Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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V* f UNCONFESSED Th« Barnwell People-Sentinel, Barnwell, S. C m Thursday, July 23, 1 v — 1936 CHAPTER VIII—Continued I decided to wait for the results of ans6n’s search, and I was so sleepy, after the wakeful night and the walk In the open air that I curled up In my rose cushioned chair for ten minutes |an<i slept for forty. I woke to find llarrlden In my room, sifting stolidly there confronting me with an air of grim scrutiny. I sat up quickly, pulling down my rumpled gray frock and brushing my hair out of my eyes, staring at him with something very much like fright. 'Behind him the door was closed. “You needn’t try to run," he told me, and 1 flung back, "Why should I run? What do you want, Mr. llarrlden?" “I want to know what you know about all this," he growled at me. “You’re In with Deck. I want to know what all that row was about—that row ■with Elkins-—” His voice fumbled so at the words that I felt a pang of pity for him In spite of all my other feeling. “I never saw Alan Deck until I came here." I said add spoke as quietly and gently as I could. "I don’t know any thing about his affairs.” “That’s your story, and you can stick to It before the others. But I want the facts, and I’m prepared to pay for them. And I’ll let you off—I’ll let you off whatever trouble those stones have got you In for, If you’ll tell me every* thing you know." “I know nothing." “You know why you went up to my wife’s room last night. You had soiye reason—even If you saw her slopped you wouldn't go In like that—” His eyes, grimly skeptical, looked me through and through. “You can't pull any wool over my eyes You were meeting Deck before dinner. I want to know what he and —what he was threatening my wife •bout. He wanted money from her— ■wasn’t that It? If you never met him before, as you say, he's Interested enough In you now to tell you. Your own safety and a good substantial sum of money ought to make you see the light. “I’ll give you live thousand—five thousand for a few words. Only do faking. I want the truth." “You are utterly mistaken In me, Mr. llarrlden." I aald ateadily. “I couldn't aell Information If I had It ... I know nothing at all of Alan Deck •nd his secrets.** Some one knocked. I called, “Come in." and the door o|>ened. There stood Alan I ►eck. At sight of llarrlden he stiffened. then, with assumed naturalness to me. “About those picture#—** , llarrlden got to his feet: hla eyes flickered from Deck back to me with a malevolent sort of satisfaction. “Well—!• It yes?" he aald harshly, hi* look bolding mine “It's no. klr. llarrlden.'* Without another word to me, with out a glance toward Ikrrk, he marched past hla. out the door. I burst out. “Oh. why did you cumeT** to I»eck. Ills gate that had followed llarrlden to the door flashed back to me. “What waa Dan doing hereT“ “T^lng to buy me." I aald. •'Offer ing me Qte thousand dollars to find out Mary Hastings Bradley Copyright by D. Appleton- Century C(t. Inot WNU Service His Eyea Looked Me Through and Through. what you and his wife quarreled •bout." “"'ant me to toss you a yarn to win the live?” said Alan Deck with a sud den smile. I was sorry for him, for the torment ed look that underlay the pride and challenge of his high held head. Quick ly I began to talk about Uancinl and the discovery of his sword cano. 1 thought his Interest would seize on that, but he shrugged It away. “Well, what of it? What do you think you can prove?” At the unresponsiveness of his face I flung out, "But don’t you want to find •ut who did It before the Inquest to morrow?’’ “Let the dicks find out," he said. “They can’t hold me now on a few words when I was lit. ... I’m not worrying about tomorrow. “I want to get out of this damn’ house!" he broke out “I want to get back to New York—back to my oflice, back to sanity and sense—I never want to see a soul here again! Except you —I want to take^you out to dinner and to • theater, and I want you to go tUodag wlU bm la that blue saiin | gown—I want to hold you In my arms, to soft music, you And then he dropped the deep cushioned chair beside the lit tle white one I was sitting In—and said coaxlngly, “Talk to me, Leila. Tell me about your picture puzzles and the fakes and the millionaires you rescue. The pre-depression millionaires. Tell me all the stories of your young art life.’’ Nothing that we said mattered; It was all about paintings and artists and people and plays. The telephone broke In on It. Monty Mitchell's voice told me to come down at once. We both went down, I expecting heaven knows-what of revelation but finding only that Mitchell wanted my report on the hair ornament. 1 murmured that he had said I was barking up the wrong tree, hut I scur ried back upstairs, uhd this time I got (he crescent with no delay for Miss Van Alstyn was In her room and pro duced the gewgaw from her jewel box. "Is there something special about It?" she murmured, and I said lamely enough that I wanted to study the stones. I might ns well have studied Plymouth Bock, for there was no blood to he found on them. If there ever hud bee'mrny; she'd had all the time In the world to wash It off. ... 