Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 January 1940 — Page 14

SERIAL STORY—

Blackout + By RUTH AYRES

CAST OF CHARACTERS MARY CARROLL — American fashion expert, in London during wartime. . VINCENT GREGG—Soldier of fortune, in love with Mary. 5 CARLA MARCHETTA — A mysterious London socialite. y

.;. DR. GILBERT LENOX-—Surgeon, serve ing with British Army. : A

*. YESTERDAY — At Lady Ponce-Town-

send’s exhibit, Mary hears two women -

discussing Carla Marchetta. They wonder why the suicide of the young count who once loved Carla has never been explained. It was he, Mary recalls, who followed her on the Moravia. The women also remark about Vincent's at- - tentions to Carla. Mary determines to solve thé mystery of Carla but when she reaches home, she finds a message from Dr. O'Connell.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN “YOU MAY GO in, Mrs. Lenox.” A starched, white nurse showed Mary into Dr. O'Connell's consulting room the next afternoon. Mary had waited scarcely at all when the deep bass voice of Dr. O’Connell boomed: CL “So this is Gilbert's wife. how are you, my dear?” Dr. O'Connell had a thick thatch of iron gray hair. |A smile twinkled in eyes behind steel-bowed spectacles. {= “Before I left the Base Hospital I was given this to deliver to you.” He handed her a letter addressed in Gilbert's handwriting. Mary reached eagerly for the letter; aware anew of a feeling she could not name, ; “Now let’s have a look. Let’s see about these facial nerves and see just how deep the damage has gone,” Dr. O'Connell went on. He tapped her face with light fingers. As if to put her at ease he kept up a flow of conversation. © “Your husband is doing a mighty fine job in France, It's the young medical men who are doing the real surgery at the front. That's why I came back here. Here in England I can serve my country better by being on hand when the cases that are invalided home arrive. Ordinarily, it takes months to build up a seriously wounded man to the point where plastic surgery would be any good at all.” “It makes me proud to hear about Gilbert.” ; | “You Have every reason to be proud of him, my dear.” . He tilted her face under the strong white examining light and studied the injured cheek critically. 2 > “You don’t know how much this means to me,” she said at length. Save your thanks until afterward,” he said gruffly. “It will be time enough when we see if the operation is successful.” ” “You mean there's a doubt?” she paled. “Well, there’s always a doubt. We never know in advance what the results ‘will be. We can only hope. Here's what I want you to do. You'll be admitted to the hospital today. We'll operate tomorrow momfiing, if you agree.” : » ” 2 ; ~~ WITH THE: DISPATCH ‘which characterized Dr. O’Connell, Mary found herself a patient in a pri-

vate room in the same hospital she|}

had left only a few weeks earlier. She purposely waited until the gruelling routine of tests was over to read the letter from Gilbert. She had to be alone. : “My dear,” she read, “Dr. O’Connell will bring you this message from me because I fear you have not received any of my letters. Service is ‘ uncertain and vastly slow in wartime. “You will soon undergo this eration. When I trust you to O’Connell I'm leaving you in best hands I know. You have best wishes for all the luck in world. “This has to be brief because

opDr. ‘the my the

Dr.

O'Connell is leaving immediately. | [32

But it carries sincere aiTection. : “Gilbert.”

Mary leaned back on her pillow, the letter tight in her hand. So he had written! The words she had just read

brought back the first time she had ever seen his red head towering above others in the air raid shelter. Someday she would tell him all about it and, perhaps, by then she would have learned the mystery of Carla Marchetta’s strange part in the events that had taken place since that night. That Carla was engaged in a

mysterious mission, she now be--

lieved firmly. Her own intuitive desire to uncover that activity had been cut short yesterday, by the summons from Dr. O'Connell. But she would endeavor to pry out the secret when she was well again. The scratching of starched skirts grew louder as a nurse approached her bedside. The imperturbable British calm was, for once, upset, Mary noted.

“Another ship has been sunk,” the.

nurse blurted out. “Nobody can make

me believe these enemy subs are|

- working blindly. There's a spy ring at work for certain.” ; Mary blanched, her, eyes hor- - rified. - : “I beg your pardon, Mrs. Lenox. It was thoughtless of me. Dr. O’Connell wouldn't like it. It was only because I was so overwrought, I forgot myself. My brother was _lost. .-. . Now for the supper tray.”

8° ” . EARLY THE NEXT morning ‘Mary found herself being lifted from

her bed onto the blanket-covered|:

hospital cart! This was the day! This was the day that would either restore her as Mary Carroll or send her into a permanent blackout. Inside the operating room, she blinked at the glare. Without the tiniest jar, she was slipped onto the operating table, She heard. the sound of water as Dr. O'Connell and . his assistants scrubbed for the op- - eration. - %Take a deep breath,” she could hear the nurse saying as the ether cone was clamped down on her and mouth, “Steady there. Steady. Steady.” hand gripped her wrist as her was being counted. She ked and tried to fight off“ the

Down 8 well she tumbled. The

And

GRIN AND BEAR IT

Whe, . Copr. United Feature Syndicate, Ine. ¥ 0s. Pat. Off All rights rescrved

; 1/13

. OUR BOARDING HOUSE

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7 UMP! + NOW YOU ARE ON THE WITNESS STAND, CZ . GLADSTONE «ww LAWYERS ARE ASSAILING YOUR STORY OF THE MURDER OF LUCRECE LIPSCOMB »» YOU GAY, “IT WAS NONE OTHER THAN REGINALD STONEWART /* wv COME NOW, NICE BIRD/ wav * (T WAS NONE OTHE THAN REGINALD STONEWART/ ww IT WAS NONE OTHER THAN REGINALD STONEWART/" un DRAT IT, BIRD, SAV IT/ www

EGAD, TIFFANY, HAVE You ; ANY SUGGESTIONS © oX

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LADSTONE HAS ToO MUCH ORIGINALITY | ~13

1940 NEA SERVICE, I

LI'L ABNER

“But I don’t want one with a good ‘trade-in’ value!”

