Picture Show (May-Oct 1919)

n Virinrc Show, Junr. \^^h, 1919. Before she could finish the little office she was engaged upon, a tell-tale drop fell on the man * thin wrist. " Nurse, you never speak to me." " It's best for you to be quiet, and I'm no talker," said Annie as brusquely as she could. She hardened her voice, he must not recogniso it. He turned his head restlessly and sighed. " You are sorry, though t A girl might be ■orry for any man, left alive to be a useless hulk, all his days before him in the dark." No answer. " Girls don't usually cry vmloss they're sorrj'," ho went on in a weak, tired monotone. Annie rubbed the moist Bpot prosaically with a towel. " I am afraid I splashed you with the sponge," she said shortly." " No, no," murmured the man dreamily. "It was a tear — not from your eyes — it wa3 Annie — she's hero, somewhere — she'll coma back again — she was crying — she's sorry — why did you rub it away ? — I wanted itare you there, Annie ? " "There's nobody here but me," said Annie, pitching her voice low and hard. " You really ought to go to sleep." " All right, nurse ; I'll try. I expect I do talk a lot of rot. You mustn't mind nie. Thinga seem all mixed up. You're sure — you'll swear there's not a girl there — a girl with blue eyes — and hair like — like flax — and " There's only me here at all," said Annio. " All right, nurse," he said wearily. The night wore on ; the long dreadful night through which the sounds of pain and suffering ■« ere never quite at rest. A car throbbed into the court bringing fresh cases. l>own tho corridor she heard the screen being moved out, and guessed that the subaltern with the shattered thigh was dying. A shrill voice, cracked in delirium, woke the rest of Ward B. But Ian MacGregor seemed to hear no sound ; his own troubled brain and his own pain occupied him to the exclusion of everything else. " Annie ! " the persistent voice began again. " There's only nurse here," whispered Annie. " Oh, sorry ! " — half consciously. But a few minutes later, with a weak, faltering voice, he repeated the name. " Annie ! Just sing to me ! Sing ' Annio Laurie ' to me — then I'll go to sleep, I will. I promise — you know I will sleep if I promise to " Scalding tears oozed through Annie's fingers. She couldn't ! Oh, she couldn't ! She ! Annie Laurie's own namesake, the girl who had broken her plighted troth, who loved another man. It was too much ! She gazed into the sad, troubled, sightless fnce of her betrothed, and a great pity welled U]i in her, conquering all other feelings. " Sing to me, Annie dear ! Sing me to sleep I " said the low voice. Then he lay quiet, ptiU and quiet ; but his unrestful eyes were w ide open, and turning from side to side, as if ill search of some comfort that was denied him ill a world that was all pain and darkness. And Annio choked down her sobs and cleared her throat. Kneeling beside him, she began to sing, very low and sweet, as a mother sings to a little child tliat is afraid of the dark. " Ma xwel ton's braes are bonny, Where early fa s tho dew." Across tlie white face flashed a look of wonder and delight — the pain vanished from the tortured eyes. The thin hand nyjved on the coverlet, caught Annie's and held it fast. " Good girl, I knew you'd come — when I wanted you. Go on, dearest ! " Annie faltered and went on bravely > '■ Oi'ed me her promise true, And no'er forgot will be. And for bonnie Annio Lauris I d laj' me doon and dee." Lower and lower the sweet voice fell ; the words scarcely scorned to leave her lips. 'J'ho contentment deepened on Jan's face. Before the Bong wa-s enrlcrl, he was slopping sweetly and naturally, with Annie's hand hold tightly against his cheek. He slept the night through ; the precious sleep that was to win him back to life and liappiness. Happiness or That rested with Annie. He wa?? quite blind ; nothing would over alter that. But, .strange to say, that did not seem to trouble Ian. He had his Annie. She was, tliere by his Bide, nursing him, loving hin;, Bingiug to him. That was such a joy that it weighed down pain, weakness, even the loss of precious sight. Of course, Annie's romance was a nine day.s' wonder in the hospital. She was released from her duties — sister grimly declaring that slie was not much loss — and spent most of the time at lan'a bedside during his tedious recovery. Very slowly, but none the less surely, they woa him back ; through skill and good nursing, the doctor said. But Annie's grieving heart knew