1 gave it hack to her and went downstairs again, finding Mitchell and Deck deep In talk. “I found It. Nothing," I reported shortly to Mitchell. He merely nodded, then said ear nestly, "I am telling Deck this ‘I don’t Tememher* stuff won’t wash with a cor oner's Jury." Deck’s eyes, brilliant and haggard, played with him. “What do you sug gest 1 say?" Monte was ready. As I dropped down on the end of the couch beside him, he offered, low-toned, "Suppose Norn was Jealous of Dan and Letty and threat ened to raise the roof about them, and you warned her not to. What?" “Got a cigarette?" said I>eck. "Mine are all gone." He put the case be had taken out hack In his pocket rather slowly. Casually he mentioned. “What about the truth, the whole truth and nothing hut the truth?" The lawyer did not hat an eyelash. “Isn't that the truth—now that your bead has cleared?" "Why drag In Letty?" "Why not? You*11 have to explain those threats, and that does It—with no discredit to yourself." Deck grinned. "You're • swell law yer, Monty." “And you need ooe." I>erk rose with • vague word or two. Kllently we sat there sad watched hla tall flgurt sauntering away. Monty Mitchell's lips were creased la a taut line; he knew, and I knew, with heart- id you in my arms. Uttni given me a distinct understand—*’ dlifldent reticence, s ped Into a chair Elkins, too, had not come forward about I remembered that Anson had* not volunteered anything about the open window, though Its being open must have seemed a trifle unusual. She had not volunteeretP^anythlng. She Impression of with his statements until tie had been questioned, and then he had *had a had struggle between his duty to his employers and his conscience and love of importance. I began to think It quite possible that some one had seen something that only direct questioning would bring out. Day was a desperate laggard. Very slowly the pale oblongs of my window lightened. Seven o’clock. Could I telephone then? No, that was far too early—I forced myself to wait till seven-thirty. Then there was no answer. The In strument was dead. I decided to dress and go downstairs. Dressing took time. I combed my Huff of hair Into decorum and put on a sub dued lipstick. Then, just as I was ready to leave, came a knock at my door-and the breakfast tray. I asked my maid what rooms she looked after. "Why yours, miss, and the next when It Is occupied." “Then you aren’t very busy now?” I suggested. "I assist with the linen. The mend ing. I mean," she explained. Mending and the tkird-lioor rooms— and mine was the only one occupied on the third floor. No use going Into the questions about the handkerchief, now, though I decided to ask Mitchell to see that the question was asked at the In quest of every one. I hurried through tny breakfast to get downstairs. « I took the staircase to the left. One flight down I saw Anson standing In talk with the maid who did my room, and I quickened my steps toward her. Her arms were piled with fresh towels and the feminine In me could not resist paying attention to those towels, they were so lovely. Anson's pretty face was troubled as she turned It to me. I said. “Oh, An son, there's something I want to ask yon," and the other maid slipped away. Anson said. “Juat a minute please. I'll he right out," and turned Into the door of Prince Kanclnl, with a quick, pre liminary knock. I didn’t want to stand there waiting so I walked on down the hall, past the closed door where Nora llarrlden was lying, then turned and sauntered slow ly along. Ahead of me | saw Anson come hur riedly out of Itandnl'a door her bands .tosher disordered hair, and behind her the prince made a Jack-la tb^Box ap pearance. popping back •• ha caught sight of me but not before I had gUmpard his flashing, amused smile. Anson was breathing quickly. “Than* foreigners!" she threw oat. tucking la the looerned edges of her starched whits frIIL "He ran keep hla hands ff!" she added, resentment stirring catching anxiety, that whatever l»e.k | * fc*. reticeees. had done or not done, whatever bad l>ren between him and that <lesd w..m an. whatever danger menaced him now. lie «as going on In hla own high hand ed nay. to (day hla lone, defiant game. And 1 »as trembly afraid for him. CHAPTER IX Nothing happened that night. I gath ered In a stout, dignified gray cat that I found promenading the hall and fed It niorsela from my aqnab and tried to pretend that I was not lonely. It seemed a thousand years since I had first entered that room, aloce I had looked down to those two dark silhou ettes In that front window. I tried again to reconstruct those silhouettes, hoping that some trick of memory would bring to life a forgotten detail, but I was so tired that their sha|>os wavered fantastically