Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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0 THE SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C„ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1938 BANNER SERIAL FICTION* She Painted Her Face A siMi} of loue. and UtUiguz ... 69 DORNFORD YATES O Domford Yatee SYNOPSIS Richard Exon, a poor young English man, befriends elderly Matthew Gering, who at his death, gives him a statement claiming he, Gering, is Rudolph Elbert Virgil. Count of Brief, of ancient Austri an nobility who was betrayed 10 years before by his twin brother, Ferdinand, whose sentence for forgery he himself served. Ferdinand appropriated his title, property and daughter. Before he dies, Gering tells Exon there Is a family se cret. known only to the head of the house, to be found In the great tower at Brief, by a doorway none can ever find. Exon Inherlta his uncle's fortune and sets out to right Gerlng's wrongs. En route he encounters Percy Elbert Virgil, son of the villainous Ferdinand and sees him In con ference with Insklp, a diamond merchant. He engages a valet. Winter, who hates Percy and meets by chance at a garage, John Herrick, who la a linguist and who as a youth served as a page at Gerlng’s wedding, and had visited Brief. Herrick agrees to aid Exon. They establish head quarters at Brenda Revoke's farm at Rav en, a few miles from Brier and make their plans. They find the castle almost inac- cessible. They see a closed ear occupied by Percy Virgil, a chauffeur and a woman. Hearing a dog scream, they see the chauf feur flogging It, fust as a horse with a girl astride bounds along the path end Is felled by a strung wire. The girl, unconscious. Is picked up carelessly by the chauffeur and woman, who then run away, after dropping her. Exon recues the girl and carries her to his waiting car. He Identifies the girl as Elizabeth, daughter of the disowned Gering, tells her of her cousin's plot to abduct her and takes her to Raven, where he tells her the story of her father and promises to go the limit to help her right her father’s wrongs. Elizabeth wins faith In her bene factor. Percy Virgil brings the police to Raven, announcing that two strangers are being sought for the kidnaping of Eliza beth. Herrick discomfits Virgil, tells of the morning's adventure, names a man called Max and hands the police a sealed envelope with the name of the leader In the abduc tion—Percy Virgil. Exon and Herrick sus pect Percy of having sold the family jewels through Insklp. All realize the only solution is to find the Secret of Brief, which the Impostor Ferdinand does not know. They decide to take possession of the Tower. Late one night after bard labor they force their way into the Tower, with Eliza beth aiding Exon and Herrick. There they begin their search for the secret doorway, working In silence against time. The search for the secret doorway Is almost hopeless until they find a sliding panel In a step. V—Continued —-IS— As might have been expected, the bolt was tight in its well, but it was not cemented in, and after another ten minutes I managed to wheedle it out. I then took the mallet from Her rick and tapped the rise. At once the side I had tapped retreated be fore the blow, but the other side started forward out of its place. “Pivoted,” breathed Herrick. “It’s hung on a spindle, just like a revolving door.” One hand on my shoulder, Eliza beth lowered her torch. There was now before us a gap, where the rise had been. This gap was split into two by the rise itself, for this had simply been turned and was now presenting its edge, in stead of its face. The torch im mediately showed that the gap on die right was void—that is to say, on the side on which the rise had retired: but the gap on the left was framing a block of stone. And sunk in the face of this stone was a han dle, or rude, iron dog . . . “Go on,” said Herrick. "Pull it. If a genie appears, so much the bet ter. I’ve quite a lot of orders to give.” I laid hold of the dog and pulled . . . At once the block slid forward, after the way of a drawer that you pull from a chest. And, as you may pull a drawer clear, so I drew the block out of its housing, over the tread of the step which lay, like an apron to take it, in front of the gap. The block was immensely heavy, for it must have been 12 inches deep, and, when I had drawn it clear, it was all I could do to lift it out of the way and on to the tread above. To do this, I had to stand up and lift it between my legs; but the others stayed where they were. As I laid it down— “Do you see it, too?” said Her rick. “I—I don’t understand,” breathed Elizabeth. “I mean, how can that be