/
/
THE PERKINS JOURNAL
t" Copyright by ]Bell Syndicate
SYNOPSIS
Theodore Gatlin decides to adopt a
baby' In a final effort to solve hLs matri-
monial troubles. But his wlfe has
never wanted her, and their affairs end
in the divorce court. Ten-year-old
Penelope is given into the keeping of
Mrs. Gatlin. At a baseball game a bali,
hit into the bleachers, strikes Penelope
on the nose, Mrs. Gatlin spirits the
ohlld to Europe. Gatlin retires from
business, wills Penelope all his money,
and is about to begin a search for his
daughter when a motor accident ends
his life. Some ten years later, in San
Francisco, Stephen BurL is a rising
young paychtatrlst.
CHAPTER II--Continued
3---
For the next four years Lanny did
ot see her boy, but he wrote her and
remembered her at Christmas and on
her birthdays. He was an honor grad-
uate from the Leland Stanford Junior
Medical school and was Immediately
given an lnrerneshlp at the University
hospital in San Francisco. Inasmuch
as Lanny frequently had patients at
that hospital, they met several times a
year. Lanny kept lmr ear to the
ground, harkening to reports of his
progress from worthwhile sources, and
learned that he was regarded as a
young doctor of distinct promise.
One day, after he had been two
years an interne, they met in the cor-
ridor. "I've been wanting to see yon,
Steele," Lanny begun without any pre-
liminary fencing. It's time for your
postgraduate course In Europe."
"Impossible, Lanny. My father ha.
had a frightful reversal of fortune.
He's done a father's full duty by me
and I'm not going to graft off him and
perhaps sacrifice him In his old age.
I'm self-supporting now and even sav-
ing a little from my salary. In a few
years I shall be able to afford a modest
office and go In for general practice."
"You've followed my program thus
far and you'll continue until it's fin.
is/ned," Lanny announced. "I'll loan
you the money. The five thousand dol.
larJ your father gave me has grown to
leventy-five hundred dollars--and l've
saved two thousand more, so I'm going
to bank you, and you shall pay me six
per cent on the money you borrow, and
secure me by life insurance." Sis was
thoughtful for a few moments. "Well,
perhaps three years abroad will benefit
you more than four years would an or-
dinary man. So we'll cut the program
to three years. After all, you must
have some comforts; you've got to live
like a gentleman. You will resign here
today and I'll have the money for you
tomorrow."
"Oh, Lanny, you dear old sport, I
can't do that !"
Thereupon Lanny struck hlm in a
vital spot. Her stern and lonely soul
was touched. Not often did she in-
"Oh, Lanny, You Dear Old Sport.
I Can't Do That!"
dulge herself In the weakness of tears.
but they flooded her eyes now and lmr
breast heaved.
He was always touched at the sight
0f suffering; the vast underlying sym-
pathy in his nature would never have
Jt otherwise. Abruptly she left him!
Silo knew ne would seek her out later.
to pr.test at greater length, to awJw
llimself her eternal debtor for the
offer and again decline it.
He called upon her at her lodgings
that night--and Lanny won. It wa ,l
hard battle, b when Lanny, so to
....
By PETER
speak, lowered hen head and went in to
wln, usually she succeeded.
Well, she had her way, and when he
returned from Europe she had an office
ready for him. She would be forty
years old on her next birthday, and
after eighteen years of the drudgery of
private nursing she looked forward to
her position in Stephen Burt's office
with pleasurable anticipation.
She met hlm at the ferry depot, and
he took her to his heart and kissed
her five tlmestwiee on each cheek
and once on the lips. "Well, old pal,"
he said almost immediately, "I'm a
speclallst. Neurologist and psychi-
atrist, and you're to be my first pa-
tient. I must go over you thoroughly
and see what makes you act the way
you do."
Success was Stephen's. Modest at
first, of course, but of rapid growth,
and Lanny knew why. His patients fell
In love with him and advertised him
to their friends.