before me. Nothing was going to Interest that Jury, I thought, except the finding of those diamonds Inside my dress and the re|H»rt of Deck's violent threats to Nora llarrlden. And his absence from the table, I needed all the rest I could get to face that tomorrow, so 1 took a hot bath and went to bed. At llrst I slept, then as my weariness wore olT, my worrying thoughts kept coming to the surface, rousing me, and at last. In the early morning dark I lay wide awake, my mind racing like nn engine. I thought of the questions they were HkCly to ask me and a sud den qualm assailed me. I had taken it absolutely for granted that I would tell the same story which I had told Donahey about my reasons for going up to Mrs. llarrlden’s rooip, and that Deck would tell his same story, but now— This was different, this testimony before a coroner and a jury. This was under oath. Suppose Deck wanted me to tell ‘‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth’’—to show that since he had asked me to go up he believed that Nora llarrlden was still alive? I had to find out, I thought, stricken with belated panic, before I went Into that Jury room. I would phone him for an Interview the very moment It was light enough to make my call possible. * Then my mind turned to that hand kerchief with the rust marks. Some time on Friday night that handkerchief had been drying on a radiator. Now a thought came to me. I didn’t know all that Donahey had asked, but 1 knew that In front of me no one had asked If such a handkerchief had been seen. I made up my mitld to see every maid on that floor In the morning. "Why don’t you complain to the prtnceaaf" I suggested wickedly. That startled Anaoa more than Ran- dot had d»oe. She looked at me out of shocked eyea. “Oh, the maid la al ways wrong." aha aald with cynical succinctness. "If you'll excuse me. miss. I'll be going hack for my towels" •nd she cast a laok. troubled for all her recovered rorapoaore, at the closed door of the room. "JuM a moment. Anson. I waa wait ing to see you. 1 want to ask you something." She kept her far# away from me. "I'll be telling all I know at the la- quest this morning." "I know, but I want to speak to you first. You know yoo said to tho In spector that you could not say that Mr. Deck bad been In Mrs. Ilarrlden'a room—when you saw him In the ball— you remember you aald that, don’t you?" "I remember," she said almost re luctantly. “I didn’t like to say any thing else and make the gentleman trouble—I didn’t know what words he had been using to the poor lady then." Her voice changed to such sternness that I said quickly, “But perhaps El kins didn’t understand—” "He's not one to misunderstand," she told me tirmly. *Tm promised to El kins, so I might say I know him. He didn’t like to say what he had to say, but It was his duty. A man making such threats—!’’ All sympathy for Deck was gone from her now. I went on anxiously, “And there’s another thing. Did you happen to see a handkerchief drying on a radiator in any of the rooms last night?" I wished I could know what that change in her face meant. Had I hit on something—or was she merely startled at the Idea? Her answer seemed slow In coming and when It did it was oblique. “Will they ask me that, miss?" . “Yes, they will ask you that. But If I could know flrst—" “I’ll tell everything they ask me downstairs," she said at last. “It’s my duty, I know, though I’m sorry enough —any one might have washed out n handkerchief—" J said more; I urged her eagerly but the girl was Immovable. She only re peated that she would tell all she knew later. It is quite futile to look back now and think, “Oh, If I had only done that dif ferently, If I had only found the right word!" I see her there, in her pretty black and white, that secret knowledge which she was so reluctant to reveal In her troubled eyes, and I think that If only I had been able to Induce her to It waa Ansoa tujr thoughts circled | ->hare It. perhaps— But she moved away fletoraalaedly, •nd I went on upstairs to my room where I wrote a note to Mitchell, ask ing him to have that question pat about the handkerchief, and another te Deck, asking him to come to see me as soon as possible. I rang for the maid and asked her to deliver them. Then I waited, hoping desperately that each moment would bring Deck. He didn't come. He might be testi fying. He might be being kept Incom municado. ... I mustn't let myself look so worried; I must seem natural and at ease before that Jury. I was In a tense state of nerves when they Anally came for me. My heart was beating sickenlngly when I entered that dining-room, and for a moment the faces turned to me seemed like blurs In a fog. Then I steadied, and took In the groups. I saw a knot of people writing away busily on lit tle pads, newspaper people, I supposed, and I saw Mitchell and Donahey. The six men of the Jury were lined along the dazzling black table and the cor oner, a tall, thin man with a drooping mustache, was at the end, and