there?” “What is it?” said I, and stepped back to go down on my knees. “It’s time we went home,” said Herrick. “That’s what it is. When I run into black magic, that’s where I get off.” Never had idle words so specious • warranty. The block which I had withdrawn had left behind it no room. Though I make a fool of myself, at least I will make this clear. When you pull a drawer from a chest and lay it aside, you leave in the chest a space which is very slightly larger than the drawer which you have removed. But, though I had drawn out the block, there was no such space left. In fact, the gap was now framing an other block of stone which resem bled exactly the one I had taken *way, except that it had no handle by which it could be withdrawn. And when I presently touched it, the same indefinable tremor told me it was not fixed. “Can you beat it?” said Herrick, shortly. “On the face of it, no,” said I. “But there must be some simple reason for such a thing. I mean, these doings are ancient: there’s no machinery here.” “There can’t be a reason,” said Herrick, “unless you’re a conjurer. If you pick a brick out of a wall, you’ve a right to expect a recess. Well, there’s the brick you picked out: but where’s the recess?” “There was a recess,” said my lady. “There must have been. But now it’s been filled.” “That’s right,” said I. “That’s right. And I’ll tell you another thing. It’s got to be emptied again before we can put that block back in its place.” “Do you mean to suggest,” said Herrick, “that a slab of stone of that size, fixed or unfixed, can shift to and fro on its own?” "I have it,” said Brenda’s voice. ‘The thing is a counterpoise. My uncle has one at his farm. It is very old, but its movement is silent and sure as the flight of an owl.” There was an electric silence. Then— “The girl’s right.” said Herrick. “And there’s the conjuring trick. Beneath these steps there’s a bal ance; and when you drew out that block you lightened one of its scales —with two results. One was that the scale you had lightened rose in the air, and thus revealed to our eyes the second weight on that scale. That is it, there—in the gap.” He got to his feet. “And the other result was this—that the opposite scale sank down—thus revealing somewhere or other the doorway we’re trying to find.” That this interpretation was good, there could be no doubt, and we all began to go down the winding stair, surveying the walls, as we went, for some gap in their masonry. We were too much excited, I fear, to use our wits. Had we done so, we should have perceived that there was but one direction in which the balance could hang and that this would bring the scale which we wished to locate, very nearly above the doorway by which we had en tered the tower. However, as luck would have it, we now had no need of wits, but only of eyes; and as we emerged from the staircase into the small, square hall, we saw directly before us the interspace which we sought. On the wall which faced us one of the panels had sunk—not very much, but five inches . . . exactly the height of the block which I had pulled out of the stair. The gap thus shown was breast-high and 15 inches in width. Beyond was an open space, and when I put in my hand, I could feel a faint current of air. The panel hung on a chain, which was, of course, attached to the bal ance above. And so long as it hung on that chain, the panel could go no further, because the counter weight had no room to rise. So I took the weight of the panel, while Herrick deftly unfastened the heavy chain. “Then I let the panel sink slowly into some slot in the stone . At last it came to rest, some six inches still protruding and making a sill to the doorway which we had discovered at last. This gave to a winding stair, pre cisely resembling that upon which we had passed so many wearisome hours. In a word, with the hall for landing, the stair of the tower went on down, curling slowly right-hand ed, into the bowels of the earth. For the others I cannot answer, but until the way was open and we were about to go down, I had never considered to what “the doorway” might lead: but now that we were about to discover the truth, I re membered the late Count’s words and, with those for straw, began to make fabulous bricks. “It may be that you can use it...” I will not net down the pictures my fancy drew. Enough that they were all false. But I have this con solation—that not one man in a mil lion would have predicted the scene which presently met our eyes. Herrick declined to go down, but stayed in the hall with Brenda, “un less and until,” said he, “my lady decides that she wants me on' in this act.” So I preceded Elizabeth, torch in hand. For 