Radio and television mirror (Nov 1939-Apr 1940)

32 A^ VoU „„ ^o tension — HOUc . When all else had failed, c.ld marriage fill her life? Thaf was the q»«t»« Mis, Bess ashed_a„d answered-whi.e Dr. Rohb,e wa,fed and fhe fate af Hilltop H.„Se huna in the balance The Story Thus Far: BESS JOHNSON thought she had put the past behind her when she came to be matron at Hilltop House and care for its orphans — but on the day Steve Cortland came to see her she realized she was wrong. Cortland once had loved her, then he had married her sister Marjorie instead. There had been a child, at whose birth Marjorie died, begging Bess never to let Cortland have his son. This child, Tim, Bess had brought with her to Hilltop, pretending that he was an orphan like all the other children. Now Cortland, catching sight of Tim, recognized him and accused Bess of having lied to him when she told him his son was dead. Bess admitted the lie, but refused to let him have Tim. An unseen listener to their conversation was Stella Rodnick, a sulky, unhappy orphan who hated Bess because she believed Bess had punished her unjustly. Stella heard just enough to believe that Tim was Bess' own son —and her first act was to carry the gossip to Dr. Robbie Clark, the young Hilltop physician, who was m love with Bess. Dr. Robbie, stung by the slander, lost control of himself and slapped Stella. Sobbing, she cried, "All right, if you don't believe me, ask Miss Bess!" Part Two BUT Dr. Robbie did not, after all, ask Miss Bess if she was Tim's mother. On the drive back to Hilltop House, with Stella sitting wnite and scared beside him, nursmS her bruised cheek where he had struck her, his first impetuous resolve weakened. He couldn't, he simply couldn't walk in to Bess Johnson, face those clean blue eyes and say, "Is this thing true that Stella told me? Is Tim your son, yours and this Steve Cortland's?" He couldn't dignify such gossip by taking it seriously enough to ask about it. Because of course it wasn't true. It was simply malicious, childish babble. Over and over he told himself this, trying to still the small, persistent clamor deep down in his mind — trying to forget Bess' agitation that afternoon when the mysterious Cortland had been announced. He'd swear she was afraid at that moment. And — his thoughts groped among jumbled memories — hadn't there always been something a little different, a little more personal and tender, in Bess' attitude toward Tim, alone among all the other orphans? In the end, he simply let Stella hop out of the car at the Hilltop entrance, and drove off again, spinning his wheels furiously in the gravel. Yellow light shone out of Hilltop House's front door as Stella went up the steps. From inside came the cheerful hubbub of just-beforedinner. Stella walked more slowly; now that Dr. Robbie was gone and she was no longer frightened, tears of self-pity began to fill her eyes. Everybody was against her! Everybody hated her — Miss Bess and Dr. Robbie and all the other children! Miss Gidley, too, fussed at her as she entered the hall. "Stella! You're late. Dinner will be ready in a few . . ." And then she caught sight of the girl's reddened eyes and quivering lips. "Gracious, child! What's happened?" An audience of curious orphans fell silent as Stella sobbed, "Dr. Robbie! He — he hit me!" Thelma Gidley's eyes widened, then narrowed in sudden satisfaction. "Dr. Clark struck you? But why?" Stella looked around at the circle of interested faces, then once more up at Miss Gidley. "I guess I better not say why," she decided. "You'd be mad, too, maybe." "I certainly shall if I don't find out the whole truth about this matter," was Miss Gidley's prim answer. "If Dr. Clark struck you, I want to know why." "It was only because I told him something — something I found out. And it was true, too!" Stella cried, once more overcome by the injustices visited upon her. "I told him — " She stopped, stood on tiptoe and beckoned Miss Gidley's ear to her lips. "I heard Miss Bess tell the man that came to see her today that Tim was her little boy," she whispered. "Tim!" Miss Gidley gasped. "Oh, no! That can't be true — ■" And then the same doubts that were in Dr. Robbie's mind visited hers. But with this difference: where he hated them, tried to reject them, she welcomed them. "Come into my office, Stella," she said softly. "I want to talk to you." But as they turned, Bess Johnson came quickly down the stairs from the second floor. IN DRAMATIC FICTION FORM. RADIO MIRROR PRESENTS THE POWERFUL RADIO SERIAL BY ADDY RICHTON *N» LYNN STONE. HEARD MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY ON CBS. AND SPONSORED BY COLGATE PALMOLIVE PEET 'ANUABir, 1940 33