Free The Last Adam by James Gould Cozzens

down, had exposed, the nostalgic word Bridgeport arrested her. It went on— Beauty of Maniac's Retribution? The photograph of a dark, thick-featured girl regarded her. Revenge hinted in murderous attack on pretty Nita Popolato. Story p. 2. Mrs. Cole made a clicking sound with her tongue and turned to page two.
    February 19 th, Bridgeport, Conn. Near death in St. Vincent's Hospital, Nita Popolato, dark-eyed Bridgeport beauty of seventeen, gasped out a tale of primitive vengeance and passion which set police scouring the city for —
     
    After a while Helen Webster shrugged. Having no facilities for a howler circuit, the most she could do was keep ringing the line. This effected a small, discontented clucking noise, audible a few yards around the unhooked receiver in the hall. Mrs. Cole, who had found her reading-glasses and pulled a chair up to the light in the kitchen, was not disturbed by it.
    "Guy, darling!" Mrs. Banning called, "Guy!"
    She heard the violent opening of his door and his quick step in the upper hall. "Oh, never mind, dear," she said. "I just thought I heard your car. It was probably one on the road."
    "You did hear it," said Guy. His voice was constricted with fury, and Mrs. Banning turned from her dressing-table. "Come in, dear," she said. "Why, what is the trouble?"
    Guy pushed the door open. A pattern of half-dry lather, left from his interrupted shaving, decorated his face, he knotted the cord of his dressing-gown hard about him. "Why, Guy," repeated Mrs. Banning, "what on earth has happened?"
    "What you heard," Guy said, "was Ginny taking my car out. And I won't have it. I've told her twenty times that it isn't safe for her to drive it. It's not a Ford. If she thinks I'm going to let her smash it up just for fun—the crazy little fool!"
    "Oh," faltered Mrs. Banning, "how did she get it? Why, how dreadful! She couldn't hurt herself, could she?"
    "I don't care what she does to herself; it's the car I'm worried about. She got it because I was fool enough to leave the keys in it. How did I know she was going to sneak around and take it when I wasn't looking? If you and Father can't make her stop, I  can. I'll spank the pants off her —"
    "Now, Guy!" interrupted Mrs. Banning. "That's enough. I want you to control your temper. I quite understand that you're upset; and there's no excuse for Virginia. Your father will deal with it —"
    "He won't do anything to her; he never does—"
    "Now, darling, we aren't going to spoil this week-end with quarrelling. Virginia is younger than you are. She doesn't always understand —"
    "Understand?" he groaned. "What doesn't she understand? The English language? And, my God, she's practically seventeen. You talk as if she were about ten. That's the whole trouble, really. Everybody treats her like a baby. She ought to be at school. Except, I suppose, no decent school would take her, after she's been fired from everywhere on the map."
    Mrs. Banning arose. "We won't talk about it when you're so excited, dear. You go and finish dressing. I'm not excusing Virginia; it was very wrong of her to take your car without your permission, and I know she won't do it again. And, Guy, try to be a little patient with her, won't you? She's not very strong, and she's not very happy. She really hasn't a friend her own age except Valeria Hoyt —"
    "All right," he said, "all right! I suppose you would make her behave if you could; and if you don't, you just can't." He turned and went out.
    His mother, following him, went to the stairs. The slight weight of her small, but carefully recorded and clearly seen concerns made her frown a little. She could, almost simultaneously, be anxious about Virginia; regret Guy's violence when annoyed; remember to speak to Mary about the mint sauce. From the afternoon's meeting of the School Committee, she kept her resolve to do something—perhaps appeal to Hartford—about Doctor Bull's utter neglect of his duties in-regard to the compulsory vaccination of