In two years Stephen Burr had re-
paid Lanny witll Interest; the third
year he moved into new, sunny, roomy
and beautifully furnished offices, with
a waiting room as large as all of his
previous offices lmd been. lie Joined
the best club in town; he Joined a
country club, and resolutely Lanny
drove lim out of the office on Wednes-
day and Saturday afternoons to play
golf. She denied him the privilege of
naming his own fees because she knew
they would be too modest; she kept
his free list to a mininmm; knowing
all his friends, she supervised Iris social
duties; she kept his books anl was a
very devil of a collector ; she ,rote all
his business letters and sigqed them
for him; she invested Ills money for
him, and slate she was no mean psy-
chologist, she could read a woman pa
tlent as she would a book. She was
his Admirable Crichton, and lie re-
warded her with his eofidence, hls
affectionate friendship and a perfectly
dazzling salary raise each Christmas.
He always kissed tmr at six o'clock
on the twents:-fourth day of Decem-
ber in each year for the five years
preceding Ule late winter afternoon
when Mr. Daniel McNamara called in
behalf of the strangest patient Launy's
boy had ever been asked to accept.
It had been a long. hard day. Doc-
tor Burr was tired, and a Mrs. Regi-
nald Merton, who was rich and Idle
not very intelligent and hence neuras-
thenic, and been fatiguing him wlrh a
recital of her Imaginary aches, pains
and megrims.
He pressed a button under the desk,
tapping oat a code message to Lanny,
and waited patiently.
He knew size would appear momen-
tarily and say: 'Tm sorry Doctor
Burr, but Professor Finnegan has just
telephoned that you are fifteen minutes
late to your engagement to meet the
great German savant, Herr Doktor
Uffitz."
He waited three minutes and sent an-
other code message to Lanny, adding
the word "Help I" Still Lanny did not
appear, so he said with his disarming
smile: "Mrs. Merton, the five o'clock
whistle llas blown, and 1 can't listen
to anotiler word. I've Just remem-
bered a most pressing engagement, so
now if you do not go at pace I shall
have to throw you out."
He had her by the arm and out the
door before sis eoold think of atlother
synlpt(mL Then tm locked tile door,
put both legs up on the desk and
loaded and ligtzted hls pipe, Just as the
door to his nurse's office opened and
Lanny said :
"I'm so sorry, but Professor Flnne-
gan--"
"She's gone. Where did you go,
leaving me here to suffer?"
"I was in tile waiting room placating
an ipeIent visitor. 1 told him you
had gone for the day, but he flashed
some sort of police badge at me, said
h wasn't nutty and that his business
was private."
"Whenever you atimit a person whose
business is private and ltersmlal ! am
called upon for mental and l)hyMcal
effort, sans a fee, I,anny. I'm tired."
"What you need de'lrie," sald l.an
ny, "is a nice, long. cool. highball."
"And while you're on the job, get
me one. too," a deep voice spoke from
the door behind her.
"It's that police person," Lanny
cried.
"It ts," the police person agreed
without malice, "and even If 1 am a
cop, I'm too smart to be fooled by the
fibs of any woman, How are you,
Doe?"
"Tired," he murmured. "Worn to a
razor edge talking sanely to the insane
and the semi-sane, the sltb.normal and
the abnormal You appear sane, officer.
Are you ?"
B. KYNE
"I'd be afraid to take a bet I am,
Doe. I handle my share o' nuts, too,
and there's times they make me think
I'm hugs instead o' them. My name's
Dan McNamara and I'm the chief of
police."
"Sit down, Chief. Drag over that
armchair." Ile sffiled at Lawny and
held up two fingers.
That smile melted her. It always
did. For five years she had been try-
ing to bully him, and his smile had al-
ways defeated her, for which reason
she often had a brainstorm and threat-
ened to resign his service. And she
would have done it, too, for she was a
foreeful woman, only for the fear that
he might replace her with a nurse who
didn't understand.hima ia-de-la young
thing, half-baked professionally, who
would fall In love with him and make
him marry her. He was so kind and
sympathetic Lanny knew lie would
nmrry her, Just to keep her from feel-
Ing bad.
"D--n his sympathy," she growled,
as she prepared the drinks in an hmer
room. "That's why ira's worked to
death, fie'll die young--overwork--
angina, the young fooli That big,
fresh, heavy-footed cop! How dare he
force his way In--Vhe big bum! And
getting a drink for his dirty work!"