36 steps we went dowm. And then we came to a chamber that had no door. On the threshold I stopped and lighted a second torch, and my lady looked over my shoulder, to see what I saw. The chamber was small—som-s fif teen feet by eight, and some nine feet high. Its walls and floor and ceiling were all of stone, and though there was no window, the air was by no means foul. (This, I after wards found, was due to two vents— one low down in a wall, and the other high up at the opposite end of the room: but though I sought for their mouths, I never was able to find them, because they were too well hid.) Towards one end of the cell was a great oak stall, plainly very ancient and finely carved, and against one wall was a coffer, also of oak. There was no other fur niture. In the stall was seated a man—or what was left of one. His pose was natural. His head was up and was leaning against the back of the stall, his arms lay along its arms, and his trunk and his feet were well and truly planted on oak and stone. His clothes were those of the Fifteenth pentury. His tunic was of diapered velvet which the passage of many years had brought to shreds and tat ters, If not to dust, but a jeweled belt was still girding the crumbling loins and a chain was sunk in the ruin about the neck. Hose still hung upon the legs, which were skin and bone, and a patch, that had'been a cap, was still crowning the thick fair hair. This was inviolate. The face and hands were withered, but otherwise well preserved and dead. The eyes, which were wide, had a curious, sightless look and might have belonged to a man who was living, but blind; and the whole was in no way offensive, because, I sup pose, there was no sign of corrup tion, but only of age. Indeed, had the hair been white, the figure Would have been full of dignity: but the color of the hair was fatal, suggest ing an old man’s efforts to seem to be young—one of Time’s shabbier jests, for the man had not seen old age. On the coffer were lying three things. One was a skin of parch ment—or part of a skin. Upon this had been written Latin, still to be read. By its side lay the trans lation, clearly inscribed upon vel lum and made at some later date. And between the two lay a massive signet-ring. As might have been expected, the documents told us the truth. "Here sits Elbert, Duke of Austria and Carinthia, King of Hungary, slain by his host and liegeman, Ru dolf of Brief, because he came upon him defiling his wife. “With the fear of death upon her, Helen of Brief declared the follow ing facts: “That the King and she were se cretly married, before he wedded the Queen and before she deceit fully wedded Rudolf of Brief. In proof whereof she offered her mar riage lines signed by the Cardinal Gaddi, lately dead of the plague, whom God reward, “That the first and third of her children, whom Rudolf believed to be his, were both the sons of the King. “Rudolf made haste to apprise the Queen of the truth. “For the sake of that injured la dy, he undertook, on conditions, to hold his peace. Between them it was agreed: “That he should hold to his witness the corpse of the King, himself pro viding another to take its place and be interred and entombed as though it were that of the King. “That since Otto, whom he thought his first-born, was now IN TRUTH Duke of Austria and Carin thia, King of Hungary, he and his heirs should FOR EVER hold the right to call upon the heirs pf her body in any stress, whose help they shall have WITHOUT FAIL by showing the King’s great ring, “That her heirs shall be so in structed in perpetuity. “By Rudolfs order, Gollanx, a chemist of Innsbruck, preserved the corpse of the King. This he did ac cording to a certain prescription which he had of a learned Venetian whose son he had saved. His rai ment also he dipped against the cor ruption of Time. “Dated the ninth day of March in the year of Our Lord one thou sand four hundred and thirty-nine (the King being dead on the sev enth, having lain in state till now and to be replaced this night) and written down word for word as my lord Rudolf hath command ed by liis unworthy servant and clerk “GABRIEL of LITTAI.” “Whom I slue whiles his ink was wett for he hath a long tongue and I have need of a boddy as he hath sayed. “RUDOLF OF BRIEF.” The original postscript was labo riously written in German and poor ly spelt. The translation was done in German from first to last, and to this had been added two lists—one of the Lords of Brief and one of the several Heads of the othei House. Elizabeth was trembling. "Oh, Richard, d’you know what this means?” "It means you’re a queen,” said I. “But then I knew that before.” “No, no.” She dabbed at the parchment. “That last name there. Not my grandfather’s—the other. Harriet Vincentia Saying, Duchess of Whelp. She’s still alive—and she’s bigger than any queen. She’s al ways known as ‘Old Harry.