Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / Dec. 15, 1916, edition 1 / Page 2
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8YNOP8IS. ' Pteter Knipht. defeated for political of fice In his tovn, decides to venture New York In order that the family fortunes might benefit by the expected rise of his charming daughter, Lorelei. A well known critic Interviews Lorelei Knight, now stage beauty with Bergman's Revue, for a special article. Her coin-hunting mother outlines Liorelei's ambitions, but Slosson, the press agent, later adds hla Information. Lorelei attends Millionaire Hammon's gorgeous entertainment. She meets Merkle, a wealthy dyspoptlc. Bob Wharton comes uninvited. Lorelei dis covers a blackmail plot against Hammon. In which her brother is involved. Merkle and Lorelei have an auto wreck. The blackmailers besmirch her good name, Lorelei learns her mother is an unscru pulous plotter. She finds In Adoree Pem orest a real friend, and finds Bob Whar ton is likable. Lorelei leaves her family and goes to live alone. Lorelei and drun ken Bob Wharton are tricked into mar riage. Wondering how she can pos sibly escape the drunken ca resses of her new husband the first night of their marriage, 8 Lorelei finds the problem sud denly solved for her but In a ghastly manner. The demons of blackmail and Intrigue which have followed her give way to devils of bloodshed and murder. How she acts in a tragic crisis is told in Rex Beach's best style in this installment. Bob Wharton and his bride and Lilas and Jimmy Knight are in Lllas' apartment celebrating the wedding when Hammon enters. He and Lilas are quarreling. CHAPTER XIV Continued. During this angry scene Lilas had not risen nor spoken. Her eyes were very black and very brilliant against her pallor, and she was smiling de risively. "Wait!" she Interposed. "I'm not going to stay here with this old fool." Hammon grew purple; he ground his teeth. "You shall stay. We're going to have a talk and settle things once for all." Lilas rose swiftly with a complete change of manner; she was smiling no longer; her face was sinister. "Very well," she agreed. "Tonight. Why not? But I want Lorelei to stay and hear. Yes." "No, I don't want her." "I do." Lilas' bad temper flared up promptly from the hot coals of spite ful, drunken stubbornness. "She'll stay till you go, or else I'll put you out too. I don't trust you." She laughed disagreeably, i "Then have your way. It's you I jwant to talk with, anyhow, drunk as you are. Now, Bob will you say goodnight?" He waved the two men from the room, and the outer door closed behind them. Lorelei had little desire to remain as the witness to a distressing scene, but she seized upon the delay, for even a sordid lovers' quarrel was pref erable to the caresses of a sodden bridegroom. But daylight seemed a long way off she feared Bob would not fall asleep during this brief res pite. "Now come with me, If you please." Hammon turned in the direction of the library, and Lilas followed, pausing to light a cigarette with a studied in difference that added fuel to his rage. Lorelei seated herself at the disordered dining table and stared miserably at the wall. "Well?" said Hammon, wh4n he and Lilas were alone. "Is this how you live up to your promises?" "now did you know I went out to night?" she inquired in her turn. "I had you watched. After wht happened last night I was suspii'.u(. JUth SL - "Are You Just Drunk?" He Said. I've been waiting for hours while you were out with that grafter, drinking, carousing " He bent toward her, white with fury, but she blew the smoke from her cigarette into his face, and he checked himself, staring at her strangely. She had seated herself upon the edge of the reading table, one foot swinging Idly. She watched him with a brooding, in solent amusement." "Are you just drunk," he paid, un certainly, "or have you completely lost your senses?" "Yes, I'm drunk. What are you go ing to do about it?" "I whv you mustn't talk itWe that; Z aW. mm mom A WVEL OF MEW YORKT um 4f KEX BEACrt t T clLLU5TRAriOiHa 6rY. PARKER. you're not yourself, Lllas." He ran his eyes over the luxurious little room; he wiped his face with a shaky hand, feeling that it was he who had lost his . senses. "The wine is talking. When I asked you to marry me I never dreamed " She eyed him silently with an ex pression he could not fathom, then asked, "Tell me, do you really care for me?" Jarvis nammon was a virile, head strong man; his world had come sud denly, inexplicably to an end. His voice was hoarse, as he answered: "Do you think I'd have made a fool of myself if I hadn't? Do you think I'd have ruined myself?" "Have you ruined yourself?" she Interrupted, quickly. "Not quite, perhaps; but what I've lost, what I've sacrificed, would have ruined most men. My home is gone, and my family as you know yes, and a good many other things you don't know about. Financially I'm not done for " "That's too bad." "Eh? I don't understand. What are you getting at?" "I'll tell you. I never intended to marry you, Jarvis." He started as If she had struck him. "That's what I said," she reaffirmed, "and I'll tell you why. Look at me close." He did as she directed, but saw nothing, his mind being in chaos. It had been her intention to call Lorelei to witness this dramatic disclosure and thus enhance its effect, but in the excitement of the moment she forgot. "Look at me," she repeated. "I'm Lily Levinski." "Levinski. A Jew?" he exclaimed, in naive surprise. "Yes. I'm Joe Levlnskl's girl. Do you remember?" "A Jew!" It was plain that the name meant nothing. She slid down from her perch and approached