The Wilmington morning star., 1941-01-24
CHAPTER
WRITE; FOR AND HuLAsEp BY
DTRAL PRES ASSOCIATION

AVE W ldpPCLl 01AS "
since that day in March, WI e n
Vance said, Exit, I want you to
meet a girl" that some day a door
would open, or she'd look acros
the room and see Vance looking al
Mimi Purcell with a proud, pos
sessive look, a look that Woulo
have meant heaven for her II IL
had rested on her.
She knew it was inevitable. But
had She known it would be that
Sunday afternoon at the END OF
Nav, she would not have said to
Jerry Sembler, 'Ill 60 to Dan
bury with you if you'll stop OFT at
Greenwich. Gwen is giving a big
party to celebrate her wedding an
niversary."
Driving out to the country, Jerry
said, you'll be enchanted with
this little inn. It's over a hundred
years old and serves the best food
I've ever tasted. There's a bala-
laika band there. You'll like that,
won't your"
She said, "Of course I will. I
like all the things you are always
finding for me to enjoy"
"How about liking me for a
changer"
Kit said, 81 can't stand you!
That's why I don't see you more
than three times a week. This must
be Ovens place. I recognize the
lockwood hedge"
It was with some relief that Kit
called his attention to their arrival.
his devotion. She was finding it
increasingly difficult to pretend to
Jerry that she believed his feeling
for her was nothing more a n
friendship.
The long drive that circled past
the Spencers' colonial mansion was
filled already with sleek cars, two
deep.
Looks like there's a mob here"
Jerry said.
There was a mob. The rooms
through which they passed e
filled AID there were groups OF
men ana women splitting over the
brick terraces and the lawns
around the swimming pool.
Kit nodded to a few familiar
faces and stopped to speak to Tom
Spencer. She said, It'll find Gwen
some place" She lost Jerry some
where en route.
Her searching glance circled the
room.
The floor seemed to fall away
from her; the faces and voices
around her melted into a blur.
-Vance's face, and the cool, clas-
steal face Of the girl toward which
his was bent.
The life seemed to have gone out
Of her body. The palms of her
could feel the dampness break
through her forehead. She felt
quick panic, knowing that she had
to get out of that room, fearing she
hadn't the power to move.
Out of the blur a large friendly
face came into the near range of
her vision, and an eager, stutter-
ing voice said, "M-miss O'Reilly!
Gwen said you'd b-be here. I've
b-been looking everywhere for
YOU"
Kit smiled with effort and tried
to remember who he was. His face
was familiar, but her memory
seemed to be as numb as the rest
of her.
You haven't had a cocktail,
have you? P-please take this one"
She took it gratefully. The liquid
warmed the empty pit of her stom-
ach. Her poise returned as her body
began to feel normal again.
The large friendly face connect
ed with a big figure in shaggy
tweeds. Kit fixed her gaze on that
face with rapt attention, but she
never could remember, later, what
he said to her for all that her at
tention was so firmly fixed on him.
"You were saying that you
Thought the Great Dane was the
most n-noble of dogs. Do you IRE
member, Miss O'Reilly?"
"Of course" she murmured,
never taking her eyes from his
face.
well, that's a very p-peculiar
thing. S-since then, I've discovered
that the Greeks, during the Middle
Ages, s-s-struck a coin with a re-
markable likeness to the Dane on
its f-face."
rs that really SOP" Her voice
seemed to belong to someone else.
1.-The whole history of the Dane
isn't q-quite clear b-because
there's a lack of scientific data
about all b-big dogs. Although it is
known that in Eng-Eng-England
and C-central Europe"
Vance's voice cut in on the his
tory:
Fancy seeing you here" he said
at Kits elbow.
Kit had learned to school her
self to give performances in the
stern school Vance himself h a d
taught her. She gave one then. She
turned to him with a cool half.
smile, saying, "Fancy seeing YOU
here. I didn't know that you and
Gwen knew each other. Do you
know" She turned to introduce
her recent rescuer and found that
he had moved away.
IT didn't meet our hostess until