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Flaming Youth

<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> It was to her second daughter that Mona Fentriss made, after due thought, disclosure of her condition. Dee was shocked and incredulous. She had no profound affection for her mother. None of the girls had. But Mona had always been bonne camarade with them in her casual and light-hearted way. And she had made, as few women make, the atmosphere of her home. Without her the house was almost unthinkable; it would not be the same place; not only sadder and duller, but essentially different. In this way chiefly would she be missed. "You'll have to be the one to carry on the housekeeping job, Dee." "I?" said Mary Delia. "Mother, I don't know the first thing about it." "You'll learn. You're clever." "Besides, I can't believe that you're going to—that you're right about yourself." "Ask Dr. Bob." "He's been hinting at something. But he seemed afraid to come out with it when I tried to follow up. Is that the reason why you wanted me to marry Bobs?" "Partly." "I can't seem to think of him in that way. But then, I can't seem to think of any man in that way." "Not even Jimmy James?" "Not even Jimmy, much as I like him." "When we talked about this before you said——" "Yes; I know. Probably I'll marry him one of these days. But when he tries to make love to me, I curl up a little. Am I abnormal, Mona?" [Pg 66] "I don't know," answered Mona reflectively. "We women are queer machines, Dee. Perhaps it's just that Jimmy isn't the right man." "Then I haven't met the right man yet. It would be pretty weird if he came along afterward, wouldn't it? So perhaps I'd better wait." "No; I think perhaps you'd better not, if you really like Jimmy. There might not be any right man for you, in that sense. Some of us are made that way." "Yes; I suppose so. But why choose me to run the house? Con would do it better, wouldn't she?" "Possibly. But if she's to do it, I'd have to tell her what I've just told you. And I don't want to break in on her happiness." "Oh, happiness," murmured Dee in a curious tone. "You don't think she's happy?" queried the mother. "Or perhaps you don't believe in that kind of happiness. Cynicism at your age is a pose." "It isn't that. But I don't believe Con and Freddie are going too well together." "Why not?" "Freddie's hitting the booze quite a bit. Besides, he hasn't as much money as Con thought. Not nearly. And she's a high-speed little spender, you know." "Yes; she's certainly that," agreed Mona, bethinking herself of the monthly bills which came in after the eldest sister's allowance had been expended in a variety of manners for which the spender was cheerfully unable to account. "Doing fifty thousand dollar things on a fifteen thousand dollar income won't speed 'em up the Road to Happiness," opined the shrewd Dee. "She'll make a hash of it, if she doesn't pull up." "Doesn't she care for Fred, do you think?" [Pg 67] "In one way she's crazy about him." Dee's curled lip suggested the way; also that she neither comprehended nor sympathised with it. But Mona laughed, relieved. "Well; that's rather essential, you know, in marriage. I'll talk to Connie about extravagance when I come back." "As a preacher on that text," began Dee wickedly; then bent over to give her mother's hand an awkward and remorseful pat. "I'll do the best I can, of course. And don't think I'm not—not feeling pretty rotten over this," she continued, huskily and a little shamefully, like a boy caught in a display of emotion.... "You say, when you come back. Going away?" "Oh, just a run over to Philadelphia to spend a couple of days with the Barhams," replied Mona carelessly. "You and I will have to do a little figuring about the housekeeping, too, on my return. And you can pass it on to Pat when you get married." "Pat! She'll be a grand little housekeeper when her turn comes. I pity poor Dad." "She and your father understand each other, though, in a way," mused Mona. Having meditated over this conversation with dubious feelings, Dee, who had a sane instinct for facts, went to call on Dr. Osterhout at the little laboratory attached to his bungalow. This was on a Tuesday. Her mother had left the previous noon. Osterhout emerged from rapt contemplation of a test tube to find the girl standing over him. "Hullo," he said. "What are you invading a bachelor's quarters at this hour for?" "Afraid of being compromised, Bobs?" she retorted. "Hadn't thought of it. Why put such alarming ideas into my head? But my reputation will stand it if yours[Pg 68] will. Besides, a physician is immune. One of the perquisites of the profession." "It's as a physician that I