Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1930-01-10

By W G1o29
By C.LMEBD

On the morning following the din
ner DR.. Gordon left Paris on a sec
ret trip to Havre, returning the next
day. He brought news that put the
JOY Of renewed hope in Pat Blair's
heart, the hope that her brother,
Jimmy. was still alive. The same
news precipitated plans for all four
of them to start for New York on
the first available ship.
This information included a copy
OF the sailing list from the steamer
that had carried Herbert F. Max
we'll and his ward. James X. Blair.
The list included. besides the names
Of Maxwell and Blair, those OF Mrs.
Mary Duane. nurse, and John K.
Brown, private American soldier, an
'aphasia victim" who closely re-
sembled. according to the office
clerk, the other 'aphasia case,
James K Blair.
1T was JIMMY" cried Pat. on the
instant following the doctors re-
port. who else could it have been?
For some reason Of his own, old foxy
took Jimmy a~longI"....
One week after the developments
brought about through DR.. Gcrdon's
visit to Havre. Lieutenant ballard.
the doctor. Margery Lynne and Pa
tricia Blair boarded q steamship at
Brest, as first cabin passengers. the
ship sailing that night for New
York.
Lieutenant ballard found the air
more than crisp on the ships for
ward deck at eight o'clock in the
morning. 1t was the seventh and
last day OF the voyage.
He leaned against the rail in the
lee Of a cabin and peered at the
haZy shore line away to the west
ward. In the eastern sky cleaned a
round, wintry sun, its feeble rays
glinting coldly across the Atlantic.
Seagulls wheeled, circled and plung-
ed. each waging an individual fight
for its breakfast. The plaintive cries
OF these birds Of passage seemed to
strike a responsive chord In the lieu
tenants heart that winters morn
ing. Gloom hung heavy like a blan-
ket Of thick, gray fog over his fond
dream. He had been to the funeral,
he mournfully told himself, Of the
last OF his dearest hopes.
BY which it is plain that Rex
ballard was in a sad state Of mind.
And the pitiful truth in the whole
dismal structure was that the OBJ
ject OF his shattered dream had
never as yet. been so much as 'ap-
preached" on the subject. ad Pa
tricia Blair, herself, known the cause
OF his despairing mood, she would
have heen tremendously surprised.
Not that being made love to was
a pastime new to her. From the
earliest days OF her adolescence the
male Of the species had found Pa
tricia to look upon.
And therein lay the secret OF Pa
tricia Blair'S indifference to the
Establishments Of Man. Her knowl-
edge OF life had been gained in the
hard school Of personal experience.
What she had learned-or thought
she had learned-of the genus homo
and his ways had bred in her belief
that money was his god. the final
means to all his ends.
While Jimmy, her twin brother,
and she had been born with, as the
saying goes. silver srCon5 IN their
mouths they had been senior
phans from the hour Of birth. The
raven-haired, brown-eyed little mo-
Their, whom their father had wor-
shipped. had gene down into the
valley Of the shadow" for them, and
had come up from the depths again
just long enough to look once into
the tiny faces OF her two babies.
From that moment, almost, the
twins had paid, bought and paid
in any medium Of exchange they
might have happened 70 possess, for
every scrap Of affection that had
come to their lovestarved hearts.
As children Jimmy and Patricia
had idolized their father. He, IN his
turn, had loved them; but the love
ne returned was not the warm, de-
monstrative love they saw II the
homes Of some Of their less wealthy
friends. Thus. even as youngsters.
they had come TO associate much
money with large "love-shortage."
IT was from the tender shoots Of
these childhood observations that
Patricia Blair. in later years, fash
ioncd the structure Of her misap-
piled helief-or disbelief-in the ami
NAL, man.
no BE CONTINUED