I SYNOPSIS David Mallory, In search of newspaper work In New York, Is forced to accept a job as switch-board operator in a swank apartment house, managed by officious Timothy Higgins. There David meets Miss Agatha Paget, a crippled old lady, and her charming niece. AUegra. One day, talking with Higgins In the lobby. David is alarmed by a piercing scream. David finds the scream came from the Ferriter apartment, not far from the Pagets'. The Ferrlters include Lyon and Everett, and their sister, lone. Everett, a genealogist, is helping Agatha Paget write a book about her blue-blooded an cestors. Inside the apartment they find a black-bearded man—dead. No weapon can be found. The police arrive. Hig gins. who actively dislikes David, in forms him that he is fired. David is called to the Paget apartment. Agatha Paget offers him a job helping write her family history—which will unearth a few family skeletons. He accepts the offer. Meanwhile, police suspect Lyon Ferriter of the murder. Jerry Cochrane of the Press offers David a job helping solve the murder. David accepts. He is to keep on working for Miss Paget. Later David meets Grosvenor Paget, Allegra's brother. Then, that night, David sees Grosvenor prowl through the Ferriter apartment. David confronts Grosvenor with the story. He is told to mind his own business. Then David goes to Hig gins’ basement flat to retrieve his lug gage. In the darkness he brushes against an unknown person, and In attempting to capture him, falls over his own suitcase. CHAPTER VII—Continued —9— The cab’s brakes squealed. Coch rane thrust open its door. "The Artists and Writers,” he said, “and just in time to save one very precious life.” He led me down a crooked hall to an iron door with a wicket and rang the bell. “A newspaper hangout,” he ex plained. "It masqueraded as a res taurant during prohibition. Now it poses as a speakeasy. Newspaper men are romantic.” "That’s because,” I told him, “they meet so many interesting peo-1 pie.” “Gene,” Cochrane bade the face that appeared at the wicket, "two hot Scotches, quick, and I’ll close the door myself.” Cochrane was sipping his second drink and talking in a low voice. Blackbeard’s body lay in the morgue, still unidentified. The Fer riters had been easier to trail. Lyon and his sister had been in Alaska where he had run a combined saloon and store on the Tanana River. “A year ago,” Cochrane went on, "it seems lone and Lyon and a new comer, a guy named Horstman, went prospecting, and were out all winter. They found gold, but Horst man got lost in a blizzard and his body never was recovered. Lyon sold his claim and came to New York. He’s comfortably fixed. His lister doesn’t do anything, either. And right now, she doesn’t look as if it agreed with her.” He made a design of wet ring' on the table with the bottom of k glass and asked, still watching them, "Do you know anything of a tie up between the Paget boy and lone?” “Why?” I stalled and my voice must have been sharp, for he grinned. "You and I,” said Cochrane, "have the same sort of dirty mind. The idea may lead nowhere, but the lad comes into an inheritance in a few days now—three million or thereabouts, which is no small sum to shoot at, even in inflated curren cy. lone—” He broke off. A man came, walk ing stiffly, from the barroom. He said, "Hi, Jerry,” to Cochrane, started to pass on and then stopped, staring at me. It was Duke of the Sphere. I found myself disliking him again. “Hello, Larry,” Cochrane said and his face was guileless. “Have a drink?” “Thanks,” Duke answered. “I’ve had mine.” He had. He swayed as he spoke and kept on looking at me. We watched each other like hostile dogs. Cochrane said quietly: "This is David Mallory. He—” "We’ve met before,” I broke in. Duke sat down with a long sigh. Drink had turned him pale and sweating. I knew he was trouble hunting and felt my own temper rise to meet his. He asked carefully, for his tongue was thick: "Private conspiracy, or can I horn in?” Cochrane grinned. “I knew Dave in Omaha,” he said so smoothly that the lie sounded like truth. “I’ve been trying to pump him. Help yourself.” “Thanks.” Duke replied and looked at me briefly. “Turned in your copy, Jerry?” “Still trying to find something to Write about.” Duke mopped his glistening face. "You had no trouble yesterday. Why don’t you let your stool loose on young Paget’s affair with lone?’ Cochrane glanced at me and I held fast to myself. He said easily, Just one of Shannon’s ‘theories.’ There’s nothing in it.” “Isn’t there?” Duke asked. “The reason this thing is locked up so tight is because the Pagets are in it up to their necks. The Pagets are people in this town. They’ve got the immunity of cash and posi tion. If we could tear the lid off this thing, we’d find a Grove-lone tie-up and probably Allegra mixed up in it.” I got up. “I hope,” Duke said, fumbling with his words, “that I’m not offend ing you.” I said to Cochranes “I don’t care for your friend's manners, or his mind or his smelL Unless he cares to argue it. I’ll be on my way.” My voice must have been loud for men at other tables looked at me, and Gene, the waiter, came hurry ing across the room. Breath went from Duke with a hiss. He lurched and tried to rise but Cochrane threw himself sidewise and held him down. "Easy, Larry,” he soothed, “you’re drunk,” and to me, “Make it fast.” I obeyed. He overtook me at the Broadway corner. "Young Lochinvar!” he said, panting. "I don’t like that guy,” I told him sulkily. He grinned. "So I gathered. It was a fool play to bring you there. We better meet in your room hereafter, ac complice." He left me at the subway station. I walked on uptown and wished that I had thrown his job after him. And then I was sorry that I had not told Cochrane all I had learned of Gros venor. I knew that I could not do that either. Loyalties pulled me two ways. I stood aside on the stair to let my landlady descend. She stopped and peered down severely. "If anyone calls when I’m away, Mrs. Shaw,” I told her, "you can let him in my room.” “ ‘Him’?” said Mrs. Shaw and sniffed. "I’ve no objection to ‘hims.’ “You may, when you see my copy,” 1 told her. Mr. Mallory, but you simply cannot receive well—ladies here.” She glared at me with the sour air of morality that fat women so often wear. “Good God,” I answered, "what put that into your mind?” "I’m not,” she told me, “more suspicious than most, Mr. Mallory, but a lady called to see you an hour ago.” "A lady?” I asked with what breath I had. "Did she have blue eyes and blond hair?” Mrs. Shaw might have looked so at Brigham Young. "This,” said she, “was a dark lady. Anxious to see you she was, I’m sure. But she would leave no message or name.” I watched her go on down the stairs. At the landing, she flung back: "Very good-looking—if you like that type.” CHAPTER VIII It was long before I got to sleep. There were too many things in the room with me. The visit of the woman who had roused Mrs. Shaw’s morality joined the procession of puzzles that marched endlessly round my bed. It made no sense. Neither did my conclusion that the caller must have been seeking some other David Mallory. Neither did anything else. When slumber caugni me at lasi, I overslept and again reached the Paget apartment breathless and just on time. Annie led me to the work room. The sanity of winter sun light, streaming in through the win dow, the stacked papers on the desk, the typewriter, the very couch on which Grosvenor had sat glowering the evening before, all were solid, normal things that tangled further my suspicions. I looked through the window. Beyond the casement across the air shaft, I had seen the boy at his furtive mission. As I watched, a dim figure drew up the shade. The Ferriters had come home. I turned and faced Miss Agatha. "Good morning, David,” she said briskly. "You and I are among the few punctual people in this world. Mr. Ferriter hasn’t arrived?” "I haven’t seen him,” I replied. "Perhaps he is next door. The apart ment—” She bit through an invisible thread and nodded. “Yes. They have come back. I’ve invited them all to lunch. Perhaps my precious genealogist thinks he is not to report till then.” She peered at me and pursued: “You needn’t look shocked, Da vid. I’ve broken bread during a long life with many more disreputable people than probable perpetrators of a murder.” Her mind was straight and merci less as a bayonet thrust. I stam mered : “You think then that—that—” “Never mind boggling.” Miss Aga tha ordered. “I think that, any where but in detective fiction, the persons nearest to a crime are those most likely to have been involved. That need not prevent my asking them to lunch. You forget that a spectator of life must have her vi carious thrills." “I never said a word,” I told her. “With a face like yours," she re plied, “you didn't have to. Of course I suspect the Ferriters. So do you.” She rolled her chair to the deck side and jumped upon her project. For a half-hour we talked. Or rath er, I listened while she elaborated her purpose to me and outlined the scope and set the tone for the first chapter. At last, she paused and grinned. “Any questions?" I shook my head. “Let me do a few pages and see whether I’ve caught your idea.” “Excellent,” Miss Agatha said with a jerk of her head. “Everett would have spent the next half-hour in qualms and objections.” “You may, when you see my copy,” I told her. She chuckled again as she rolled toward the door. “What ho!” he said in