Evening Star Newspaper, January 3, 1930, Page 25

This Strange Adventure By Mary Roberts Rinehart Copyright, 1929, by North American Newspaper Alliance and Metropolitan Newspaper Service. SYNOPSIS. | Missie Colfaz is married off at 20 to Wesley Dexzter, gay, florid, 35. He soon tires of her and she is very unhappy. But she is used to unhappiness. Her Jather, Lambert Colfax, had married | Stella, a burlesque actress, and Missie | was their child. When he finally de- | serted his wife she killed herself and | Missie goes o live with her grand- riother, oid Mrs. Colfaz, and her Aunt Adelaide. The duil, formal atmos; of the Colfaz home stiftes Missie. loses sight of Harry Sloane, whom she loved, although he mever guessed it. From her father’s Uncle Archibaid she | learns a little family history. Her | scapegrace father is old Mrs. Colfax's Javorite. Adelaide submits to parental tyranny and Cecily, another daughter, | has been disinherited. Harry enlists when America declares war on Spain | and dies of fever. Missie hears of his death _and is more unhappy than ever. | Her stepsister Ellen had gotten on in | he world. She is now Eileen and mar- | ried to Tom Wilkins, who is trying o | ‘make automobiles. EIGHTEENTH INSTALLMENT. ITHIN a year of the turn of | the century now. Missie was 24. Some of the evanescent charm of her youth was gone, but there was a quiet- ness and a steadfastness about her that | were somehow beautiful. She had lived | vicariously many lives, but never her | own. There were untouched depths in her. of pity, of kindness, of generosity. | She had asked only to be allowed to live and to serve, and apparently her | love was not wanted nor her servics| neede | Wesley was being unfaithful to her: she knew that now. But she had made her contract. She would go through | with it. And she watched over Wesley, made him comfortable, studied tastes. “You need some new socks, Wes. | Shall I get them?” “T'll do it. Never mind.” “What would you like for dinner, Wes? Anything special?” “What's the use of asking me right after breakfast what I want for dinner?" ‘Then one day Tommy invited her ta the shop. He had made tremendous strides since the days when he had manufactured bicycles and experiment- ed with engines. "He had built a motor car, aithough still an experimental one. was no talk in those days of quantity production, no vast assembling room. In a wooden shed built behind the repair shop and cluttered with ma- | chinery was the one car, and around it | & group of men. A tall man in overalls was adjusting something under the | . Tommy was excited, prideful. * “Phelps, I don’t think you've met Eileen's sister, Mrs. Dexter. How's it now?” ‘They both apparently forgot her. Tt was & hot day and the shop was blaz- T | to a ing. Suddenly she found the tall man in front of her with a glass of water. “Thought this might help a little. We're not used to ladies here. We're apt to forget our manners.” She liked him at once. Up to that moment she had hardly differentiated him from the mechanics about; now his cultivated voice identified him. He was the gas-engine expert Tommy had had working with him. He went back to his engine, but once, when some points of interest came up, e took her over to the car again. He seemed to take her granted: he even went to the trouble to explain the princlple to her. “I'm afraid I'm very ignorant.” “How could you know anything? As a matter of fact, these internal com- bustion engines are comparatively new 1 of us. We are just feeling our way_ourselves.” “Tommy says this will make you all rich *“It may. T could use it, if it came.” He considered the questions, rubbing his chin with a greasy hand. “I'd like enough money to be inde- pendent. That's all money means to me, to have independence, to—to own my cwn soul. But you wouldn't under- stand that.” “Why not? T have been very poor.” He looked at her more intently. “I thought you were a Colfax." “Cn one side. On the other I am the daughter of & burlesque actress whom my father deserted.” | She was amazed at that impulse of honesty. Not in all these years had she so mentioned Stella. “You poor child.” She was queerly tears rose in have said th: “Why not? She went home faintly exalted. It was a hot day in early Autumn. She took off her dress, bathed, put on a thin blue silk negligee trimmed with flounces of white lace. She had been keeping fit. Now for some reason she wanted to put it on; to be shimmering and fresh and cool; to be beautiful. She had no idea why. She had not changed when Wesley came home. For some time now he had treated her largely as a part of his background; he came home to her as he came home to clean linen, to a good dinner, to a comfortable chair. But he eyed her with a certain appre- ciation that evening. She had a faint color, her eyes were luminous. He stood over her. 1‘;Looklnl very pretty tonight, girl.” He stooped—it was not as easy for him to stoop as it had been—and kissed her. And something in that gesture alarmed her; its easy possessiveness. She got up, moved away. “Wesley,” she said, “I think T ought to tell you. I'm not sleeping well. I am’ going to move.” He was alert at once. . Where to? Out of the emotional; quick her eyes. “I shouldn't my intelligence for | THE EVEN | “Out of this room." ‘There was a rigidity about her that he did not like, a determination. What did she know? His mind was working fast over this and that. Something must have slipped up somewhere. “If you're not sleeping you'd better | see a doctor.” “I shall try the other first.” After that she did not see - Kirby Phelps for a week. He had apparently come into her life, served his purpose | and vanished. The week was an un- comfortable one, for she had not only moved—she had locked herself in. One night she heard Wesley trying the door, but he went away quickly. She | began to suspect that he was frightened, that he was carefully preparing a de- fense against sttack, and that when she | did not attack he was worried. But as the days went on he gained reassurance, If she had known any- thing concrete she would have said so. He eased a little. At the end of the | week he bought her a bracelet. “It's beautiful, Wes. Thank you. He tested her then and there, “Don't I get a kiss for it?" in her, pity for his weakness, for his loneliness, for the hold of his flesh over him. She kissed him. But he tould not let well enough alone. “You've locked me out. my girl.” | _She looked him squarely in the eyes Are you ence, Wes? | There was the issue brought to the surface at last. And he could not face it. He muttered something, | away. What did she know? What had slipped up? | It was the next day that Phelps came | to call. He did not stay very long, and | when he had gone she felt that some- | thing warm and vital and kind had | gone out of the house, She went up- stairs and stood staring at herself in the mirror., Her color had come back. | ,. She and Kirby met occasionally after | that at Eileen’s, Tommy had built a new house in the suburbs, It was a Eileen was making her ng people. Kirby Phelps sed at these gatherings, but apart from them. On the few occa- slons when Missie went there he would 1 sure it makes any differ- “Come out on the veranda and get me air. They'll never miss us.” Nor did they, He would put Missie into a chair and | talk to her. He had strange dreams; | the horse was doomed, except for pleas~ | ure: men were going to fly in heavier- than-air machines. They would cross | oceans and set up new standards of time ‘and distance; undersea .boats would be practical. Had she ever read “The Mysterious Island”? Well, read it. He would send it to her. Queer how every discovery was an idea first. First there was a vision, and then there was a fact. She would listen, try to | follow him into this new realm of his. One day he said to her abruptly: “You are not very happy, are you? You look as if you could be, but you are not.” “I don't know. I don't think about . “But I think you do. Is there any- thing to be done? You don’t mind my asking that, do you?" For Kirby Phelps realized now that he was deeply in love with her. He was | an nonest man: he liked to move and | so he did was to go to her. He was pac- ing the floor of the parlor when she came down, his hands in his pockets, his head bent. He wanted to know where he stood, what he was going to do. And he lost no time about it. he sald without sitting down, “do you care for me? Sometimes | 've thought you did.” |. She looked at him with her candid == Many Karpen Living Room Suites Reduced Now This week is an advantageous time to select a good- looking and good Karpen Living Room Suite at a greatly of the many Karpen Suite of three pieces, in with mulberry velour full size sofa, reduced Karpen Living Room F in a tapestry and antiq crombination; three reduced price. specially priced are listed below. * $165 cushions. . semble velour $225 in a rose sofa and Gorgeously Room Suite of three pi green damask with down A suggestive few suites Living es, in $395 upholstered Living Room Suite of two piec damask, with full armchair, in down cushions Lawson type Suite in rose dam. ask with three Iuxuriously ieces, reduced fortable Solid mahogany Suite, in a moh combination pieces. ... com- Figured Green Damask Suite of three pieces, with one long down cushion on Lawson type rved-frame.style and. brocade three - $295 And Many Others Reduced Two-piece Karpen Group with soft down eushion, in a phincolor mohair $9Q3 sofa and armchair MAYER & CO. Seventh Street Between D and E e e She understood, and there was pity| turned | live in the daylight. and the first thing | ! NG STAR, WASHINGTON. eves. She was not afraid with him.| She could tell him anything and he would understand. “I do care, Kirby.” “A great deal? I can ask you that because I care so much for you” ‘A great deal.” Her voice shook. “A very great deal” He hesitated, went to her, lifted her hand and kissed it. For all her direct- ness, there was something aloof about her, and the situation was t3o grave for light love-making. “What would I better do? Go away?” ‘That frightened her, “If you go away, I shall have nothing left in the world—nothing.” As the weeks went on both felt the | tension. They were conventional peo-| ble. decent people. There were no secret | meetings. There was a certain de- | corum, & gravity, about them when they met. They were no light-hearted lovers but a man and a woman deeply in love | and not too hopeful. | One day she Jold him that she wanted | to tell Wesley. It startled him. i “It would be honest at least” she sald. _“And he does not care for me.