Evening Star Newspaper, June 26, 1933, Page 10

&Tfie CHAPTER 1. | | five francs a day added to my bill, but HE thing began, as it ended with | a room with a bath was dificult. the white cockatoo. His name It was here that, wearying, I reached was Pucci and he gave me a doubtful glance frem his shin- ing black eyes and sidled nearer, ?eerlng over my arm while I wrote, as | f ‘ww-rd my bag. And there occurred a rather strange thing. He didn’t try to keep me. It is a long and lean season, Winter what he saw might confirm his sus- | in Armene, with few tourists braving, ‘picion. He cocked his head on one | for more than a night or two, its bitter, side, ruffied up the pale yellow feathers | incessant wind, yet this manager was of his crest and watched my pen in a | apparently quite willing to see a paying knowing fashion while I filled out the | guest walk out of his hotel and go to card of arrival which the hotel clerk— who was also the manager—had handed me. The card had thoughtfully been printed in two languages, French and English, and I filled in the blanks rapidly. Date: November 29, 1931, Surname: Sundean. Christian name: James. - At place of residence I hesitated; I wouldn’t say Moscow, for I loathed the Place, and as a matter of fact I had not been in Moscow, but north of it. My thoughts hovered indecisively over various possibilities: New York, Chi- cago, Denver. The card plainly said “Permanent residence” and permanent residence was a thing I had not. The cockatoo’s waiting black eyes, no less than the consclousness that the swarthy, fat manager across the desk was noting my brief hesitation, nudged me to de- | ¢ision, and I wrote New York. Occup: tion: Engineer. Arriving from: Ber- Iin. 5 The cockatoo scratched himself vig- orously, his curved beak under one wing; he withdrew it hurriedly to watch me push the paper across the desk and to write my name also in the open reg- ister which the manager was holding toward me. The page on Wwhich wrote was entirely bare except for an ink blot, and it gave me what, I later found, was a quite correct impression that in November there were not many guests at the hotel. This time I did not hesitate at place of residence. The cockatoo was reas- sured only when I put down the pen; he uttered a hoarse murmur which was unintelligible as to sound but distinctly congratulatory as to tone, reached up his gray-blue claw in & nonchalant way to remove a Soft white feather which had clung to his beak and took another sidelong toward me. i The manager said: ‘“Puccl, Pucell’ in a caregsing way and looked at my signature on the register. He was a short, fat fellow, darkish and inclined to glisten. He wore four heavy rings, all set with stones, one of which was a very dubiously cut diamond and his creased and rounded walstcoat would have been considerably improved by a trip to the cleaners. I was at a loss to guess his nation- ality; there was a touch of the German about him and, faintly, of the Italian; his gestures were French, and there was something vaguely Hebraic about his full red mouth and his dark eyes, which were set just a hair’s breadth too close together above the coarsely aquiline bridge of his nose. It was therefore something of a shock when he met my eyes again, beamed broadly, rubbed his fat hands together and said: put mine in it and withdrew it as soon as possible; his was rather unpleasant; He took out his papers of cit same year I got . He is ‘oot and,” well. Circumstances, my friend. Circum- stances. This post offered itself, and I took it, gladly.” I had not reason whatever to suspect as I did that the circumstances were unsavory. But I was not his friena and had no intention of becoming that, and I dislike roughishness. Moreover, I was tired and cold and hungry. I said no doubht that I should like a room with a bath. On this he became thoughtful. Rooms Wwith baths were a little difficult. The hotel was old, I surely understood, and ‘While it had plumbing, still, the plumb- ing had been added many years after the hotel had been built and was not, even now, quite adequate. I could have & bath, yes; I could even have a daily For GOOD PAINTING CALL NAT'L 4917 w.F. SMITH E L 1810 M St. N.W. NEVER BEFORE a7 OPPORTUNITY NATIONAL PARK Round Trip Pare from CHICAGO to West Yellow- stone, includin, Salt Lake City .nfi Colorado. Round trip sleeping car rates reduced 25%. 16-day return limit. Longer limit slight- ly higher fare. We serve 15 national parks and more of the West than any other railroad. Rail fares lowest in 20 years. Enroute to or from the West visit Chicago World’s Fair. A double vacation at bargain prices! ALSO ASK ABOUT ESCORTED ALL-EXPENSE TOURS For. lete information and ll”l-:';ud book lets, ash Chicago & North Western-Union Pacifie == mm Mail this coxpon wmwm ,. Union Pacifie or C. . H. L. Lauby C. 904 (L;v.lnrd Trust 1002 G vare ‘enn Philadelphia, Pa. Please send eomplet | another. It did not, however, occur to | me at the moment as being strange. I | was preoccupied with another affair. | Such small things decide one’s des- | tiny. Things that are wildly and ab- | surdly out of proportion with the trains | of