Evening Star Newspaper, November 15, 1923, Page 49

[ “PAWNED” An Unusuel Romance ef People Whose Very Being Is O dpod 4o Do the Bidding of Others. T By-FRANK L. PACKARD Author of “The Miracle Man,” “From Now On,” etc. y Pullic Ledger Company. AND HERE IT CONTINUES. OHN BRUCE lay perfectly still. He heard a footstep come quick- 1y around the screen; he sensed the presence of some one bend- ing over him; then the coverings were pulled down and his arm was bared. He steeled himself against the in- stinctive impulse to Wi at the sharp prick of the needle which he knew was coming—and felt instead a cold and curiously mereiless rage sweep over him as the act was per- formed. Then the footstep retreated —and John Bruce quietly twisted his head around on the pillow, reached out his arm, and his fingers drew the silk panel of the sereen slightly away from the edge of the framework again. e could ¢ the had re- ferred to now. at the far side of the room against the wall, and the three men were standing in front of it. Presently it was opened. The man called Doc knelt down in front of it and began to examine its contents. He swung around to his companions after a moment with a large pile of bank notes in his hands. From this pile_he counted out and handed a small portion to each of the other two men—and coolly stufied the bulk of the money into his own p Kets, The scene went blurry then for moment before John Bruce's e he lifted his free hand and brushed it smcross his foreh d. He wi » b Iy weak. anyhow, wnd the infernal dope was getiing in its work too fast! He fought with all his mental strength ugainst the impulse ax and close his eves, What = e doing now? It looked like some fool- 1sh masquerad of the man w face were tying their fac g S from the nd then the bis man began to close the door of the safe. The Doe's voice came sharply ‘Look out you don't lock it. you fool!” . Once more Jjohn Bruce brushed his and across his eves. His brain must He playing him tricks again. A din infernal rose suddenly in the room. While the bi ) lantly agains the other two were scufflin cer the floor and throwing s about. And then from somewhere upstairs, on the floor there too, John Bruce thought he caught the sound of hurried ‘mov ments. Then for an instant the scuffling in the room ¢ ed, and the faced man's volce came in a mptory whisper: “The minute any one shows at the door you swink that - open as though you'd Leen working at it all the time, Bird nd pretend to shove everything in sizht into vour pockets And you. Joe, you've ot me cornered ond covered here—see? And you hold the doorway with vour gun. t0o; and then both of you back away and make your getaway through the window." The scuffling began again John Bru watched the seen sense of drowsiness and apathy o z upon him. He tried to rouse 1t He ought to do something. That vicious- faced little crook who had haunted him with unwelcome visitations, and who at this precise moment had the bulk of the money from the sa his own pockets, was in the planting a somewhat or probably none the less and John Bruc: heard door flung open, and then udden, startled cry, first in & woman's and then in a man's voice. But he could not see any door from the position in which he lax He turned over with a at effort, facing the other way, a hed out with his 1 of the screen that ov ad of the cot. And then John Bruce lay mo- tionless, the blood pounding flercely at tive, alibi, onscious that a tall, white- haired man in scanty attire was there, because the doorway framed two figures, but he saw only a beauti- ful face, pitifully white. only the slim form of a girl whose brown eves wete very wide i . and Who hKeld her dressing gown Hghtly clutched around her thioat. It was the girl of the trave wnshop it was the girl of h s in the shaft of sunlight: it followed héiv— ture seemed to b £ d 1o rmon now - on . . . and & jackknife and a quill tooth- pick . and Cl PTER VI The Girl of the Traveling ¥ John Eruce abstractedly twirled the tassel of the old and faded dressing gown which he wore, the temporary vossession of which he owed to Paul Veniza, his host. From the chair in | brown hair that shone like burnished | copper in the afternoon sunlight, as | Clalre Veniza, her back turned toward him, busined herself about the room He could walk now across the floo and a great deal farther, he was sur if they would only let him. He ha | not pressed that point; it might be taking unfair advantage of an already over-generous hospitality, but he s not at all anxious to speed his departure from—well, from where he was at that precise moment. _And now as he looked at Claire Veniza, his thoughts went back to the night he had stepped, at old Hawkins' invitation, into the traveling pawn- shop. That was not so very long ago —two weeks of grave illness, and then the past week of convalescence —but it seemed to span a great and almost limitless stretch of time, and to mark a new and entirely different era in his life; an era that perplexed and troubled and intrigued him with conditions and surroundings and dis- turbing elements that he did net com- prehend—but at the same time made the blood in his veins to course with wild abandon and the fufure to hold out glad and beckoning hands. He loved, with a great, overshelm- ing, masterful love, the girl who stood there just acioss the room all uncon- scious of the worship that he knew was in his and which he neither tried nor wished to curb. Of his own love he was sure. He had loved her from the moment he had first seen her, and in his b . knew he held fate kind to ha n him the wound n | nvalescene just past. And vet— Here dismay came, and 4 to stu d to hoy s plunged into the | mis and despair. Little 2 touch of the hand as she had nurse him that med like some God- Eive tende K nce when she had thought he t scen and which he had allowed T t to interpret to its advantage with per- haps no oth justification than f{ts own yearning and desire, had buoy checked, had always checked the words that were ever on his lips, A faint flush dyed his che even so, and for all his boas did he not in his own soul wrong her sometimes? The _questions would come. What was the meaning of the strange environment in_ which she lived? Why should she have driven to a gambling hell late at night, and quite as though it were the usual thing, to transact business alone in that car with—God! His hand clenched flercely. He remembered that night, and how the same thought had come then, mocking him, jeering him, making sport of him. 