Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-12-04


in with a double application Of lip
stick, and then blots her mouth with
piece of tissue. All the excess lip
stick is absorbed by the tissue, leav-
ing her lips satin smooth.
miraculously fresh with the minimum
of air and exercise, she occasionally
took walk during the afternoon.
Garry on, Edda," she said. II am
going out"
Too overweight to wait for the lift,
she ran up to the first floor. Old
Steiner was his own best patron, for
he occupied a vast apartment, fur
nished with stuffy Victorian splendor.
He was bedridden but, in spite of his
age, his a S t bulk had not
shrunken. Just as in his youth, he
prided himself on filling out his coat,
he boosted now of the size of the
coffin he would require.
I'm going to the shops, darling"
Vivien told him. Can I get anything
for you?'
can do something for me-" He pointed
10 lltl lIlllldl UlOOCll. DOIl veal
again. Didn't you know it is the Vic
tory sign? 1 hear the Gestapo are
testing the loyalty of all the hotel
stats, while they pose as guests. There
is leakage everywhere, messages and
thus and thus . . You might give a
wrong impression with that brooch
and sometimes it is difficult to eX-
plain. Authority has a mouth-but no
ears"
Vivien had never seen his jovial face
so grave Suddenly the sour at
mosphere of the sealed room swept
over her like a sinking dun wave. She
felt on the verge of fainting as the
spark of suspicion, smoldering in her
brain since she had heard Edda's
story, now flared up in distrust OF
John.
She remembered that she had ac-
cepted him without credentials, other
than his alleged British birth. That
claim might be false, and even were
it genuine, nationality excludes no one
from the ranks of traitors. AS matter
of cold fact, she had been attracted to
him so strongly that she had walked
voluntarily into his net.
II must get away at once" she told
herself in panic.
She kissed her great-uncle fondly
and when she reached the door, she
looked back at him, wondering If she
would ever see him again. Then she
rang for the lift which jerked her up
to her room. Without plan and not
daring to pause for reflection, she
rammed on her hat and dragged on
her coat. Her sole provision for the
future was to put her passport and
money into her handbag. Then she
ran downstairs, hurried through the
Lounge and passed through the door
out of the Monopol.
When she was in the street she
boarded the first tramcar. She did not
know its destination, but, when the
conductor came to collect her fare,
she had presence of mind to say "All
the way"
"It will take me somewhere out"
she thought. "I must think-I must
think"
Instead, she found herself incapable
of clear or consecutive thought. With
a vague sense of relief, she watched
the shops slide past the window. She
was in motion, and that fact sug-
gested flight and inspired her with an
illusion of freedom. She was escaping
from the Gestapo. Never, never would
she return to the Concentration Camp.
In a half -comatose state, which was
the aftermath of her brainstorm, she
gazed through the dirty glass at the
parks, the avenues, the groups OF
statuary and fountains. Large houses,
which still appeared grand and i'm
posing when yelled with the first blur
of twilight, gave way to meaner
streets and blocks of apartment flats.
Suddenly she thought of old Steiner,
and for the first time she realized that
he might pay the penalty of her dis
appearance.
'"They won't believe he knows Moth
ing" she thought. I must go back
at once"
Because she was going to her doom,
the return journey seemed much
shorter After she had leaped off the
tram, she waited only few minutes
before the return car clanked along
the misted road. She boarded it and
then sat, sunken in depression, until
brighter and more frequent lights
flashed past and she realized that they
were passing through the main ave-
nues.
1t was while they were waiting for
the traffic signals to change color
that something happened-somethin |
unnatural as an evil dream,
where a friend turns suddenly into an |
enemy. Suddenly she saw John in the |