Evening star., 1940-12-28

you'll stay to help me. Not to pry
into the private affairs of my
patients!"
His voice was so deep with angry
emotion that vi was badly shaken.
She just stared at him for long.
speechless moment, then turned and
went out of the Office, closing the
door behind her.
Gale stood behind his desk star
ing down at the blotting pad. He
felt rather foolish after the out
burst, yet he'd been utterly unable
to suppress it at the time. 1t wasn't
any of Wis business where Mrs.
Smith had come from nor who she
was. Yet he himself was curious
about the girl. He would like to
know more about her. and 1t was
completely understandable for vi
to feel the same way. He could
have remained calm, pleasant even,
and rational. He could have ex-
planned that decent ethics demanded
that they not pry into her past or
try to learn things about her that
she didn't want known. vi would
have understood that.
But he'd got completely out of
hand, spoken with a harshness that
was inexcusable. And, worst of all,
he'd clearly planted suspicion in
Wis mind that had no basis in
truth whatever. vi would surely
think, from his outburst, that he
knew all about the girl and didn't
care to have her know what those
facts were.
Gale Suddenly Realizes.
1t was after he'd sat down again
and lit cigarette that the real
danger of what vi might suspect
struck him. Here was a young and
attractive girl who was about to
become a mother. She gave the
name Of Mrs. Smith, which had as
clear suggestion of phoniness about
it as any nam0 could have. Her
husband was missing; she didn't
know where he was. Shed quit
working on Gales orders, and few
days later received money from the
husband whose whereabouts she
didn't know.
vi could assume that Gale knew
where the husband was and had
communicated with him. That
would be an easy assumption. and
nothing specially dangerous about
it. But why. then, would he be so
angry about her suggested effort to
learn something of the girls past?
Certainly she's think there is more
to it than this. Maybe there is no
husband. May be Gale
He shook his head, crushed his
cigarette in the tray at his elbow
and snatched up a medical journal
lying on the desk. With brows knit
and jaws clenched he flicked
through it looking for an article he'd
started to read few days before.
He found his place and started to
read.
Three times he read the same
paragraph, trying to get the sense
of it. Three times he was unsuc-
cessful The crazy thoughts that
swan through his mind had no con-
nection with anything medical.
They were thoughts about his wife,
who sat in the reception room with
suspicion running through her mind.
He slammed the magazine down, got
up from his chair and went to the
door. He'd tell her the truth and
get it over with. If she didn't like
the .dea of his giving away their
hard earned money she could say so
and he'd tell her that it was his
affair and he'd do as he pleased
about it. At least, then, the air
would be cleared.
vi Disappears.
He pulled open the door and
stepped into an empty reception
room. Wis hat and coat were gone
from the rack beside her desk. He
hadn't heard her leave: she must
have slipped out intending him not
to hear her &c. He stared at the
desk, a worried frown on his fore
head. There was nothing there. no
note, nothing. Puzzled, and with a
surge of futile anger rising inside
him, he returned to his Office.
He had lunch alone that day in
the drugstore on the corner. He had
several calls to make before going
back to the Office at 3 o'clock, and he
made them all in a state of annoyed
preoccupation. He could tell that
his patients observed his absent
mindedness and that emphasized the
state more than ever. And when he
went back to the Office at and
found vi was still not there he de-
termined to call her at home and
see what was wrong, maybe make
the necessary explanations.
But vi was not at home. There
was no answer to his call.
Several patents were in the recep-
ton room and he called them In
one at a time. In short while he
was back in the swing of things,
with his mind concentrated on his
work, only remembering Wis absence
when he had to 60 to the door after
each patient left and beckon in the
next one. For the first two he for
got to make his entries in the book
which vi had taken over, and the
realization came over him of how
valuable she really was. 1t was not
only slower, doing all the detail
work himself; it was strangely lone
some. He missed her cheerful
glances from the doorway when
each patient came in.
1t was almost 5 o'clock when Mrs.