want to talk to you." His face changed; became grave and solicitous. "What's wrong?" "I want to know about Mona." "Has she told you anything?" "Yes." "I've wanted her to for some time." "Then it's true." "Yes; it's true." "How long, Bobs?" "Uncertain. It isn't progressing as fast as I feared. But—not very long, Dee." He spoke with effort. "A year?" "Perhaps. If she's careful." "But she isn't careful. You know Mona." "No. She isn't. It isn't in her to be." "Ought she to be running off on trips?" "Of course not. But I can't stop her." A note of weariness, of defeat had come into his brusque voice. "Poor old Bobs!" The girl went to him and set a hand on his shoulder, brushing his cheek with her fingers as she did so. There was nothing repellent to her sensitiveness in contact with him, nothing of the revulsion which she experienced under the eager touch of men, tentatively love-making. Bobs wasn't like a man to her so much as like a faithful and noble-spirited dog. "It's hard on you, isn't it?" she murmured. His eyes thanked her for her understanding and sympathy. "It isn't easy," he confessed. "I won't hurt you any more. But just one question; is it quite hopeless?" [Pg 69] "I can't see any chance of cure." "Poor old Bobs!" she said again, this time in a whisper. "If I were a man I'm sure I should be wild about Mona. I can see that even if she is my mother. She's so lovely; and she's so young; and she's"—Dee smiled—"she's such a bad child." "No; she's not," he defended doggedly. "She's just a little spoiled because life has always petted her. And now the petting is almost over." "Yes. That's hard to believe, isn't it? Of Mona! She's always had her own way with everyone and everything. But she's got courage. She won't flinch. Bobs, do you remember a talk we three had, months ago?" "Yes." "I'd like to do something for her before—something that she wanted. And for you, too. It wouldn't do any good, would it," she asked wistfully, "if I were to marry you?" "Not a bit." She smiled, awry, but withal, relieved. "What a bear you are! Isn't that your phone ringing?" "Let it ring. This isn't office hours." "A hint for me? Having proposed and been rejected, I'm off." She brushed his cheek again. "Old boy," she said, "it is going to be tough going for you. Worse than for any of us. Good-bye." Concentration upon his work being dissipated by this disturbing visit, Osterhout threw himself on the settee and dropped out of the world into a chasm of dark musings. If Mona had ever really cared for him, he mused—if he had been her lover—might he have been her lover, as she had hinted?—had she lovers? Or were the other men merely playthings of her wayward moods, of her craving for excitement, for adulation, for the sunlit warmth of[Pg 70] being loved? At least he had not been a plaything; her regard for and trust in him were true and sincere. Better these, perhaps, than the turmoil and uncertainty of—— Yet, that temptation that she had held out to him; was it just an instance of her wickeder bent of coquetry?... Or could he have made her care?... Damn that telephone! He roused himself with a wrench and went into the next room where the intrusive mechanism was thrilling. Long-distance had been trying to get him.... Wait a moment.... A man's voice, low, eager and strained came to his ear over the wire. "Dr. Osterhout?" "Yes." "Can you come to Trenton immediately? By the next train?" "Who is speaking?" "It's very important," went on the nervous and insistent voice. "It's a—a very important case. Critical." "Who are you?" "Is that necessary?" queried the voice, after a pause. "Certainly. Do you suppose that I am going out on any wild-goose, anonymous call?" "Then I was to say," said the voice, "that Mona needs you." "Mona! Is she ill?" "Yes." "Where?" "Here, in Trenton." "Where in Trenton?" "At the Marcus Groot Hotel. You'll be met at the train. For God's sake say you'll come." "I can get the one o'clock," said Osterhout. "Good-bye." [Pg 71] Going over on the train he had time for scalding meditations. Mona in Trenton! At the Marcus Groot Hotel. When she was supposedly visiting the Barhams at their Philadelphia apartment. And all this atmosphere of secrecy thrown about it by the unknown man. But was he unknown? The voice had seemed dimly familiar to Osterhout. Surely, he had heard it before. Feverishly he mustered in his mind Mona's admirers, canvassed them over, vacillated between this and that one, and shook with a jealous and amazed rage which horrified while it tore at him, as Sidney Rathbone hurried up the platform to meet him. But in a moment he had mastered himself. "Thank God, you're here!" "How is she?" "A good deal easier. She's been terribly