Evening star., 1936-07-28
CHAPTER XVI


Of his office: that he had said: mo-
Mile. Warfield, no accompanls1.
II YOU are as good as your press
notices. YOU need none. If you are
bad. an accompanist can't help you
anyway"
She forgot Courtney nervously
burning his gray felt in his fingers
She forgot everything but the head
lines of the extra that told OF Aa-
miral Benson being desperately Ill
1t the isolated post 12s miles Soutn
Of the expeditions base ana OF Lee
Cayendish, who had volunteered 10
try to get through the Antarctic |
Winter to him-with only one chance
In a thousand of doing it.
Cayendish had been missing lor
hours and now all hope for both the
young aviator and the commander OF
the expedition was abandoned.
The Madame Butterfly aria that
PATSY had selected was one OF heart
break. 1t was not acting that nad
made tears dilate her eyes; 1t was
not stage drama that sent her glo-
rious voice up-up-until the d.
rectors own heart felt wrung ana
torn with the poignant tone emo
ton that filled the room. 1t was
Patsy's own breaking, terrorized heart
In every note.
And then the aria was over. Inc
director was applauding wildly, KISS
ing the tips of her trembling fingers
in his extravagant style. Like one IN
a daze she signed contract, answered
the director automatically, heard
wan voice that must be her own say
ing that it would be nice to make her
American operatic debut in Madame
Butterfly" at the Metropolitan next
December when the season opened.
Nice!-she who had lived for this
moment! Nice!
Hour followed hour, night came
over New York dark and frighten-
ing for Patsy, who sat alone in her
hotel suite too miserable to eat, too
frightened to sleep at all. Still no
word OF Lee!
For hours she sat listlessly IN q
chair with her hands between her
knees, her head thrown back and
resting against the wall behind. What
use was there of getting up or going
to bed?
During these frenzied days OF wait
ing she grew very thin and white ana
her blue eyes sunk like dark pools OF
turgid water in her wasted face. When
she became utterly exhausted she
threw herself, dressed, upon the
chaise- Tongue, her teeth chatterlng,
that continual impression OF a band
Of steel around her forehead.
At first Patsy answered the door
and the telephone, but finally even
conversation and excuses with Court
ney and Roger Tate and all the others,
who didn't know what she was going
through, made her lose what little
control she still possessed. She asked
the hotel operator then to tell any
one who called that she had gone TO
Cuba for a rest.
All of her meals-what pitifully
little she managed to force down
were brought up from the dining room
and for days on end she sat scarcely
a foot from the radio. She listened
to every program for fear she'd miss
the one thing for which she waited
news of Lee. And "Only silence from
the Antarctic-from Lee Covendlsh
who risked and perhaps gave his LIE
to save his dying commander, a
painful hoarse cry would rise In her
throat, while her blond head beat
backward against the wall.
Waiting, always waiting, and know
ing nothing. If she could only know
q certainty! Was Lee dead?-Was ne
out afar in that awful distance OF the
Antarctic, forsaken, crushed, lost?-
was he, by some miracle, safe? Oh,
God-if she could only know some
thing-something!- even the worst!
ANYTHING but this horrible waiting
Two o'clock. On this morning as on
all others since Lee had been missing,
she lay with hands clasped and her
eyes wide open in the dark. she was
30 feeble now from not eating and
the crushing worry that possessed her
that she doubted if she could drag
herself of the bed even II Lee should
walk through that door, his arms
outstretched to her.
But when a news flash broke into
a dance program, the announcer be-
ginning in an excited voice-"Stand
bv. folks! We have the most thrilling
news of the year! From the Ant
arctic comes word" Patsy sprang
I'D as nimbly as a kitten, waiting.
twisting Lees big Navy ring on ner
finger until it ground of the tender
fesh-"that Lee Cavendish Is safe!
He made that post 129 miles south OF
the expeditions base. He made it with
the odds Of a thousand to one against
him! No word got through until to-
day, for the planes radio was smashed
in a storm and Admiral Benson's
radio was out Of commission un-
til"
Patsy heard no more. All the rigid
tenseness of those awful days slipped
from her and she crumpled into
pathetic little heap by the radio,
calling Lee by his name in low. ten
der voice, as if he were quite close,
whispering words of love to her. She
could not know then that later, re-
membering the suffering that her
love IOE LCC 1lhu D1OuSAAe "o~S
make her more afraid Of love than
ever.
It was the first time in four weeks
that Patsy had been out OF the house
or had had any urge to see any one
or to do anything. On this morn
ing-a singingly beautiful May day
of blue sky and warm golden sun
shine-she telephoned Courtney VAL
lance and asked If he would like to
20 shopping with her for a wedding
present for Ted. Ted had written
that he and Mary Jane Carroll would
be married at the little Naval Acad-
emy Chapel in Annapolis on June is.
Courtney laughed and said lightly.
'why, I can't believe it's really you,
Patsy! And why in the devil did
YOU shoot of to Cuba without telling
any one good-by?" His voice didn't
betray any doubt of where she had