2 I)
TUB 15EEK OMAHA, SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 192x.
of F
w Somers Roche
BOGIE
1
THE STORY.
ALLATNB GUEK.NSfcX hu inherited the Guernsey
millions and an inborn dread of caudal. Her besrt
tlag (ear of oeing talked about has led her. at 24,
to marmfy a rrlvial quarrel with
BPEKSER BOURKE. her fianee. break the engage
aifiil. and rush into a heedless marriage with
BENNETT HALSEY, a tiuooth crook, who Is at
the end of hl resources and needs Allayne's money.
Al the start of their honeymoon Allayne learns of
the existence of a woman known as
ROSA HALSEY. whom the crook discarded to
snake bis marriage possible, and she promptly tella
Halsey she Is throurn wirh him. The train on
which they are passriirera la wrecked and Halsey,
aeeiiig bis scheme failure and fearing- the police,
who are always on his trail, conceives the idea of
"playing dead" by exchanging- papers with one of
the wreck victims. Allayne's former romance Is
renewed, and, supposing Halsey to be dead, she and
Bourke are married anal And themselves supremely
happy. Then Halsey, who has been traveling about
.at am with Boaa, reappears in the rflle of bla"h
mailer. Allayne has put all her wealth into
Jjourke's business and Is at her wits' end when the
crook asks for money. Therefore she complies
without question when he demands that ahe meet
him at a roadhouse known as Hillcrest Inn. Mean
while Halsey has had a heart attack, knows him
self to be at the point of death, and has turned his
thoughts from greed to revenge. He proposes, he
tells Allayne, to kill himself and let her be found
In the locked room at the roadhouse with his body.
As be is about to carry out his threat, Rosa, who
has provided herself with a revolver, enters the
room through a window and kills him. Allayne,
terror-stricken at Che thought of further scandal,
Suukea her escape from the roadhouse with Rosa,
hoping that Halsey's death will be thought a case
el suicide, and with her mind in a whirl over Rosa's
revelation that ahe had been Halsey's wife, and that
therefore the dead man had never really been
Allayne's husband at all. Rosa Is killed in an au
tomobile accident as she is getting away from the
town, and the identification of her body seems, at
first, to clear up the mystery of Halsey's death.
But the solution does not satisfy
RANDOLPH JENKINS, the town's chief of police,
who is confronted by several puzzling phases of
the case. One of these is the testimony of a waiter
that Halsey had given him a letter to mail, ad
dreaaed to the chief himself. Halsey wrote it to
mane sure that Allayne would be found at the inn
with his body, but Jenkins does not know this.
And rhe letter has disappeared, knocked out of the
, mail box al the roadside by Allayne as she drove
away from the inn In her roadster. Other bits of
evidence have convinced Jenkins that there was a
aecoud woman in the room at the inn. At this
Juncture Bourke, who has been away on a business
trip, returns and gives Allayne a shock by stepping
from aa automobile driven by man in police uni
form. EIGHTH INSTALLMENT.
Suspicion.
HOW futile) bad been her boasts! Hardly
had they bean formulated In her mind
before they were made ridiculous.
No ground for suspicion, and yet her hus
band drove up to the house In a police auto
mobile! And then her hands unclasped. For her
husband descended from the ' closed car,
reached through the door and shook hands
with a man inside, and turned gayly away to
run up the steps. She heard hint In the
hall: heard him crying her name. But she
did not go to him until the machine outside
had started down the driveway.
Then she went to him. Ho caught her up
In his arms, murmuring the inarticulate
greetings that lovers know. Arm in arm
they climbed the stairs.
" Haven't had a chance .to shave an day,"
he said. "Feel as bristly as a porcupine. .
Miss the aged sharer of your Joys and sor
rows? "
She managed to equal his lightness of tone.
"I have his crutches handy," she said.
He kissed her with boyish enthusiasm.
"Had a great trip. Put the business over.
Mow, where the deuce is my razor? "
He had opened his suit-case and tumbled
everything out upon the bed. From the
jumbled mass Allayne extricated the razor.
" Ton didn't come in a taxi," she said.
He was unbuttoning his collar. " No," be
mid. . "Came out of the station, carrying
my bag, and saw Rannle Jenkins. He saw
, me at the same time and offered to give mo
a lift. Stopped the "bus and took me in.
Say, that's somo murder over at Hilicrest,
lent it?"
" It Is," she agreed.
"Jenkins ia full of It; cant talk anything
tee. Says heTl get the second woman an
right Hope he doesn't"
" What? Why? " demanded Allayne.
