The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-06-15
CHAPTER FORTY.ONE


ANETTE HUNG up the receiver
and stood motionless. Well, don't
stand there like a bump on a log!
The words seemed TO ring in the
air as II her old grandmother
miraculousiy had appeared beside
her. The macabre, and yet strange
ly comforting sensation made her
realize how much she needed ad-
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 confide in any Of
the servants. With frenzied rush
that cracked her thumbnails. she
slid back the doors to a closet and
found a coat Of summer ermine.
She tossed it over the silk crepe
lounging pajamas she had been
wearing while waiting for Larry.
Without much care she put on one
Of the little mantilla-like head COW
erings 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 1t until
she was outdoors and her foot
touched the cold, wet terrace. Even
then she did not stop. Still rum
ming, she reached coupe parked
IN the driveway. For several Sec
onds she sat fumbling with various
instruments on the dashboard with
out realizing 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 did
not want to ring. No one was in the
kitchen as she sped through and up
to her room again.
Eervously 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 passed
since Ralph Hays telephone call,
yet to Anette those five minutes
and the added 10, during which she
waited for Lois, seemed intermin-
able. Unable to sit still, she was on
her feet constantly, either Just
standing In one spot, staring at
nothing, or walking about, with so
little control over her movements
that she kept banging into the fur
niture.
James Lyndon was In the car
with his sister. The instant lights
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 they
swooped aside the fast pouring
rain. Anette was glad they did not
talk. She knew she was not think.
ing very well. Even so, she was
thinking well enough to know the
silently sympathetic, Lyndon and
his sister were her best, and prac-
tically her only Hollywood friends
That too-clean smell greeted her
the minute they entered the hos
pital and made her slightly III. It
held an additional horror, taking
her back as it did to those last DAYS
she had seen her grandmother
alive. AS she watched James Lyn-
don move to ask for information, a
violent self-irritation took posses
sion of the girl. Why be so morbid ?
Larry wasn't dead. He wasn't even
dying. She must not be so silly.
Facial cuts were the worst about
the accident. And Walt would be
able to fix those. She knew he
could. Plastic surgeons did wonder
full things nowadays. She must be
brave. She Strengthened; neverthe-
less, she was immensely grateful
for James Lyndon's strongly SUD-