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The Moving Picture Girls in War Plays: The Sham Battles at Oak Farm, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 25. Reunion |
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_ CHAPTER XXV. REUNION "Nothing but a passing fancy," said Dr. Wherry, later in the day, when Ruth and Alice questioned him about Estelle. "When a person has received a hard blow on the head, as Estelle has, the memory is often confused. She will be all right in a day or so. Rest and quiet are what she needs." "Then she is in no immediate danger?" asked Mr. Pertell. "None whatever, physically. She came out of that fall very well, indeed. The blow on her head stunned her, but the effects of that will pass away. She has no internal injuries that I can discover." The last scenes of the war play were taken. The Confederates, after their final desperate stand were driven back, surrounded and captured. The "war" ended. The regiments of cavalry took their departure. The extra players were paid off and left. A few simple scenes were yet to be taken about Oak Farm, but the big work was over, and every one was glad, for the task had been no easy one. "Does Estelle yet admit her identity?" asked Ruth of Dr. Wherry, two days after the accident. The physician scratched his head in perplexity. "No, I am sorry to say she doesn't," he answered. "She does not seem to recognize that name. I wish you and your sister would come in and speak to her again. It may be she will recognize you this time. A little shock may bring her to herself. I have seen it happen in cases like this." Ruth and Alice again went to the hospital. Estelle was still in bed, but she seemed to be better. But, as before, there was no sign of recognition in the bright eyes that gazed at the two moving picture girls. "Don't you know me--us?" asked Alice, gently. "Yes. You were here before, soon after I was brought here," was the answer. "Oh, Estelle! don't you know us!" cried Ruth, in horror. "Whom are you calling Estelle?" "Why, you. That is your name." "I am not she. You must be mistaken! Oh, I wish they would take me home. I want father--mother--I want Auntie Amma. Oh, why don't they come to me?" Ruth and Alice looked at one another. What did it mean? This babbling of strange names? Was it possible that they were on the track of discovering the identity of the girl who now denied the name she had given? "Who is your father?" asked Ruth. "And who is Auntie Amma?" inquired Alice. "Why, don't you know? They live with me at the Palace. And my doll. Why don't you bring my doll?" "She is delirious again," whispered the nurse. "You had better go. Evidently, she thinks she is a child again. Her doll!" "I want my doll! Why don't you bring me my doll?" persisted the stricken girl. "What doll do you want?" asked Alice. "My own doll," was the reply. "My dear doll that I always have in bed with me when I am ill; my doll Estelle Brown!" "Estelle Brown!" cried Ruth, in sudden excitement. "Is that the name of your doll?" "Yes! Yes! Bring her to me, please!" "Who gave you that doll?" asked Ruth, and she waited anxiously for the answer. "My doll--my doll Estelle Brown. Why, my daddy gave her to me, of course. My father!" "And what was your father's name?" asked Ruth in a tense voice. She and Alice and the nurse leaned forward in eager expectation. They all recognized that a crisis was at hand. Would the stricken girl give an answer that would be a clue to her identity--the identity she had denied? Or would her words trail off into the meaningless babble of the afflicted? "What is your father's name?" Ruth repeated. The girl in the bed raised herself to a sitting position. She looked at the DeVere sisters--at the trained nurse. In her eyes now there was not so much brightness as there was weariness and pain. And also there was more of the light of understanding. She looked from one to the other. Her lips moved, but no sound came from them. It was a tense moment. Would she be able to answer? Would the obviously injured brain be able to sift out the right reply from the mass of words that hitherto had been meaningless? "What is your father's name?" repeated Ruth in calm, even tones. "Your father who gave you the doll, Estelle Brown? Who is he?" Like a flash of lightning from the clear sky came the answer. "Why, he is Daddy Passamore, of course!" "Passamore!" gasped Alice. "Passamore?" "Is your name Passamore?" whispered Ruth. "Yes, I am Mildred Passamore. My father is Jared Passamore of San Francisco. I don't know why I am here, except that I was hurt in the railroad accident. If you will telegraph to my father, at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, he will come and get me. And please tell him to bring my doll, Estelle Brown. "I know it seems silly for a big girl like me to have a doll," went on the injured one. "But ever since I was a child I have had Estelle with me when I was ill. I am ill now, but I feel better than I did. So telegraph to Daddy Passamore to bring Estelle Brown with him when he comes for me. And tell him I was not badly hurt in the wreck." And with that, before the wondering eyes of the nurse, of Alice and of Ruth, Estelle Brown--no--Mildred Passamore, turned over and calmly went to sleep! For an instant those in the hospital room neither moved nor spoke. Then Alice cried: "That solves it! That ends the mystery! I'll go and get the paper." "What paper?" asked Ruth. "Don't you remember? The old paper that I wrapped my scout shoes in when we were packing to come to Oak Farm. The one that father saved because it had a theatrical notice of him in it. "It was that four-year-old paper which contained an account of the strange disappearance of the wealthy San Francisco girl, Mildred Passamore. Don't you remember? There was a reward of ten thousand dollars offered for her discovery." "Oh, I do remember!" gasped Ruth. "And this is she!" "Must be!" declared Alice. "She says that's her name. And from what she told us she can, as Estelle Brown, think back only about four years. She must have received some injury that took away her memory. Now she is herself again. "Ruth, I believe we have found the missing Mildred Passamore! We must tell daddy at once, and Mr. Pertell. Then we must telegraph Mr. Passamore. I'll get his address from the old paper. But the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, will reach him, I presume. Oh, isn't it all wonderful!" "It certainly is," agreed Ruth. They gave one glance at the sleeping girl--Mildred or Estelle--and then went out, while Miss Lyon summoned Dr. Wherry to acquaint him with the strange turn of the case. "Mildred Passamore found! How wonderful!