’ s
A rgyle since the day she had known Sam? Don’ t tell me Sam isn’t com
that her father had willed her the in g!”
portrait. The green of the walls
Lucette held a lighter to a ciga
and trim repeated the color of the rette with a faint hint of bravado.
satin gown of the woman in the dull
“ Don’ t cry, darling. Sam came.
gold frame which hung above the Didn’ t you recognize his voice sing
mantel of carved black Italian m ar ing as if his little heart would burst
ble, repeated also the shade of the from joy as we approached this
feathers of the dozing parrot in a baronial hall? Doubtless he is kiss
gilded cage, threw into relief dark ing his peachy convertible good-
polished surfaces of mahogany.
She had had everything that she
thought belonged to his fam ily
stored in the apartment over the
garage. Curious that she had found
so little silver.
She looked at the door which
M ary Amanda Dane had told her
opened into the twin house. Some
thing uncanny about it. Whenever
she was in the room it drew her
eyes like a magnet. Mark Trent’ s
house was on the other side. It had
not been lived in for years. What
a waste. Had his wife refused to
live there? His wife? She couldn’ t
think of him as having had a wife.
Why think of him at all?
She
resolutely
switched
her
thoughts to her surroundings. This
was the same room in which she
had first seen Mrs. Dane in her
wheel chair, but how different. Then
it had been drab and heavy; now it
glowed with soft color. She would
never forget the pathos in the wom
an’ s eyes as they had met hers,
nor the eagerness of her greeting.
She had registered a passionate
vow to make her lovely and attrac
tive in appropriate clothes. That
had been her job—then— and a
thrilling job, too, to help women
Laughing, Brooke Dashed for
make the most of their good points.
the Front Door.
How M ary Amanda Dane had
fooled her about money. The crip
He’ s crazy
pled woman had kept her feet firmly night in your garage
about
that
coupe
you
gave him,
on the ground when it came to
Brooke.
He
has
named
it Light
spending. Planning inexpensive, at
ning.
And
can
it
go!
Who’
s
the tall
tractive clothes for her had been an
gent
with
the
undertaker
expression
exciting challenge. She had suc
ceeded. The frocks had been charm who pulled our bags from the car as
ing, and with her drab wardrobe if he were extracting upper and low
the invalid had shed much of her er molars?”
“ Henri. He and his wife, Clotilde,
crabbedness. Lovely clothes did
worked
for years for Mrs. Dane.
that for a woman. Pity that more
husbands didn’ t realize the fact. I kept them on to help me settle.
Now she was gone and had left a They take a lot of handling, believe
small fortune behind her. Why had it or not.”
“ I believe i t This room looks
she denied herself so many of the
luxuries of life. Brooke blinked long like part of a House Beautiful exhib
wet lashes and said aloud, as she it. It’ s corking.”
had said many times since she had
“ Wait till you see the rest of the
como to live at Lookout House:
house, Lucette. Here’ s Sam. I
“ Thank you for everything, Mrs. would recognize his bang of a door
if I heard it in Timbuctoo. Wel
Mary Amanda. Thanks billions.”
She swallowed the lump which come to Lookout House, Sammy!
rose in her throat whenever she It’ s wonderful that the theater
thought of the woman’ s incredible closed just at this time.”
“ Yeah! It’ s all in the point of
kindness. Hardly the tim e to go
view.
There are them who think
sentimental when at any moment
otheiwise.
However, I ’m not kick
the family might burst in on her.
They were on their way to spend ing.”
He caught Brooke in a bearlike
Thanksgiving. F or the first time
hug.
He kept his arm about her
they would see the changes in the
as
he
looked around the room.
house; she had postponed their com
“ Swell joint you’ve got here. I
ing until it should be in perfect or
like the greenhousey smell from
der.
The honk-honk of an automobile those plants. Say listen, we’ ve
horn outside was followed by voices missed you like the dickens, haven’ t
we, Mother?”
singing lustily:
“ We have, Sam.” Celia Reyburn
" 'Over the river and through the steadied her voice. “ We’d better
wood,
stop emotionalizing and get ready
Trot fast, my dapple-grayl
for dinner. I have kept house years
Spring over the ground
enough to know that promptness
Like a hunting hound
at meals helps to keep the home-
For this is Thanksgiving day.’ ”
maker’ s life's walk easy.”
