The Wilmington morning star., 1947-06-30

IL you really want to be a doc
Tor you can take a degre over
49,, L Suppose, but it's quite I'M
necessary. You've got enough to
live on, and I will be making
heaps of money"
And he had replied vehemently:
Blu I'M keen on my profess
sion. I'm going to work with Rad
ley"
HIS volce-a young, enthusiastic
volce-Was quite awed.
Veronica shifted.
THAT funny, snuffy Old man?''
"That funny. snuffy old man.
John had said angrily, mas zone
some O. TIE most valuable re-
search work on Pratt's disease"
She had Interrupted: Who cared
fer Pratt's disease? California,
she said, was an enchanting eli
Il 4 Il it vas fun to see the
world. She added: II shall hate it
without you. I want you, john
need you"
And then he had put forward
the, to Veronica, amazing sugges-
ton that She should turn down the
Hollywood offer and marry him
and settle down in London.
She was amused and quite firm!
She was going to Hollywood, and
she loved John, and John must
marry her and come, too. She had
had no doubts Of her beauty and
OF her power.
He had seen that there was only
one thing to be done and he had
done it. He had written to her
breaking off the engagement.
He had suffered a good deal, but
he had had no doubts as to the
wisdom of the course he had TAX
en-. He'd come back to London and
started work with Radley and a
year later he had married Gerda,
who was as unlike Veronica in
every way as it was possible to be
The door opened and his secre-
tary, Beryl Collier, came in.
you've still got Mrs. Forester
to Sc"
He said shortly, II know"
II thought you might have for
gotten"
She crossed the room and went
out at the farther door. ChrlsloW's
eyes followed her calm withdraw
al. A plain girl, Reryl, but darned
efficient. He'd had her six years.
She never made a mistake, she
was never Hurried or worried or
hurried. She had black hair and a
muddy complexion and a deter
mined chin. Through strong glass
es her clear gray eyes surveyed
him and the rest of the universe
with the same dispassionate atten-
ton.
He had wanted a plain secre-
tary with no nonsense about her,
and he had got a plain secretary
with no nonsense about her, but
sometimes, illogically, John Chris
tow felt aggrieved! By all the
rules Of stage and fiction, Beryl
should have ben hopelessly de-
voted to her employer. But he had
always known that he cut no ice
with Beryl. There was no self
abnegation-Beryl regarded him
as a definitely tallble human be-
ing. She remained unimpressed by
his personality, uninfluenced by
his charm. He doubted sometimes
whether she even liked him.
He had heard her once speaking
to y friend on the telephone.
"No," she had been saying, 81
don't really think he is much more
selfish than he was. Perhaps rath-
er more thoughtful and inconsid-
crate"
He had known that she was
speaking Of him, and for quite
twenty-four hours he had been an
noyed about it!
Although Gerda S indiscriminate
enthusiasm irritatted him, BeryIs
cool appraisal irritated him, too.
III FACT, he thought, nearly every
thing irritates me.
Something wrong there. Over
work? Perhaps. No, that Was the
excuse. This growing Impotence,
this irritable tiredness, it had
some deeper significance. He
thought, This won't do. l can't go
On this way. What's the matter
with me? If l could get away 80.
There it was again-the blind
formulated idea of escape.
l want to go home.
Hang it all, 404 Harley Street
was his home!
And Mrs. Forester was sitting
in the waiting room. A tiresome
woman, a woman with too much
money and too much spare time
to think about her ailments.
Someone had once said to him:
You must get very tired Of these
rich patients always fancying
themselves i'll. 1t must be SO salts
factory to get to the poor VINO
come only when here is some
thing really the matter with
them!" He had grinned! Funny
the things people believed about
the Poor with a capital P. They
should have seen old Mrs. Pear
stock, on five different clinics, up
every week, taking away bottles
of medicine, l1n1ment for her
back, linctus for her cough.
aperients, digestive mixtures!
.'Fourten years I've 'ad the
brown medicine, doctor, and it's
the only thing does me any good.
That young doctor last week
writes me down a white medicine.
No good at all! 1t stands to rea-
son., doesn't it, doctor? l mean,
I've 'ad me brown medicine for
fo,,r+oap wears and if don't ave