"DISTRICT NURSE"

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 February 1939, Page 10

"DISTRICT NURSE"

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT. COPYRIGHT.

BY

FAITH BALDWIN.

' CHAPTER XXVIII. ~ Continued. “It wasn’t his fault. Oh, I don’t mean running away. That was yours, because he thought you didn't care what became of him. I mean, he did see me . . and Jim. I . . Jim had gotten out of hand, that was all . . it wasn’t . . . I mean . . .” “Damn Jim,” he said cheerfully, “I can forgive him anything now.” “Can you? And must we?” she asked soberly. He looked at her, the tumbled hair, the flushed sweet face, the strong sweet generous mouth, not smiling now, the mouth which had kissed him, which he had kissed, the little stubbornly set chin. “What do you mean, Ellen?” “Must we . . damn him?” She told him of Jim; of Pasquale; and Gilda. He listened, frowning.

“I told you I’d had him looked up. There were rumours. But nothing to go on. This Fontana . . I think I can get a place for- him. I wonder if he can garden, if he knows anything about farming. “He was,” said Ellen, “a farmer’s son. So Gilda told me.” “That’s fine. There’s a man upstate; a client of mine. He has something of a show place, but it’s practical, too. There’s a cottage and a job and everything all ready. I’ll long distance him tonight. It’s as good as in our hands. But O'Conner . . ?” Ellen said, white suddenly, “if it’s drug traffic . . oh, if its any traffic, we’ve no right to . . think of anything. We must think of his aunt. Of the people he may drag into it. Of long friendship.” “Women are hard,” said Bartlett, after a moment. “I suppose they have to be. No, there’s another way. You'll let me handle it. 1 come in contact with so many peopl?. I know what Bill would call ‘big shots.’ “Politically and all that. Some of their hands are none too clean. As I see it, this, whatever it is, it’s a small racket, hasn’t been big enough to bother any one, yet. But there’s a way of putting fleas in certain ears. You’ll see. Ellen, don’t look so dramatic. He won’t be killed, I promise you that. He won’t even be hurt, except maybe in his .pride. But he’ll be put out of business. Quietly. Effectively. And for good. I don’t even think he’ll stay here long, in this neighbourhood. It will be made too hot for him. And it may teach him a | lesson. The little fellows, they get theirs after a while. The big ones go free. That’s the damnable part of it. But in this case it will work out all right. We won’t need any publicity. If officialdom comes into it, it will come in so quietly that no one will ever know.”

She said, “I know you can handle it, Frank. The way that’s best for everybody. I know it will be a right way, too.”

He kissed her, smiling a little. And there was no more speech. “Frank,” she said after a while, “look at the time.”

It was after eight. The telephone spoke at her elbow, petulantly. “For heaven’s sake,” said Coral’s voice, “are you dead, or something? Mother’s fit to be tied.”

“I’m all right, I’m coming home,” said Ellen.

“What’s up? You sound funny.” But Frank had taken the phone for her. “Hope you saved some supper,” he said, “for Ellen and for me. I’m coming home, too. Kill a couple of fatted calves. Pete’s going to get a brother-in-law.” “What did she say?” Ellen asked him when he had hung up. “Plenty. I didn’t listen. Come on. darling.” At the office door she turned, seeing that the latch was on. "You won’t be doing this long," he told her. “No; I suppose not.” She was grave. “I’ll miss it,” she said honestly.” It’s so much a part of me, it means so much “I know. I thought, when she puts me before the work, then I know she really loves me. And you have,” he triumphed. “But there'll be lots you can do,” he said, “and we’ll do it together.” Driving home, he asked carelessly, “are you marrying me for my money, Miss Adams?”

“I don’t think so,” she told him, giving it proper thought. “You haven’t enough, have you .. ? I mean to make it worth my while?” They laughed, idiotically, to the astonishment of a large cop beating himself across the breast to keep warm, stamping his feet, whistling a tune. Accordian Al’s tune . . . "That’s just it, I have . . .”

“I knew,” she murmured, really serious this time, “that you had a good practice, or whatever you call it . . . but . . .”

“Oodles of money,” he said firmly, “thanks to an uncle . about three years ago. Sitting there in banks and gilt edged bonds. I never saw much sense in spending it just to be spending. Ariel I was afraid that if I once got the habit I’d quit the Jaw and loaf. So I sort of tried living on what I earned. That’s over now. I’m marrying an extravagant woman.” “Who is she?” asked Ellen, demurely. He ignored this. “Enough,” he said, “for us all. To see Pete through anything and Coral. To make your mother happy and comfortable. To buy Nancy a couple of telephone exchanges . . or at any rate I’m rather a large stockholder . . to help Bill . . and the others. That’s what I meant when I said we’d do it together. There’ll be work for you. Ellen. It is work to know how to help people by spending and not hurting

them. Besides, he said lightly, “I'm subject to colds and need a lot of nursing.”

She was trying to keep back the tears. And so she said, “If you’re marrying me to have a nurse in the family, forget it. Break it off, here and now. For if you as much as sniffle, I’ll have specials in. on eight-hour shifts, two at a time ...”

And now they were home. Coral and Nancy had turned . . from the window and were saying, “There you are, mother . . for goodness sake, angel, stop crying . . everything’s simply gorgeous,” and someone was rushing to the kitchen to start the coffee perking . . . But for a moment Ellen and Frank were alone in the close tiny intimate darkness of the car. Making their wordless, solemn vows, voicing, mutely. their ecstasy and their hope; a little interlude of rapture, of promising, and of pledging, before they should draw a little apart one from the other, and go into the house, and take up the business of living, however, altered, once more . . . THE END.