The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-03-04

Why didn't pr. Tower leave a letter for him since he was leav~ | ing him his property7
 Why - and why, why hadn't he ever come right out and asked Cassie about herself?
 He couldn't go on always not knowing what lay in the past.
 Paris sat rigid, and Drake waited. Drake's lips quivered ever so little as he watched. Par ris' face had altered during these hours. That soft-complexioned look he had always had was gone.
 Paris and Drake returned from the double funeral late the next afternoon. It had been more of an ordeal than either of them had an- ticipated. There was & curious crowd that packed the dim, shabby house. Everyone watched Paris. He had gone little faint when they seated him near the cofins. A sheaf of flowers hid Cassie's face from him, but he could see her hands. He felt that never again would he be able to forget the terrible, unnatural im- mobility of those waX-white inter- laced fingers.
 Whatever the mystery might be that lay back of this dark and ter- rible happening, he felt that pr. Tower and Cassie belonged to him, and to him alone. For Dr. Tower there was loyalty-the devotion of a disciple for a brilliant and able master. He owed this man grati- tude that he could not even com municate.
 His grandmother, Dr. Tower, Cassie = to lose three people who were real part of your life, all in one week. Paris felt old, spent. He was thankful for Drake's friendly assurance in the days that followed.
 There was conference with Colonel Sketfington and Patterson Lawes in the same dingy room at the bank where he had settled his grandmothers affairs. They would dispose of the Tower prop erty for him, although perhaps he would like to keep the library
 With the thin strength of the numbed Paris forced himself to return to Dr. Towers study for his notebooks and the letters from Vi- enna about his schooling. That night he was about to pack the compost ton books away when he noticed one, thicker than the others, closely written in Dr. Towers small, dif1- cult handwriting.
 Paris stared at 1t for a mo- ment. He wondered If he had & right to read it. It was clearly sort of contidentialy record. Ger tainly, Paris thought, he, more than anyone else, had a right to know what led up to the tragic outcome of that mysterious night.
 He turned the lamp up a little Drake had gone to bed. Then he began to read
 He grew heavier of heart as the pages turned. This was an- other man than the one who sat and taught him clearly and me- thodically This was the same brain, but functioning in an alto gether different and frightening manner. It was the brain of bril- Hat mad man = a man who killed his wife when her mind snapped; who killed his daughter because her mental unbalance was grow ing worse with the years; who took his own life, because he knew that he was Coldly, clearly insane.
 An arrogant and intrepid intel ligence flared through the pages, sometimes wandering, sometimes driven willfully, along dangerous ways, The GordonS, there had been no doubt for pr. Tower, were to blame because he was refused a post at the asylum. From then on he had fed on the bitterness of his own solitude, consoled himself with the assur- ances of his own superiority, and noted with icy detachment that his own abnormalcy lowered in Cassandra.
 Paris shuddered. Kings Row, he felt vaguely narrow, Spiteful, gossipy, inbred Kings Row - had killed them both, or was at least as much to blame as the hand of Dr. Tower somewhere else - in a city-some place where his mind would have been appreciated, his genius welcomed, and his strange ness overlooked for the sake of both, surely Dr. Tower would have found
 And Cassie! There might have ben a normal girlhood for her in kinder environment. Here, locked away from everyone-from would be friends as well as jealous, gos- sipy Gordons what chance had she been given for nationality?
 He closed the notebook and passed his hand over his eyes in the old gesture.
 Paris wakened Drake. T had to tell you he said. "Now I've got to destroy this"
 wen burn it in the kitchen stove"
 Paris and Drake stood on the little station platform. They felt stiff and awKward.
 A girl came through the station door and stood looking about. She