a court reporter, writing away, sat beside the vacant chair for the witness, across from the jury. "Do you solemnly swear that the testimony that you shall give In the V rv "You Lit So Convincingly." case now on hearing shall he the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help yoa God?" I swore It I told myself to pat out of mind any Idea of a change of testi mony, to hoki fast to everything I had already aald. 1 sat down la the wit ness chair, as I was told, and fared the Jury. They were tradespeople from the small, oearhy town. Thera la no need la going over my testimony. They asked ms everything, hit by bit. and I told them all I had told before. About (be arena at tbs window. About meeting Alan Deck la (be picture gallery. About bring sum- mooed dewo to dinner. They tried te get me to name the time that Dark bad been absent from the table but I sold I couldn’t say. When It rams to my gotng op to Mrs. llarrlden ■ rodm I could feel the attention tightening about me. I tried to shut out of my mlod every fear of Deck's change of testimony; I repeated word for word what I had told Doa- •bey. The coroner put a question I hadn't foreseen. "llava yoa anything la your posses- alon, among your chemicals, that would take blood stains out of a handker chief?" “Why yea," J said honestly. "Just peroxide often does It." Mg voles was breathless sounding. I was grateful when they went on to the noise I thought I had beard In the night, and why 1 had not reported It “Why you know how It la about noises In the dark," I explained. "The only sounds I could be sure I'd beard were those footsteps out In the ball, and I thought those belonged to a guard—Hie inspector had said the place would he guarded." "That Is all. Miss Seton. . . . Wit ness Is excused." I was the last. No one else was called; the Jury rose and withdrew In the coroner's wake, out to the drawing room. I looked about uncertainly and Mitchell came up to me. “You’re one of the best witnesses I ever saw. . . . You lie so convincingly," he said. I could feel the blood receding from heart "Why—did Deck—?’’ I caught myself up, but I could not turn my eyes away from his knowing dark ones. "No, he didn’t reveal anything,” he told me, and my relief was so poignant it must have looked out all over me. He added, “But I’d give a plugged nickel to know what he really said to you that night—about taking no steps.” Then he told me kindly. “I was de ceiving you, my dear, when I said that you lied well. To the untutored eye you may appear carefree, to one who knows you— But you made a darned good impression." “But Deck—" , . “Not so good. Elkins’ story Im pressed them. Deck was a fool not to produce an explanation. And Deck didn’t put through any call to hts paper that night. At least the telephone girl has no recollection of being asked for a New York number that night” I asked him if he’d got my note about the handkerchief and If the ques tion had been asked the maids. Ha told me that no one reported having^ seen any handkerchief drying. I was puxzled. “But Anson—didn’t Anson—?’’ (TO BE CONTINUED IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL chool Lesson By RBV. HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST, Dean of the Moody Bible Inetltate of Chlceao. O Western Newspaper Union. Lesson for July 26 CHRISTIANITY SPREAD BY PER SECUTION LESSON TEXT—Acts 7.59-e:4: I Peter 4:12-19. GOLDEN TEXT—Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.—Revelation 2:10. PRIMARY TOPIC—A Man Who Won Not Afraid. JUNIOR TOPIC—Stephen the Unafraid. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC —Persecution. Then and Now. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC —Modern Forms of Persecution. Leaders of contemporary thought and observers of modem life decry the evident decadence of old-fash ioned virtues. Our times are too materialistic, encouraging young people to strive for worldly success rather than high and noble char acter. In a time when expediency is the ruling principle, it is well for Chris tians to emphasize the fact that fol lowing Christ has througft all the years called for that loyalty to con victions which has caused some who bear his name to be willing to die for him, yea, even to live and to may be harder to do the latter than the former. True followers of our Lord are willing. I. To Die for the Faith (7 :54-8:1). Stephen, one of the first seven chosen as deacons of the church, '‘a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (6:5), having been called before the Sanhedrin to answer false charges (6:8-15), faithfully stands for the truth. His indictment of Israel cuts to the heart. In anger his hearers stone him to death. He becomes the first martyr of the Church, that holy succession which has representatives in the young manhood and womanhood of today, ready, like John and Betty Stam, to die rather than to deny Christ. Note that in this hour Stephen was given a vision of his risen and ascended Lord (v. 55), standing