Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1927, Page 26

THE BLACK JOKER BY ISABEL OSTRANDER. trate on a book when he came slowly 3 in and after a few commonplaces CHAPTER XXXV. aske e M Dane, do you il believe e what 1 told you during our truce yes- OR a moment after Mariott had | terday? You don't think I told you spoken the room whirled before | ahout your father in order to persuade 's_Star) Janet's eves and his gravely {vou. that your cause was doomed compassionate face became a | to failure and lead you to give us the blur before her. Then as her |the i vision cleared she felt that her kne iving way and sank limply back he truce is ended, then?’ Janet | r chair once more. smiled. “No, 1 never thought :hat, Her father—vanished! Gone from |y, M\ and 1 don’t now. If my the face of the earth! A wave of deso- | father's SHoula. inedn Jation xuch as she had never known | (nat anyth Eppsita o #him before swept over her. for Mariott's |y, i C0 S tone rang with convictlon and some-| gjj keep any confidence which mi how she knew that his protestation | ;ave heen given me. I would owe that was true: he would not lie to her. | oy, 61 SE0G TS0 She was alone in all the world ife Mhrugsed Rut she must not. would not. hreak L down, at least until she had learned | yonp ytterly despicable and low? 1¢ Latet il 4 back the | (o Tinew that even the (hief who o ohe = breaks into your house and takes “Mr Mariott. I'm sure that you A g hm‘”», to me, and that You'ra | Your money would turn from you in o ' | disgust. truce, x\n’ % '-nl)]‘ll‘:l qH\M)\ coui: . he nodded. | ever persuade me to believe it, Mr. “Then, i same spirit, oin T\';\”{U:: ‘(t‘y"'\?!‘“n\p'a"‘l‘ \L\r.“ k‘n:,\: father. I know that what he—we are n. that is: just as vou would | doing is just and right and honest "l who cared for her father | T thought so!” he cried eagerly. “I very dearly!” | knew vou couldn’t be as hardened as “There 15 nothing to tell, nothing | you would have me believe! T knew definite except that one fact. | that you had been deceived about the We, (he faction I represent.|whole affair, used as a tool, your have azents everywhere, as you | ideals, even the love vou hear vour mav h guessed, watching your |father, played upon! Oh, it is vile! people and Norman's crowd and| “Please stop! I cannot listen to : every posible outlet for the thing we r Janet exclaimed. "I want. We knew what was going for- | help feeling that you—you think you ward almost from its inception and | are right, too, and that there is a ter we had heen ching your father |pible misunderstanding somewhere, | here and his friends. On Wednesday, | but I am here in your house and it is two weeks ago today, guests hegan to | not kind to abuse my father and his arvive at Daneholm for a house party | friends and vour father was seen occasionally orgive me!” He rose and came to t yvmlx\ or Friday night. to be ' har side, “1 am sorry! [ forgot my our agents obtained the gif, put if 1 could only tell you! What We know—how ¢ 'ii. Sayre discovered it and when doesnt| " ppe hutier had appeared in the door- matter—that your friends ‘wv]\d his do ¥ t DGR ANEsT s not know where he is and have ha N T no word from him: Norman's crowd M s e appear to be equally in the dark; our | e watched for him in vain abroad and on the liners. That is why 1 say that he has dropped from | the face of the earth.” formation we must have from the tea-wagon at once, the young lady was here. He placed the tray on the table and as he left the room Mariott took a Janet listened with parted lips and | Small vial of brownish liquid from his| ened breath and when he had|Pocket and poured three drops care- ed she said_quietly: | fully into the gla: hank you. If you don’t mind I|_ "My medicine: you will pardon m Mariott, for you see, I know my | | 1 | | | ¥ | doorway | our hot milk, sir. T will bring | I did not know | fyyist SUC | stand beside her, and she thanked him | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, Y, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25. 