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere, when his daughters told him what had happened. "But we must make sure. It would be a sad affair if we sent word to the father, and it turned out that this girl was not his daughter. We must make sure." Alice got out the old paper. It contained a description of the missing Mildred Passamore, and in another newspaper dated a few days before the one Alice had used as a wrapper for her shoes (another paper which Mr. DeVere had saved because of a notice in it) was a picture of the girl. "It is she! Our girl--the one we knew as Estelle Brown--is Mildred Passamore!" cried Alice as she looked at the picture in the paper. "There is no doubt of it," agreed Ruth, and Mr. DeVere affirmed his daughters' opinions. Mr. Pertell was told of the occurrence, and, being a good judge of pictures and persons, he decided there was no doubt as to the identity. "We will telegraph to Mr. Passamore at once," decided the director. The crisis--for such it was in the case of the injured girl--seemed to mark a turn for the better. She slept nearly forty-eight hours, awakening only to take a little nourishment. Then she slept again. She did not again mention any names, nor, in fact, anything else. Her friends could only wait for the arrival of Mr. Passamore to have him make sure of the identity. He had sent a message in answer to the one from Mr. Pertell saying that he and his wife were hastening across the continent in a special train. "That means he hasn't found his daughter up to this time," said the manager, "and there is every chance that this girl is she." Three days after her startling announcement Estelle or Mildred, as she was variously called, was much better. She sat up and seemed to be in her right mind. "I don't in the least know what it is all about, nor how I came here," she said, smiling. "The last I remember is being in a railroad train on my way from San Francisco to visit relatives in Seattle. There was a crash, and the next I knew I found myself in bed here. I presume you brought me here from the train wreck." "Yes, you were brought here after the--the--ah, accident," said Mr. Pertell, lamely. "The nurse tells me you are a moving picture company," went on Mildred. "I shall be interested to see how you act. I always had a half-formed desire to be a moving picture actress, but I know Daddy Passamore would never consent to it." "And she's been in the films for three years or more, and doesn't remember a thing about it!" murmured Alice. "Good-night!" "Alice!" rebuked her sister. But Alice, for once, did not care for Ruth's rebuke. Her astonishment was too great. And it was a queer case. "We must be very careful!" said Dr. Wherry when, after a swift ride across the continent, Mr. Passamore and his wife reached Oak Farm. "We must not startle the patient." "Oh, but I want to see my little girl!" cried the mother, with tears in her eyes. "My little girl whom I thought gone for ever!" "I hope this will prove to be she," said Mr. DeVere. "I'm sure it will!" cried the father. "No one but Mildred would remember her old doll--Estelle Brown!" and he held up a battered toy. Softly, the parents entered the room. The girl on the bed heard some one come in, and sat up. There was a look of joy and happiness on her face; and yet it was not such as would come after a separation of four years. It was as if she had only separated from her loved ones a few hours before. "Oh, Daddy! Momsey!" she cried. "I did so want you! And did you bring Estelle Brown?" "My little girl! My own little lost girl!" cried Mrs. Passamore. "Oh, after all these years--when we had given you up for dead!" "After all these years? Why, Momsey, I left you only two days ago to go to Seattle. There must have been a wreck or something; for I heard a dreadful crash, and then I awakened here with these nice moving picture folk. They were on the same train, I guess." Dr. Wherry made the parents a signal not to tell the secret just yet. "And did you bring Estelle?" asked Mildred. "Yes, here is your doll!" and as Mr. Passamore handed it to his daughter he and his wife exchanged tearful glances of joy. The lost had been found. It was a scene of rejoicing at Oak Farm, and the moving picture girls came in for a big share of praise. For had it not been for the fact that Alice had seen the paper containing the account of the missing girl and saved it, the identity of Mildred might not have been disclosed for some time. Finally, she was told what had happened; that for four years she had been another person--Estelle Brown--a name she had taken after the awakening following the railroad accident because of some kink in the brain that retained the memory of the doll. "Then Lieutenant Varley was right, he must have seen you in Portland," said Alice, when explanations were being made. "He must have," admitted Mildred. "But I don't understand how it happened." Later on it was all made clear. Mildred Passamore, the daughter of a wealthy family, living temporarily at the Palace Hotel, in San Francisco, had started on a trip to visit relatives in Seattle. She was well supplied with money. The train Mildred was on was wrecked near Portland, Oregon, and the girl received a blow on her head that caused her to lose her sense of identity