* Her mother was English—as mine was, and if she’ll take up my cause f . .’’ "She must,” said I. "It’s a case of deep calling to deep.” “She’s a law to herself,” said Elizabeth, thoughtfully. “But if she does—well, next time you come to Brief you won’t have to force any bars.” “That’s right,” said I, feebly enough. With a sudden movement, I set a torch in her hand. “And now I’ll go for a pen. You must write your name here at once. Shall Herrick come down?” "If you please.” I left her there and mounted the unworn stair. The thing was absurd and child ish, but now that I saw what was coming, my heart sank down. The "rough stuff” was over, and so— my service was done. From now on, stops would be taken by a lady of high degree. Pressure would be put on the impostor: ways and means would be used which were out of my ken. And when the game had been won, I should be invited to Brief . . . where a servant would hold the door wide and another would take my hat. I should be ushered—I . . . that had broken into the place, to set a queen on her throne. . . . And then I should be presented to Her Grace the Duch ess of Whelp, and the Countess of Brief would tell her how good I had been—I that had held a King’s daughter against my hammering heart . . . I suppose that my face was be traying my state of mind, for, as I stepped into the hall, I saw Herrick throw up his head and clap his hands to his eyes. “Oh, I can’t bear it,” he groaned. “Don’t say that after all this—” (TO BE CONTINUEDJ Street Car Blamed for Discharging Cartridge and Wounding Pedestrian How a man could be shot on a downtown street in broad daylight with several persons walking within a few feet of him, and yet none of them seeing anybody shoot at him—this was the mystery that the police were called upon to solve when Christian Knoll received a bullet wound in the hip while walk ing through the business section of a leading metropolis, reports Wil liam C. Dudgeon in the Detroit News. The first important fact that the officers discovered was that, while several had heard the report, none had seen any flash, indicating that the bullet must have come quite a distance. As Knoll had been shot in the side next to the pavement it seemed certain that the shot had been fired from across the street. This latter probability was not borne out, however, by the testi mony of persons who had been walking on the other side of the street. In fact, they were all very positive in their assertions that the sound of the shot had come from the side of the street where the injured man had been at the time he was shot. In their endeavor to reconcile these seemingly conflicting state ments, the police were just about convinced that the shot had been fired from a passing automobile when word came from the hospital that the bullet, whan it struck Knoll’s hip, had been traveling an upward course, which would have been impossible if the shot had come from the window of a car. How, then, had the man been shot? One of the officers discov ered the answer when, in walking across the avenue, he found an empty catridge lying on the street car track. It had apparently been discharged when a street car passed over it. The Northern Lights The Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis is an atmospheric phenom enon seen, in the northern hemi sphere. It appears in the form of arcs, rays, bands, patches, etc., in various colors, across the northern sky. Its cause is not known for certain but is believed to be some kind of electrical charge or magnet ic disturbance. One theory is that electrons from the sun encounter such gases as krypton and nitrogen in the upper rarified atmosphere. There is some connection between brilliant auroras and magnetic storms, also with the number of sun-spots. The theory of Arrhenius is that the sun emits a flood of corpuscles of a nature similar to X-rays, cathode rays, electrons, etc., and that these corpuscles on approaching the earth are acted on in the direction of the lines of its magnetic force, around which they describe helices. WHAT to EAT and WHY C. Houston Goudiss Discusses Vitamins And Vision; Explains How and Why You Should Feed Your Eyes By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS F OR a number of years, scientists have stressed the im portance of a well-balanced diet as a means of maintain ing health, promoting growth and preventing disease. Re cently, an even more significant development has occurred. It ha* been determined that a carefully chosen