The Coolidge examiner., 1937-08-12

have one last dinner with her Lu-
cius. Perhaps she had left note
somewhere; it might be in her
rooms.
Victoria went in there, lighted
lights. She saw the note on the
dressing table. a large square note
addressed to Vic" And even be.
fore her eyes reached its first words
My darling darling, you must for.
give me :" somehow she knew.
Il never thought Of this!" she
whispered aloud. in the tumbled
desolation that seemed now like a
deserted battlefield. like an ocean
after a wreck.
Her glance went on. She saw the
word Tahiti" the word 'Malolo. "
the words snatch our few years OF
heaven :"
Victoria went to the balcony and
sat down in green iron chair. Her
legs had failed under her; she felt
cold, but her face was burning. One
trembling hand clung tight to the
note; in the empty hotel rooms be-
hind her the lights shone brightly
over the packed handsome trunks,
with their bands of white and blue.
Coming into the diet kitchen at
six o'clock on summer morning,
Florence Flood Dickinson discov-
cred it empty. except for a solitary
figure at the end of the long table.
The girl raised her head and
showed a weary face that was yet
keen with sensitiveness and sympa-
thy and lighted with a tired smile.
Hello. Dicky," she said. in a
hoarse sweet voice.
"Oh. is it you. Herrendeen?" Miss
Dickinson asked. Have a nice
vacation"
Marvellous. How's everything
gomez"
"Oh, beautifully. We missed you,
of course. but everything's gone
marvelously."
Two probationers came in with
trays. A boy put his head in the
door, said Miss RocKwood?" and
vanished. The hospital day had be-
gun.
''Vicky, tell me, do you like DR..
Hardisty?" Louise Mary Heating
asked interestedly. a few days later.
Very much" Vicky said abb
stractedly.
''Vicky. I'll bet you're in love
with himl They say every woman
he meets is in love with him." Miss
Heating bit into chocolate; looked
at its filling thoughtfully. II oughtn't
to touch these" she said.
I'll bet Vic hates to give up the
Keats kid" Helen Geer observed
watching her. You won't see DR..
Hardisty any more now after to-
night. Vic"
Well, as matter of fact, l will. 1"
Vicky said. beginning to smear her
face with cold cream, after tying a
towel over her tawny hair. when
little Kate Keats goes home l go
with her. I've been there before.
you know. and Mrs. Keats asked me
yesterday to come back Her
mother isn't very well. and if she
goes away with the doctor she al
ways leaves a nurse with the chill.
dren."
And then will you see DR.. Har-
disty every day, Vic?"
Not every day. But they're great
friends. A lot of good it will do me
to fall in love with Quentin Har-
disty," Victoria went on practically.
He doesn't know | exist
The Keats home stood out on Pa
cific avenue with the long lines of
the Preside eucalyptus trees and
til Golden Gate below the drawing
rooms northeast windows, and a
sweeping view of the bay and the
mountains that framed the bay from
the upper floors.
Victoria liked the atmosphere of
the house; she said it reminded her
of a book.
Victoria. who had gone to them
from the hospital as Kate's nurse.
had been kept on after Kate's re-
covery because of Dumas scarlet
fever, and after that because of
the feeble age of Mrs. Chauncey
Clements. the children's English
grandmother. Gently. agreeably.
without any unpleasantness, Granny
was dying. Victoria had small
room next to the old woman's lux
urious one on the first bedroom
floor, and the easy task of watching
her dignified departure from a life
in which she had behaved for eighty
years with admirable decorum.
Violet Keats was in her early for
ties; her husband perhaps ten years
older. She adored the small, blink,
irg man with his fluffy gray mop
''as only an English gentlewoman
c;.n adore a man." Vic told Cath
crime.
Were dining alone, Victoria, you
and l." Mrs. Keats said one day,
in her crisp, brisk way. Il want to
talk to you!"
1t was when they were seated a.
the little table downstairs an hour