completely. She did not seem to be hurt, and she was not in need of medical aid. Without assistance, she got on the relief train that took the injured in to Portland, and there it was that Lieutenant Varley saw her in the station. Through some vagary of her brain, Mildred imagined she wanted to go to New York, and, as she had plenty of money, she bought a ticket for that city, the one to Seattle having been lost. Lieutenant Varley had helped her and, though he suspected something was wrong with the young lady the impression with him was not very strong until it was too late to be of assistance to her. So, her identity completely lost, Mildred started on her trip across the continent. What happened on that journey she never could recollect clearly. That she got on the Great Lakes and then went to Boston was established. The reason for that was that, as a child, she had lived there. This accounted for the toilet set her mother had given her, and for the recollection of the monument and the historic places. Why she was attracted to moving pictures could only be guessed at, but she "broke in," and "made good." Her ability to ride was easily explained. Her father owned a big stock farm, and Mildred had ridden since a child. But all this, as well as other remembrances of her younger days, was lost after the injury to her head in the railroad accident. She retained but one strongly marked memory--the name of her doll, the name which she took for her own. So, as a new personage, she came to Oak Farm, unable to think back more than four years, and totally without suspicion that she was the missing Mildred Passamore. That she was not recognized as the missing girl was not strange, since the search in the East had not been prosecuted as vigorously as it had been in the West. Mr. and Mrs. Passamore, hearing that the train on which their daughter was traveling had been wrecked, hastened to Portland, but there they could find no trace of Mildred. Lieutenant Varley, who might have given a clue, had sailed for Europe the day after his meeting with Mildred. Then began the search which lasted four years, and had now come to an end at Oak Farm. "And to think that I have been two persons all this while!" exclaimed Mildred, when explanations had been made, and she was on the road to recovery. "But what made my memory come back?" "The same thing that took it from you," explained Dr. Wherry. "It was the blow you received on the head when you fell from your horse. There had been a pressure on your brain, from the railroad crash, and the fall from your horse relieved it, so you came to yourself." "Oh, I wonder if I could have taken Miss Dixon's ring in my second personality?" asked Mildred one day, when various happenings were being explained to her. "No, you didn't!" exclaimed Alice. "It was found down under the carpet, back of her bureau. A maid discovered it there when cleaning. And that snip of a Miss Dixon left without apologizing to you." "Oh, it doesn't matter, since I am not Estelle Brown, and my doll doesn't care what they say about her!" laughed Mildred. Miss Dixon and her friend had left Oak Farm to go back to New York, for their part in the pictures was finished for the time being. "And to think that I really became a movie actress, after all!" laughed Estelle. "I think I shall continue in it, Daddy! It must be fun, though I don't recollect anything about it." "No you sha'n't!" laughed Mr. Passamore. "Your mother and I want you at home for a while." There is little more to tell. Mildred Passamore rapidly recovered her health and strength. Her part in the pictures was finished and though he did not exactly relish the appearance on the screen of his daughter in battle scenes, the millionaire, realizing what his refusal would mean to Mr. Pertell, made no objections. Besides, it was Estelle Brown who was filmed, not Miss Passamore. "Well, what is next on the program?" asked Alice of the director one day, after several other war plays had been made and when they were about to leave Oak Farm, to go back to New York. "Oh, I think I'm going to get out a big film entitled 'Life in the Slums.' You and Ruth will play the star parts." "No!" laughed Alice. "Not since we became millionaires. You will have to cast us for rich girls. Mr. Passamore gave us the ten thousand dollars reward, you know." "All right!" laughed the director, "then I'll bill you as the rich-poor girls." Before going back to San Francisco with Mildred, Mr. Passamore had insisted that Ruth and Alice take the reward, as it was through their agency that he received word of his daughter's whereabouts. But Ruth and Alice insisted on sharing their good fortune with their friends in the company, so all benefited from it. The day came for the moving picture players to leave Oak Farm. "Good-bye, Sandy!" called Alice to the young farmer. "I suppose you're glad to see the last of us!" "Well, not exactly, no'm! Still, I'll be glad not to see houses and barns that have only fronts to 'em, and there won't be no more mistakes made trying to haul up water from a well that's only made of painted muslin. I'll try an' get back to real life for a change!" The big war play was over. It was a big success when shown on the screen, and the pictures of Ruth, Alice and Mildred--or Estelle Brown, as she was billed--came out well. The fight where Paul and his men were nearly blown up was most realistic. "You girls are not going to retire, just because you have a little money, are you?" asked Russ of Ruth, one day, when they were back in New York. "Indeed, we're not!" cried Alice. "And I wouldn't be surprised if Mildred joined us. I had a letter from her the other day, and, after seeing herself on the screen, she says she is crazy to do it all over again. Give up the movies? Never!" And it remains for time to show what further fame the Moving Picture Girls won in the silent drama. For the present, we will say farewell. [THE END] _ |
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