Browning chief., 1946-03-29
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kessler, you took a load of my
shoulders in our conference yester-
day. You understand Stories-I wish
you could tell me how to make all
these English grammar writers un-
derstand them"
perhaps it is only sometimes
viewing situations as other people
would view them, and not entirely
from the unchanging viewpoint Of
ones SELL"
"Am I supposed to tell that to
the inhabitants of this ego-ridden
capital?" Spratt laughed ruefully
and shook his head. Eyes, Lydia?"
he said as his secretary came in.
Spratt's visitor answered for him.
He wants to see the sketches, and
we are no longer in conference, Miss
Fraser" He moved forward in his
chair, placed his heavy hand on the
head of his heavy cane, and pushed
himself into standing position. It
was not an easy movement, but he
accomplished it with the skill Of long
practice. Lydia opened the door for
him. A clever girl, she managed
to make it look like a gesture Of
Difference instead of necessary aid.
Their new writer could not stand
without the support of his cane, and
since he had only his right hand this
made it impossible for him to open
door without pushing a chair
toward it so he could sit down.
Spratt had risen too, and walked
| over to the entrance
"Then I'll pick you up at your Of
flee this evening, as close to six
thirty as can, and we'll 60 to my
home for dinner"
"Thank you, Mr.. Herlong." He
smiled courteously at Lydia. "And
thank you, Miss Fraser"
Lydia went with him to the outer
door Of the bungalow, then returned
to Spratt's inner office with the set
sketches in her hand. "A remark
able man, Kessler," Spratt observed
as he took the sketches.
"Isn't he? To sink into that script
forty-eight hours and come up with
solution. And him half dead, too.
Did the Nazis beat him up, or was
he in the war, or what?"
"I've no idea. You don't ask
about those things, though you can't
help wondering. Maybe nothing but
an auto accident"
"He does manage to bow from the
waist in spite Of it. Do you suppose
he's going to continue forever call
ing everybody around here Mr.. and
Miss?"
Spratt laughed a little, and
shrugged. Probably Germans are
very formal. Never mind, I like
him."
$50 do l." said Lydia.
Meanwhile the subject of their con-
versation walked to his own bunga-
low, which was conveniently located
next door, since his power of walk
ing was limited to very short dis
tances. Explaining to his secretary
that Mr.. Herlong was to call for him
later, he went through the reception
room into his private Office beyond.
He went over to the mirror on the
wall and stood there looking at his
reflection. 1t was not possible that
she could recognize him. Between
them lay not merely twenty-four
years, but the wreckage made by
that shell at Chateau-Thierry, which
had destroyed him so terribly that
it had taken one of the greatest sur
geons in Germany five years to put
together the semblance of body
that he now possessed. A make
shift that had been uncertain enough
in normal times, this frame of his
could hardly, after the effort to
which it had been forced when he
had to get out of Germany, be ex-
| pected to last much longer. 1t was
only because he was sure he could
not last much longer that he was
willing now to let himself see Eliza
beth. He had never expected to see
her again. In those frightful days
in the German hospital, he had not
wanted to. He had wanted her to
be rid of him, as desperately as
he had wanted to be rid of himself.
Even now he trembled when he re-
membered that slow, tortured re-
building, insertion of metal strips to
replace shattered bones, stretching
of shrunken muscles, inadequate
food and inadequate anesthetics, his
own screams and curses at the man
who persisted in keeping him alive
when he wanted to die.
How that doctor had kept at him,
with implacable hands that he him.
self could see only as instruments of
horror, forcing into him the life he
did not want, and slowly, through
all of it, giving him against his will
life that was really life-not mere
physical existence, but personality
and a will, recreation so profound
that it seemed quite natural, when
he began to realize what was being
| given him, that along with all the
rest he had new name. Kessler-
thank heaven, he had thought then,
it was easy to say, for in those days
the new language had seemed very
difficult, though now it was so much
his own that when he first came
back to the United States he found