Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-03-04

to make their marriage public. She
could see, as she told me subse-
quently, that Ace Blake was ap-
palled at this discovery. He tried
to get her to withdraw from the
hospital and 60 to America. And
if not to America, to Italy or Spain.
Eleanor steadily refused. Finally,
she told him if he gave her no
help, she must apply to me-that
the marriage must be announced.
Thereupon, he told her that she
was, in reality, not married at ALL
That, a few years before, he had
secretly married in the United
States an actress by the name OF
Drina Demoyne-''
"Drina Demoyne!" interrupted.
GIVE seen Drina Demoyne. Why,
what was it I read about her just
the other day? She died recently"
eyes," Doctor Marden answered.
''Her death has a great bearing
on this story. That revelation of
Ace Blaikie's was really Eleanor's
death warrant. She never saw him
again. But she communicated with
me once. I got a permission and
came back from the front. She
told me the, whole story. My wife
and I had but one idea-to save
Eleanor's reputation. Now it hap
pened that my wife's son by her
first marriage, Theodore Prentiss,
was living during the war in a re-
mote village in southern France.
He volunteered for both the French
and American armies. But he had
always been an invalid and
could not be used either as a sol
dier or in any civilian capacity.
He was married and his wife was
pregnant. I sent Eleanor to them,
My step-son's wife died bringing a.
dead child into the world. Theo-
dore survived her only six months.
In the meantime, Eleanor bore a
perfectly healthy baby whom she
named Caroline after my wife. This
was the Caro- whom you know. Be
fore he died, Theodore suggested a
plan. We carried it out. We reg
istered her in the Marie of Laitry
as Caroline Blaikie. We registered
her under that name as an Ameri-
can citizen, with the consul of Mar
settles. I can show you that she
bears that name on her passport.
But we told all her friends in Paris
and have told them ever since that
she was Theodore's child. AS soon
as I could get leave, took my
wife and daughter to SPAIN"
He paused. For an instant he bit
his lower lip as though to fang out
of it the emotion which made it
tremble.
"There my daughter killed her
SELF
Neither Patrick nor I made COM
ment. He himself made no further
comment. "When we returned to
Paris, however, there was never
any question of Eleanor's not be-
ing Theodore Premises child-Car-
oline Prentiss. And so she grew
up. She has no more idea of her
relationship to Ace than you had
before I told you this story. AS
she is a minor, I got her passport.
She has never seen it.
"Concealing her real name from
Caro- has been one of the minor
troubles of my life. But I've ac-
complished it. / brought her up
in Paris, as you know. But as
she grew older, I wondered about
her forbears in America. I knew
that people thought of Ace Blaikie
as rich man. I knew that he had
property in Satuit, Massachusetts.
7 began to wonder if, as he grew
older, he would not want his only
child-if only child she were-to in
herit that property. At first I put
this thought out of my mind. But
it kept recurring. It troubled me.
I finally found it was keeping me
awake nights. Sleepless nights be-
gan to recur a little too often. I
made inquiries and found that Ace
Blake was not only accepted as
bachelor but that nobody knew that
he had ever been married. Ulti-
mately I decided to come to the
United States, to establish myself
at Satuit. 1t made things easy for
me because I had never met Ace
Blaikie. In the war somebody start
ed calling Eleanor Sister Dora
after an old novel, the heroine of
which was a nurse. I confess /
have never read it. Ace Blake
never called her anything but Sister
Dora. Although Eleanor's name
was Dacre, the name of Marden
might of course linger in Ace
Blaikie's mind. Still, as I said be-
fore, there had been at least half
dozen physicians named Marden
working in Paris during the war.
Last spring, as you both know, I
came here to Satuit. I met Ace
Blake socially, of course, although
I made no effort to meet him.
Caro's name was neither his nor
mine. If the coincidence of a ply
sician from Paris by the name of
Marden gave him pause, he did not
let me know it. He may have
thought of me only as one of the
Marden connection in Paris.
elm the meantime I studied my
man. I found that he was engaged