1927. IN THE ROUGH—Doc’s Short on Sentiment and Approach Pautts, 1 LosT MY WEDOING R N AnG fmmOLE Qovan ! auantity that remained and it was & | triple dose! How soon it would take effect she could not know, but she dared use no more. He had said that a teaspoonful . . . ! When Sayre re-entered wheeling the tea-wagon she was leaning hack in| her chair fdly turning the pages of a | book that had stood on the small | an absent tone though her | « were engrossed, but her rt was beating fast.and there was a sound as of distant roaring in her cars. You should not have waited for me.” Philip Mariott stood in the There was a bright spot of color in each pale cheek and his eyes shone, although his manner was care- | fully composed. “Sorry to have left so abruptly 3 1derstood, of co 1 haven't had ¢ experience with Amer telephones, as poor was saying as she busied herself with the to hide the trembling of hands. “Will you have Thanks, no.” Tle was lifting the glass! She felt an almost irvesistible stop him, to ecry out a warning, but she resisted it desper- atel His suppressed elation, the subtle but unmistakable change in his manner, told her that what he had learned must be important, vital! “I should infinitely prefer tea, but doc- | tor's orders, you know!" think I will go to my room now. 1 appreciate vour having told me, but I-1 should like to be alone for a room she paced the rning what he had told her over in her mind. and as she | thought it came to her slowly that perhaps he was mistaken after al He and his people were adversari and. although they might be powerful, they were not omnipotent; because he had succeeded in evading them did | not necessarily imply that he had d appeared and surely some of the pack of the Black Joker would have told her if they could not locate her father! | Philip Mariott had told her in good faith, she did Mot doubt, but he placed too much confidence in the ability and epinions of his associates. Nevertheless, a lurking fear that he might e right after all remained to | torture her, and. declining dinner, she | walked the floor until far into the night with this new anxiety tugging | &t _her heart. With the morning, however, came strength and added determina- If her father had indeed he would reappear and s not cease her vigilance; reso- forcing back the dread signifi- eance that “disappearance” had come to mean te her in the past fortnight, he told herself that he must not re- turn to his friends. te-fi that they “had failed, and here in enemy's ‘house she niust carry on and learn _“what she-cetild. All day she wnndemd about the house like an unquiet little ghost. To = her knowledge no callers nor messen- ers had come and she had not once eard a telephone ring: she meant to find out at what hours the mail came and try to get a glimpse of it before Mariott did, vet one thing troubled her. She had asked him on the after- noon before if a truce existed between them for the time being and he had replied: “In a wav.” Now, she wanted to be sure that that truce was ended and wondered how to determine that without arousing his suspicions of a | possible plan on her j As it happened the Initiative came from him, for Janet had settled her- self_in_the librar Ulo smiled at Janet. “Sounds like a dyspeptic old woms | stuf’s pretty powerfu AveRn’t et T,m| He drained the glass and as he set it down he spied Iha via medicine | |an overdose would give one a rather | And thrust it Iy back into his e g sk & 1o {]\n(k@( but s head was bent as he 'phone, s: reap. she poured her tes | peared and there was a note of sup. le ated himself and produced a | preesed excitement in ~his tone. Telte case, .| “You're wanted on the telephone at 1‘“n§;"‘“‘”"'d|| s Saire | ! e wondered at the With a muttered apology Mariott | Prilliancy of her smile and proffered | put the tiny bottle down on the tabie | the case to her, but she shook her and dashed from the room and Janel\ head. Oh, not for myself, I don't | clutched the arms of her chair in ex-|Mean! I believe smoking in' the con- e eaion. It i1y kb ikt oyar \flem would have meant solitary con hear that message! That it was im- | finement on bread and water for portant to the mysterious thing for |life! I dont care to see girls smoke, which they were both striving she | S0Mehow, do you? could not doubt. “The telephone must |, MAriott laughed, but she saw with | be well concealed about the house, for |2 QUICK leap of her heart that he was | she had not heard its ring, vet Mar- | SUPRTessing an involuntary yawn i jott's own words of a few moments be- | | fore returned to her mind, showing | that up to the present he had not | gained the information he sought. unable even to discover what he was learn- ing! Her agitated thoughts were inter- rupted by the abrupt entrance of ‘The butler mur- and rushed to the writing table, fumbled for a pencil and paper and hurried from the Janet sat up suddenly in her sad end, A pencil and paper! . Mariott was | i going to take down some message he n?hf",;,::i.,{,m s e was receiving over the telephone! It |lantry to the han L. could not be a simple one, that he|say you're blushing: might have carried in his mind—what | * “iThe tea is too hot! I scalded my if it were a code? He would put it in | lips, like a greedy child!" The cup his pocket afterward and return to her | rattled against the saucer as she set if only for a moment. How could she | it down. “You don't belleve that get it from him? chivalry pays, then?” Then her eyes fell upon the tiny| “That depends on one's profession. vial of medicine beside his tray.