“ You would think of that, Moth
The gay chorus was followed by
er. It isn't dinner to night. I planned
laughter and vociferous cries:
“ Whoa there! Stand still, Light a buffet supper, not being sure at
what time my relatives from the big
ning! Whoa!”
With B anners
B y E m ilie L o r i n g
SYNOPSIS
Brooke Reyburn visits the office of
Jed Stewart, a lawyer, to discuss the
terms of an estate she has inherited
from Mrs. Mary Amanda Dane. Unwit
tingly she overhears Jed talking to Mark
Trent, a nephew of Mrs. Dane who has
been disinherited. Mrs. Dane had lived
at Lookout House, a huge structure on
the sea, built by her father and divided
into two, for her and Mark’s father.
Brooke had been a fashion expert, and
Mrs. Dane, a "shut-in,” hearing her on
the radio had invited her to call and de
veloped a deep affection for her. Mark
discloses that Mrs. Dane had threatened
to disinherit him if he married Lola,
from whom he is now divorced. He says
he does not trust Henri and Clotilde
Jacques, Mrs. Dane’ s servants. He says
he is not interested in an offer of
Brooke's to share the estate with him.
Leaving her department store job,
Brooke refuses an offer to “ go stepping”
with Jerry Field, a carefree young man
who wants to marry her. At a family
conference she learns she must live at
Lookout House alone, since Lucette, her
younger sister who is taking her job, her
brother, Sam, a young playwright, and
her mother plan to stay in the city. Jed
and Mark are astounded when they hear
from Mrs. Gregory, a family friend,
that she had witnessed a hitherto un
known will with Ilenri and Clotilde two
weeks before Mrs. Dane died. Brooke
had arrived just as she was leaving.
CH APTER I I I —Continued
Jed Siewart was walking the
floor when he entered his office. He
stopped abruptly.
“ Well,” he demanded, “ did she
talk any more?”
“ Not about the will. Why the
dickens didn’t you ask questions?”
“ Didn’t dare.
Don’ t you see,
Mark? Boy, don’ t you understand?
Someone has snitched that second
will she witnessed.”
"D id you draw it?”
“ Never heard of it. Perhaps your
aunt had an acute attack of re
morse. I argued with her, as much
as a lawyer can argue, against cut
ting you out; she wouldn’ t come to
me about a new will. Didn’t Mrs.
Gregory say that she had been dis
trait the last few times they had
been together? She thinks it was be
cause Mrs. Dane was making up
her mind to disinherit you; you
and I know that the will to that ef
fect already had been drawn.”
“ You passed up a grand chance to
cross-examine her, Jed.”
“ Didn’t dare. She thinks the will
she witnessed is the one probated;
doesn’ t know that if it had been she
v.ould have been summoned to
prove her signature. We mustn’ t
let a suspicion of this second will
get out. Where is it?"
“ She said the Reyburn girl drove
in as she left the place. Do you
suppose Aunt Mary Amanda told
her what was in it and that she—”
Jed Stewart stopped his restless
pacing. His eyes and voice were
troubled.
“ Destroyed it? But how could
Brooke Reyburn have known what
was in the first will? Perhaps your
aunt had told her that she was to be
residuary legatee—it doesn’ t seem
probable,
but women do fool
things.” He grinned. “ Of course
men never do. We’ ve got to get
busy. I f it isn’ t destroyed, that will
may be at Lookout House; you’ ve
never liked the Jacques and you
say that they hate you. I have an
idea. Open your house. Live there.
Get friendly with the girl.”
“ I would feel like a sneak to go
there to spy on her.”
“ You suspect that she may have
Influenced your aunt to make a will
in her favor, don’ t you?”
“ I do.”
“ Then give her a chance to prove
that she didn't. Take a couple of
Japs and go down and live next
door.”
" I won’ t commit m yself to that
proposition in a hurry. If I decide
to do it, will you come with me?”
