Evening Star Newspaper, November 23, 1927, Page 12

~ EVENING THE j THE FOUR STRAGGLERS By Frank L. Packard Author of “The Miracle Man." “Doors of the Night " HERE'S PARSON POPEVE., FANNY ! % Jimmie Dale.” Etc. Copyright. Geo H. Doran Co. officer | veranda of the boathouse itself. X S | “Mr. Marlin must be an enthusiast d s he followed his ruide | one of the brid Wickes did not " back- | once, and they began to make i) | circuit of the veranda ad done eome | vard Loc lanced at her. hecome suddenly sol *| the dark eves somehow deeper | sensitive quiver now around the cor. ners of her lips. His glance length- ened into an unconscious she could be serious, then—and, yes, equal |ly attractive in that mood. It be | came her. He wondered if she knew it became her? That was cynical on his part. Was he trying to ari self with eynicism? Well, it was | 1y pierced then, that armor! It wa { very wonderful face; not merely beau- ombe in the whom New and sent to America with the idea ol hest before suting some of a flo ted <chool al contacts of th after ex buried F the ex- | of which Newcombe learns in advertently from his beautiful ward OWARD LOCKE o & man_who' takes Newcombe ar STAR, WASHINGTON, QM. HOW DO You PARSON — COME._RIGHT IN! 5 DO ., D €, WEDNESDAY, NOVII THE DUMBUNNIES—Just What Does Fanny Mean? I ONLY CAME To TAKE MY NO THANK T Y WIFE HOME ! | tiful, but fine in the sense of stead- self-reliance and sincerity. r cynic! Why not admit cted him as no woman to Florida on his in love with Polly toam Taunch just admitted she had written? What lid it mean? W certain. insistent leduction to be carvied to a logical | onclusion, or was he hunting a mare's nest in his mind? mere coincidence in life, where far zer coincidences were daily hap ms—or was it a half million dol- ? And Polly Wickes here? C neis Newecombe—and his it a bird of paradise in cahoots e wit! a vulture? No said _slowly. bl ljjae “tnat? it was preposterous! agay insde | there weren't any srounds for it, any- She turned | i el He was an irresponsible fool. s suddenly | je” hecame angry with himself. Ie | was worse than a fool—he was a cad! The girl’s very ingenuousness in what she had said put to rout any possi | bility of connivance. But, damn it— Capt. Newcombe’s ward! How? What was the explanation of that? And if— (Continnes P ever att e They had seaward side | of the ver: o a short doc was built out to meet a sort of wall that gave protection to craft that might be berthed there— Polly | but the slip was empty of hoats = She looked up at him now, as she | (& bservation ¢] TS, an amazing place Howard Lock “Yes; isn't it?" said kes. “But, come haven't seen it all sre more?” Howard Loc with pretended increduli I've seen a private power plant, quarium t contains more var ies of fish than I ever imagined swam n the sea, a house as magnificent nd spacious tables, gar- il Zden. More! They found a cozy corner in the little lounging room of which she had spoken, and seated themselves Locke picked up the thread of their conversation. “You're ver: you, Miss Wicke ' * she said simply very stranze Howard Lock bowers of guardy was right,” ob- ¢ Wickes naivel quired Howard Locke. iwrched her evebrows a ladies’ man Locke with a fond of him, aren't *he said | . 3 | Polly Wickes' small foot heat the | floor in a sharp little tattoo | Locke straightened up with a_ start | In his fit of ubstraction he had been the xirl with Howard | gazing at | rudeness. | "I forgot to say,” said Poll “that ~besides s' man, guardy something else about you.” “No! Surely not!" Locke forced a mock dismay into his voice. “What was i Poll of the toe of her spotless white shoe. “He said he didn't know whether 1 would like you or not.” Locke took a step forward from the fireplace. “And do you?” he demanded. “I do not,” she said promptly, “at least. not when I am utterly ignored | for a whole five minutes, except to be stared at as though I were a specimen under a microscop: “I'm awfully sor aid Locke con tritely. “Really. I am. I was think- ing of what we had been saying about Mr. Marlin, and—-" She suddenly lifted a finger. “There he is now,” she said in a low voice. Locke turned around. His back h been to the door leading to the sea- ward side of the veranda, which they had left open behind them Mr. Marlin was peering cautiously around the jamb of the door—an now, as the blue eyves under the =il vered hair, which was rumpled and astray, caught his, Locke's, the old man