bettor. It was the great strength of lan'a love ; tho wonderful love that her own thankless, ignorant heart had never fathomed. Ho had her ; nothing else mattered at all. " Stay by me. I want to hold your hand all tho time," he said contentedly. " Always stay with me, darling. Sit there and sing to mo ; let mo bathe in your love, and know you are all mine, precious, every bit of you I I can't bear e\ en to loose your dear hand, lest I should lose my bonny wee thing." " I'll never leave you, Ian I " Annio wrung the words from dry lips. But, oh, her heart was heavy for the memory of that man from the sea. For indeed and indeed Ian had lost his jewel ; her heart was given to the other ; and since it was not hers any longer, she could not, however much she wanted, give it back to him, whole and pure and shining as he, poor blind thing, dreamed he had it. Suppose, by any chance, that other were to cross her path again 'I Would her faith to Ian hold good ? Would she bo proof 1 She had proved frail before ; how w6uld it chance again ? Annie could only pray that she might never sec him to have her resolve shaken. The Answer. " J* NXIE ! Annie ! Here's a friend of mine you must know ! Dear old Hathaway, who saved my life ! You know the story ? ' Isn't it ripping, him turning up like this "/ " Annie had been gathering flowers for the table — the honeysuckle that he loved for its scent, and because it reminded him of her in the porch at home. Her arms were full as she turned w a pleased smile to greet lan's friend. The name meant nothing to her, but at sight of him the smile faded, leaving her white-lipped and rigid. She was looking into the face — the. arresting, eager face — the too well -remembered dark, penetrating eyes of the man who had stolen, in that mad summer time, Ian MacGregor's jewel. The man was a tall, smart, typical American officer. There was no sign of recognition on his face. If he knew her,die was a remarkable actor indeed. Annie had herself well in hand. " Whj' is your hand so cold, dearest ? " Ian had reached for her hand, finding it, and holding it close in his. '■ Truth is, I can't bear you to leave me now," ho said, laughing. " But you're cold ; and what makes j ou tremble so ? " " The wind is in the north," said Annie hurriedl}'. " it blows quite chill." " Why. you're dreaming — or ill ! " cried Ian. "Tho air's full of sunshine, and the birds are singing gloriously." "Yes, roallj", it's not a bit cold," said Hathaway. "The incest day since I came out of hospital." '' Then you've been illwounded ? " Annie asked, scarcely able to trust her voice. " Not wounded ; eick, though, very Birk Indeed. Brain fever, and oMl sorts of' comjiUcations. 1 lost my memory one wlrilf ; funny thing that. For six months or mon before my illne.ss, my mind's a perfect blank. Queer, isn't it ''. " '■ Funny for anybody you owe any money to," joked MacGregor ; or for any girls you'd been making love to, old bean ! " " Nothin' doin'," returned Hathaway, with a dry smile. "Say. you're still cold, Mi;->n Laurie. Let me jmt the window up." He stayed for about an hour, chatting pleasantly to them both. And Annie sat on, listening fearfully, at her lover's .side, his han<l ever and anon reached out to touch hers, her dress or her hair, anything to know that sh't was near him in his darkness that her touch made light. Her thoughts ran riot all the time. Hathaway had forgotten. His illness had wiped out the memory of it ; that mad episode was like a dream of the night. He did not know. Ian did not know, lie never would know. Only her own heavy, doubting heart would have to carry the secret for its penance all her life. The visitor rose to go at last. He held out his hand ; his pleasant thin face looked into hers again witli evident liking ; his touch lingered on her fingers an instant or so longer than convention demanded. When the door dosed on him, Annie buried lier face in the quilt, and her slight shoulders Leaved. " Oh, Ian, Tan .' Hrld me ! Hold me tight ! " " And »o 1 do, dearest ; always, all the time, 'Lest my jewel 1 should lose.' " And once more, in his arms, secretly in her own heart, Annie plighted to blind, suffering Ian MacGregor, " her promise true." This time not to be broken in thought, word, or deed. Adapted, by permission of the For Film Company, from incidents in their pholo-play. "Bonnie Annie Laurie," featuriny FEGOY H YLA XD as A nnie. Annie thought herself the luckiest girl alive. Who wouldn't, wooed and won at seventeen ?