ill." "Heart?" "Yes. She wouldn't let me call any local physician." "When was she taken?" inquired Osterhout as he stepped into the waiting taxi. "This morning. About eight o'clock." In his anxiety Rathbone was beyond any considerations of concealment; the revelation was absolute when, at the hotel, he took Osterhout directly to the suite of rooms, as one having the right. Mona greeted the newcomer with a smile, grateful, pleading, pitiful. Mutely it said: "Don't be too harsh in your judgment of me." Hardening himself to his professional state of mind, Osterhout made his swift, assured, detailed examination. "What's the verdict?" whispered Mona. He nodded encouragingly. "You'll be all right," he said reassuringly. From his case he produced some pellets. "Not an opiate?" she asked rebelliously. "I want to talk to you." [Pg 72] "No. It's a stimulant. But I think you'd better not try to talk for a while." "I must ... Sid, dear, go into the other room, won't you?" Rathbone nodded, speechless for the moment. His hollowed eyes were full of the slow tears of relief. He bent over the sick woman's face for a moment and was gone, obediently. "I want to tell you," said Mona, as soon as the door had closed, "about this." "There isn't any need," returned Osterhout. "No. There isn't," agreed Mona. "The situation explains itself, doesn't it?" She smiled at him, equably but without hardihood. "It does." "Are you being my wise doctor or my reproachful friend? Are you thinking to yourself: 'Mona, I wouldn't have thought it of you!' Because, if you are——" "I'm not." "You mean that you would have thought it of me. How dare you, Bobs!" she demanded elfishly. He did not respond to her raillery, which he recognised for the expression of tortured nerves. "I wish you wouldn't talk," he said. "I will," she retorted mutinously. "It won't hurt me. At worst, it won't hurt me nearly as much as to hold in what I want to say. Bobs, was this attack brought on by—by my foolishness?" "Very possibly. It certainly didn't help any," he replied grimly. "Suppose I'd died here," she mused. "I very nearly did." "So I should judge." "What a scandal there'd have been! And what a text[Pg 73] for the pious! 'The wages of sin is death.' D'you believe that, Bobs?" "It's a useful bogey to scare people who are more timid than they are wicked." "I'm not timid," she proclaimed. "And I don't feel particularly wicked. Only anxious over how this is going to turn out." "What did you do it for, Mona?" he burst out painfully. She gave him a sidelong glance. "Oh, I don't know. Boredom. And he begged me so. Poor Sid! He does love me." "The dirty scoundrel! If he loved you, would he——" "Of course he would!" she broke in, with impatient contempt. "Don't indulge in cheap melodrama. It's because people are in love that they take risks like this." "Then you love him," said Osterhout dolorously. "I don't know. He sways me. But—I don't think I'm in love with him, as you mean it." "Yet you——" "Yet I came here with him. Does that seem so terrible to you?" She spoke in a tone of half-tender mockery. "I can't understand it, except on the ground that you love him." "Because you don't understand me. And there are twenty-one different definitions of love." "Do you understand yourself?" "Yes; I do," she asserted thoughtfully and boldly. "And I'm not afraid to accept myself as I am. I don't shut my eyes to the picture just because it's my own. I'm not a sneak." "No. You're not that." "And if I take the chances I'm ready to face the [Pg 74]consequences," she said without defiance, but as one who enunciates a principle of life. "The consequences? Of this?" "If necessary. It isn't the first time." He winced and shrank. "Ah, I'm sorry if that hurt you!" she cried contritely. "Never mind. There are others than me to be thought of." "You do the thinking, Bobs. I'm not up to it." "I will." "That's like you," she murmured gratefully. "Where are you supposed to be staying?" "At the Barhams', on Walnut Street. Only Sue is at home." "Can you arrange it with her?" "To back up my lies? Yes; Sue will stand by." It was characteristic of Mona Fentriss that she should use the short, ugly, and veracious word. "Then I shall take you to a Philadelphia hospital." "Am I as bad as that?" "It's the simplest way to cover the trail. You were taken ill at the Barhams'; you wired for me to avoid alarming the family, and I had you transferred to the hospital. But there's a risk." "Of being trapped?" "Not that so much. Of bringing on another attack." "You'll be with me, won't you?" "Yes. We'll get a car and take you over." "Then I'm not afraid," she said trustfully. "But—'we'; do you mean that Sid is going along?" "I supposed you'd