PHYLLIS’ STORY
Gale leaned her hot cheek against the coolness of the window pane.
The rain beating against the outside tinkled in her ear. She closed her
eyes and swallowed a big yawn. From her position she could see the small
town of Weston spread out before her. Lamps gleamed yellow gold,
reflected on the shining wetness of the streets. Automobiles crawled
past like bugs on a sheet of black paper.
“Do you suppose he will ever come out?” Gale asked wearily.
“It has been three hours,” Valerie sighed. “It will scarcely be much
longer.”
David paced up and down the waiting room while Brent sprawled lazily in
a leather chair and stared at the ceiling. The girls turned from the
window and contemplated the room. They had come there early in the
afternoon with Phyllis and Brent and David. At the hospital, for the
first time they met Doctor Elton. He was a middle-aged man, good looking
and dignified. Gale could see a strong resemblance between Phyllis and
her father. The Doctor had immediately taken Phyllis away with him,
being professionally kind, but not at all fatherish as Gale had remarked
to Brent.
“That will come later,” Brent told her.
The four of them had elected to wait until the operation was over. They
had not seen Phyllis again. Now it was long past their dinner time and
they were waiting for Doctor Elton to tell them of the success or
failure of his work.
Gale argued with herself that there could be no thought of failure.
Doctor Elton was skillful, the most marvelous surgeon of his kind in the
world. But a little demon of pessimism reminded her that any operation
could fail—no matter how skillful the physician. But not to Phyl! Not
to Phyl! she repeated over and over. Phyllis certainly deserved a reward
for all her bravery and courage.
The minutes dragged away into hours. The grayness of the world outside
was seeping into the room. A nurse came in and quietly, efficiently
lighted the lamps, straightened a group of magazines, and disappeared
again.
“If somebody doesn’t come to us soon,” Valerie threatened, “I’m going
hunting for Doctor Elton. Do you suppose he could have forgotten about
us?”
Gale shook her head and turned again to the window. She did not relish
the ride home to the college in the rain. They had been forced to bring
Phyllis to Weston because it was the nearest town with a modern,
sufficiently equipped hospital for Doctor Elton. Doctor Norcot was here,
so Phyllis’ father said. The girls had not seen her as yet, but Gale
wished she would bring them some kind of news now.
“We better go out and get our dinner,” Brent said finally. “We may have
to wait quite a while yet.”
“I couldn’t eat anything,” David said decisively, flinging himself into
a chair, only to get up and walk restlessly about again.
“Nor I,” Gale said.
She wondered if Doctor Elton proposed to tell Phyllis who he was
tonight. Hardly, she decided later; this was scarcely an opportune
moment. It would be a bit of a shock to find after all this time that
Phyllis had a father, and that it should be Doctor Elton would be more
stupendous still.
There were footsteps in the hall. All of them came to attention. Doctor
Elton entered. His face was grave and pale. He looked more tired than
anyone Gale had ever seen. It was as if all the cares in the world were
on his shoulders. He seated himself in a chair and looked at them.
“Well?” David said impatiently.
“She will be well again,” the Doctor pronounced. “Two months should see
her back on her feet as before her accident. She is wonderfully brave,”
he murmured. “I have never seen such gay courage. I have just left her.
She wants to see you,” he added to the girls. “But only for a moment,”
he added warningly, “she must not be excited. The nurse will take you.”
“I’ll wait,” Valerie said unselfishly. “Two of us might be too much.”
Gale followed a white uniformed nurse down the narrow hall past numerous
closed doors. At last the nurse halted and motioned for Gale to enter a
corner room. Slowly Gale did so. Phyllis smiled at her.
“Hi!” her friend said faintly. “I came through, Gale.”
“Splendidly!” Gale said. “Oh, darling, we’re so glad for you. Gosh,” she
sniffed, “I’ll cry in a minute. In that case I’ll be put out.”
“Do you suppose you can arrange it so I might see David for a few
minutes?” Phyllis whispered.
Gale’s eyes twinkled. “I’ll try.”
Twice a week after that for five weeks Gale made trips to the hospital
to visit Phyllis. Sometimes Doctor Norcot drove her, sometimes she took
a local bus, but on two occasions the Dean herself drove Gale.
One afternoon when Gale was making her visit alone Doctor Elton called
her into the office before she saw Phyllis.
“So will you tell her, Gale?” the Doctor asked in conclusion. “I can’t
just rush in and say ‘I’m your father.’ It would be too dramatic and
much too abrupt. Probably she won’t believe it at first. I can hardly
realize myself that I have a grown daughter.”