thrust a beckoning finger into view. Locke glanced at Polly Wickes. “I thin she said in a whisper. “that he has been acting more stranze Wickes severely, warning v around the jamb of the door—: now, as the blue eyes under the silvered hair, which was rumpled and astray, caught his (Locke's), the old man thrust a beckoning finger into view. | “And a very, very sad one,” said Polly Wickes. “I don’t know how much Dora—Miss Marlin—has said | to you, or perhaps even Mr. Marlin | himself, for he is sometimes just like e anybody else, so 1 don’t—" hardly think it could be a case of trespassing on confidence in any event,” Locke interrupted quietly. “It's rather well known outside—that is, in what might be called the finan- cial world, you know. What I can’t understand, though, 1s that, having lost all his money, a place like this | could still be kept up.” 1 Polly Wickes shook her head thoughtfully. | “Guardy was speaking about the | same thing,” she said, “but I don't| think it costs so very much now. | You see, it is almost in a way self- supporting—the vegetables and fruit A and fuel and all that. And the serv-| Polly Wickes' laughter rippled out | ants all have their little homes and | on the air. have lived on the island for years, and | “Come on, then!” she cried, and, | the wages are not very high, and any- | turning, began to run along the path | way, Dora has a fortune in her own through the grove of trees gvhere they | name—from her mother, you know; had been walking. and, besides, thank goodness, dear | Locke followed. She ran like a|old Mr. Marlin has not lost all his| young fawn! He stumbled once awk- | money, anyway. { wardly—and she turned and laughed at him. He felt the color mount into his cheeks—felt a tinge of chagrin. ‘Was she vamping nim; did she know that if his eyes had been occupied with where he was going and not with her, he would not have stumbled? Or was she just a little sprite of na. So he's been talking behind , has he?” I'm afraid so,” she admitted. And may I ask why you agree with him—why I am condemned?” “Because,” said Polly Wickes, “it would have been ever so much nicer, instead of saying what you did, to have expressed delight that the tour of inspection wasn't over—something about charming company, you know, even if everything you saw bored you to death. “Unfair!” Locke frowned with mock severity. “Most unfair! 1 was going to say something like that, and now I can't because you'll swear you put the words into my mouth and I sim- ply parroted them.” “Siry" she said airily, “will you see the bungalows and the pickaninnies nmext, or the boathouse?” “I am contrite and humble,” he said meek'y. “Not lost it?" ejaculated Locke. “Why, that was the cause of his mind | breaking!" | Polly Wickes looked up in confu- | sion. | “Oh, perhaps. I shouldn’t have said that,” she said nervously. “But—but after all, I don’t see why I shouldn't, ture, ull to overflowing with life, buoy- | for you could not help but ¥now about ant and the more glorious for an un- | it before very long. Indeed, I conscious expression of the joy of liv- | shouldn't be a bit surprised if Mr. ing? Amazing he had called what | Marlin showed it to you himself, just he had seen on this island since he |as he did to me, for he seems to had been installed here as a guest | have taken a great fancy to you. He that morning, but most amazing of | hardly let you out of his sight this all was Newcombe's ward. New- | morning.” | combe’s ward! It was rather strange! ‘‘He knows of my father in a busi Who was she? How had a girl like | ness wa satd Locke. *“I suppo: this come to be Capt. Newcombe's|that's it. Do you mean that he ward? Newcombe had not been com- | showed you a sum of money here on | municative save only on the point | this island?” | that since she had gone to America| “Yes” said Polly Wickes slowly, | to school, Newcombe had not seen | “after I hal been here a little while; her. Rather strange that, too! He | -Very large sum—half a million, he was conscious that she piqued him | said.” one moment, while the next found| “Good heavens!" exclaimed Locke. him possessed of a mad desire to| “That’s hardly safe, is it? I know the touch, for instance, those truant |Peculiar form his disease has taken is | wisps of hair that now, as she stood |an antipathy to all investments, but | waiting for him on the edge of the |can’t Miss Marlin persuade him to de- shore, a little out of breath, the color | POSit it