HOLD EVERYTHING By Clyde Lewis

TONY'S SPAGHETTI HOUSE

YS BIN YWE CAN'T" | MAH BABIES ND IS STARVIN7STP SS COTTA

TARE NS SIGN &’ HER!

RED RYDER

ae &a7” 1-13 COPR. 1940 BY NEA SERVICE, INC. T. M. REG. U. S. PAT. OFF. “Here, here! That's no way to serve medt balls!”

FLAPPER FANNY

ray

By Sylvia

“You’'vé got problems! Try figuring how I can pay December bills in January with my March allowance that I don’t get until February.”

THIS CURIOUS WORLD By William Ferguson

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EAM CARRIES A VOLUME OF WATER ESTIMATED AT LHOOO TIMWNES THAT OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

1 COPR. 1940 BY NEA SERVICE, INC. T. M. REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.

QUEEN BEES MUST BE WATCHED CONSTANTLY BY THE WORKER BEES TO SEE THAT THEY DO NOT DESTROY THE CELLS WHERE FUTURE GUAEE/NS ARE HATCHING.

VES, LITTLE BEAVER, AND IT ALL CAME ABOUT BECAUSE. YOU AND YOUR “KID VIGILANTES" FOUND THE EVIDENCE / =

LUCKY DRAKE AND SHARK STAY IN JAIL PLENTY LONG TIME FOR ROBBING MISTER WITHERS, RED RYDER? / rv

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—By Al Capp :

SHE AIMS T/ BARBECUE HERSELF v. WOORAY/”

LOOK.”-SALOMEY SAVE DONE LEAPED INTO ; HER” TH FIRE” ~OR= T-TOQ

LLATE?)

{ BOSS, WE LOST

OF COURSE ILL TEN MORE Y BAR

KEEPLITTLE

mr-=xIxsz»m

: XT AD= URE? THE INVIS= IBLE HORSE THIEF /

—By Bushmiller

PLEASE, AUNT FRITZ --- CAN'T WE GO ON A SOUTHERN VACATION 2?

NO!

VE LEAVE MONDAY

ee —

'& 2 ce

/ BUS Avr L 4. —

[ NOW, WHEN A WELL'S ABANDONED) YOU SCREW ON A BULL-PLUG SO A COW WON'T FALL IN AND BREAK HER LEG. IT \SNT NECESSARY TO WELD IT ON, NOR TO EMPLOY AN ARMED GUARD TO PROTECT A

AN. WORTHLESS eu

THE \ WHAT DID I FIND? A-BULL- I OIL WELL NEAR | PLUG WELDED TO THE PIPE! McKEE'S PROPERTY —

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2 Si 2 ) 2

FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS

WELL , IVir DECIDED

NOT TO LEA/E TOWN! L

v LARD, PUT THAT TINFOIL CANCELLED MY RESERVATION REFL To THE City!

WHERE ITLL PICK UP THE MOST LIGHT FOR THE FIRST LOVE SCENE /

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(You SHOULDNT HAVE )

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ar "SO I KNOCKED A SMALL HOLE IN THE PLUG THAT WAS PROOF ENOUGH FOR ME, AND A PLUME OF OIL CAME oUT"

60 I PLUGGED THE HOLE. AND TA 0%

By Crane

IN A POSITION TO RUIN TH\S CROOKED OIL CROWD... ONLY

; $8 DARE!

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AN A) AN) . U. 8. PAT. OFF

3.2, ERVICE,

NE THAT----HEY, DARD -== MOVE IT OVER.

BOOS AND HER BUDDIES

ABBIE AN' SLATS

Ee DREADNOUGHT TYPE OF BATTLESHIE. ) GET ITS NAME +O { [-/3

ANSWER~—From the British battleship Dreadnaught, completed in 1906. ; nT

shadows of the Moravia’s deck. And Gilbert Lenox. It must have been Gilbert Lenox. who kept sayin “Steady. Steady.” =

well was deep and gray. There were faces on all sides. There was

Vincent Gregg. There was the blue black face of Carla Marchetta, magnificent in plumes, rich furs and jewels. Lady Ponce-Townsend seemed to come into the scene. On one arm she had a pile of bedraggled garments. But she also held a stack of pencil sketches. . Then there was the blond boy

ness she had but one thought:

Was she going to emerge from all this as the Mary Carroll she had been before?

(To Be Continued)

In her last breath of conscious- |!

AFTER ALL YOU ARE A MAN OF SOCIAL POSITION = OF CULTURE! | YOUR TYPE SIMPLY DOES NOT DO “N THINGS IN AN UNDERHANDED MANNER

YOU HAVE THE GALL TO SAY THAT | ORDERED YOU TO USE THE FAULTY CONCRETE--VERY WELL /#.--.1T'S My WORD AGAINST YOURS. | LEAVE IT TO YOU GENTLEMEN?

MS » \J 7 \ “ (ERAN

whq had frightened her from the (All events, "oR wha characters in ais}

[This SHIFTY-EYED

—By Martin

You, CANT BE ABSOLUTELY SURE JUST WET, BUT OUTSIDE OF A BROKEN ARM AND SOME BRUISES ,10 SAY SRAE'LL. BE AS GOOD AS NEW

~By Raeburn V

[THERE'S YOUR \—>/ CONFESSION OF GUILT #! :

‘Buren | AM GRATEFUL . FOR

CREATURE LOOKS CAPABLE THAT, OF ANY CRIME? YES ¥ | SIR"

ACCEPT YOUR WORD?