response to my greeting and waved a plump hand. I thought of Allegra, standing pro vocatively beside him. I thought of Duke’s slander and bent again to my work. Everett had a softness that shook instead of hardened un der stress but, even in his agitation, he had not forgotten his cologne. I don’t like cologne. With the reek of it in my nose, I found him standing beside me. He smiled and picked up the two pages I had completed. “Do you mind?” he asked and read them without waiting. The points of the waxed mustache twitched and color came to his pudgy cheeks. It isn’t pleasant to have another recast your own work. I understood his irritation. He dropped the sheets on the desk and dusted his hands together before he lit a cigarette. "Of course,” he said with a ges ture of resignation, “if that’s the sort of thing she wants—” “So what?” I asked, but his faint ly popped eyes slid away from mine. He laid his cigarette on an ash tray and shrugged. “No offense, my dear chap. I mean—well, isn’t it a bit ghoulish and horrible, this—er, exhumation of all the family skeletons? I mean— it’s really not my sort of work.” He stood quite still a minute be fore he said, in a voice that tried hard to be careless: “Anything new?” “Don’t you read the papers,” I asked, “or is journalism too—ghoul ish and horrible?” He didn’t resent that but an swered, quite humbly: “Of -course. I just meant, have you—has anyone, I mean—found out anything else?” I shouldn’t have deviled him fur ther, but he asked for it. I shrugged and put a fresh sheet of paper in the typewriter. "I’m a rewrite man,” I told him. "Not a detective.” I heard breath go through his nose. He mopped his face with a plaid-bordered silk handkerchief. The smell of cologne drove away my pity. "But,” he faltered, "you do know something, eh?” "Plenty,” I answered. "What?” he asked as though the word hurt him.” I shook my head. "You’re nervous enough already." He made a desperate gesture with both hands as though trying to push something away. “Nervous! Why shouldn’t I be nervous? I've been humiliated by a lot of foul police. Asses that have no respect for the commonest de cency. We’ve all been hounded by them, because they’re too ignorant ever to find out who did that dread ful thing.” Something clicked inside me and I looked at him hard. It might be only the indignation of the innocent that rode him. It might be some thing more. I couldn’t picture Ev erett Ferriter as a murderer, but I had been fooled too often in the last two days to trust my own senses. So I said: “Don't underestimate the cops. They are unrefined, but the Homi cide Bureau in this town ranks pret ty high. I’ve been a newspaper man long enough to know that when a de tective seems dumbest he’s proba bly being smartest. I’ll bet you, even money, that they clear up this case in a week.” I knew I had hit him. He gagged a little and gave a sick smile. “I hope you’re right,” he told me. “It can’t be a minute too soon for me—for all of us.” He left so quickly and silently that I heard the front door shut before I knew he was gone. I sat and scowled at the wall while I tried to pull that jittery fig ure into a pose of guilt. Then 1 remembered his alibi. It had been the nature of this alibi, and Alleg ra's part in it, that had made me vindictive. I thrust my mind away from current crime and into the an nals of Miss Agatha’s forebears (TO HE CONTINUED) Velveteen, Spotted Fur, Plaid, ‘Big Three’ in College Vote By CHERIE NICHOLAS THE college girl fashion picture bids fair to be largely a matter of gay velveteen and gorgeous plaids—and we are going to see just “oodles” of leopard and other spot ted furs. This means that what soe’er the event graced by the pres ence of her majesty. Miss College Girl, the scene will be one of ani mated and youthful fashions. At that highly significant event, the semi-annual fashion show presented recently by the Style Creators of Chicago, the supremacy of vel veteen, plaids and spotted furs was emphasized in a group of fashions for college-faring girls. The illus trations show four from among the hosts of stunning fall and winter models that received the applause of an enthusiastic audience. Looking at the fetching costume suit ensemble to the left in the group pictured, one readily understands at a glance the “reason why” a tre mendous velveteen vogue is spread ing throughout all fashiondom this season. In the life of the college girl especially, velveteen is going to play a stellar role. She will look sweet and lovely indeed in a cos tume suit of this type which is fash ioned by a leading style creator of wine colored velveteen for the coat with white saddle stitching around the buttonholes, and the smart pouch pockets are shirred. The