Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 4, 1926 — page 76: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

086 “Oh, she is older than that; seventeen more likely.” ‘ ‘““ Well, tell the poor youngster that she>- doesn’t have to remain alone down there all the evening. She’s probably feeling pretty forlorn by now. No matter what sort of a dump she left, it had one advan- tage over the Psyche for her; it was at least familiar. e ‘Some grit to run away like that, eh? Make her understand that she is among friends. Doctors are natural father con- fessors for the fair sex; so she will undoubt- edly sob out the sad story of her life upon your immaculate uniform.” The doctor laughed wryly. “I hope before she tries it she will have made free with soap and water. She’d managed to accumulate a lot of New York real estate.” “ Well, tell her to climb into some of that comic opera scenery, and come into the salon. I’m going to hammer out a few notes on the piano. Music may make her forget how beastly lonely the Atlantic Ocean can be at night.” The doctor swung around and_ faced Stephen. “Oh! Do you play the piano?” he asked, his voice smooth over an undercur- rent of amused surprise, as he gazed at the bulky figure leaning at ease now against the railing. Virile, spiky-brown hair, heavy chin, large mouth just redeemed from ugli- ness by splendid rows of flashing white teeth, a powerful physique. The man looked as if he were chafing to chip away the veneer of civilization and revert to primal things, and he spoke of playing the piano! The doctor had been reared in a hard school, where the men struggled for the daily bread, and the women played the piano, if they happened to have one. His viewpoint of the arts was naturally colored by his early training. Stephen was smiling at him. He knew almost what the doctor was thinking. He knew also that the point of view was nar- row. So while the doctor was thinking Stephen trivial, he was being gauged as narrow. Which did not hinder, them in the least from mightily liking each other. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. “Yes, I play the piano!” Stephen mim- icked laughingly. 2 The doctor shook his head, gravely smil- ing as he turned away. He had forgotten that even in war music is as essential as the bread and the bullets. Stephen stood beside the railing after the doctor’s departure, vaguely sensible of the beauty of the delicate sunset afterglow. He hated to confess to himself that after all his “high thinking ” of the previous night, he really was missing the gay life he had just left. His lips tensed at the thought of the fight before him. Not one fight, and then vic- tory, and the fruits of peace, but a battle- ground upon which, before he was through, would be strewn with as grim corpses as any the doctor had seen in France. Suddenly he straightened, shrugged his broad shoulders, lighted a cigarette, and started for the salon, where there was a grand piano. Music, perhaps, would con- trol his mood. | He almost ran into a seaman who was rolling up the rug preparatory to covering up the chairs. “Tsn’t it a little early to dismantle the deck, Mr. Allerton?” asked Stephen ‘of the mate who came up.at that moment. “T thought I heard you say you were going below,” explained the mate. That seemed strange to Stephen. He did not remember having seen the mate on deck. : “Yes,” replied Stephen, endeavoring to conceal a slight irritation that always as- sailed him in the presence of Mate Allerton, “but I might come up again. The deck should be left habitable on these beau- tiful fair nights at least until ten o’clock.” The mate explained that he had thought that some of the ceremony which was kept up when the women of the family and their guests were taking a cruise could be dis- pensed with, now that Stephen was the only passenger on the yacht. This seemed reasonable to Stephen, who was about to pass on with no further com- ment, when he happened to glance at the mate’s face. His lips were curled in a veiled sneer that aroused all of Stephen’s antagonism. DOOKS (C@) AMG (E@)