Evening Star Newspaper, December 15, 1925, Page 57

JO ANN THE EVENING ST A “The Gracious Gift of God” By H. L. GATES ‘ontinued from Yesterday's Star.) CHAPTER XXXI. The Challenge. Two cars crept upwards along the tertuous road that climbed the moun tain. Kenilworth’s red roadster. with its master at the wheel and Joanna aettled snugly beside him in the sin- &le seat, gilded silently from the streets of Monte Carlo into the shrublined avenue that narrowed gradually until it became barely more than a path sloping sharply toward the summit of the hill. Ahead of them Brandon, muffed in tweeds ered by a black domino, sat be- slde an ev heavy-jowled Mc gasque, who steered much larger car than Kenilworth’s. The purple mist, hued vaguely mnow that the twilight had gone, blotted out the lights of town and villa which, on moonlight nights makes this road up La Turbie one of the beautiful drives of Europe. One who climbs the hill tonight. Master, must have a steady nerve and a purpose said the Monegusque who guided the car in which Brandon vode, If the purpose is nerve, the effort is Brandon returned ecct i8 a woman, a gold. 1 zine vou lot fail you in either When Anto] ad with & surene: 1 0 knowledge of th bank which stamped him as fa. miliar with the road he followed, he obLserved There are few women in v rld, Master, for whom I'd take myself or my men into danger. Your women are playthings. That’s why we don't let ours imitate them The lamps of Kenilworth's roadster <uddenly revealed another car pick- fng fts way slowly just ahead. Al- st at the same moment a disc of pale vellow li wone through the tely wiped away v mass of cloud-like atmos- of the 1 while, man's o be uld worthy wort “One er's may nerve w made turn isked. ie vil ecessit 1 trav What was that?” Joa “The lighthouse La T jage.” he replied. “Que fsn't it A lizhthouse to wuar clers on a mountain road:” While the dim radiance cast its sickly unination over them Kenil- h examined the girl who sat so him. He saw that her white throat. on which a single great 3 vas glistening in the the contrast of her ck of the gown she to wear £he had thrown her head Her wrap. of some plain clinging stuff, softened at the collar with a ripple of chinchilla, lay open. Kenilworth felt for the bank with his front wheels and brought the romdster to a stop. He reached over and gently drew the wrap together, bundling its collar close about the girl's 1 “It’s a treac admonished her. tell its ext d: 'S consequences “Consequences are uncertain to make Into a prophecy, she asked. He ed her peering at her through the fog. saw the vague shadows lurking in her eves, shadows that came and then evaporated as if they were fugitives of the mist that had reached a haven of brown depths. “Are you wondering,” he asked, ‘what is to be the outcome of-—well, of vour invitation to a battle be- tween us tonight? If you are, it is useless. Thera will be one thing or another: joyful, glorious, restful, beau- liful; or, so far as I am concerned, empty and, in that event meaningless to you." She was time. Then it, Roddy? vou love me those rituals of ador: vou are distinguished course. T o measure you and nmeasure mys That will be the obvic pro 1t there must he some new note. What shall it be?” He guided back into the oad, satisfied that th zer car that had been ahead of them would have gone a safe distance beyond. You are, in vourself, the one overwhelm ing new note.” he declared then. You and the whim of you to throw your colors at my feet and challenge me to fasten them to my shield—if I can. I've never experienced that before, from a woman. They've done it. of course, but they thought they were furtive about it. 1 don’t believe in being furtiv she returned. “It used to be the fashion, and the custom, I know. But what's the use? Any woman always knows what another woman thinks. And ev man knows what his brother wants. They pretty well know what they think abdut each other. every woman and every man. So much has gone wrong in the world, t seems to me, because people have always tried to make a mystery and a game out of the plain and common place. It's more fun to be honest If a girl builds Il around <he always ¢ 1 opening that she can peek througzh. That's the bre through w} may_conquer her, if she So why have the wall? 1 thi better to stand out in the ope er for the gairl, I mean. She vhat's coming at her. ther 1y for it “So v ave decided to put arms dow 1 tell me I m whatever « win? Just it8 not asking an advantage, have 3 chosen me? As was her wa =idered this «a varently intent safely awiy outer side of answered him “It’s because vou're strai “traight, according to your You've never fooled me, no vour desire of me since that night at Yvonne's, back in New York, when I asked vou to wipe John's accusing kiss from my lips with a warmer one from vour's. 1 knew enough then, thanks to what I'd learned of men, to realize by the feel of your arms that ou would be deterr up, if vou irophies who'd ma And you've ied to deceive me. You've even d me, tremendous- v. Now I'm wondering if, after all, I haven't heen decefving myself.” She paused, but Kenilworth did not <peak. He thought she would go on d presently she did. ‘John has done a big thing. When his opportunity came to him he went up, up like we are going now, through the mist, straight toward the end of . beautiful rainbow. He tells me I've heen just a fizzle—and I suppose he's vight. His pride and his triumph doesn’t it in with his loving me be- cause, he says, I've wasted my_time cilding the clouds with tinsel. Betty Weymouth is convinced I'm not worthy of Teddy Dorminster who's not like you, Roddy, because he wants to marry me. And T suppose I'm not worthy of whoever it was who gave me my money, for he has never re. Vealed himseli. So it may be that I'm worth only the kind of thing you've heen wantine to give me—the sort of thing you gave Yvonne. “When I was Twenty-seven of the «iks I was what I thought it was <mart to be—bold enough to let every- ose beside erous atmosphere,” he ‘One can never fore- lent. motionless, for a ‘How are we going about You are to tell me that want me, and recite all fon for which That much of vour times. she con- He waited, ap- upon keeping his car from i the road. At last she ht. Roddy. standard concealed with your would any n conld herself | ledge at the | ed to hang me | other | | | | { i | being a girl, unashamed to take ever “|thing I dared accept out of unfettered | girthood. Perbaps short lips and to of things as they r a girl inside as much a say they do outside. Go a and find out—for me. I'll skirts and knowledge does spoil some people ad, Roddy, fight you Then he caught her in a fevered clasp. like the devil. but T want to know if ou and what you represent can win; if you do, John wins; Betty Weymouth wins; evervbody wir When she finished she put her hand against Kenilworth’s coat. He felt it slipping into his coat pocket and rest ing there. When he would have spoken he realized that a long time 411&1(] passed: that he had been holding | Pimself stiffly, trying to absorb the | feel of the hand that snuggled in his | pocket and determine whether it rest- | ed quietly, or trembled. | As the red car felt its way upwards the midst became less oppressive. Twice the lamps outlined the car ahead with a suddenness that would have unstrug the nerves of most j motorists, but Kenilworth was u nerv. less dr d Joanna seemed oblivi- | ous to every danger. At times when | the man beside her was particularly |intent upon his wheel and his | thoughts ~concentrated upon some | bend in the road, she studied his face slyly. They paused for a minute at the village of La Turbie. Across a gorge {the lights in the windows of a villa were pinpricks of red fire where, on & | clear night, there would have been a | brilliant Dlaze. The atmosphere had {become scented. Joanna wondeved if SLLLT A CLTRTY | { the mist were not evaporating after all. “Possibly,” Kenilworth commented, “or it may still be rislng from below. We'll know by midnight. When they slid out of the village they passed the car that had been ahead of them. It had stopped before a crumbling hut at the edge of the little town, where the road began, again _its sharp upward _twisting. Both Kenilworth and Joanna looked into It curjously. They saw that who- ever had been at the wheel had left it—to go into the hut, probably. The other figure was too muffled to be recognized. They reached the plateau at the top of the mountain at and drew up before the clubhouse. ' Its cheerful lights, glowing an unnatural red, made faint shadows in the open yard. Straing of mellow music floated through closed doors, inviting new- comers to make the most of whatever sort of *romance had brought them there. “We'll leaye the car néar the road.” Kenilworth announced. “We may have to make a dash for it if the mist becomes 100 thick.™ Joanna slipped to the ground and stood close to the car. Kenilworth stood beside her while he drew off ‘his overcoat, revealing his domino of shining white satin. It is a fiction at the mountain-top clubhouse that one must mask, so that all who go there may be assured of their anonymity— if they require it. Joanna produced from a pocket of her wrap, her soft black mask, strip of thin velvet that barely reached the tip of her nose, with two almond shaped slits for her eves. Thin silver cords, to be concealed and fastened in her hair, dangled from either tip of the mask. She held up her face to Kenil- worth in mute invitation for him to fix the taunting strip of velvet in its place before they should enter the house Her warm breath, escaping partly opened lips, fanned him gently. She smiled up at him, half drowslly, as if the faint melodies of passion that came out from the dance floor had 2 Nl HOURS OF LEISURE Wrat Greater Git? On Christmas morning when your wife opens up your gift of a Hoover, youwill see more wide-eyed pleasure than you really expected. For she sees down the years the precious hours of leisure The Hoover brings—the freedom from back-breaking, weary drudgery—the joys of a spotlessly clean home—kept that way e-a-s-i-l-y. And she knows, too, that you have given her the best—themost efficient of all household helpers —The Authorized Hoover Service Station 501 7th St. N.W., Room 208, Washington, D. C. The Hoover Co. 501 7th St. N.W., Room 208, Washington, D. C. S. Kann Sons Co. Woodward & Lothrop Lansburgh & Bro. Dulin & Martin Co. Palais Royal Barber & Ross body knew I was & girl,xhet Lenjoyed |- W. B. Moses & Sons Mayer & Co. The Hecht Co. House & Herrmann H. F. Dismer Edgar Morris Sales Co. I AR, WASHINGTON, D. C. lulled her senses into a ylelding ten- dernees. Careless