Her husband, bare-armed now, picked np
his shaving materials and darted into the
bathroom.
."Why? Hate to see any -woman caught
In a Jam like that," he declared. "Women
don't km without darn' good reason. Euro,
I hope she gets away. But I dent think
she wilL"
V
She mhaled deeply. tTtre was glad that ho
could not see hr face.
" Why not? " she demanded.
"Well, Jenkins doesn't talk to hewr bis
own voice," ald Bourke. " He isat the
boasting kind. He says (hat hell land this
woman within twenty -foor hours, and I be
lieve him.
Allayne tw silent a moment.
" Did bt ten yon what makes hhn so
tain? " she asked. She kept her voice tUm&j
only by a tremendous effort
" No. I tried to get him to, bat, of couro.
bo wouldn't"
"Perhaps," suggested Allayne, "ho was
Voicing a hope."
" I tell you Rannie Jenkins tent that sort,"
retorted her husband. "He's got somo ert
Cence, something or other, that makes htm
pretty confident."
Allayne moistened her lips. "Ton beUero
htm. then? "
"Believe him?" Bourke came to the door
of the bathroom. With eyes set in a frame
of snowy lather he stared at her.
" That's a funny question, Allayne. Why
no-Jldnt I believe him?"
She laughed affectedly.
"Oh rm Just making talk," he said.
Silly taHi, I guess."
He grinned at her.
: "Excited at seeing your husband
again, eh?"
"That's it," she said.
Then, when he was owe again m the
bathroom and could not seo her face, 4h
mid:
" Spense! Suppose rm in a sEV rt of
mood, I think but suppose I were that miss
ing woman that Jenkins is looking for?"
" Silly is right," grunted Bourke. ' Well
what then? "
" Would you want me to tell you? "
Bour Its tittered foaie sort cf escuaiKv-n.
"What's that again?" he called. "I cut
my chin would I want you to tell me?
That what you asked? "
"Yes," answered Allayno in a barely audi.
b!e voice.
"Ill say I wouldn't," he told her. "I've
got troubles enough on my young soul with
out learning that my wife is a fugitivo from
Justice." He appeared suddenly in the door
way and stared at her. "Listen here, Al-
layne, you mustnt get thinking too much
of murders and that sort of thing. I think
the newspapers ought to quit printing such
stories. They make women hysterical."
" No be serious," she said. " Should a
woman I'm Just wondering, you know
should a woman tell her husband such a
thing? If she were quito sure that she'd
never be found out "
" Not tell her own husband that she was a
murderess? " Bourke began to laugh. " I
don't imagine that she'd tell anyone a thing
like that It's one of those little things that
you dont mention, Allayne."
"Be serious," she said again. "I mean
suppose that she hadn't committed murder,
but was in a--a nasty mces no one would
ever know, but should she toll her hus
band?" "WeU, what do I get for answering the
puzzle?" he Jibed. "How do I know what
she ought to do? "
"Well, supposing that a man were the
misslns person In this murder. And sup
pose that you were the man. Would you
' teU me? "
"And havo you worry your adorable head
right off your lovely shoulders? What sort
of a yellow dog do you think I am, Allayne?
Any other little soul problems you want an
swered tonight?"
She smiled at him, and he did not know
bow effortful was that smile. Now she
could not tell him. She could be no less
brave, enduring, than he bad said he
would bo.
"None," she told him.
"Then hustle into your evening clothes.
Fbrgot to teC you Rannle asked us to din
ner u4 I ssttl we'd come. An right with
JKU?"
To dme with Randolph Jenkins, the men
vso sought her as a murderess . . .
"Lov to," she nnewered blithely. Her
aaeewtora, if they coo'd look dovn upon her,
urowt Lve been torond of ber. She had in
berated f&sJr grit
Wo can ourselves a democracy, and we do
our piefwi best to live up to er boast, un
reateing. for the most, that democracy ehal
teases man's most ancient and who shtn
say that it is not his most tetsdafel?
hwdact: th instinct of superiority. To Eft
ourselves above the common Vrd; in some
way to Isolate ourselves so thit, if only for
a moment, the crowd will look onr way; ia
held the center of the stage. . . .
If oecret societies did away with all mug
nfioauent titles they would not endure bo
yend the high school and college period; if
legislator were never referred to as "Sen
ator," how many men would covet the office?
Thero are thosrt whose liw are such that
thy may never hope for glory; they must eJ
ways we subordinates in the great conCict
Hra. Henrietta Purdy was om of tbese.
