Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 4, 1926 — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

388 “ Be careful,” cautioned the doctor, ex- tending a restraining hand. But Judith’s bare toe had caught in the lace, and to her horror it was being torn from the fab- ric, and great pieces of silk with it. She clung desperately to the doctor’s arm and, leaning over, extricated her foot from the entanglement. The sight of a cunning arrangement of pink toes was Dr. Gordon’s reward for gallantry. “ Oh, it’s all torn,” she cried, lifting dis- mayed eyes to the doctor’s ugly face, which in spite of himself wore now a broad grin. “What ye laughin’ at?” asked Judith brusquely. “T beg your pardon, [ am not laughing.” The doctor’s face was grave enough now, as Judith looked at him. “I must examine the wound I dressed this morn- ing,” he said, thinking to divert her mind from his amusement by the suddenness with which he changed the subject. “ That is, if you think you can get along without my arm.” Judith’s hands dropped from his arm as if they had been burned by the contact. ‘“‘ JJ” she stammered. But the doc- tor was at the other side of the room, and had secured a small chair which he placed under the light. “ Sit down there,” he said. Judith dropped into the chair, her face burning. She wondered which was the worst, to be laughed at, or harassed as Jer- ry used to tease her. “You shouldn’t have the bandage before I permitted you to,” crit- icized the doctor in his most gravely pro- fessional manner as he pushed back the masses of hair from her forehead. “Tt’s all right; it don’t hurt any,” she said easily. Censure put Judith on the defensive, consequently at her ease. She was ac- customed to defensive warfare. The adhesive tape was still in place, the doctor found as he examined the dressing with fingers that trembled slightly. The doctor’s discovery of so much beauty in an unexpected place had slightly unnerved him, combined with the last shock as of electricity when his hands came in contact with the girl’s wonderful hair. removed PP) ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Suddenly there rang through the room the gay, rippling notes of a piano. The girl vibrated to the sound, her little bare feet beating time upon the velvety carpet. “How did you get this wound?” asked the doctor as he stood erect, and gazed down at her. The girl shook her head. Her hair tum- bled again over her forehead. “Would you care to tell me how you came to be on board the Psyche?” he further questioned. “No!” lJaconically imparted Judith. The doctor could scarcely repress a smile as he remembered that Stephen had expect- ed the girl to weep upon his bosom, and unburden herself. “Mr. Fenwick -thought you might!” gently urged Fenwick’s emissary. ‘No. TI ain’t going to tell nothing to nobody,” said the girl firmly. ‘““Mr. Fenwick wished me to say that you need not feel that you must remain down here all the evening. Wouldn’t you like to go up on deck?” “No. T’ll go to bed,” said Judith quiet- ly. Secretly she was overwhelmed by so much polite consideration. She was even forgiving the physician for laughing at her. “Good night,” he said, opening the door just as the first strains of the Moonlight Sonata floated majestically through the corridors. The doctor paused for a moment out- side her door. The tingle of his contact with the girl’s hair lingered—a bewildering memory. His affairs of the heart had been few and simple, narrowed down now to the one girl who was waiting for him. But this had been a different experience. Judith was fashioned upon the same lines as the famous ‘sirens of history, with this difference; Judith was unconscious of her physical attraction. He reached the door of the salon, en- tered, and found an easy-chair. His head was whirling; he wanted to sit quietly and think. The music tripped gayly in the second movement; it progressed unhalting- ly until nearly the end, when there came a crash that brought the doctor upright in his seat. Stephen had leaped to his feet, rushed (eo) DOO mie <S (F@