events they involve. What I'm try- ing to say is that at that moment the deciding factor was for me a faint, de- licious smell of roasting meat. It was |as prosaic_as that: weirdly prosaic in | view of what followed. | Lovscheim had not spoken. When I dropped my bag and faced him again I surprised a look in his dark eyes | which fled back at once into the murky depths from which it came, but which | nevertheless I was to remember. | I said: “But you do have an empty room with a bath?” | _“Yes” he =aid, barely reluctant. i “But it is over there, across the court.” | He motioned toward the door which led into a large square courtyard, which I had barely noted, getting out of the | taxi which brought me from the train |and crossing toward the lighted door | of the lobby, as being a cold place of | bare, gray-white paving and walls, with | there as the rising wind swayed the | shrubs and vines that grew densely in the corners. It was inclosed on three | sides by the hotel and on one side by a |wall with an arched entrance. The north wing, directly opposite, loomed a black bulk and looked desolate and secretive, rising there in the shadow. “It is, as you see, the north wing, and a little chilly perhaps when the wind is from the north. It is a nice room, however, and it has & bath. But people do not like the north wing in ‘Winter and it is quite deserted.” “Let me have it,” I sald. “When will dinner be served?” He told me and summoned a porter. I saw no one save the porter as I fol- lowed him and my bags through a cold and rather barren-looking lounge, with | | dark-blue shadows moving here and | wicker chairs and a bare floor and a| court, few anemic-looking potted palms, to-| stories THE EVENING White Cockatloo by Mignon G. Eberhart * bath if I insisted, which would be only | 1 and wound our way through half- carpeted corridors, down a little flight of steps, and around several un- turns until we reached the north wing. There we turned abruptly through s door and walked along a very cold and narrow passage with closed, dark doors on one side and a wall of windows on the other, till we reached at the very | the corners of the court so that they|to view the shadow-ridden court. STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY, Directly opposite me and across the shadowy court I could see the lights of the lobby; from its glass-paned door and its window bold rectangles of light spread themselves whitely upon the paving of the court. The wind was steadily rising, murmuring and sighing and creaking windows and shutters, and it waved the dense vines and shrubs in| end of this highly unprepossessing pass- | made black-blue shadows which fled JUNE 26, 1933. the door ofito & sort of landing which led to a narrow, winding flight of iron ;etelps which descended to the courtya ow. I don't know why the steps aroused my interest; perhaps I only wanted a| breath of fresh air after the chill musti- | ness of my room. At any rate, I de- | scended a few steps and paused again | Just below me some one was talking. | floor and then return for my while I stood in the upper hall waited. ‘The hotel was, I saw at once, mua larger than my hurried glimpse of t through wind and dusk had led me believe. But I did not, at that time particularly note the curious archi. tecture of the place. The lounge was a kind of insid¢ extending upward past - twc and their railed passages bag anl ward the elevator. It was a very small| which made encircling galleries, to the elevator, so small that the porter was skylighted roof. We left the lounge well obliged to take me up to the second|and aparently the main portion of the | sound but the eerle human near. CHAPTER I1. MYSTERIOUS PROMISE. age the ‘W&S no ‘wind. Phere ‘Was no room that was to be mine. There | anxiously scross the white blocks of light. ‘The lighter than the shadows, owing to the light from the lobby and dining room windows, as well s to a rather dim and wavering light which was hung above the arched entrance and which, as the ERHAPS half an hour later I|wind swayed it, waked more fleeting started to retrace my through those confusing. corri- I stepped outside my room and closed the door behind me I paused a moment. steps | blue shadows into life. Immediately at my left as I stood| door, and, idly curious, I moved toward | it, glanced through the glass, laid myl hand on the latch and stepped through In the lull of the wind I could hear the voices quite distinctly, although I could see neither of the speakers. Lovschiem, probably, berating a servant, for the lobby was empty, and it sounded like Lovschiem’s voice telling some one in crisp English that he'd be damned if he'd let it happen again. The other voice replied that it wouldn't happen again. | “Are you sure?” said the voice I took | dors to find the dining room. As | facing the lobby was another glassed to be Lovschiem'’s. ‘I'm sure. 1It's certain. I know ex- rd | word I kne , and. this man of hybrid | vet coat affair which fitted tightly uttered the one Spanish ' smoothly. I could see, of course, which was “Manana.” | slim white neck and her hair, “Manana,” said the other, and Lov- | was brown