somewhere? | glowing in her checks, she retrieved | “That's exactly what guardy said,” with deft little movements of her |nodded Polly Wickes. “But it's quite | fingers. useless, Dora has tried, but her | Her color deepened suddenly. father won't even tell her where he “That's the boathouse over there,” |keeps it." | Btesory Howard Locke rose from his chair, “I—I beg your pardon,” said Locke | Walked over to the empty fireplace. | in confusion. And then deliberately: | 2N, standing with his back to Polly TN Gt Wickes, opened his cigarette case. Polly Wickes stared. Again the | pt. Newcombe of cou color In her checks came and went |2l fait with the condition? served casuall Doctor Found As a family doctor at Monticello. s quite | [{linois, the whole human body, not he ob- | 5y small part of it, was Dr. Cald well's practice. More than half his ‘calls” were on women, children and babies. They are the ones most often sick. But their illnesses were usually of a minor nature—colds, fevers hted his cigarette. So Capt. Fran ihca(lul‘h(‘& _bilioui_ne:s~—ant|h all ;—:1 said Polly Wickes severel Newcombe had known all about it, | them required first a1t orough Fen it munsamsttied e, «ana | 120 he. even before he had left Eng | evacuation. They were constipated o ) jand? o 2] . ot 4 yas goIng ito as | 'In the course of his 47 years’ prac s :r)nrl";r‘neaz’.'f I was going to 4sk| And vet, Capt. Francis Newcombe tice (he was graduated from Rush v tha y -1in the smoking room of the liner on ; S i I said amazing again—that looks more | the way across had been densely 1n | Medical College back i 8/9). L y in | found a good deal of success i like the home of a yacht club than & | iznorance. a 3 " N @ ignorance, and even alarmed for his | ol : private hoathouse .is built out into ' ward's safety at the first i timatis |cases with a prescription of his own he water like that, and requires (hese |tat her host was a monomaniac! It | containing simple laxative herbs with tides 1 f,the | was vather peculiar! More than pe- | pepsin. In 1802 he decided to use this o i i facture of a “I'm sure I don’t know Polly | Locke turned. and, leani formula in the manufacture o Wickes. “But they are pretty. aren’t { thc mantel over the firepl '\‘\‘2‘{':“\";{;‘:“ 'I“cp‘:‘i:?\\1l:\l!ai‘nllv¥:;|t v‘car —and the place does look like | Polly Wickes. His mind pbhouse. And it looks more like | swift] ing together strs | his prescription was first placed on inide —there's o lovely Jittle fa elevant fragments, that, | the market. room with an open fire-{ . ommants it (EhS At e T et daarin toriell 5ol ito T m::;[.v s:,h 1\?“1’) »:‘5’:::1;1 The preparation immediately had | we go in?" ! Capt. Newcombe had lied that night i said Locke. on board the liner. Why? Who was studying the place now with | it that had invaded his, Locke's, sta a yachtsman’s eye. It was built out|room, and had searched through his from the rocky shore a considerable |lelongings? And why? Why was it Jistance. and rested on an outer series | that now. for the first time in four of small concrete piers, place” a few ,vears, Capt. Newcombe should have | Yeet apart; while, by stooping down, | come to visit his ward in America? He e could ee, beneath the overhang |had more than Newcombe's word for of the veranda, a massive center pier. | that—Polly here had said so herself wide and long, obv the main |and Miss Marlin had referred to it in foundation of the building. At the |the most natural way when welcoming twe corners facing the shore were the | Newcombe that morning. What had Jittle bridges. built in shape like &lan insane old man who hid away a enrving ramp and ornamented with | half million dollars on a littie island Yustic railings that she had referred | in the Florida Keys got to do with the 0. These lod from a point well above | letter received in London and contain Ligh water mark on the shore tu the ing those facts that Polly Wickes had said Polly Wickes In she gasped: then hurriedly: | naturally wrote him all 'Ol “Well, perhaps that is better! Don't| you think those two little bridges trom | “"0\: T- 3 Naturally!” agreed Howard I. B : s i y ard Locke. up to the boathouse are | He stooped over and, striking a {match on the edge of the fireplace, " laughed Locke, “You're not looking at them at all,” |, one Jounging | practice. Now. the third generation is using it. Mothers are giving it to their children who were given it by their mothers. Every second of the working