him, crying roughly, "Don't you remember Joe Levinski?" Hammon shook his head. "He worked for you In the Bessemer plant of the old Kingman mill. Don't you remem ber?" "There were four thousand men " "He was killed when the converter dumped. You were rushing the work. Do you remember now?" Her words came swift and shrill. Hammon started; a frown drew his brows together. His mind groped back through the years, and memory faintly stirred, but she gave him no leisure to speak. "I was waiting outside with his din ner bucket, along with the other wom en. I saw him go. I saw you kill him" "Lilas! Good God, are you crazy?" he burst forth. "It was murder." "Murder?" "It was. You did it. You killed hi!ii." She had dropped her cigarette, and it burned a black scar into the rug at their feet. Hammon retreated a step, the girl followed with blazing eyes and words that were hot with hate. "You spilled that melted steel on him, and I saw it all. When I grew up I praj'ed for a chan-e to get even, for his sake and for the sake of the other hunkies you killed. You killed my mother, too, Jarvis nammon, and ,tyade me a a " "Be quiet!" he commanded, roughly. Sf'The thing's incredible absurd. You the daughter of one of my workmen and a Jew!" "Yes. Levinski Lily Levinski. And you wanted to marry me," she gibed. "But I fooled you." "I guess I must be out of my head. I never knew the man there were thousands of them; accidents were common. But you say " He gathered his whirling thoughts, and, strangely enough, grew calm. "You say you prayed fof a chance to get even So, then, you've been humbug ging By God, I don't believe It!" "It's true. It's true. It's true," shrilled the girl so hysterically that her voice roused Lorelei, Hitting vacant eyed in the room dowA the hall, and brought her to her feet with ears sud denly strained. Lorelei could hear only a part of the words that followed, but the tones of the two voices drew her from her retreat aud toward the front of the apartment. "I knew you," Lilas was saying. "I figured it all out, and you were easy. You were a bigger fool than I dreamed." "You took my money you let me support you!" cried Hammon, in bitter accusation. "Oh, I did more than that, I planned everything that has happened to you, even that blackmail." "Blackmail!" he shouted. Did you was that your ?" He grew suddenly apoplectic; his eyes distended and red dened with rage. I lis dismay delighted her. "Certainly," she smiled. "Half the money 1 in my bank at this minute besides all the rest you've given me. Oh, I've got enough to live on with out marrying you. Who do you think put your wife wise and gave her the evidence for her divorce, eh? Think it over. Do you remember these let ters? You were very indiscreet n CTICWD Your wife will read them and your daughters " Jarvis Hammon roused himself at last. Surprise, incredulity, dismay gave place to fury, and, as in all primi tive natures, his wrath took shape as an impulse to destroy. "You'll do that eh?" Ills tone, his bearing were threatening, ne ad vanced as if to seize her in his great hands, and only her quickness saved her. "Don't touch me!" ner voice ended In a little shriek as she evaded a sec ond effort to grasp her, and placed the table between them. "What do you mean?" But It seemed that she had done her work too well, for his answer was like Its Report Echoed Loudly. the growl of a hungry beast. Ills eyes roved over the table for a weapon, and, reading his insane purpose, she cried again: "Don't do that. I warn you " The nearest object chanced to be a crystal globe in which was set a tiny French clock one of those library or naments serving as timepiece and pa perweight over this his hand closed; he moved toward her. 'Tut that down," she cried. He did not pause. 'Tut It " She wrenched at the tablt? draww and fumbled for something. Ilamm&n uttered a bellow and leaped at her. It was a tiny revolver, small enough to fit into a man's vest pocket or a woman's purse, but its report echoed loudly. The noise came like a cannon shot to the girl in the hall outside, and brought a cry to her lips. Lorelei flung herself against the library door. What she saw reassured her momen tarily, for, although Lilas was at bay against a bookcase, Hammon was rooted in his tracks. A strange, almost ludicrous expression . of surprise was on his face; he was staring down at his breast; the revolver lay on the floor between him and Lilas. Lorelei gasped an incoherent ques tion, but neither of the two who faced each other appeared to hear It or to notice her presence in the room. "I told you to keep off," Lllas chat tered. Her eyes were fixed upon Ham mon, but her outflung arms - were pressed against the support at her back as if she felt herself growing weak. "You did it yourself. I warned you." The man merely remained motion less, staring. But there was something shocking in the paralysis that held him and fixed his face in that distorted mold of speechless amazement. Finally he stirred; one hand crept inside his waistcoat, then came away red; he turned, walked to a chair, and half fell upon it. Then he saw Lorelei's face, and her agonized question took shape out of the whirling chaos of his mind. "Where's Bob?" he said, faintly. "Call him, please." "You're hurt. I'll telephone for a doctor; there's one In the house, and and the police, too." Lorelei voiced her first Impulse, then shrilly appealed to Lilas to do something. But Lilas re mained petrified in her attitude of re treat; from the pallor that was whiten ing her cheeks now it might have been she who was In danger of death. "Don't telephone," said Hammon, huskily. "You must