Bex husband was a night watchman In an
oSco bcUKng downtown. His wages were
gRBr.fi: they would, Mrs. Pvrdy ha4 sopo
ttaM ago decided, always be small; life held
no xcitrmen for her beyond an occasional
pievnre show. Her relaxation from the cares
of a brood cf smaU children was found in the
cLi'y papers. And the CreothUl mystery was
hsaven sent boon to ber.
t&e) lived, in a small dilapidated house, not
a toen rcls from the scene cf the crime. It
frvro hr, amoAat her acquaintances who
Jvret ta more rote pclr;hNrhood8, a or
ta'n wctue. She coula d'S-.uw, almost with
ld'Awcy, fete details of x trine.
And when she discovered that her young
son, Tommy, had, on his way to school,
taken a short cut through the CresthiU Inn
grounds, and that he had seen a motor car
parked in the space allotted to automobiles,'
on the day of the crime, Mrs. Purdy's excite
ment grew intense.'
Tommy was nine years old and stupid for
his years. Inasmuch, however, as older per
sons had seen the car In which Allayne rode
without being able to recollect so unimpor
tant had it seemed to them whether it was
a two, five, or seven passenger machine,
Tommy cannot be blamed because he had
not noticed what sort of a car it was.
But he had noticed the license number of
the machine. At least he thought that it
began' with the figure " 1 " and ended with
the figure " 3L" And (Tommy's thought, pro
duced after much mental labor on the day
after the murder, and induced by incessant
questioning on the part of an exasperated
mother, was enough to Justify Mrs. Purdy In
calling upon the chief of police.
It was a proud moment for the. matron
when, after scornfully refusing to divulge
her information to any one other than Jen
kins himself, she was ushered into the chiefs'
presence, dragging by the hand a reluctant
mall boy, to whom the presence of so many
uniformed men brought alarm. For Tommy
had played " Arab " in his youthful day, and
the duty of an Arab is to raid caravans.
Fruit peddlers offered the only opportunity
to invest the game with realism, and once a
policeman had called at the Purdy home,
and stated, flatly, that reform schools were
maintained for the sole, exclusive purpose of
catering to youths who stole oranges sod
bananas.
For all that he was no leader in his classes,
Tommy had an impressionable brain. There
after he had shunned " cops with an assid
uity most commendable. ' And now his moth
er, with that fatuity which he had come to
consider a part of her sex. had not been con
tent with anything less thw Hi introduc
tion to a dozen oeHcemen.
His tears flowed freely as he stood before
Jenktns. The chief grinned amicably.
" Tommy," he said, after the proud mother
had introduced her offspring, "weald yon
Mce a nickel?"
Tommy's eyes dried magically. But he
was a suspicious sotd.
" Where would I get one? " he demanded.
Jenkins grinned again. "Maybe I can
find one," he srid. He put his hand into a
pocV.et and when it came out it held some
stnaU change. He looked at it disparagingly.
" No," be announced, " there isn't a nickel
here. But" h added, as Tommy cniCeoV " I
bvre a dune. Will that do? "
Graciously Tommy admitted that it would'
serve the purpose. He accepted It and imme
diately became more tolerant of bis mother.
"Tour mother says that yon oaw an auto
mobile on the Cres thill grounds retn!aj.
Tommy," said Jenkins.
"Sure I did," said Tommy. After aU, his
mothsr was all richt This was an evnt to
be related, with much gusto, to envious email
friends.
" And you saw the number plate? "
" Sure I did," said Tommy again.
"What was it?" asked the chief.
" Well, it was a long number," aid Tommy,
"and I can't remember It aU."
"Perhaps you can think of some of the
figures?" suggested Jenkins.
Tommy nodded. " Tessir. It began wm
a 'I' and it ebe Jrith v ' V"
He could teU no more, but for the purposes
of Mrs. Purdy it was enough. Her name
would be in the papers. Indeed, on the way
out two newspaper photographers took snap
shots of herself and Tommy, standing proud
ly on the steps of headquarters. Mrs. Purdy,
on a slim foundation, had builded for herself
a structure of fame. It might be transient
but it would be unforgettable. She was un
wontedly kind to Tommy for a whole twenty
four hour period.