at the right hand of God to welcome his faithful servant. He prayed for those who took his life (v. 60). How gloriously that prayer was an swered in the subsequent life of the young man Saul, who was "consent ing unto his death.” Not to all who follow Christ comes the need to face death for him, but all should be determined. II. Te Live for the Faith (8 2-4). The early Church found that liv ing for Christ entailed bitter perse cution. Not even the sanctity of their homes was inviolate. Their persons and property felt the- hard hand of havoc-making Saul, yet we find no intimation of complaint. Soon they were driven from home and scattered abroad, but the re sult waa the establishing of gospel centers wherever they went. Liv ing for Christ calls for daily witness, for mort than steadily bearing tha responsibility of life. Not to preach ers and Bible teachers alone is this sacred duty given, to be discharged only in a church service or Bible school. No. "they that were scat tered abroad”—all of them went •’everywhere.” They were not mere ly reforming or devoting their lives to social service, good as these might have been, but "preaching the word” (v. 4). Are we who are now "scattered abroad” going "everywhere,” and •re we "preaching the word”? III. To Suffer for the Faith (I Pet. 4:12-IS). 1. We are not to be surprised by suffering (v. 12), not even by fiery trials, for blessings will follow. The Lord proves his children, even as the refiner tests gold to cleanse it, to prove its worth, and not to de*« stroy it. God's testings are to prove us worthy. 2. We are so to live as not to suf fer for our misdeeds (vv. 15, 16). Many are they who would have the world believe they suffer for Christ’s sake when they are but meeting the just recompense for their evil deeds. It is a shame to suffer as an evil doer, but an honor and privilege to suffer for Jesus’ sake. 3. Believers are to make their sufferings a testimony (vv. 17-19). If we as Christians must needs be purged in order to be fitted for God’s service and the glory that is to come, what will be the end of those who ‘‘know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thess. 1:7, 8)? Peter refrains from even mention ing what their ultimate end will be, but the writer to the Thessalonians goes on to say that they shall be ‘‘punished with everlasting destruc tion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.” Solemn words are these. Have we, and those to whom we minister, heeded their >varmng? Simple Squares That "Heirlooms Pattern 5560 “Company’s coming!”—so out with the best bedspread, the dresser’s Thatching scarf, both crocheted this easy way. You’ll have reason indeed, to be proud of this lacy pair, to say nothing of a tea or dinner cloth, buffet or vanity set, all of which grow little by little as you cro chet a simple medallion in hum ble string. Repeated and joined they make stunning ‘‘heirlooms.” In pattern 5560 you will find complete instructions for making the square shown; an illustration of it and of all the stitches need ed; material requirements. To obtain this pattern send fif teen cents in stamps or coins (coins preferred) to The Sewing Circle, household Arts Dept., 259 W.Fourteenth St.,New York, N. Y Write plainly pattern number, your name and address. Foreign Words and Phrases (F.) (L.) Affair From Affaire du coeur. of the heart. A mensa et thoro. bed and board. Ben trovato. (It.) Well invented. Chacun a son gout. (F.) Every man to his taste. Contretempts. (F.) An awk ward incident; mishap. Delenda est Carthago. (L) Carthage must be destroyed. Ecco homo! (L.) Behold the man! Falsus in uno, falsus in omni bus. (L.) False in one point, false in all. Garde du corps. (F.) Body guard. In aeternum. (L.) Forever. Je ne sats quoi. (F ) know not what. PfffffCT HOME DRY CLEARER )0< 40<.65< ail OBUCC>«T« MUSTi SmO« whits | Fo»oi ■■ •/ a Contentment Sparkle* Contentment is a diamond which sparkles in any oa-lUng. MAGIC SKIN tbauZtfiek' Real Character of Man It is the relaxation of security; it is in the expansion of prosperity; it is is the hour of dilation of the heart, and of its softening into fes tivity and pleasure, that the real character of men is discerned.— Burke. Oar Friendships How few are there born with souls capable of friendship. Then how much fewer must there be capable of love, for love includes friendship and much more besides! RIJftOVH FtfOOES, IUQMA0S QUICK — RESTORES CLEAR, lOVIET SRIN All yoa do is this: (I) At brdtima spread a tbia film of NADINOLA Cream over your face—no maeaagiaf, no rubhins.^ (2) Leave oa while you •leep. (3) vYatcb daily improvement— uauallr in 5 to 10 daye you will oee a marveloue transformation. Freckles, blackheads disappear; dull coarsened akin becomes creamy-white, satin- smooth, adorable! Fine resulta positive ly guaranteed with NADINOLA—tested ana trusted for nearly two generations All toilet counters, only 50c. Or write NADINOLA. Box 46. 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