want him." "I don't." Wise though he was in human nature, Mona was always surprising Osterhout. He made no comment, but went[Pg 75] into the front room. Rathbone, his finely cut face mottled and livid, lurched heavily out of his chair. "Is she going to die?" he asked, looking pitifully unlike the traditional villain of such a drama. "Perhaps," returned the physician shortly. "Because of—was it this that brought on the attack?" Osterhout eyed him with grim distaste. "It didn't help any," he answered, as he had answered Mona. "Good God! If she dies through my fault——" "You should have thought of that before." "I love her so!" groaned the man. His face changed. "I'll know what to do," he muttered in quiet, self-centred determination. "And what's that?" demanded the physician. "Nothing," replied the other, startled and sullen. Osterhout reached him in three steps. "Suicide, perhaps," he said. "That's my business." "It is. If you're a low, dirty coward." Rathbone straightened. "I won't take that from any man." "Lower your voice, you fool! And listen to me. If she dies and you kill yourself, do you realize what that would mean? It would be advertising this situation to the world. Scandal and shame for the family. Oh, it's an easy way out for you. But can't you be man enough to think of others a little?" "Isn't it scandal and shame anyway?" "No. It isn't," returned the doctor energetically. "I'm going to get her out of it. All you have to do is to obey orders." "I'll do that," said Rathbone eagerly and brokenly. "I'll do anything you say. And if ever I can repay you——" [Pg 76] "If you try to thank me I'll kill you!" retorted Osterhout, snarling and livid, suddenly losing control of himself in his jealous anguish of soul. The other stared in his face, amazed but unalarmed by the outbreak. "Ah!" he breathed. "So that's the way it is with you. Well—God help you! I'm sorry. But I know now you'll do your best for her. That's all I care about." He turned toward the door of the room. For the moment Osterhout started forward to intercept him, then drew back with a face in which shone the bitterness of yielding to a superior right. When Rathbone returned, both men had recovered their self-command. "Get your things together; send for a maid to pack hers; settle your bill, and get the easiest riding car you can find to go to Philadelphia," were the physician's brief directions. "Where are you going to take her?" "To a hospital." "When can I see her?" "That is for her to say." "Then you don't think she's going to—that there is any immediate danger?" said the lover hopefully. "I think she'll pull through this time, though there is still danger." "I'm glad you're with her," said Rathbone simply, and went. Quite as much time was devoted by Dr. Osterhout in the days immediately following to covering the devious trail of his patient as to treating her medically. After a consultation with Mrs. Barham, in which each solemnly pretended that the other entertained no suspicion of Mona's slip, he wrote a heedfully worded letter of misinformation and assurance to Ralph Fentriss, explaining[Pg 77] that his wife had been taken to the hospital after a mild attack, more for rest than anything else; that no member of the family was to come over, and that she would be in condition to return home in a few days. This latter was true, for Mona's recuperative powers were great. None of the family came. But to Osterhout's surprise, he ran upon Patricia while walking down Broad Street on Sunday. She was with a pretty and smartly dressed girl a little older than herself. "What are you doing here, Pat?" he demanded. "Week-ending with Cissie Parmenter." With an aplomb amusing in one so young she indicated her companion. "She's my b.f. at school. Cissie, this is Dr. Bobs. You know about him." "Yes, indeed. How d'you do, Dr. Osterhout." "And what manner of creature is a b.f.?" asked he quizzically, taking the extended hand which was ornamented with a valuable ruby. "Best friend, of course, stupid Bobs," returned Pat. "What kind of a bat are you on down here?" "Your mother's been ill. She's in hospital here," he answered and immediately wondered whether he had not spoken unwisely. "Hospital?" Pat opened wide eyes. "Is it dangerous?" "No. She's coming along very well." "Take me to see her." She turned to Cissie. "I'm plunged, Ciss, but the luncheon's off for me. Tell the boys. You may have my c.t. See you this afternoon." "I don't know that you ought—" began Osterhout, but was cut short by a quick: "Then she's worse than you pretend." "No; but I don't want her excited. However, you may see her," he decided. He took her to the hospital and left her there with her mother. On his