Jenkins smiled after they left. Tommy's
clew amounted to no clew at all. More than
one hundred thousand automobiles in the
state of New York bore license plates that
began with the figure "1." And one in
every ten cars bore a plate whose number
ended with that 'figure. To find out how
many of them were owned by the residents
of Hillstown was possible, of course. But it
was absurd to try. ... Still, was It? The
slightest clew might lead to undreamed of
results. '
The Hillstown police department, as a
check upon the activities of motor bandits,
had compiled a list of all cars owned by resi
dents of the town. Jenkins detailed a couple
of men to prepare a li.it cf licenses that
began and ended with the primary figure.
Then, because it was getting along toward
the dinner hour, he went home. Opposite
the station he spied the figure of bis good
friend, Spenser Bourke. He offered him a
ride home, and, because Bourke chaffed him
on the failure, thus far, of the police to ap
prehend the criminal, Jenkins stated that he
was sure of capturing the second woman.
He didn't tell Bourke why; but he meant, of
course, that when the missing letter was
recovered he expected to have evidence of
value.
He had not yet despaired of finding that
letter. But a small envelope that may be
anywhere in a radius of a quarter of a mile,
in heavily wooded territory, is almost as
safe from observation ss a pebble cn the
ocean bed. Nevertbalessj his men weuld not
give up for a whl'e yet
He kept bachelor quarters, presided over
by an impeccable English butler, uacd to a
master who announced the coming cl jxier
without warning. So, cn the itepciae, he in
vited the Bouries to oiiiner. Whoa he ar
rived home he casually told the fruMrv oi tas
invitation, and leisurely bathed and chcr.g&d
his clothing. It was a comfortable life, and
he never expected to change it Good look
ing, in healthy sort of fashiua, with big rose
and broad mouth, and eyea that women
termed " nice," more than one yoang gl?l of
Hillstown might have been persuaded to ac
cept a share of his name, place, and patri
mony. But he had been too intent upon his
profession to pay much attention to girls.
Anyway, he preferred married women. One
didn't have to flirt with them; if they bored
one, it was easy not to call ar&in, Wtvnt '
thought of explanation.
He was an extremely popular man with the
younger married set of Hillstown. So that
when Frank Merriman, cashier and vice
president of one of the local banks, tele
phoned, shortly before dinner, and an
nounced that he and his wife were going to
drop over later In the evening. nd wera go
ing to bring with thenl a young wcrcao wto
was a house guest, for a game of tr.6g,
Jenkins respcr-ded with r-rvittSty.
" You and your guest Frrnk," . he said,
" can play with the Boorkes. They're dinin
with me. I'll talk to your wife-
"Fair eno'igh," said Merrtnan. "Only
Alice thinks that Miss Bart-miton has
chance of breaking down yew bvwJcr de
fenses. I warn you she's a pesch."
" So's Mrs." Merriman," rwJoSneo" "Mr--ins,
imperturbably. A peasant m'l wm on his
face as he hung up. It wis still taere wlsn
he greeted the Bourkes.
He lciew and liked very much Sp Miser
Bourke. He wasn't as well acquainted with
Allayne. Although they saw enough of each
other for him to feel free to Invito the
Bourkes casually, and for them to feel free to
accept as casually, he never fe't sny degree
of intimacy with Allayne; ovsh ac, for in
stance, he felt with Mre. Tier.-, or iaV
dcsn V the other' young: airnn cf iaillu
t. F4i. glaired he. Pj sjwkpm e bave
" tato yoa yttterday, Mr. Boarkm.
It uia a catual remark, bat Allayne
challenged it. " I'm quite tvtre that
you're mittaken, Miu Harrington."
certain reserves that Bourke liked in women.
She was the sort, he believed, with whom not
even a husband becomes acquainted all at
once. It was her type not her physical
type, for he had a preference for blondes
but her mental type, that attracted him. He
could cot, for Instance, Imagine Spenser
Bourke ever being bored in his home life.
There were, he Imagined, many, many angles
to her character; one would discover them
sirgly.
Tonight she seemed more brilliant than
ever before. Not that she said anything of
particular moment but her eyes were flash
ing; ber Ups tremulous, quick to curl in a
smile; her speech was fluent rapid. As
though, he mused, she were under some sort
of strain. But, of course, the wife of Spenser
Bourke could be under no strain. Her home
life was too ideal. He remembered that
Bourke had told him that he had been out
of town for a couple of days. That accounted
for It; she was so happy at seeing him home
again. Possibly there was something in this
marriage proposition, after all. If one's re
turn could make a lovely girl beam with
Joy
The dinner was simple and delicious.