with gold lights in it and schiem, a dark, shadowy bulk, stepped |was soft and pleasant looking. out from the shadows and shrubbery di- | Below the folds of velvet and the rectly below the 'stairway and walked | black lace of the gown she was wearing across the flickering black and blue and | I could see one ankle and foot. Indeed, white of the court and into the lobby, | I could hardly help seeing it, for she prerativy | where he stood at the desk, stroking his | wore bright scarlet slippers with silver white cockatoo. ‘The other speaker had | straps and silver heels. Her ankle was vanished. {sunder. too, with delicate fine lines, Since then I have recalled with some | and the moment my eyes reached interest that it was a faint distaste of | foot with its nice instep I knew she was Lovschiem which sent me up the steps |an American. It was a beautiful foot, again, and through the long, winding corridor along which the porter had led and the slipper was well made. The erstwhile porter served my soup, me. If I had descended the remaining | and the dinner progressed quietly, wit steps and followed Lovschiem directly | the exception of Mrs. Byng's loud and across the court and into the lobby, | clattering French. But with the cheese things might have had a very different | there was an incident which, I think, ending. | no one saw but myself. ‘The lounge was still 'empty, and the | bar had not even a light, but in the | dining room adjoining the lounge I caught a glimpse of the bright-eyed lit- | tle porter apparently doubling as a walter, for he was hurrying aeross the room with a xtzamin{ tureen of soup in one hand and a napkin properly across his arm. He looked harassed, but after dis- posing of the soup, trotted to meet and seat me with an air of alacrity. He brought me the wine list, showed me a written menu which offered no choice, and hurried away. There were only three people dining Directly across from me sat a woman with a kind of war-horse look about her nose, and terrifying wide, black eye- brows: she was dressed in black, silky- looking stuff, with quantities of beads What is It that Sundean sees, tomor- row? i Justice Is Fined. R. Y. Appleby, justice of the peace | of Milwaukee, Oreg., was found guilty { of hit-and-run charges and fined $2. | The justice’s car collided with another | and he ran away “after stopping for a few minutes.” Have White Teeth Safely Now, with the aid of Dentox Tooth Paste, everyone may have sparkling white teeth «+. . free from that ugly “yellowish” tinge. Besides safe, gentle cleansing and polishing agents Dentox coni . special ingredient which tends te keep the gums firm and healthy. Use Dentox for just one month and note the difference. Get a generous S0¢ tube for 29c today at Peoples Drug Stores. DENTOX TOOTH PASTE and bracelets and brooches, and she looked, in spite of being rather angular in line, a little stuffed as to clothing, as if she had a great many layers of ohl;er clothing underneath the black silk. . She was reading the Daily Mail with a lorgnette and considerable disap- proval. I surmised she was English, but I was wrong, for she turned out to be Mrs. Felicia Byng from Omaha, Nebr., and I might say here that I never did know exactly why she was touring the country or why she had taken it into | her head to stop in Armene. In many respects she remained to the last a woman of mystery. | Across the room sat a priest, young- | ish, with a dark brown sweater puiled | over his black, tightly buttoned soutane. | His claim to distinction appeared to le in a rather ghastly red beard. His hair | ‘was cut like a brush and was of no par- ticular color; thus the sight of his fiery was pariaking "of s0ub thevogh the was of soup beard with unpleasant dewn:fmuon, and I shifted my gaze hurriedly back to the wine list in my hand. ‘ But after a moment, simply because | there were so few people in the room, | my eyes drifted idly to the only other | occupied table, where a woman was | seated whose back was turned toward actly where it is.” “Good, then, I leave it to you.” Lov-|ful back. She was wearing Al Cigarettes are 7o me. Drifted idly, but paused with interest, for it was, I saw at once, a very beauti- black vel- B ad Different Kinds of Tobaccos Make a Difference in Taste and Aroma ... Take Chester- fields, for Instance OME cigarettes are made out of only one kind of tobacco...while others are made from several dif- ferent kinds. And everyone can understand that different tobaccos make a difference in taste and aroma. Chesterfields are a good example of this difference. You see it’s not easy to make Chesterfield’s milder taste. It takes three distinct kinds of Domestic tastes better. @193, Lroazrr o« Mymas Tosacco Caw tobaccos. Then these must be sea- soned with the right amount of Turkish. And they must be blended and cross-blended until theirflavors are welded together...to make a cigarette that has character and yet is not too strong. .. to make a ciga- rette that’s milder, a cigarette that Chester Choice Turkish Tobaccos come to Chesterfield warehouses in bales like these. . Hogsheads of Domestic Tobaccos stored: away Jor curing. field