At his frank smile Gale felt aglow with friendliness. The more she saw
of Doctor Elton the more she liked him. She could see now where Phyllis
got her capacity for making friends, her radiating smile and her sense
of humor. Doctor Elton had spent all his time here in Weston, ever since
the discovery of his daughter. But as yet Phyllis was ignorant of whom
he really was.
“I’ll tell her,” Gale agreed. “But you had better be close at hand
because I’m sure she will want to talk to you right away.”
“I’ll stand outside the door,” he promised. He straightened his tie
nervously. “Do you think she will like her father?” he asked with a
smile.
“From what I have seen of you two together,” Gale said, “she already
likes you a lot.”
Phyllis was in a chair by the window. The sun was streaming in. There
were magazines and newspapers in profusion, but Phyllis was busy with
none of these. She had a sketching board propped up before her and with
charcoal was rapidly transferring the view from the window to the paper.
The low buildings and the farther hillside upon which spring was already
awakening trees and plants were pictured with exactly the right delicate
shadows and lights.
Gale opened the door and closed it softly behind her. Phyllis did not
hear her at all, so engrossed was she in the work at hand. Gale tiptoed
across the room to look over Phyllis’ shoulder.
“Splendid!” she commented gayly.
Phyllis was so startled the pencil dropped from her hand and rolled on
the floor. Gale rescued it.
“You have been hiding things from me,” Gale accused. “First a glorious
voice and now real artistic ability. I am discovering that I hardly know
you at all.”
“Gale!” Phyllis welcomed her eagerly. “Sit down.” She made room for Gale
on the chaise-longue. “Did you hear? Did the Doctor tell you? I’m coming
back to Briarhurst next week.”
“You are!” Gale said joyfully. “I’m so glad.”
“He thinks by the first of May I should be as good as new—no canes or
crutches or anything.”
“He is a wonderful man,” Gale commented.
“Doctor Elton?” Phyllis murmured. “He is—he is—oh, words fail me,” she
laughed. “But I can never repay him for what he has done—or you either,
for that matter.”
“Me?” Gale gasped.
“You and David and Brent,” Phyllis nodded. “I just know it was you who
were responsible in bringing Doctor Elton to see me at all.”
“It wasn’t us alone. It was something much more important,” Gale said
slowly. She thought this was probably the best opportunity she would
have to tell Phyllis about her father. “I’ve a story to tell you,
Phyl—it is more interesting than a fairy story—and it is true.
Remember that, it is true!”
“Reading fairy stories again, Gale?” Phyllis laughed. “Go ahead, I’m
listening.”
Gale took the sketching board and laid it on the floor, then she grasped
both Phyllis’ hands tightly in her own.
“It seems about nineteen years ago a little baby girl arrived at the
home of a certain young doctor and his wife. The doctor was ambitious
and wealthy. The three were supremely happy. But one day his wife was
killed in a railroad accident. The doctor was broken-hearted and could
really find peace of mind only in his work. He decided to go to Europe
to study surgery—the height of his ambition. He entrusted his little
girl to the care of a woman who for years had been his secretary. He
gave her money and told her to look after the baby until he returned.”
Gale paused for breath. Phyllis was regarding her with steady, clear
eyes.
“This woman grew to love the little girl,” Gale continued, determined to
be as charitable as possible to Miss Fields. “For two years the doctor
remained in Europe making a name for himself—becoming famous. When he
decided to come home the woman got panicky. She was afraid something
would separate her from the little girl. She decided to run away and
hide and take the girl with her. She found a small town and a lonely old
house. The doctor returned to the United States, to his home, to find
the woman and the child gone. No one knows exactly how long he searched
before giving up in despair. Then he returned to Europe and his work
again. Meanwhile, the woman and the girl remained hidden. The girl grew
up into a sweet young lady and went away to college.”
“Gale—what are you saying?” Phyllis whispered faintly.
“Don’t you see, dear?” Gale asked gently. “You’re the little girl—the
doctor, your father, is Doctor Elton.”
“Oh, no!” Phyllis said. “Gale, it can’t be true—if you are teasing——”
“But it is true,” Gale insisted smilingly. “I know it sounds fantastic
but such things can happen. It has happened. Your Dad is here, Phyl, and
he is never going to let you out of his sight again. He is waiting
outside——”
“Bring him in,” Phyllis said quickly. “Oh, please, Gale——”
“I won’t bring him,” Gale said, “I’ll send him. I’m off to school again
but I’ll be back on Thursday.”