“ Sure. I ’ ve been hoping you’d ask
me.
Philo Vance is my middle
name.” Stewart picked up the note
lying on the desk. “ You’d better
open the investigation by accept
ing this.”
“ The Reyburn girl’ s invitation to
dine on Thanksgiving day? I would
DAM C H R O N IC L E
town would arrive. Come upstairs
and I ’ ll show you your rooms.”
A fam ily might get on each oth
er’ s nerves, as of course it did at
times, but there was nothing like it,
Brooke concluded fervently, as after
supper on a floor cushion in front
of the library fire she leaned against
her mother’ s knees.
Perhaps it was because she had
been too absorbed in her own con
cerns before to notice, but Sam and
Lucette seemed to have grown old
er, to have changed, seemed also to
have something weighty on their
minds. What was it? What had
happened?
As if she knew what she was
thinking, Lucette burst out nervous
ly:
“ I f Sam can stop that nut-munch
ing marathon, perhaps he’ ll an
nounce the latest Reyburn news
flash.”
Brooke sat erect. “ What news?”
Sam took careful aim at the par
rot’ s perch. The nutshell struck its
bullseye and roused the dozing bord.
“ Hell’ s bells!” he croaked, and
ruffled his feathers.
“ Looks as if he were caught in a
typhoon, doesn’ t he?” The laughter
in Sam’ s voice vanished. “ Mother
has been invited to spend the winter
in England with her friend Lady
Jaffrey.”
“ Sam !”
With the exclamation
Brooke was on her feet. “ Do you
mean it? How perfectly grand! She
lives in an old castle, doesn’ t she?”
“ Hey, pipe down, Brooke. There’ s
a nigger in the woodpile. Wait till
you hear the condition.”
“ A condition in Lady Jaffrey’ s in
vitation, Sam? I can’t believe it.”
“ Be quiet, children.
Let me
talk.” Arms crossed on the back of
the wing chair in which she had
been sitting, Celia Reyburn faced
her fam ily. Her cheeks were pink;
her eyes, as blue as her son’ s, were
brilliant with excitement.
She
clasped her hands tightly as if to
steady them.
“ The chair recognizes the lady
from the big city,” Sam encouraged
with a grin.
“ What’ s the condition, Mother?
Don’ t you want io go?”
“ Very, very much, Brooke, but
I shouldn’t enjoy a moment of the
visit if I left your brother and sister
in that apartment alone. Perhaps
I ’m a selfish woman, but I would
like to and will go, if m y mind is
perfectly at ease about Lucette and
Sam. I f they w ill come here to you,
and if you w ill have them—”
“ Have them! Mother, don’t be
foolish! I have been rattling around
in this big house like a dried coco
nut in a shell. Of course I want
them—but will they come?”
“ Who’ s being foolish now?” Lu
cette flung her cigarette into the
fire. Her cheeks were almost as
red as her painted lips. “ Of course
we’ll come, Brooke Reyburn. Of
course we’ll play ball Mother’s way.
Sam and I aren’t cold-blooded fish.
If taking to the sticks to be chap
eroned by big sister will make
Mother’ s visit happier, we’ll settle
down here with bells on. She’ s
earned all the fun she can get. She’ll
have one grand time and mow those
stiff Britishers down in swaths and
come home Countess Whoosit, or I
miss m y guess.”
“ Lucette!” Celia Reyburn pro
tested indignantly.
“ Don’ t mind her, Mother,” Brooke
reassured. “ By the time you re
turn your younger daughter will
have
acquired
all
the
social
graces—”
“ Just a minute! Now I make a
condition. I come only if I keep on
with my job.”
“ It would mean early and late
commuting, Lucette.”
“ I ’ve thought that out. In Sam’ s
convertible we can make it.”
“ But you and Sam won’t be com
ing down at the same time, and—”
“ Don’ t be so sure, Brooke.” Sam
aimed a nutshell at the parrot. “ The
theater has closed permanently and
I ’m up against one of those simple
economic problems, where’s the
next job coming from? I ’ll go to
New York to see off Mother and
take my play. Now that producers
have begun to sniff around for bar
gains, I may get m y chance.”