Bourke and his host were lighting their sec
ond clgarets in the big living room when the
.Merrlmans and their guest. Miss Harring
ton, were announced. And after the greet
ings, and the introduction of the young wom
an to the three people whom she did not
know had been accomplished. Miss Hairing
ten said:
" I saw you yesterday, Mrs. Bourke."
It was a casual remark, a time killing,
pause filling statement But Allayne chal
lenged it. That was how Jenkins phrased it
to himself. For her tone, if not her words,
held a crispness that was almost defiant
" I'm quite sure that you're mistaken. Miss
Harrington."
The younger girl smiled. " O, but I'm sure
I'm not You were in a car a roadster; on
Veasey street."
Allryne shook her head. "I have k road
star, but I wasn't in it yesterday. I was
hid'ors all day."
Miss Harrington laughed. "Then I didnt
sea you," she said pleasantly, and the inci
dent was closed. In a moment the bridge
table was brought forward and they were
cutting for partners.
But it was several hands before Ahayne
could concentrate on the game. For she had
told the first direct lie of her life. How
many more would she be compelled to tell? .
She wondered if she had stressed her denial
so that it was noticeable to any one? But
the subject was not brought up again; one
felt that she had deceived every one present -
As a matter of fact she had. Jenkins,
who had thought that her tone held a cote
that the pleasant statement of MLs Harring
ton hardly Justified, forgot all about it a
moment afterward.
But he remembered it the next irioraliis
For the men whom he had detailed to mate
a list of the Hillstown car owners who pos
sessed license plates beginning and ending
with the figure " 1 " had left the lists upon
his desk. Running swiftly down them
there happened to bo something less than
sixty names he saw listed that of Mrs.
Spenser fcourke.
Last night's little contretemps leaped l&to
his mind. It was absurd, ridiculous, but . . .
Mrs. Bourke had denied having been in her
car with an emphasis quite out of proportion
to the importance of Miss Harrington's state
nent, unless she didn't wish it to be known
fiat she had been out!
Had Allayne Bourke been anything less
than what she was; had the been anything
leas than a most modest woman, Jenkins
might have shrugged his shouldora act dis
missed the matter from bis mind. Theie
was more than one young matron of Hills
town who kept her husband in the dark as
t her goings and comings.
But Allayne Bourke was not that sort.
Most undeniably she was not that sort! No
vulgar intrigue involving deceit of her hus
band could possibly lead Mrs. Spencer
Bourke to falsehood. She loved her hus
band. The veriest cynic unhung would con
cede that to ber.
But she had not told the trutn last night
r--vl"cn was ou'te probable Mies Harring
ton had neeo murvaken. It was so serious a
matter, so vital a matter, that Jenkins could
not let it remain as it stood. In Justice t
Mrs. Bourke he must question further Mis
Harrington. Unless he did so, ho, Jenkins,
would always have a doubt. ... It waf
his duty to question Miss Harrington. Somen
thing much more Important than Jenkins
desire to do exact Justice, even in his
thoughts, to Allayne Bourke was involved.
The law was involved.
He sent a thrill through the match-making
heart of Alice Merriman by telephoning and
asking if she and Miss Harrington would
take luncheon with him at the Trenmore.
Hillstown's only hotel that laid claim to
being attractive. Mrs. Merriman would ask
Miss Harrington. She did. They would both
be delighted.
It wa,s a pleasant little luncheon. Jenkins
was a perfect host, and Mrs. Merriman was
quite convinced that her dearest chum would
soon be a Hillstown neighbor of hers. She
didn't know that her chum was already en
gaged to a New York man. Chums do not
always tell each other everything.
The bridge at Jenkins' house was dis
cussed. The Chief of Police deftly led the
conversation around to that subject
" Excellent player, Mrs. Bourke," he said.
He felt something of a cad as he mentioned
her name. He felt that he was doing some
thing viciously underhanded. But, after all,
he was an officer of the law, sworn to uphold
- It. That his duty led him into strange, in
credible places was no reason why it should
be forsworn.
There was enthusiastic response from both
his guests. Feeling still more caddish, Jen
kins asked:
"You hadn't met her before, had yon.
Miss Harrington?"
The young woman shook her pretty head.
"Although I thought that I recognized her
as a woman I'd seen driving a car day before
yesterday. But I was mistaken."
"Mrs. Bourke Is rather a Btriklng-looking
woman," insinuated Jenkins.
" Beautiful," agreed Miss Harrington with
enthusiasm. "That's why I was so sura
that I was right But of course, when a
woman wears a veil, and is sitting down la
a car, one can easily be mistaken. Espe
cially if one doesn't know the person."