Gale softly closed the door upon Phyllis and Doctor Elton. Smiling she
went out into the sunshine and boarded the bus. She felt all vivid with
joy herself to think that she had been able to help a little in giving
Phyllis her new happiness—for there was no doubt that Phyllis was
happy. Her eyes and face had told Gale that much.
Gale scarcely felt the bruises she acquired while being bounced around
in the bus en route to Briarhurst. She was in a rosy dream-world where
magical wishes and lovely thoughts came true. She descended in the
little college town and walked up to the college still in blissful
joyland. She found Carol and Janet and Valerie standing before the
sorority house arguing.
“We are not going to tell her now and spoil everything!” Carol said
conclusively.
“Tell who what?” Gale wanted to know.
“You know we have been saving the news of our equestrienne ability as a
secret for Ricky. Being western born and bred she thinks she is the only
one here who knows anything about a horse,” explained Carol.
“I want to tell her about our summer in Arizona when we learned to ride
like Indians,” Janet put in. “She teased me unmercifully this afternoon.
Told me tomorrow in our first riding class I wouldn’t know one side of
the horse from the other. I won’t stand for it!”
“But it will only be for a few hours now,” Valerie soothed her. “Imagine
her surprise tomorrow when we calmly jump into the saddle and gallop
off.”
“Where have you been?” Carol asked Gale. “To see Phyl? How is she? I’m
going with you on Thursday.”
“She is on top of the world,” Gale said happily. “All taken up with the
discovery of her father.”
“Ricky said——” Janet was continuing with her original theme when the
import of Gale’s words was borne in upon her. “Phyl is all taken up with
what?” she asked.
“Yes, why don’t you speak distinctly?” Carol added laughingly. “I almost
thought you said something about Phyl’s father.”
“I did,” Gale acknowledged calmly.
“But she hasn’t——” Valerie began. “Wait a minute! Gale Howard! Have
you been doing detective work on something unbeknownst to us?”
“It is a long story, gals,” Gale said. “Come up to my room and I will
unfold a tale that will make you throw away your latest detective novel
for lack of interest.”
Comfortably ensconced on her bed beside Valerie, while Carol and Janet
hovered at comfortable if ungraceful angles on Phyllis’ cot, Gale told
them the story she had earlier unfolded to Phyllis. The girls were as
astounded and as sceptical as Phyllis at first had been. However, they
were all glad things had turned out so happily and profitably for
Phyllis.
“Imagine,” Carol said dreamily, “he gets lost in the jungles of Brazil
and comes home to meet his daughter whom he hasn’t seen for nigh onto
eighteen years.”
“He hasn’t been lost in the jungle all these years,” Janet corrected her
friend.
“No,” Carol admitted, “but isn’t it wonderful?” she repeated. “Do you
suppose,” she continued hopefully, “he would lend us his yacht to go
cruising this summer?”
“And get ourselves lost in the jungle as he did?” put in Janet. “No
thanks! I have no desire to get eaten by a ferocious tiger.”
“I just mentioned it,” Carol said soothingly. “Besides, he wasn’t eaten
by a tiger.”
“It was only a matter of time,” Janet said knowingly. “He probably would
have been eventually.”
“Who knows,” Carol said argumentatively, “perhaps he would have eaten
the tiger.”
“Oh, dry up!” Valerie said explosively. “When is Phyllis coming back to
school, Gale?”
“Next week,” Gale replied. “She won’t be able to start classes right
away and she will have to use crutches for two weeks or so, but the
doctor thinks by the first of May she will be as fit as a fiddle.”
“Coming back next week?” Carol sat up in inspiration. “We’ll give her a
surprise party.”
“Fine,” Janet agreed. “But there is one surprise I am more interested in
right now—the one we are going to give Ricky tomorrow.”
A week ago horses had arrived for the students. The girls had all
inspected the ten mounts and each privately had her own decided upon.
Surprisingly there were not many girls who were interested in the
classes. A lot of them, especially the upper classmen, already were
horsewomen or had their rosters so full they could not find time for any
more after-hour activities. Not so the Adventure Girls, however. They
were fully determined to ride as were Gloria and Ricky. The Adventure
Girls had ridden a lot the summer they spent in Arizona. They could
stick in the saddle of their mount at no matter how fast a pace on a
flat stretch of road. At hurdles is where they encountered their
difficulties and this is what they wanted to learn. They wanted to learn
to take fences and broad jumps as easily as the riding instructor. It
promised lots of fun as well as healthful exercise.