| He m®ht be glad to let me go.” | “Not to another man,” he told her| grimly. “And if there is any talking, to be done let me do it. But you must| be ready to take the step, Missie. dear. It's irrevokable, yon see.” | ‘Through all of this Wesley came and | went. He was still sullen, but he was| less uneasy as time went on. She Was | i not going to make a fuss, whatever she | knew. And she would get over it. was devilish pretty these days, he thought. There was a new allure about her, the allure of the passionately lov- | ing woman. He felt it without recog- nizing it. He began to make small ad- vances to her again. | “That's a new dress, isn't it?' | | | She | “It's quite an old one.” “It looks different, or you do.” But he had lost his old self-confi- dence with her. He would remember the locked door and subside into sulky silence again. His overtures alarmed her. She be- gan to make her plans to tell him. She would rehearse the scene. | “It isn't as though you cared, Wes. There have been other women; there | always will be other women with you. Don't argue. It's beyond that now. I'm | letting you live your own life, But I have my rights, too. I want to be hap- pv. I never have, you know. And now that I have found a good man who wants to marry me—-" | She felt cool and capable as she re- | hearsed it. | But she never said It to him, | One night she left her door open, so that she might hear him when he came | in, She meant to have it out with him | then. But he was very late; she lay fighting sleep for hours, but finally she | dozed off. When she wakened he was in | the room, smiling down at her. | (Continued in Tomorrow's Star.) 1 Automatic heat regulation keeps our | bodles at an even temperature, whether | we are at a Turkish bath or in an fce house. January is a month of Fashion and Value Events at Philipshorn’s, Watch for announcements as they appear in this paper almost daily. D. FRIDAY, OUSTED CHAPLAIN ASKS PRISON PROBE Charges Cruelty and Liquor Law Violations in Louisiana Penitentiary. C. JANUARY 3, 1930. mistreatment and underfeeding of pris- “"Mr. Cox announced "‘B'n he inlend;:l appealing his case to Gov., Huey P. 1:‘:;, who appointed him 16 months "*% know what I am talking about when I say prisoners have been un- mercifully beaten. In some cases as many as 75 blows with a leather being administered, literally taking the skin off. I can produce the proof. It is not “faischood’ and ‘hearsey’ when' I affirm that the evidence i at hand to prove that prisoners have been incapacitated | | for work and have had to remain in | the yard or in hospitals for days and | sometimes weeks because of blows and kicks.” He alleged the warden had overigoked many of his charges in his blanket denial and added: “I charge | the excessive use of liquor and its at- | tendant consequences. I stand ready At a moment's notice to turn over to a committee my proofs—names, places, dates and drunks. By the Assoclated Press. BATON ROUGE, La, January 3.— Rev. F. L. Cox, chaplain at the State Penitentiary, who was ousted Wednes- day by Warden J. E. McClanahan, has reiterated charges of cruelty and liquor law violation in the prison and demanded en impartial investigation of the Louisiana Penitentiary system to make public conditions which he at- tacked in refusing to resign ai the warden’s request. The chaplain had been asked to step out. the warden announced, because of “agitation among the prisoners.” The real issue the chaplain explained | as “irregularities in the system as well | as ill treatment of prisoners.” His new attack on conditions fol- lowed announcement by Warden Mc- Clanahan 1hat the Rev. E. M. Moser of Grayson, La., would become the new chaplain today and A new denial of Beveridge Aide Expires. SPRINGFIELD, Ill., January 3 (#).— Thomas D._ Masters, 53, who aided the late Senator Albert J, Beveridge of In- | diana in gathering data for the Sena- tor's recently published life of Abra- | ham Lincoln, dled Wednesday. He was the brother of Edgar Lee Masters, the | poet. i | | | | Woodrow Wilson Foundation Committee of Washington MASS MEETING | NATIONAL THEATER SUNDAY, JAN. 5, 3:30 P.M. Commemorating the Seventy-Tnird Anniversary of the Late President Wilson’s birth and the tenth anniversary of the birth of the League of Nations. PRINCIPAL SPEAKER DR. CHARLES KINGSLEY WEBSTER Professor of International Politics, University of Wales SUBJECT “WOODROW WILSON and WORLD PEACE” Apply National Theater Boxes, $25 Balcony and Gallery Reserved Orchestra Seats, $1 Free Proceeds to be used to defray eost of meeting and jfor future memorial purposes. | | | | PBhilipsborn LEVENTH ST. = BETWEEN F 4G TAX TOTALS TWO MILLION. Late Reuben H. Donnelley Estate Evaluated at $13,387,131. WAUKEGAN, Ill, January 3 (#)— The United States Government and the State of Illinois will realize $2,006,856 in inheritance taxes on the estate of the late Reuben H. Donnelley, Chicago publisher, who died last February 25. Donnelley's estate was given a final valuation of $13,387,131, of which the | largest item was 88,000 shares of Mont- | gomery Ward common stock worth $9,856,000 At an agreed vAlue of §112 a | E e. I Organized Responsibility Use Yellow Cabs and Black and White Cabs Owned and Operated by Brown Bros. Higher- Priced 2,100 Pairs in the Reduced to 4 hilipsborn ELEVENTH ST. = BETWEEN F 4G SHOES January Shoe Clearance More than 50 delight. ful styles in Ties, Pumps, Choose from such smart ma Kltents and satins—in pop rown. Spike and Cuban heels. to C in the lot. Straps and Oxfords terials as—suedes, kidskins, ular colors of blue, black, All sizes 214 to 8, AA Pajama Ens in Sunday’s A Great Annual Sale of Lingerie, Robes and January Event, the embles, will be announced Star. Saturday Events Are of Special Importance Annual January | Clearance High Quality Garments Reduced to Fractions of Original Prices for Immediate Clearance Frocks as illustrated, $25 Presenting Spring Forecasts in an Complete More of those lovely f time and evening modes. Frocks so new that you simply can’t resist them. 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