The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-10-30

sive, had struck the statuette and
shivered it to dust. He rejected
the thought with all the power of
his logical and scientific mind; yet
it persisted.
And he had, too, that sensation
common to every man: the GER
tainty that somewhere, somehow,
this had happened to him before.
He was even able presently to iden-
tify this memory. AS boy on the
farm he had been whipped one day,
and sent to his room to reflect upon
his sins. There a lamp, at which
he was staring unseeingly through a
mist of angry tears, somehow top
pied off the table beside him and
fell and was broken. Accused, he
denied-in honest sincerity-that he
had touched either table or lamp,
and was whipped again for his de-
NAL. His father, between strokes
of the strap, said vehemently:
Zone thing l can't stand is ly-
ing young one, Nedl I'll take it out
of you'll"
And Doctor Breeding remem-
bered that hour now. That day,
sent to his room, he had been in a
brooding fury at the thrashing he
had just received. This day like
wise he was filled with tempestu-
Gus rage. After his conversation
with Ira Terrell, the discovery that
Nancy had been playing tennis
with Dan Carlisle was enough in IT.
self to disturb him. Dan, from Doc
tor Greetings point of view, was a
penniless instructor, with no pros
poets worth considering-and no
discoverable ambition likely to lead
to financial success. Certainly he
was not equipped to rival Ira Jer-
rell.
Yet he was young, and even Doc
tor Breeding could perceive a GER
tain charm in him. So, finding that
Dan and Nancy had been this day
| together, the man was quick to a
| jealous alarm. When Nancy Lied to
him, his uneasiness became anger
which, translated and focused up
on material object, had shattered
solid marble into dust!
Doctor Breeding contemplated
these facts in silence, conscious OF
strange STRINGS in himself. Pres
emily he pressed the bell. Ruth, the
second maid, answered. She was a
thin, pale, black-haired woman,
who habitually wore an expression
of panied disapproval. She and
Margaret, the fat cook, had served
Doctor and Mrs. Breeding Loyalty
for many years.
"Fetch me a cocktail" Doctor
Breeding directed.
ga cocktail?" Ruth echoed, in
protesting establishment; for Doctor
Breeding was an abstemious man,
not given to drinking alone.
Certainly" he said crisply. Then
with a cautious feeling that some
explanation was necessary: "Pm
tired. I'll lie down awhile. Are
we dining at homer"
"No SIR" she told him. cat the
Jordans'." And she disappeared.
He had removed his outer gar
ments and put on a dressing-gown
before she returned with the shaker
and a glass upon a tray. She set
them grudgingly on his table and
withdrew; and he drank two or
three cocktails, quickly, standing at
the window where he might watch
for Mrs. Greetings return. There
was a deep impotence in him; and
when his wife's open roadster pres
ertly turned in from the street, he
swung about toward her dressing
room, waiting for her to come up
stairs.
He could hear her in the hall be-
low giving some instruction to
Ruth; and he resented the delay.
Then he heard her come up the
stairs, heard her open the door of
her dressing-room, next his own;
and then her instant cry of con-
sternation, and then her call:
Ruth! Ruth"
The maid came hurriedly up the
stairs, and Mrs. Breeding demand
ed: "What happened to my statu-
cite, Ruth? Look at it'll"
The Doctor stood by the closed
door between their rooms, listen
ing.
IT don't know, Mrs. Breeding -
Ruth Indignantly protested. 81
didn't know anything about it.
haven't been in the room since just
after you left"
"Who's been here?" Mrs. Greed
ing demanded. who's been up
stairs? It couldn't just fall; and
even if it did, it wouldn't break all
to bits like that! That statuette
was valuable, Ruth. If you did it,
you might as well tell the truth. -
II didn't, Mrs. Greeding," the
woman insisted stiff1y.
And Mrs. Breeding said apologet-
ically: "Of course not. I didn't
mean to seem to doubt you. But
who else has been upstairs?"
"Only Miss Breeding, and the
Doctor" Ruth returned.
| Than Doctor Greeding 0Dened fhe