Evening star., 1941-03-29

We'll, utdI, IL IlldI loVc YOU anu W
soon as get out of here"
Her eyes opened wide.
"Really?" she said, with a queer
smile. How very sweet of you, Dick!
And don't I have anything to say
about it?"
Come here" he answered. And,
as she was slow to comply. Re
member, I'm sick man and if you
provoke me, I may suffer relapse.
That's better. Now, bend over"
His free arm went around her
shoulders and he pulled her face to
his, Il love you, Brinda! adore
you!"
Her resistance was mild. And,
when their lips met. it ceased.
"Dick!" she whispered, My dear
est dear!"
You're not just humoring q sick
man?" he said, after a while.
Il think I've always loved you,"
she said, her voice soft and warm.
Anyway, since we we're in school.
And it all came back when I saw
you again"
Il understand" His eyes devoured
her. 1T was that way with me, too.
Only I didn't have brains enough to
know it."
When did you find out?"
Lying here, thinking What a
close call ! had. You saved my life,
you know"
Il? How?'
Realizes His Peril.
That bomb was meant for me.
You see. I switched off the labora-
tory lights when I went out for
tobacco. The bomb was rigged up
to 60 off when I switched them on
again. They found the wires"
Brindas hand went to her throat.
You mean"
IF I'd gone back when intended,
I'd have been blown up instead Of
that poor guard. 1t was meant for
me. But you came along and saved
the day"
Brinda looked bewildered.
va Nloll lilCclI, ny any AlioAiN'5
you want to marry me out of grati-
tude?"
Dick chuckled.
No, my love. Please understand
that 1 suddenly realized how def
nitely futile it would have been to
die without having married you!
Why darling, it would have been
like not having lived at allr'
She laid her hand gently against
his cheek, and he seized and kissed
it.
You're so beautiful" he said visit
fully And so different {.
somehow like a new chem
ical, or towering big invention
Oh, dash it!-that doesn't sound ro-
mantle, does it?"
It's romantic enough" Brinda re-
piled. Its romance just being here
having you alive-when"-
shivered-"you might so easily have
been killed"
Yes" he said ruefully. Il thought
it was curtains when that wall came
down on me"
You shouldn't have taken such
risk"
Dick Explains Secret.
Probably not. But was afraid
some one would beat me to my plans.
They're in that dispatch box I gave
you, you know" He frowned sud-
denly. That was a mistake"
"a mistake? I don't understand"
He read the hurt in her tone.
Not that way. I know they're
safe with you-safer than they would
be with anybody. But they're a
dangerous thing to possess. There
are people who want them badly,
and they wouldn't stop at anything
even murder-to get them"
The enemy, you mean?"
THE enemy-his agents. Spies.
Fifth columnists. People you'd nev-
er suspect You mustn't be saddled
with such a responsibility"
But somebody must take care of
it-or shall bring it to you?"
He shook his head.
NO chance of even hiding your
soul in a hospital. Better turn it
over to" he hesitated.
Watching his face, she said,
There's something you're not tell
ing me. Dick. Why are these plans
so Important"
That's right, you don't know.
Strange IT, seems voIl would
naturally know everything that con-
Germs me-"
In brief sentences, he sketched to
her the meaning of his invention.
AS he talked, his eyes burned with
a light she had never seen before,
intense and almost frightening.
The Z-ray, he explained rapidly,
was the name of new and strange
force he had been Investigating. He
had not yet solved all it's possibil-
tiles >. one was that it could jam
radio messages from instruments
within a wide radius, converting
them into so much gibberish. An
other-and he seemed to regard it
as more important-Was that it ex-
tended the range of television far
beyond previous limits, permitting
pictures to be transmitted over dis