Henderson daily dispatch., 1942-04-10
CHAPTER

ANETTE HUNG up the receiver
and stood motionlcss. Wen, don't
stand there like a bump on a log!
The words seemed to ring in the
air as if her old grandmother
miraculously haG appeared BESIDE
her, The macabre, and yet strange
~ comforting sensation made her
realize how much she needed adj
vice and friends. Fright ran
through her anew, when she was
forced to admit that actually she
had no friends. None of those fire.
quent visitors, so complimentary
over good food and expensive
liquor, was a friend.
August Drake? Yes, of course.
But where was August? On a
years honeymoon. Where? Annette
did not want to contide in any Of
the servants. With q frenzied rush
that cracked her tn mills, she
slid back the doors 49, l0sct q
found a coat of 50. ermlne.
She tossed it oVar lie silk crepe
lounging pajama5 she had been
wearing while waiting for Larry,
Without much care she 1t on one
of the little m~antilla-like head COW
crin2s that Carruthers had sug-
gested she continue wearing as
dress publicity for the harrington
character, Mona.
AS she ran down the stairway
one of her boudoir slippers dropped
off but she did not notice it until
she was outdoors and her foot
touched the cold, wet terrace. Ever
then she did not stop. Still run
ming, she reached a coupe parket
in the driveway. For several sec
onds she sat fumbling with various
instruments on the dashboard with
out reaiizin" that she had no key
Dry sObs rang in her throat as
she ran back into the house, enter,
ing by way of the back door, be-
cause she had no latchkey and die
rot want to ring, No n was in The
kitchen as she sped through and W
to her DON again.
Nervously she dialed the I'm.
perial hotel and got Lois Lyndon
In short, painting sentences she eX,
planned what had happened. Come
get me, Lois. I'm afraid to drive
Only five minutes had passeC
since Ralph Hays telephone call
yet to Annette those five minutes
and the added 10, during which she
waited for Lois, seemed intermIn'
able. Unable to sit still, she was OF
her feet constantly, either JUS
standing in n spot, staring a
nothing, or walking about, with Sc
little control over her movement!
that she kept banging into the fur
niture.
James Lyndon was in the ca
with his sister. The instant light.
flashed in the drive. Anette had run
out and now WAS huddled between
James and Lois. shoulders dropped
eyes staring at The tirelessly scrap
ing Windshield Wipers, as the,
sWooped aside the fast pourin!
rain. Anette was glad they did no
talk. She knew she, was not think
ing very well, ENsHs so, she wa
thinking well enough to know tn
silently sympathetic Lyndon an
his sister We're her best, and prac
tically her only Hollywood friends
That too-clean smell greeted he
the minute they entered the hos
pltal and made her slightly i'll.
held an additional horror, takin:
her back as it did to those last day
she had seen her grandmothe
alive. AS she watched James Lyn
don move to ask Tor information.
violent self-irlitdtiOn took posses
sion of the girl. Why be SO morbid
Larry wasn't dead. He wasn't eve
dying, She must not be so sill
Facial cuts were the worst abOu
the accident. And Walt would b
able to fix those. She knew h
could. Plastic surgeons did WonGpl
full things nowadays. She must /
brave. She Strengthened; neverth,
less, she was immensely gr2ttcl
for James Lyndon's strongly SUI