dress is crepe in the same color. Note the very smart pompadour bonnet. The grand and the practical and the economical part of this long-coat ensemble is that the coat itself is a valuable asset in any girl’s ward robe. It not only partners perfectly with the crepe dress but can be worn as a wrap with one’s party gowns. For afternoon affairs with more or less formal gowns it will be looked upon admiringly and will be cov eted by every girl present. The story of velveteen as it is un folding in the season’s fashion events includes adorable little afternoon dresses in fas c in a ting colors. The stores are showing little velveteen classics, so called because they are styled with such exquisite simplicity. It is best to buy this type, for it “shows off” costume jewelry to the ’nth degree of glamour. Velveteen can be very informal when it chooses. Cunning jackets are made of it that look good when worn with bright plaid skirts. Often these vel veteen jackets are lined with the plaid of the skirt. Speaking of plaids—they are su perbly beautiful this year. It is no wonder style creators are turning out not only handsome coats of it but suits made all of plaid. They are the “last word” in high fashion this fall. The costume suit that has a long coat is the smartest of the smart for fall. As pictured to the right, the long plaid coat tops a dress whose monotone color keys to some one leading tone in the plaid. The coat modeled here is a fashion of distinction. The soft wool plaid fashioning it is not to be outclassed in its superb coloring and its high tone quality. As is true of most costume-suit coats this fall, this one is painstakingly finished in detail so as to serve smartly as a separate wrap with any and every dress or suit. Be sure to note the plaid jacket suit with hat to match centered below in the picture. It is a college girl favorite. A college girl will look her most alluring in the new fall red costume suit (see center above). It has just enough leopard fur on the tiny collar and stylish muff to satisfy without being overdone. Looks chic on her large sombrero, too. Leopard and other spotted furs certainly qualify as eligible to be counted in on the "big three" so conspicuously pres ent in the college girl fashion pic ture. In fact, the vogue for spotted fur coats and accessories is devel oping into almost an epidemic among the smart young set. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) j Knitted Sleeves Knitted accents on your tweeds and other wool fashions are being interpreted in clever ways this fall. Attractive little wool frocks often have fancy hand-knitted pockets to gether with collars and cuffs. Insets of knitted motifs are among the novel uses, and they certainly add an attractive feature to the new dresses and blouses and coats. In the picture a very modern suit of handsome green tweed has knitted sleeves. A cleverly gored skirt and matching tweed bag contribute dis tinguishing style touches. Also popular is a one-piece knitted dress with a flared skirt topped by a cardigan style bodice. Fullness of Skirts Variously Positioned While a slim silhouette is the goal of the majority of designers, this does not mean there is entire ab sence of fullness. The fact is that designers are managing to intro duce fullness for ease of action with utmost ingenuity. A panel of full ness at the side front springing from under a clever pocket, a few gather ings at each side of the front and a deliberate bringing of fulness to the direct front are some of the maneu vers being made in the newer fash ions. The new side move involves the fastening of coatL and dresses. There is no end to the cunning with which this new turn of affairs is be ing eploited. The new to-one-side fastening of coats is especialy in teresting. New Prints Adopt ‘Patriotism’ Themes The craze for patriotic *themes in fashion's realm reflects in the sea* son’s newest prints. In washgoods sections the stars and stripes are floating throughout cleverly pat terned cottons, linens, broadcloths and spun rayons. Such motifs as flags, eagles, military emblems and the like are patterning washable weaves in artful attractive manner. For scarfs and blouses and acces sory items, there is a series of shiny rayon crepe weaves that are most intriguing. In this class you will And the American eagle, the Amer ican flag on a starry ground and even the Statue of Liberty. NATIONAL I AFFAIRS Rtviewtd by CARTER FIELD Criticism of Willkie for not controlling party mem bers in Congress brings up Roosevelt parallel... Many prominent figures in U. S. Senate going into discard. (Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.! One really has to go back to 1916 to And a presidential campaign as curious