day someone somewhere is going into a drug store to buy it. Millions of bottles of Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin are being used a year. Tts great success is based on merit, on repeated buying, on one satisfied user telling another. There are thou- sands of homes in this country that are never without a bottle of Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin, and we have He wa; Was it al he wouldn't be- | abominable | Wickes took a critical survey | | “So that's it, | philanthropis for Thin, Constipated People | as great a success in the drug stores | |as it previously had in his private| before. He s il see LT R Al vight.” said Locke. veranda and out on to the & Kk (o me, u wanted to spe he said y It was a queer, st dic that of the little, s | «d old man, who now seized haste and led him v the door. And the Mr. | larlin of the clothes were spruce but he wore no h had already noted, his hair was d heveled. The thin, almost gaunt face, A rather fine old . had_lost the Im and composure that had marked it, for instance, a few hours ago at lunch, and there was now a furtive hunted look in the eyes, a modic twitching of the facial museles, a sor of pathetic tearing aside of the veil that had so jealously striven to hide the man's affliction. and yet, too, and perhaps even more pathetic in this particuiar_ there scemed to cling in | tangibly about the old financier a cer tain diznity of manner and bearing the one heritage possibly of the d when he had been a power, his a talisman in the money markets of | the world. “I don't Martin m: her, Locke. “Can’t trust her!” repeated “You can't trust Miss Wickes? surely, Mr. Marlin, you are making mistake. Why can’t you trust her ““Because.” said the old man sharply “she is the ward of Capt. Newcombe." Locke stared into the other’s face A half ungry, half—yes, that was it— cunning gleam had come into the blue eves. “What Is the matter with Capt. New. combe?” he asked bluntly. “He's a philanthropist,” snapped Mr. Marlin. ~ “A philanthropist! ~And all | opists are fools — with t her to hear,” said Mr “I can't trust Locke Why is it? Yes, of course! But I did not know Capt. Newcombe !was a philanthropist.” i “What else is he”” demanded l\lr.! Marlin fiercely. “Polly Wickes herself | proves it. Do you know who Polly | Wickes is? No, you don’t! T'll tell! you! I heard her tell Dora. She was | a poor girl—sold flowers on the street | corners in London. Newcombe spends | his money like water on her—educa- | tion—clothes—thousands. He is a| that is enough!” muttered Locke to] “Good Lorc What is Best | N\ %.73.@: ¢ »«71‘ gotten many hundreds of letters from grateful people telling us that | it helped them when everything else | failed. | Every drug store sells Dr. Cald- | well’s Syrup Pepsin. Keep a bottle | in your home—where many live | someone is sure to need it quickly. We would be glad to have you prove at our expense how much Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin can mean to you and vours. Just wri S: Pensin,” Monticello, Illinois, will send you prepaid a FREE SAMPLE BOTTLE. ] himself. thing hours that 5 other's He walked quietly across the room The ma ! wholly Mr Jof the idiosyne of course do but humor him. the | case. th white | ¢ side he halted thing you wanted to sp Marlin, “Yes, He all directions. Yyou as vour father's son met your Kknow world i facing a crisis. but we vet save it from ruin conference can hear or sce do you unde d? portant. Hittle touch: are the fools for I proof that 1 and drew is it to The man jike this during off and on hadn't heen any | in the several out a he had heen in Yes, ves morning - 9By R it not | Ve, zravely, “today | was one phases of the dis > was nothing to the pocket of his cout ittle hook—"what day . the twenty Afth,” mun “d the old man. as he consulted the Yee, yest' He returned the to his pocket. “Very well, then tomorrow nizht Meet me in the quarium temorrow night at a quar ter past two.” round the corner of the (Cor ted in Tomorrow’s Star.) nd now halfway down the ! - . “But there was some k about, Mr Husband and Wife Sue. wasn't ther i T | Jacob Lipkin and his wife, Lena said the old man eazerly | piikin, hav suit in the Suprem ed cautiously around him in | Couet of 1 of Columbia ‘1 put great faith in | janinst . for damas I have never $12 In their de ather. but I know him 1 plaintiffs say that or a deal ahout him. 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