'He was a cad, pitiful, vile-minded Thank God that he was man enough to be ashame thoughts, cven if they came in spite of Liim! Perhaps it was the strang aracter that irrounded he came and went in this curious’ p) Jere, that fostered such thoughts perhips he was 1ot strong enough to grapple with all thesé confu things. He smiled a little griml The robbery of the safe, ror —and that reptile whom he now knew to be his own attending phy: Dr. Crang. He had said nothing about his knowledge of the robbe nearly as he could judg v0 or three days prior to the time when his actual convales- | cence h; set in, and as a material witness he crime he was not at! all sure that in law his testimony would be of mucs 2 must certainly have found an_un- and Dr. C as in- dubitably attack his testimony as be- ing nothing more than the hallucina- | tion of a sick brain. { The Juck of the devil Lad been with Crang! Why had he, John Bruce, gone drifting off into unconscjousness just at_the psychological moment when. if the plan had_ been carried out as arranged and the other two had made their fake escape, Crang would_have been left in the room with Claire and Paul Veniza—with the money in_his pockets! He would have | Lad Dr. Crang cold then! It was quite different now. He was not quite sure what he meant to do, ept that he fully p ed a r with Dr. Crang. But fhat r something he could mnots quite defin what, had prompted him to postpone until he had become physically a little sironger. And then there was another curious thing about it all. which. too. had in- it Haw- and Dr. had each, v and col- lectively, been in this room man times since the robberv, and not onc in his presence had the affair ever been mentioned! And—oh, what did it matter! He shrugged his shoulders as though to rid himself of some de- pressing physical weight. What did anything matter on this wonderful sunlit afternoon—save Claire there in her white, cool dress, that seemed somehow to typify her own gloripus youth and freshness. How dainty and sweet and alluring which he sat his eyes ventured stolen j She looked! His eyes were no longer glances at the nape of a dainty neck, | and at a great coiled mass of silken contented with stolen glances; they held now masterfully, defiant of any self-restraint, upoa the slim figure fous state ely after- 1 || that was all grace from the trim little' ankles to_the polse -of the shapely head. -He felt the blood quicken his pulse. Stronger than he had ever known it before, straining to burst all barriers, demanding ex- pression as a right that would not be denfed, his love rose dominant within him, and— The tassel he had been twirling dropped from his hand. She had turned suddenly; and across the room her eyes met his, calm, deep and un- perturbed at first, but ‘wide the next instant with a startied shyness, and the color sweeping upward from her throat crimsoned her face, and, in confusion she turned away her head. John Bruce was on.his feet. He stumbled a little as he took a step forward. His heart was pounding, flinging a red tide into the pallor of his cheeks that illness had claimed as one of its tolls. 1 did not mean to tell you like that” he sald huskily. “Rut I have wanted to tell you for so long. It seems as though 1 have always wanted to tell you. Claire—I love you. She did not answer. He was beside her now—only her head was lowered and averted and he could not 100k into her face. Her fin- gers were plucking tremulously at a fold of her dress, He caught her hand between both of his ow: “Claire—Claire, 1 love yo he whispered. She disengaged her hand gently; and, still refusing to let him see her face, shook her head slowly. 11 Her volce was very low. b, don't you know “I know ‘I love you,” he answered passionately. “I know that nothing else but that matters.” Again she shook her head. “I thought perhaps he would have told you. I—1 am going to marry Dr. n Bruce stepped back involun- ; and for a moment incredulity and helpless amazement held sway in his expression—then his lips tight- ened in a hurt, half angry Is that falr to me, Claire—to give me un answer like that?" he said in a w tone. “I know it isn’t true, of ourse; it couldn’t be—but—but it n't much of a joke either, is it “It is true,” she sald monotonously. He leaned suddenly forward, and taking her face in his hands, made her lift her head and look at him. The brown eyes were swlmming with The red swept her face in a wave, and, receding, left it deathly pale—and in a frenzy of con- fusion she wrenched herself free from him and retreated a step. God!” sald John Bruce hoarse- vou and Dr. Crang! I don't un- derstand! It is monstrous! You can’t love that——"He checked him- self biting his lips. “You can't love Dr. Crang. It is impossible! You dare not stand there and tell me that vou do. Answer me, Claire—answer me She seemed to have regained her self-control—or perhaps it was the one defense she knew. The little figure was drawn up, her head held back. “You have no right to ask me that,” she said steadily. (To be continued tomorrow.) A Sure Way To End Dandruff There i oua sure way that has never failed to remove dandruff at ouce, and that is to dissolve i, you destroy it entirely. To do this, Just get about four ounces of plain, ordinary liquid arvon from any drug store (this is all you will need): apply it at aight when retiring: use enough to ‘moisten the scalp and rub it in geutly with the finger tips. By moraing most, if not all, of yeur tandruff will be goze, and two ree e applications will completely dis solve and entirely destroy every single sign and trace of it. no matter how much dandruff you may have. 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