diet i* absolutely necessary to preserve the general health and efficiency of every bodily function and that there is*- a close relationship between a good diet and good eyesight. Your Food and Your Eyas Many people regard their eye sight as one of the five senses which operate in some mysterious manner of their own! If they suffer from indigestion, they recognize that it is quite apt to be due to something they ate. If "they are troubled with stomach, liver or kidney complaints, they quickly ap preciate that pro longed dietary indiscretions may be at the root of the trouble. But it never occurs to them that what they eat may affect the eyes just as profoundly as it affects the in ternal organs. It is not uncommon, during an attack of biliousness, to suffer a disturbance of the vision. But that disturbance usually disappears with the disorder that caused it. On the other hand, a deficient diet may produce eye troubles that have a far reaching effeet upon health, efficiency, and even per sonal safety. Night Blindnfc: Explained For example, it has been estab lished that there is a definite re lation between your vision and the vitamins in your diet; between your ability to drive a car safely at night, and the amount of vita min A-containing foods that you consume. To understand this astonishing fact, it is necessary to know that vision under faint illumination is accomplished by means of chemi cal changes in the pigment at the back of the eye. This is known as the "visual purple” of the retina and one of its important compo nents is carotene, which is the ac tive form of vitamin A. The visual purple might be com pared to the film in a camera. When you are in a dim light and the eyes are suddenly exposed to bright light, the visual purple is greatly reduced or bleached. This change results in a stimulation of the optic nerve and enables you to see clearly. When an adequate supply of vi tamin A is present in the body, the visual purple is rapidly re generated. But when the supply is inadequate, a much longer pe riod elapses before the corrective chemical change takes place! Dur ing the intervening time, many people find it difficult to see. That is the condition known as “night blindness.” And it aceounts for the fact that a large propor tion of serious motor accidents oc cur at night. Victims of this de ficiency disease are first blinded by approaching headlights, then cannot quickly readjust them selves after the oncoming car has passed. Their ability to drive safely is subsequently impaired for they cannot clearly see the road ahead, and they may miss dangerous curves, pedestrians or other vehicles. A Common Complaint Unfortunately, the prevalence of night blindness is not generally recognized, though it is held that urban dwellers are more conscious of it than those living in the rural areas. This is borne out by the fact that ocular disorders from vi tamin deficiency are less common in urban than in rural areas. Children Often Victim* Since the discovery of the close connection between vitamin A and the ability to see in dim light, sci entists have tested large numbers of school children to determine whether vitamin A was present in their diet in adequate amounts. It was revealed that from 26 to 79 per cent of the children examined had incipient night blindness. The same deplorable conditions were found among adults. Mild to moderate degrees of vitamin A deficiency were present in from 10 to over 50 per cent of each group tested. Yet here is the remarkable thing —in nearly every case, a diet rich in vitamin A for a few weeks re stored the vision to normal. A Significant Experiment An even more striking example of the power of food to affect the eyesight is to be found in the re port of an experiment in which breeding sows were given food in abundance but lacking vitamin A for 160 days before and for 30 days after breeding. In three lit ters of 35 pigs, all were blind. In another litter of 14 pigs, all were sightless. But under normal feed ing, the same animals produced litters of pigs with normal eyes and vision. This experiment justi fies the conclusion of one of our most noted food scientists, that the deficiency of essential food ele ments may so alter vital processes that even pre-natal changes may occur. Cause of Other Eye Disorder* Night blindness is not the only eye disease caused by an improp er diet. Xerophthalmia or con junctivitis, characterized by ex cessive dryness of the eyeball, has long been known to be caused by a vitamin A deficiency. It is also well known that a liberal amount of this vitamin will pre vent that serious disease and will even effect a cure where destruc tion of the cornea has