in its lineups as this one. This may not be so strange, be cause it was the war situation which made that battle so pecu ■ liar. For instance, there have been two precisely opposite criticisms of Wen dell Willkie with regard to the amendment which would have post poned conscription—the one Intro duced by Representative Ham Fish and passed by the house of repre sentatives. One set of critics scream that Willkie should NOT have opposed the Fish amendment. They point out that he did not HAVE to say ANYTHING, and here he was tak ing issue with the man who will be chairman of the house foreign af fairs committee if the Republicans gain control of the house this elec tion. The other set of critics criticize Willkie bitterly because he does not CONTROL the Republican member ship of the house. METHOD NOT CLEAR It is not made clear just HOW Willkie would go about doing this No national convention of any party was ever able to bind the mem bers of its party elected to the house and senate AFTER the convention laid down its dictum. But while this division in the Re publican party has been attracting a great deal of criticism and com ment, with Willkie being attacked by both sides, how about the Democrat ic party? It just happens that the house of representatives PASSED this much discussed Fish amendment. There is no thought here of blaming Presi dent Roosevelt for that, but it could not have passed if a large number of Democratic members of the house had not voted for it. The Democratic majority in the present house is tremendous. FARTY CONTROL WEAKENS Now, Mr. Roosevelt, as President and as the candidate of his party for re-election, obviously should have more control of the Democrats in the house than Mr. Willkie has of the Republicans. This is not an attempt to make a case politically for either side. Both parties are split on every phase of the war issue. Every individual senator and representative, and every candidate for election as such, is going to speak and vote just the way he thinks will do HIM, individually, the most good at the polls in November. If that individ ual candidate thinks his vote will also help the candidate of his party for President, he is usually glad of it, but that is purely incidental. This tendency, which might be discussed learnedly as the decay of party responsibility, has been grow ing rapidly. It is the child of the direct primary. It is the child of the overthrow of the state bosses. But nobody is going to be able to do anything about it this year any way. VETERAN SENATORS RETIRING Almost never before, at this stage of a campaign, have so many prominent figures in the United States senate gone into the discard. With several primaries to come, there are already eight senators who will not be taking the oath again next January. On top of this, the election pros pects of certain other sitting sena tors are none too bright. Betting odds, for example, favor the de feat of Sherman Minton of Indiana, j Chavez of New Mexico, even if he survives the primary, may easily a > down in the election, for the Re publicans are pretty cocky in New Mexico. Sen. Peter Goelet Gerry of Rhode Island, who came to the senate in 1916, was later defeated, and then made a comeback, is in grave dan ger from the prospects of a Repub lican sweep in his state. Sen. Jos eph F. Guffey, first Democratic sen ator from Pennsylvania in more than a generation, is regarded by political observers as almost cer tain to lose. In fact, while it is the general opinion that Pennsylvania will go Republican, it is also the general opinion that Guffey will run behind his ticket. LANDSLIDE CHANGES PICTURE Sen. Joseph C. O'Mahoney, he of the anti monopoly investigation, is also in danger in Wyoming. All these probabilities are NOT calculated on the basis of a Repub lican sweep. They are calculated on the basis of a fairly close elec tion. If there should be a Roosevelt victory anything approaching that of 1936, it would undoubtedly save O'Mahoney, Gerry, and Chavez, as suming he wins the primary. It might even save Guffey, though that would take a bit of doing. On the other hand, if there should be a Republican sweep, it might carry down several other Democrat ic senators who are expected by most observers to survive. Quickly Knit Robe Decks Baby in Style Pattern 6752 pOR dress-up, out-of-doors or " coziness indoors this lacy robe is the newest thing for baby. • • • Pattern 8753 contains Instructions tor making set; illustrations ot it and stitches; materials needed; photograph ot pattern stitch. Send order to: Sewing Circle Needleeraft Dept. 12 Eighth Ave. New York Enclose IS cents In coins (or Pat tern No. Name ..... Address ... 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