Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-12

| his mother. StfOng, cdpdpie' nol"
working. lie saw her hands busy
over n vegetable basket. And waking.
soothed and sustained by the old child
ish sense of safety. he thought once
more Of Katrinas hands. the brown
| yigor of them, the dimpled softnesS
| of them the promise Of competence In
their f1ngertips. the promise. too. of
| tenderness.
+ CORLISS was restless after the talk
~ with his father. 1t was too in
| definite-what was the old man going
| to do? And it was absurd to expect
him to be TREMENDOUSLY grateful for
| finding himself alive and unnamed.
| ANYTHING else would have been an out
| ge. But when all the pOwwowing
| was over. what was going to he forced
| upon him? About schools, work. a.
| career?
! He tried for while to sleep, but
with the rain dashing against the
| windows so that he could not open
| them he found sleep impossible. lie
| punched his pillows, kicked the blan-
| ket off on to the floor, tossed about.
/ BY and by he, turned on the lights
again and got up to look for some
thing to read He found a blue and
gilt "Ivanhoe.' With it in hand he
went back to bed, ignoring a rule Of
| his aunt's that had forbidden him to
read there. and that had. as an aid
to enforcement, refused him bed
side lamp. The side.llghts by the bu
reau were remote and inadequate. He
took branched candlestick from the
mantelpiece. lit it's three dusty and
| hitherto untouched bayberry candles
and settled himself. He smoked as he
| hot h4 1on
Outgrown the prohibition against
cigarettes in bed, and not caring par
ticularly whether he had or not.
His taste for reading was not
strong. He dozed, dreamed, started
| awake. 1t was quiet now, the rain
was over. But he was too droWsy to
get up to open a window. He read
again. and by and by "Ivanhoe" slid
| from his lOOsening grip and fell upon
the blanket on the floor. He slept,
young and beautiful in the soft candle
light, with dark lashes on his cheeks,
with sensitive brow, with his custom
airy look of peevish rebellion gone
| from his features. And by and by
one of the bayberry candles toppled
gently down upon the open Ivan
| hoe
| PH1LIP awOke again from a new,
troubled dream, about what he did
not remember. He felt heavy, in
| Clined to drop back into sleep-into
stupor. But below the impulse some
thing kept urging him to wake--wake
wholly and fully. He struggled, threw
off a weight and then sat erect in
bed. his senses suddenly alert. The
room was full of smoke. He started
for Window-recalled sharply that
to let in a draft might set the place in
a blaze. He jerked Nn trousers and
coat, filled a sponge with water in the
| bathroom, soaked a great Turkish
towel. Then he made for the hall.
Smoke, smoke everywhere. He
| pounded on a door across the hall.
| DR.. Wade, staggering and gasping,
emerged. At the new current of air
the room behind him was suddenly
ablaze.
He slammed the door. In spite of
smoke that filled their lungs. that
blinded their eyes, they ran the length
of the hall. Philip entered Violet 8
room, carried her, dragged her out.
delivering her almost inert body to
Wade. who bore it on down the stairs
"An alarm, an alarm" Philip
shouted after him. Then he was
f1ercely forbidding the servants to
come down or to jump. 1.-THE engines
will be here in a minute with the
ladders, hose-you are safe"
Again he was back, pounding on
COrliss' door. opening it. seeing with
horror that the fire, with a leisurely
selective air. had burned all along one
side of the room. But the bed. though
obscure in smoke, was not yet ignited
He caught up a rug from before the
| bureau. He dragged his son, half suf-
located, out in it, delivered him. too
to Wade. And then, oblivious of
scorch, of blisters. Of pain, he was at
the next door-Katrina BlakeloCk's
The sponge was wet again, and he
held 1t to her face as he carried her
through the burning caldron that
the second-story hall had become to
the front window. UncOnsciously he
must have heard the clangor Of the
fire bells, the rush of the engines
for he seemed to he expecting the
| fireman's helmeted head that faced
him on the other side of the glass.
Stand back" the man shouted tC
him. and he stood back while the
broad window crashed in. And he was
saying thickly to the girl over and
over-or was he merely thinking it,
II wanted to come to you first. my
dear my dear. but I made myself dc
it this way-I made myself do it this
way-not you flrst-not you any more
than myself first-''
Then he felt himself falling bach
upon the floor.
X
1T was to a peaceful sense of &C
complishment that he came tc
himself in the Rivermead Hospital
He had had something 10 do-he die
! not at first recall what it had been
and he had done it. Oh. yes. he did
recall. But had he done It? lie
stirred and was conscious of an i'm
mense pain in his right arm. Then in
his left one also.
At the faint sound of his moving
there appeared from behind a screen
one If those. starched and smiling
youn,; women designed before time
was to be trained nurses. As he tried
to meet her eyes, he was aware OF
bandages on his head. He spoke
croaked-'Everybod Everything?
She answered. beaming: "All right
every one Of them. You and DIR. Wade
had really saved them all before the
engines got there. But the firemen
were some use-they saved the house
Only the second story was badly gut
ted"
."How long ago." again he whs
pered. And irritably: Matter with
my voice."
THE night before last. a paralysis
Of the bronchial passages from smoke
tn come back. Don't worry. And
you aren't going 10 have pneumonia
You got of with simple conclusion