She sniffed and served the highballs.
"You're mighty sweet, Lanny," Doc-
tor Burr told her. "Now, run along
home."
Lanny did not go. She knew that big
moocher of a chief of police would
praise such. old liquor and his host
would offer him a second helping.
"I've got a gwl down at Central sta-
tion," Dan McNamara was saying.
"Shoplifting detail picked her up In a
department store where she'd pinched a
dozen and a half silk stockings. Petit
larceny and caught with the goods. I
sent a good man around to try to
square the case with he department
store people, but they insist on press-
ing charges and that's too bad because
she's got a couple of priors against
her. Out on probation--suspended
sentence, you understand, Doe. And
now she'll do two years fi the Big
House. 'S tough on the gir."
"What's your interest in hr, if she's
a confirmed thlefT'
"Well, maybe she wouldn't be a
thief if she'd had the breaks," he de-
fended. "Somebody must have given
her a sweet bust on the nose, because
her beak's been broke and nothing's
left of It but a saddle."
"Is she tough?"
"Is she tough? Doe, she's so ;:ough
I know It ain't natural, h girl as
tough as her must be looney, But
there ain't nothing tough about her
eyes or her mouth--and that's where
you can always find toughness ttmr'$:
been bred in the bone. There's some-
thing about this girl that's different.
Doe. I don't know what It is but I
know this much: she wasn't always
tough. I want you to give her the once
over."
"I understand there is a psychologist
and psychiatrist- Doctor Bletllen--
who does all of the medico-legal work
for the department, Chief. I wouldn't
care to examine the girl except on hls
invitation."
"Yes, I know. Question of ethics,
and while the question is being de-
bated this girl gets hauled into court
and takes tim rap on the old charge
of grand theft. I know Bletilen. I've
tried iris and he says tiffs girl Is a
natural hoodlam, and mentally and
physically heaJtby. He says she's got
more intelligence thun any ten girls
in Vassar. She must be smart, too, be.
cause she tohl him he was a fool, and
I agree with imr."
Doctor Burt was silent, for he was
intensely etlflcal and would not criti-
cize a fellow doctor.
"I've beard a lot about you," the
chief of police continued. "You're re-
garded as the best psyehlatrlst and
neurologist in San Francisco. So don't
talk to me about the capabte Dec
Blethen. I want you to look this girl
over."
His Imge face brightened as he sum-
tn:v.'tl a thought t'liat wotild bolster up
his plea. "'She don't cuss me, Doe.
I've asked her all almut herself, and
I'm sure she tells me all she knows,
but sis don't know anything. She's
bound to like you, Doe, and when sb*
likes anybody--now, Dec, I've got a
notion you can get her confidence to
such an extent you can prong down
into her soul and locate the trouble.
I hear men like you do things like that
nowadays."
Doctor Burr smiled. "Sometimes we
uncover complexes or mental reflexes;
frequently we do not. And when we
have uncovered them we cannot always
cure them. You say this girl has a
N
ruined nose? Does it affect her aP-
pearance greatly?"
"She's ugly when you look at her the
first time, Doe, Jut after you've talked
with her and Iooked some more the
shock sort of wears off. I got a notion
that If her nose could be straightened
up she'd be a goodlooking glrl. And
nmybe If her mind could be straight-
ened, she'd /)e a good girl."
"Know anything about her ante-
cedents, her background?"
"I don't know and I can't find out,
She won't tell me."
"It may be," Doctor Burr suggested,
"that she doesn't know. Has Blerhen
finished with the case?"
"Yes, sir. He told me not to bother
him about her no more."
Doctor Burr indicated his telephone.
"Call him up, Chief, and ask him if he
"She's Ugly When You Look at Her
the First Time, Dec."
has any objection to having me give
her an unofficial examhmtion."
McNamara did so. Following a brief
conversation, he turned the telephoto
over to Stephen.
Stephen took the telephone. "Doctor
Blethen? Burr speaking. The chie
came to my office about that girl he
has at the central station. Notwith-
standing your report he has asked me,
as a personal favor re see the girl
You understand, however"
"Yes, I understand. Burr, she's a
bad lot."