|Confound it, I must have put an extra Powerful stuff, he had called it; an|drop of that stuff in my milk, I ac. overdose would produce a long sieep! | tually feel ‘dope But she could not! She was a guest | He straightened in his chair with an in his house—no, not a guest, a pris- |effort and passed his hand across his oner! He had declared that the truce “I never stopped to think was over, he was ready to fight her | whether chivalry paid oy mots it's jumt with every weapon that came to his|the accepted thing, you know, the hana! sort of thing one does. You will Without daring to think she reached | scarcely believe that of me, though, over, seized the vial and quickly |after kidnaping you in a plape and poured six drops into the milk. Six|then decoying you here! drops would never be missed from the | Y ed_the game accord; '!::.‘w iy It ox you ar mid- feminine Machiavell | _“What a name to call your guest!” ctorian, bantering note in his tone. “You're sort of a paradox, too, you know, but then, there have been gentlemanly s not smoking, the cigarette anging listlessly between' his Could it be that the medicine king effect so soon? t things to remember : t “LIGHTNING” is its convenient % ";L!;fif Mylmu M llmmm i Powerful |IGHTNING| supply--all over the ocity. MOTOR-FUEL FERHORE POWER MORE MILES i le’m mn ) 1\" i Hmuwfl ependably Quick and Under Every What an utterly incomprehensible | She laughed, too, as she caught the | | “The nice ones usually came to a| didn’t they?” he murmured. | an’s rope. 1| Possible Motoring Demand PENN OIL Co. Main Office .133 Penna. Ave. ! W\m f,'“l'“i_nmlm'mlmu ing to your rules,” she responded lightly. “One can't like you the bet- ter or worse for that! “That is sporting of you! He spoke with labored animation, . but iis tones had thickened, his eyelids were drooping! Janet maintained silence. Perhaps he would succumb more quickly with no idle chatter to keep his wits on the alert. le was nodding now, his eves were closing! She stared at him, her hreath com- ing faster and faster, but all at once he roused himself once more. ‘ were we talking ahout? seem to remember. Please don't mind me—wear off in—a— little! | Thelclpzetts slipped from his fin- gers and his head dropped forward on his breast, while his own breathing became sterforous, harsh. Janet waited a minute or two, then vising, tiptoed to his side. There was no doubt of it; this could be no He was absolutely uncon-| | | | scious! | Like lightning her fingers swiftly | searched his pockets and at last she found it—a sheet of paper half covered with words hastily scrawled | in pencil, words that bore no rela- tion to each other, as she saw at a glance! | Turning. she tiptoed from the room | and went upstairs to her own, forcing | herself to move slowly lest some one encounter her. In less than a minute she was back, wiping earth from her fingertips on her handkerchief. Mariott sat as she had left him, and she pressed the bell, violently crying out when Sayre appeared on the run: “Oh, get a doctor quickly! Some- thing is wrong with Mariott! He com- | plained of being sicepy, and while we sat talking here just now he sud- | denly seemed to lose consclousness! I tried to rouse him, but I couldn and I'm afrald he is very 1" (Continued in Tomorrow's Star) Stop Hurting Instantly then Lift Right Off! Drop “Freezone” on that aching corn. Instantly it stops hurting, then | shortly you lift the corn right oft| with your fingers. You'll laugh, | really! It is so easy and doesn't| hurt one bit! Works likr. a charm, | every time. A tiny bottle of Free- zone” costs only a few ce at any drug store, and is sufficient to remove every hard corn, and callouses. come on. Don'{ WASTE Any MoRe TIME LOOKING FOR A1 RInG. 'L Buy Yoo ANOTUER ONE -ToMoRROW SPoER, You'Re Gomé 1o FINO MY BALL F 15g ‘TAKHC ALL DAY! Tastes have ¢ changed NEVER have we had such a variety of foods to choose from. Never have women been able to serve so many delicious dishes to their families so easily as now! 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