not pro gressed too far. This suggests the tremendous importance of including in the diet foods rich in vitamin A—cod- and other fish-liver oils; milk and oth er dairy products; green leafy and yellow vegetables; and egg yolk. Experiments with rats, whose dietary requirements are similar to those of man, show a close connection between cataract and a deficiency of another vitamin—vi tamin G. This is found most abun dantly in meat, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables. Were she concerned about pro tecting the blessing of good eye sight alone, that would be suffi cient reason why every homemak er should plan meals that are rich in vitamins. But it is not only the eyes which are dependent upon vitamins, for they have many other functions to perform. An improper diet may cause people to drive automobiles blind ly at night so that they are dan gerous not only to themselves and their passengers, but to everyone on the streets and roads. A de ficient diet will also send them through life with half-efficient bod ies, half-efficient brains, half-effi cient senses. That is why I urge yon to learn everything yon can about food, so that in planning meals you will not only feed your eyes, your husband’s eyes and your chil dren’s eyes, but will take advan tage of the wonderful discoveries of nutritional science to make ev ery member of the family so effi cient that they will enjoy the best of health each day of their lives. Questions Answered Mrs. G. C. L.—Yes, indeed, nu tritionists do approve of a mid- afternoon snack for most school children. A glass of milk and a slice of buttered bread with jam or preserves; fruit juice and oat meal cookies; or a chocolate milk shake and graham crackers will provide fresh energy for late aft ernoon play. Without the be tween- meal lunch, some children become so fatigued that nerve strain re sults. Take care, however, that the snack does not destroy the appetite for the evening meal. U—WNU—C. Houston Goudiss—IMS—3S. AROUND ri.. HOUSE Items of Interest to the Housewife When Cooking Greens. — If a piece of fat about the size of a nutmeg is added to the water in which any kind of greens are be ing cooked there will be no boiling over and no stirring will be re quired. • • • To Press Ribbons. — Dampen ribbons and iron them between tis sue paper. • • • Bright Clothes for Children.— You may not like vividly colored clothes, but they are thq safest thing to wear in traffic. It is ad visable to dress children in such costumes to help protect them from accidents. * • • Save Salty Water.—When water in which salt has been boiling is poured over coal, it makes good coal last longer and improves bad coai. • • • Keeping Paint.—If a can of paint has to~be left open, stir it thoroughly, so as to dissolve all the oil, then fill up with water. When it becomes necessary to use the paint pour off the water and you will find it as fresh as when first opened. We Hope They Got Home Before Moon Came Up! A young farmer had bought a horse which was a wonderful jumper, and was riding him home. They came to a gate 10 feet high. The horse pricked up his ears, wagged his tail and gracefully jumped over. A little farther on they came to a gate 14 feet high, and again the horse pricked up his ears, wagged his tail and sailed over with equal ease. Farther on still they came to a railway bridge. Again the horse pricked up his ears, wagged his tail, but the squire shouted nervously, “Whoa, under this one, not over.” Salt Improves Coffee.—The fla vor of coffee is improved if a little salt is sprinkled on the bottom of the pot before the coffee is put in. • • • Well-F'tting Hose. — Children’s stockings ought to be selected carefully. Short ones cramp toes and will eventually make them crooked. Too long ones wrinkle and twist, irritating toes and heels. Also, children should be taught to wear a fresh pair of stockings each morning. Don’t al low your youngsters to wear ga loshes in the house or classroom. • • • Apples for the Winter.—To keep apples through the winter, bore holes in the bottom and sides of a barrel and store on a dry plat form a foot or more from the ground. Where only a few apples are available for storage, a good plan is to carefully wrap them singly in paper, then pack them in layers three or four deep in shal low boxes and place them in the coolest position in the house or outbuilding. Every Moment There is not a moment without some duty.—Cicero. Lni'ou BEAUTIFUL / y Natural ■ Looking FALSE TEETH SEND NO MONEY 7gf l rs&-4sst I r?. UNITED STATES PMt. 1QW1.1BU I ” T. Joknion. P Not Humanity Without a friend, what were hu manity?—Byron. . 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