of the tang of damp cold she allowed her wrap to fall back and bare the throat that seemed to blend into the silver sheen of the ghostly moonlight. Twin lights of another car—they recognized it as the one they hed left down the road—swung into the yard, The luster of the lamps ddenly bright and, for an in- oped them in their mist- Kenilworth fingers lingeréd at their task of fixing the silver cord. His fingers quivered when the short, gold brown strands of hair slid among them, Joanna moved closer to him, and rested her hand lightly on his arm. When he let his fingers relax that the night breeze might blow her hair about them, he stared down into her eyes and fancied that they had widened and that a circle of black had formed about the shimmering irfs ir each of them. Then he caught her in a fevered clasp. She aid not draw away, but reached up and drew down his head until she could frame his face with her two hands. Then she let him rest his lips on her's. When he let her go because he dared hold her no longer, and because couples who had come out into the yard were stopping to glance curious- Iy at them, Joanna laughed. the rip. pling laugh that might be irritating as well as musical, and said to him while he fixed his own mask “You see, Roddy, the wall's cl down. I'm in the open, and I'm fight- ln{ fair!” When they had disappeared across the clubhouse veranda and through the doors which had been opened to them by the red coated attendant, one of the two men who had sat silently in thelr seats in the other car, de- scended. To the one who remained at the wheel this one said: “Back around between the red cai and the gate, so you can get out first il there's a rush for the road at any is getting thick, and moist, Ma: the one at the wheel grumbled | ter, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1925 in the voice of Antoine. “In another two hours we won't be able to see the wheels and all there'll be between us and eternity, on the road down there, will be the brakes. “Then your men will have less fear of being recognized, and so will you,” the other retorted. “That pleases you, doesn’t 1t?" While Antolne muttered unintel- ligibly, Brandon threw his coat into tho car and fixed his mask carefully. He did not go at once into the house, but loftered on the veranda, smoking. When he had finished his cigarette he tapped on the door, and was admitted. The orchestra was playing a fox trot in languid rhythm, and the floor was thronged with couples whose moods the musicians knew so well how to interpret. Brandon surveyed the dancers with searching glances. Then he looked among the tables. Suddenly his eyes found a slender figure in black, with gold brown hair, at a table half hidden behind the potted palms that shut oft a corner of the balcony that ove hung the dance floor. He appeared to be satisfied, then, and dropped into a place at an unreserved table, and ordered a lqueur. (Covyright. 192 H. L. Gates.) (Continued in Tomorrow's Star.) R e MUST RETURN EAST. Former Western Firm Official Held in Mail Fraud Case. LOS ANGELES, December 15 (). — W. J. Kennedy, former secretary and treasurer of the Consumers’ Ser: ice Co. of South Bend, Ind., yesterday lost his fight in Federal Court to escape return to Plttsburgh on a charge of using the mails in a scheme to defraud. The charges grew out selling campaign in Pennsylvania in October, 1 The defendant fur. 5,01 bond, and will return of a stock | Bast at his own expense. - . Denmark has a housing shortage. 2 % £ Heres the SoCIETY BRAND “Dinner Suit There’s not much you can add to that. Society Brand has long been fa- mous for the cut of their clothes, and for their din- ner suit especially. Nat- urally; semi-formal wear is the supreme test of the clothing nobod you until you wear a h%ee maker’s art. can make sonably priced. Society Brand 65— You will never know how much you need a Din- ner Suit until the New Year party is under way; you will never know how good a Dinner Suit can look on ciety Brand; at $65, very rea- COLLEGE PAPER BANNED.| Pitt U. Head Suppresses Issue on | “Bad Taste” Ground. PITTSBURGH, Pa., December 15 (). —The holiday number of the Pitt Panther, humorous monthly publica- tion of the University of Pittsburgh, was suppressed vesterday by Chan- | cellor John G. Bowman because of its cover, which he characterized as “bad taste."”" The university head said his action | would not hinder future issues of the Panther, and he defended the student staff of the publication, saving that “the intentions of the youngsters were all right,”” but that “the cover may cause considerable embarrassment to the readers of the magazine.” 12 R Alfonso Receives Moore. MADRID, December 15 (#).—Alex- | ander P. Moore, American Ambassador to Spain, was received in audience by | King Alfonso vesterday. Ambassador Moore will leave for Paris on Sunday, and will sail for the United States De. cember 30 SQUEEZ-EZY MOP KEEPS HANDS OUT OF DIRTY SOAPY WATER Wrings easily by pressing button: turning handle. ‘Heads removable. Outwears thres | old-fashioned mops At the following Stores PALAIS ROYAL K. KANN SONA CO. BARBER & ROSS WOODWARD & IOTRROT M. GOLDPNBERG ibuted by T ApAMS €0, Price_Complete %150 750 SOUTHLAND BATTERIES Built to Last Service Guaranteed WHY PAY MORE? 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