return for his evening's visit he asked: [Pg 78] "How long did the bambina stay?" "We had a long talk. Bob, did you notice any change in Pat?" "No; I don't think I did. I wasn't thinking about her." Mona's beautiful eyes grew pensive. "But you were right about her; what you said before." "As to what?" "She is going to be attractive to men in her own queer style. There's something about her, a femininity—no, a sheer femaleness that's going to make trouble." "For her or for others?" "For her possibly, because of its effect on others. She understands it a little herself, already, for she's very precocious. And she's proud of it. But she's afraid of it, too. Such a talk as we've had! She's a frank little beast. Your respectable hairs would have stood on end. I've been frank with her, too. I had to be; there may not be much time. Morituri te—what's the silly Latin, Bob?... Oh, don't look like that, my dear! I didn't mean to hurt you. And I've hurt you so much, haven't I?" "It doesn't matter." "Because you're so good to me. So it does matter. Why are you so good to me, Bob?" "You know, Mona." "But I want to hear you say it.... No; I don't! That's my badness coming out again. And I'm going to be good now in the time remaining to me. Can't you see me, with a saintly expression of face and piously folded hands, waiting submissively like—like somebody on a sampler? Somebody very woolly?" In spite of his pain he smiled. "That's better," she cried gaily. "Cheer up. I want you in good mood because I've something to ask you. There's something I want you awfully to do, and you won't want to do it." [Pg 79] "Is it very foolish?" he asked indulgently. "Imbecile to the verge of asininity.... Do you believe in spiritualism?" "No." "What a flat and flattening negative. But I'm not to be flattened. If you don't believe in it, there couldn't be any harm in carrying out my silly little scheme." "Which is?" "I'm going to want to know about Pat. If I don't, I'll worry." "About Pat?" he queried, not comprehending. "But, as she's away at school I'll be no more in touch with her than you." "I'm talking about afterwards." "Afterwards?" "Yes. After I'm dead. What makes you so slow, Bob? I want you to write me." "What? Spirit letters? Through some cheap fraud of a medium?" "Oh, no! Direct." "Do you believe they'd reach you, my letters?" he asked sadly. "Not the letters themselves, certainly. I don't know that I actually believe anything about it. But what is in the letters might sift through to me in some way we don't understand. It might, Bob," she pleaded. "I've heard of strange cases. And, anyway, I should think you'd like to write, in case you miss me." "Miss you!" he repeated hoarsely. "Yes; I'll miss you." "Then wouldn't you give up just a little, tiny time to writing me?" she cajoled. "Just a promise to please silly me. After I'm dead you needn't keep it, you know, if you don't believe that I'll know." [Pg 80] "Any promise I made you I'd keep, living or dead. What would I do with the letters if I did write?" "You know the built-in desk-safe in my room? You could put them there. You'll have the combination, for you're to be executor of my will. There's a large drawer at the bottom.... Of course it's all foolishness. But—won't you?" "You know I'll do anything you ask." "Yes; I know. Poor old Bob! Write me about all the girls; but principally Pat, just as if she were yours, too; all that you'd hope for her and fear for her; her problems and growth and dangers. She'll have 'em. Perhaps I'll come back, a haunt, and read your letters—you must make 'em very wise, Bob—and whisper your wisdom in the ear of Pat's queer little soul, and warn her if need be.... Bob, do you know what I really want for the girls?" "I might guess." "Not goodness; that's for plain girls. Nor virtue, particularly; that's more or less of a scarecrow. I want happiness for them." "Only a little, easy thing like that?" he taunted gently. "Well, I've had it; a lot of it. 'I've taken my fun where I found it.' Bob, I'm a pagan thing! And perhaps after I've gone where the good pagans go, I'll send word back to you and invite you to follow—if it's a proper place for a dear old fogy like you. It may not be an orthodox heaven, old boy. But there'll be something doing if Mona goes there!" But it was not until six months later and from her own house that lovely, pagan Mona Fentriss went to her own place. Went with an expectant soul and a smile on her lips, unafraid in the face of the great, dim Guess as she had been in every threat that life had held over her. <hr /> [Pg 81] <h2>PART II</h2> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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