The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-01-05
CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVI ] It seemed to Linda that singing steadied and quieted her, even while 1t acted as an outlet loc her pent- up suffering.
 That night an elderly man sent up request for "The Rosary Linda sang it from beginning tc end without break in the soft bell-like purity of her voice.
 She was standing in the wings when the lights went up after her last song. Looking out across the crowded room, she saw Tony's round little figure bending over a table near the stage. At the table sat two people, man and slim woman with furnished copper hair. Linda watched as Tony spoke with them, saw him shake his head, saw the woman insisting upon something. Then the woman turned and Linda saw her face. She was Rita Blanchard.
 Oh, well, Linda thought, sooner or later something of this sort was bound to happen. Nordhoff was a bare 70 miles from the city. People were constantly running up here for shopping and the theater. Nevertheless, she was uneasy.
 From the first time Linda had sung, letters had begun pouring in for her. When Linda showed no interest in them, Tony took them in charge. and his dark eyes twinkled with delight as each day they increased in number.
 Some he answered in Linda'S s name; some he tore up and threw Into the wastebasket. A few he read aloud to Linda.
 There were begging letters. There were occasional letters of extortion. There were letters from girls who envied h CT success and wanted to know her secret. There were notes of appreciation - sometimes absurdly sentimental. There were several proposals of marriage.
 And with the letters often came substantial offerings - flowers. and occasionally gifts of real value. These, except for the flowers, Tony returned with polite notes of rejection.
 "You can't afford to get mixed up in any funny business" he said. That ain't your style.'
 Linda accepted his decisions as a matter of course. These were matters for which she had no strength. For since the rumors of the radio signals mentioning Barry Trent's name, she had be- gun sleeping badly again, her nights troubled by dreaming. Only it was a new and even more troubling dream this time.
 It began with sound that came just as she was dropping off to sleep - first full, deep hum, like the carrier hum Of a powerful ra6io; then the "peep-peep :. peep-peep-peep" of the Morse code; and then Barry's voice, very faint and far away, slowly grow ing more distinct She always awoke just as the words seemed about to break through; and went to sleep again trying to recapture the dream where it had broken of. Sometimes this happened dozens of times in the course of the night.
 After particularly bad night, the thing would sometimes project itself into the day; so that she would break off in the middle of a sentence as if to listen.
 Tony noticed it, and took to watching her thoughtfully Linda often caught him at it, and was uneasy. There was something un- cannily intuitive about this round, funny, shrewd little man with his wistful puckered smile. She won- dered sometimes just how much he guessed about her.
 One day he said unexpectedly, "You are not happy, Silvia"
 When she began to protest, he insisted, "Oh, yes, your clear, wise little mind is contened, perhaps. You love to sing, and you do bravely what you think you must do. But the heart - that is an- other thing yet For this is not the life you were meant for .. Oh, well - you will not tell me what it is you are wanting; but when I am sure for myself we shall sec"
 It was New Years Eve that the lights went wrong.
 That night Linda was wearing a new frock Tony had designed for her. It was of lustrous blue vel vet - not bright, not dark of the depth and tone of blue that the old Italians loved to Use for the