Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1926, Page 29

Mysterious Sweetheart BY ELLA WISTER HAINES { (Consrig! ht. 1926.) WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE. Carolita_ Menendez autiful young girl. brought a_ South vent. s traveling alone to Angeles ay/ the command of _her &uardian, wAom she has never seen. Dur- Ing the last lap_of the journey between Chicago and Los Angeles she wakes sud- denly ‘in ‘the might and sees clutching the rtains of the herth opposite. a hand wearing a gorgeous and startling She steps into th o invest, ieats Paul R Jawyer. whom ! after Teaving New York. an Jis ticket in Chirago s that would he next hers Reynolds sends her Tack to bed. but i the m. 1hat a man has heen fou ductor questions the nceupants and it comes to light that Car 1he journey from South America rame” steamer with the dead man and was noved by his advances. Reynolds ads qauaintance with a Mr. and Mrs. at . Reynolds.* Paul Reynolds confesses the man 3= his brother wh - | coincidence Walter and munications concerning the Reynolds . Starting West today. John Car “This beats the Dutch!” Paul ex- claimed. “Let's take them one by one.” “Then begin with yours,” Frank agreed. “Mine is the slmplest of all. An unknown traveler was found dead in this car this morning.” “Whew!” Frank gave a low whistle. L ‘My ticket bears the name of Mark worse luck, and by some strange woman oc- cupled the drawing ,room™wnder the name of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, getting off before daylight at the junetion from which they telegraphed you. -1 That left this young girl, a couple of Salvation Army lassies and myself alone in thk car. There was a broken chain about the man's neck, which led the conductor to suspect that he of| had been robbed. I'll tell you more CHAPTER VIIIL Frank Hyatt, An answer trembled upon her lips, Jer eyes suffused with tears. Nei of them noticed that the pulled up at a station, hand clapped upon Pau de them both jump. Well, hello! Congratulate me as the world’s swiftest traveler! I caught the easthound by the skin of my teeth after the whole office had been snowed under by vour wites. What on earth anyway? Where is his friend in utter amazement. “The whole office snowed under hy my wires? Why. man, what ou salking about? "I only sent one And the conductor sent one and Iter sent one and Mrs. Reynolds nt one and John Carr sent one —good Reynolds? From Santa Bar- 8 ra. nol She wired n this train this morning? Isn't he with you?” “Heavens, na! I left New York on an hour's heo me from you tnerednlous, you Paul Reynolds? Union. an im. om San T threw a few thing: nd got on the Twen s it was pulling out ticket. You remember into my tieth Centur: using Day’ that he was taking that tr West | to confer with you about father' ol o FFrank Hyatt's face, as he listened to these words, was a st and now I we wandered to ( and catching it, Paul hastened to in troduce then 5 . A i rolita, this is my friend, Frank Hyvatt. Frank this is Miss Menendez. What time is it_an) We haven't had lunch yet.' “Lunch? You mean dinnes b o'clock, man! 1 m gl 10 meet vou, Miss Menend His keen ey took in the lovely and perhaps his pulses beat a little faster—he was a bachelor himself! Carolita shook hands shy Amer- fca seemed to Dbe overflowing with charming men / Mr. Reynolds has spoken of you. she said. T am glad that you have come. 1 will ask you tu please ex- cuse me now. [ am very tired. Paul slipped the ruby into the pocket of his coat. overwhelmed by disappointment rank's entrunce had interrupted at the crucial mo- went, preventinz the reply which had hovered upon the girl's lips. Had Iy been yes ven's sake exclaimed, as cated themselve ul's section, “what's happening Where's vour _step-mother How could e have tel aphed me from * on this railroad early this morning, unless he had been on this t 44 T t imagine! That was the Junction where Walter and his wife Zot off —at least, I supposed it was his wife. I've never seen her. couldn’t it have been Mrs. Walter Neynolds you heard from Certainly not it was Cynthia Reynolds “You must be crazy. Frank! Here are the mes ages ied Paul a batch of vellow telegrapn blanks: Santa Fe westward bound. ntify youns man claim » Paul Revnolds of « New York signed 2irl before him. | about that later: it's been a mighty nasty affair. What I want to know now gs, how could my father’'s widow have| telegraphed me from Santa Bar- bara| and' yet be on this train? vere on this train why haven’t w long since you have seen Frank asked. ul hesitated. ust be five years,” he said, remi- niscently. “Fact is, she’'s almost a stranger to me. I was a kid at first, - living with with my grandmother, then a school and the war and col- lege; then dad kept me so closely in the New York offce that T have only been to Santa Barbara once. Mrs. Reynolds invariably became fll every time dad_brought her East, and on | several of their visits I did not see her on account of being out of town. | 1 remember her as a very young and | { handsome woman—a brilliant blonde.” “She’s still wonderfully young- looking,” ‘Frank commented. = “See here, Paul, suppose that telegram never came from .Santa Barbara, or even from Western Union? Someé- body telephoned it to you!” ( “But, Frank, what is behind_all |this? There ix some myatery about |my father's will—the sealed " codleil, not to be opened until six weeks after | my father's death, the strange word- ing of the will itself. T cannot imag- ine how a man of his ability and experience could have made such a mess of his will. Surely “he must | have known it would cause trouble. | And how you and Burns even allowed | him to do such g thing is another | appalling question! What is in that | cod 1 feel exactly as if 1 were n Doyle detective story!” “Perhaps you are. We seem to be | ling with the family skeleton, all | ht, but the will can Let's get 'k to these messages. If Mrs. Reynolds telegraphed from this train ‘ou surely must have seen her. We'll ugh in a few minutes and find her!” | “If she had Deen on this train, “rank, the conductors would know | for the name of Reynolds has| prominent in this car to-| ! However, we'll make | arch. Let's get back | - now. I know from the Walter wired our New | Yor 2 morning before we | Ichanged traifs at * * * junction. | | He had a woman with him who made herself conspicuous by wearing gloves | throughout the trip, even during a | ird game. What does his wife look | 2 "1 have never seen her.” | I only know that he is married,” | said Frank. “I have never seen her | either.” ‘ “The devil you haven't! 1 think I can bet on the reason for John Carr's | communication. The conductor told | me that Walter had wired our New | York office. He has a copy of the| {telegram, but he would not show it | to me. “That explains Cart’s sudden trip. | At any rate,” Frank agreed, “let zo through the train now and see | every blooming person in it.” M ou're sure you would know Mrs. | Reynolds if you saw her?” now her! Like my own sister.” said Paul, with a sigh of s some comfort In his enced a great sense 1t the thought of the presence of his stepmother upop the train, for he could enlist her sym. |’ pathies in regard to @arolita and| place the girl immediately in " her | Arge. He followed Frank with| rising hopes, | It was a long train and the two |young men went through it three! times, scanning every face again and |again. During their trip Paul was able to introduce Hyatt to both con | uctors. and was relieved to find that his friend arrival had strengthened bis own position, but. to their utter T during the trip. “There’s Frank said. | been authentic. i HE . EVENING dismay, both officials insisted that no woman by the name of Mrs. Reynolds had been upon the train at any time Every ticket was checked over, every section accounted for, and the young men returned to their own car in bewilderment. just one explanation,” “Mrs. Reynolds never sent that wire (0 me. The message |you received from her must have | It's another one of | Walter's attractive little jokes, the kind he was always playing on your ‘We shall find Mrs, Reynolds STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1926. safely at honle if Santa Barbara.” enough trouble for poor dad to[leave out anything. I suppose you “But why?” Paul protested. “What |shorten his life by at least 10 years,” [are in for an inquest in Los Angeles? possible motive could Walter have | his tones were bitter. “However, we | Who is the queen you introduced me had?"” o can communicate directly with Mrs. |to?, ‘_l.’remeu thing I've seen in “Possibly he wanged to get me out | Reynolds by telephone from Los | years! of town for some 'special reason of [Angeles, and we can lay that detail Paul felt that he showed his em- his own. Possibly he wanted to get | aside- while we talk over more im-'barrassment as he replied: “It's a { me on this train after he had left it. |portant matters. First about father’s long story, Frank, beginning back in I gave up trying to account for Wal. | will. Second, about the situation|the Twentieth Century Limited, you ter long ago. Between ourselves, I |here in this car.” see— am convinced he is as crazy as a| “You had better tell me the whole | Rapidly, but with great precision. March hare.” N story,” Frank advised. “You sdy|Paul related yo\'enks of the last “I always thought that,” Paul [that an unknown passenger died and |few days, not“omitting a single de- agreed, “but, unfortunately, he’s not |the body had apparently been robbed. [tail, while Frank Hyatt listened with the kind you can lock up. He made Begin at the beginning and don't |absorbed attention. “And you have the peculiar ring?” k he asked when the long story was | “Yes. a tris freipcdiabem it “Let me see it t Silently Paul handed o ure and together they examined minutely, carefully. “This is the strangest looking ring dle and g oothed off. See, the I have cver seen in all my life. It |Cdses on the one side ls evidently of great value, a curl lsgmewhere, probably in a initials inside, no date, just | FINE hich, vou _zay, osity, a_family ‘“‘Sweetheart.’ gor unusually large and very heavy, but | e et L the stone is the unique feature. Have | (Continued in Tomorrow's 29 _ he top is rounded the treas the, right of it, Paul?" oft.” is no triangle: that is one- half. The | stone ha n ent’ down the mid There is another half to Another half! The ring s - Behind a Wall of Protectioli, Madam! OU gain ‘'many months longer life from your clothes when you send the family washing to Manhattan. Before the wash- ing, your pieces are sorted into individual Net bags. The Net acts as a wall of protection for your clothes. - ~ Hot, soft suds swish continuously through the meshes of the Net, as it rises and falls in the giant washers. The dirt loosens. Floods of soft water carry it away. The pieces are ready for the ironing, clean and beautifully sweet—the clothes get the wash, the Net takes the wear. No mixing yours with dther people’s wash. No tangling; no tearing. Your clothes are all in the Net. The “Net” result is longer wear. 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