" Of course," said Jenkins. He turned tho
conversation easily to other channels. .
But when the luncheon was over and ho
was back in his office he began to do somo
serious thinking. The mysterious woman of
the CresthiU Inn had been veiled. . , .
He tried Utf put his suspicions from him, but
he could Jpt Of course), on the face of it,
nothing was more ridiculous than a suspicion
of Mrs. Spenser Bourke. But he knew of
many crimes where the first suspicion must
have seemed to its holder as absurd as this
one of his. If one failed to investigate a cir
cumstance because it didn't seem reasonable
one would not get very far.
And It began to seem to him now that ho
was not going to get very far The- latest
reports from the seekers after the letter ad
dressed to him were not encouraging. They
had gone, so they declared, over every inch
of the ground near to the dismantled letter
box. They had climbed the trees, scrambled
through the underbrush, looked in the shrub
bery. Of course, he would not call them off
the chase yet. He couldn't afford to do that
But he felt less hopeful; distinctly so.
And the more he thought of Allayno
Bourke, of Miss Harrington's statement, of
the tone of Allayne's denial, of Tommy
Purdy's testimony as to the number of the
license plates, of the license number oa
Allayne's car, the more disturbed he became.
He could not let the matter drop. Yet ho
could hardly turn over such a matter to a
detective. To do that meant to tell his sus
picions to another, and that meant to blacken
Allayne in the mind of that other. Even
though she advanced convincing proof that
she had not left her house on the day before
yesterday she would be smirched. It was,
then, up to him to question Allayne further.
It was a most unpleasant task, but it could
not be delegated.
He telephoned Allayne and asked if ho
might corns to tea. Her voice gave no indi
cation of her inward terror. She would bo
delighted, she told him. So, at shortly before
five o'clock, he was ushered into the Bourke
home.
Allayne poured gracefully. Further, she
remembered Just how much sugar he liked
and that he did not use either cream or
lemon. These things are satisfying to a
man's sense of his own importance. Jen
kins had had tea at Allayne's but once be
fore, and that was some months ago. Yet
she had not forgotten. The little incident
made him more than ever ashamed of him
self. "We had such a Jolly time last night"
said Allayne. "And I don't see 1 tv you can
resist that pretty Miss Harrington. If I
were a man I'm sure she's Just the girl I'd
want."
Jenkins grinned amiably. "A perfect
peach," he said. He stirred his tea, looking
downward. "Odd, how sure she was that
she'd seen you."
Allayne had been expecting this. And bo
cause aho. had wished to get it over with
she had invited his remark. Deliberately
she had mentioned Miss Harrington's nam.
"Wasn't it?" she agreed, with a littlo
laugh. " Only she was mistaken. I hadn't
been out of the bouse all day."
"You're emphatic," smiled Jenkins. Ho
was watching her now, watching her keenly.
" You speak as though you could prove it"
Allayrv grimaced. It was a pretty grimaca.
"Now, that makes it embarrassing, for
that's the one thing I can't do. You see, 1
let the boys Tsuro and Itogo go as soon
r.f they had prepared luncheon. Itogo had
missed his day off last week I gave a din
ner party on his regular day off Wednes
day. So, Jay before yesterday, I let them
both eo. They are great chums. It was a
sort of special extra reward letting them
go together. Of course, Tsuro came back
for tiinnei' " She broke ofT with a laugh.
" I'm giving you a long dissertation on tho
way I retain my servants and keep them
happy."
" You interest me," said Jenkins.
She laughed again. She wondered what
he knew, how much he suspected. He had
taken Miss Harrington's statement last nlsht
seriously. Well, she would prove horoalf a
match for him.
" Then with luncheon on the table, a sud
den headache I have them occasionally
attacked me, and I couldn't tounn a thing.
I went upstairs and laid down for couplo
of hours. Tsuro was quite acrrv wheta ho
found that I had eaten nothhig. Weren't
you, Tsuro? " she suddenly asked tho Jap,
who was renewing the hot water.
" No eat no be well," said Tsuro
Jenkins fe't a great wave of relief sweep
over him. She was so f-ank, so .uncon
cerned; her s'&tem-snt was borne out by tho
Jap. ... It was insane to think any
longer of ai'.y connection between Mrs. Joe ri
ser bourse and the wot. ji of tbe r onerous.
..ai tbrtl Nf't riumiM i
(Copyright, l:i, by Art'.iur Seniors Roche)