"Something the chief sald has mild-
ly aroused my curiosity, if you would
care to invite me to disenss her case--
understand I have no desire to In
trude---"
"I'm through with her, Burr. Help
yourself, old man. However, take a
tip from me and don't let that felh)w
McNamara sell himself to you. If you
do he'll keep you busy. I doubt if any
nlau 0ll earth can rnn a criiuina] down
as prmnptly as McNamara; tie is a
pilotograpbie brain and never forgels
a face or a fact" but after he's lauded
a yegg in his cooler le develops an ah-
normal yearning to find out what made
him act that w'ly. Mac's a softy."
"Exactly. Thank you, Blethen. Still,
a blind pig will sometimes find an
acorn, and something he said--Good-
by."
Lanny entered. "Tllere's a young
woman in tile waiting room," she an-
nounced. "She said to ine. 'Where
the h--l's that bonehead of a ethel
gone?' " Lanny looked at Dan Mc-
Namara severely over the rims of iler
spectacles. "Friend of yours2" stm
queried witimringly.
"Yes," McNamara admitted, "and
Dot's new patient. Bring her In and
he'll give her the once over."
But Lanny shook her head. "Tills
nut sllop |s closed for tile day," silo
told him. "Bring her around at one
o'clock tomorrow. The doctor has fif-
teen minutes then."
TO 8E CONTINUED.
Whale is a Mammal
One of tle commonest popular er-
rors of zoology Is the notion the! the
whale is stone sort of fish. It ts not;
it Is a tnammal whictl went to sea, as
serts a writer in tbe Cleveland Plain
Dealer. The whale is warm-blooded,
has a well-developed b ttin anti in all
other respects shows far higher or
ganization than any of the fishes. Its
young are born alive, and are suckled
and cared for by the mother as with
land mammals.
NUDISM OLD IN LONDON
:Nudism is not "l novelty in Lon-
don, according to records recently
fonnd there. They reveal that tlle
cult has waxed and waned through
the centuries. In 1733 a nocturnal
meeting of the Naked society was
held in a tavern near the Haynmr-
ket, but the organization was
prompted more by religions and
moral than by hygienic convictions.
Records show that a similar society
existed in the city in 1641.
And Louder
Money talks, but debts
talking longer than money.
keep on
Why Hospitals Use
a Liquid Laxative
Hospitals and doctors have always
used liquid laxatives. And the public
is fast returning to laxatives in liquid
form. Do you know the reasons?
The dose of a liquid laxative can be
measured. The action can thus be
regulated to suit individual need. It
forms no habit; you need not take a
"double dose" a day or two later.
Nor will a mild liquid laxative irritate
the kidneys.
The right dose of a liquid laxative
brings a more natural movement, and
there is no discomfort at the time, or
after.
The wrong cathartic may often do
more harm than good.
A properly prepared liquid laxative
like Dr. Caldwell's Syrup Pepsin
brings safe relief from constipation.
It gently helps the average person's
bowels until nature restores them to
regularity. Dr. Caldwell's Syrup
Pepsin is an approved liquid laxative
which all druggists keep ready for
use. It makes an ideal family laxa-
tive; effective for all ages, and may
be given the youngest child,
u,, r
I I II
Your own druggist is authorized to
cheerfully refund your money on the spot
it you srs not relieved by CreomulsioL
i
Watch Your Step
Bragging has to be done as care-
fully as lying.
to a cup o£ loue
tot most recipes.
K C "
BAKING POWDER.
Same I-'lce to00:p J
as 44 00ears ago I
25 ounoe8 for 25@ J
Manu|aeturedby Bakinl |
Start the day feeling'--,.,.t
FITand ACTIVEI .., f "
system hold You back. CLEANSE | / o') |
INTERNALLY WITR GARFIELD ' ,"
TEA. Get rid of the wastes thatf.., ..'
StOWYOO uP aqd keep YOu feel- U IA
In8 run-don and inactive,
Rsualty works within 8 tO
10 hrs. MILD but prempfl !
WNU--T 47---34
!
UnsighfJ/v
Comp00exidns
muddy-looklng, blotchy and
red--relieved and improved
with safe, medicated Resinol.