"Sam—dear—” Brooke attempted
tc lighten her dismayed voice. Bad
enough for him to be out of work
without having her turn sob-sister. ,
F R ID A Y , AUG U ST 18, 1937
“ You’ ll find something. I read the
other day that the theater is on the
up-grade. I f you don’ t—oh, Sam
my, what a chance for you to write!
Why not give your play a try-out
here? We’ll do it for the town’ s
welfare fund, in the Club House the
ater. What a chance to try ‘Is
lands Arise’ on the d og!”
“ News flash! The Reyburns stage
a p la y !” Lucette cut in.
“ Why not?” Brooke persisted ea
gerly. “ Most of the summer homes
are to be kept open during the win
ter and—Answer the phone, will
you, Sam? Take the message for
me. I ’ ve been pestered to death by
tradespeople and insurance agents
wanting to sell me something. Tell
them I ’m out of town for the eve
ning—any thing. ’ ’
The silence of the room was
broken only by the snap and hiss
of the fire as Sam Reyburn put the
receiver of the handset to his ear.
“ Hulloa.—Yes.—Miss Reyburn ia
out of town for the evening.—Sure,
she’ ll be back tomorrow.—Oh, it is!
—Yes, I ’ll give her your message.
She’ll be pleased purple. I get
you. I ’ll tell her. ’ B y e !” He laid
the phone on the stand.
“ Who was it, Sam? What w ill
please me purple?" Brooke de
manded uneasily.
“ A party by the name of Trent.”
“ What did he want?”
“ Not much. Only to say that ho
accepted your invitation for Thanks
giving dinner with pleasure.”
C H A PTE R IV
Brooke noticed Mark Trent’ s
quick glance about as he entered the
dining-room at Lookout House. She
felt an instant of self-consciousness
as she took the seat against the
variegated yellow background of
tall mimosas and acacias which
filled a broad bay-window, which
her mother refused with a quick
shake of her head and a smile. She
immediately forgot herself in pride
of her sporting family. Each one
was so gay, so determined to do his
or her share to make the party a
real festivity. Holidays were hard
days since her father’ s death, but
always someone who was alone had
been invited to keep the feast with
them. Thinking of others helped
immeasurably to bridge the sense
of loss, Celia Reyburn argued.
The dinner was a success. Brooke
breathed a little sigh of relief as she
rose from the table. This Thanks
giving dinner had been the first en
tertaining in her own home. O f
course the guests had been her fam
ily and Mark Trent only, but she
had felt pride in having it a suc
cess.
As she served coffee from the
massive silver tray in the living-
room, she glanced at Mark Trent
standing before the fire. With his
elbow on the mantel, he was talk
ing to Celia Reyburn seated in a
corner of the couch. The orchids
he had brought her added the per
fect touch to her amethyst frock.
Orchids for her mother, gardenias
for Lucette, and deep fragrant pur
ple violets for his hostess. He had
said it with flowers. A lavish gen
tleman. Had Henri turned chalky
as he had announced dinner, or had
she imagined it? He had stared at
Mark Trent as if seeing an unwel
come apparition.
With a groan of repletion Sam
pulled himself out of a deep chair.
“ Boy, let’ s get out and walk! I
feel like a stuffed, trussed turkey.
Why do we eat so much more on
Thanksgiving? Because we haven’t
any sense. Notice that I ’m acquir
ing the analytic method, question
and answer. Anybody here got the
energy to take the shore walk?”
“ I ’ ll go with you, Sammy.” Celia
Reyburn smiled at her tall son.
“ Elaine Jaffrey is a great hiker;
she will probably walk me all over
the British Isles. I must get in
practice. Just wait until I change
m y shoes.”
“ Boy, I ’m glad we have on® sport
in the family. I ’ll bet Lucette has
a heavy date, and is expecting
someone. Coming, Brooke? Com
ing, Mr. Trent?”
“ Mark to you, I hope, Sam. Do
come, Miss Reyburn,” Mark Trent
urged. “ It’ s a grand day. A fter
hours of storm, there is enough
wind to make the surf worth look
ing a t ”
(TO BE CONT1NUEDI