do just as I say, understand? This mustn't get out, do you hear? I'm not hurt. I'm all right, but fetch Bob. Don't let him call a doctor, either, until I get home. Now hurry please." Lorelei rushed to the outside door, restraining with difficulty a wild im pulse to run screaming through the hall. With skirts gathered high and breath sobbing in her throat, the girl lied up the stair to her own door, where she clung, ringing the bell frantically. She could hear TJob's her husbiifld'a voice inside, raised In the best of hu mor. Evidently he was telephoning. "Yes. Two hours ago, I tell you. With book, bell and candle." Jim's footsteps sounded, his hand or ened the door, then his arm flew out to his sister's support as she staggered In. "Sis! What" he cried at sight of her. "Something dreadful." Bob continued his cheerful colloquy over the wire. "Say! Here she is now. We'll expect a marble clock with gilt cupids from you, Merkle Want to say hello?" He lurched aside from the telephone as Lorelei snatched the re ceiver from his hand. "Mr. Merkle," she cried. "Hello! Yes. Is that you?" came Merkle's steady voice. "Come quick quick." "What's wrong?" he demanded, with a sharp change of tone. "Has Bob ?" "No, no. It's Mr. Hammon. He's downstairs with Lilas, and he's hurt shot. I I'm frightened." She turned to find Bob and Jim star ing at her. "Come," she gasped. "I think he's dying." She led the way swiftly, and they followed. CHAPTER XV. Merkle found his chauffeur Just clos ing the garage door, and three minutes later his car was sweeping westward through the park like the shadow of some flying bird. The vagueness, the brevity of the message that had come to him out of the night made it terribly alarming. Jarvis Hammon's financial interests were in no condition to with stand a shock; for a long time many of them had been under fire. He had committed his associates to a program of commercial expansion, never too se cure even under favorable conditions, and one, moreover, which had pro voked a tremendous assault from rival steel manufacturers. Now, with Ham mon himself stricken at the crisis of the struggle, there was no telling what results might follow. But Merkle's apprehensions were by no means purely selfish. Hammon and he had been friends for many years; they shared a mutual respect and af fection, and, although Merkle was emi nently practical and unemotional, he prayed now as best he could that Hammon might not be grievously in jured. As the machine drew up to the Ele gancia, Jimmy Knight leaped to the running board and said hurriedly: "Send your driver away." Merkle did as he was directed, realiz ing his worst fears. When he and Jim stood alone on the walk he Inquired weakly, "Is he dead?" Jim shook his head, and Merkle saw that he was deeply agitated. "No. But he's got a bullet in his chest." Together the men entered the build ing and at the first ring were admitted to Apartment No. 1 by Lorelei herself. She led them straight into the library. Perhaps a quarter of an hour had elapsed since the shooting, but Jarvis Hammon still sat in the big chair. He was breathing quietly. Bob Wharton stood beside him. "John!" The Ironmaster smiled pal lidly as his friend came and knelt be side him. "You got here quickly." "Are you badly hurt, Jarvis?" "The thing is in here somewhere." Hammon took his hand away from his breast, and Merkle saw that the fingers were bloody. "Can you get me out of here quietly?" John Merkle rose to his full height, his lips writhed back from his teeth. Harshly he inquired: "Where is that woman?" "She's back yonder in her room," Bob told him. "She's ill." Merkle turned, but, reading his In tent, Hammon checked him, crying in a strong voice: "None of that, John. I did it myself. It was an accident." "I don't believe it." Hammon's eyes met those of his ac cuser; the two stared at each other steadily for a moment. The other occupants of the room had listened breathlessly; now Lorelei stirred and Merkle read more than mere bewilderment in her face. He opened his lips, hut the wounded man did not wait for him to speak. "You must believe me!" he said, ear nestly. "It's the truth, and I won't have Lllas Involved we've been a great deal to each other. Tonight I accused her wrongfully. It was all my ault I'm to blame for everything." There was a pause. "Now get me out of here as quietly and quickly as you can. I'm really not hurt much. Come, come! There's nobody home except Orson and some of the kitchen help, and Orson is all right the women are gone, you know. He'll get a doctor. It's a bad business, of course, but I've thought it all out, aud you must do ex actly as I say." The effort of this long speech told on the sufferer. Sweat beaded his face; nevertheless, his jaws remained firmly set; his glance was purposeful, his big hands were gripped tightly over the arms of the chair. ' There whs something su LOCK Author of "The Iron Trail" " The Spoilers" " The Silver Horde" Etc. Cttyright, Bj Hrf4T V Brnhrl perb, something terrible about his un changing grimne88. "Is your car outside, John?" he asked. Merkle shook his head, ne was thinking swiftly. "I wouldn't dare risk that, anyhow. The driver is a new man." . "Get a cab," Jim offered, In a panic. "The cab driver would be sure to " "I'll drive," Bob volunteered. "I'm drunk, but I've done it before when I was drunker. It's an old trick of mine sort of a Joke, see? Give me some money a cabby'll do anything for money at this time o' night." Merkle eyed the speaker In momen tary doubt, then handed him a roll of bank-notes. "It's a serious business, Bob, but Jarvis can't stay here. There's somebody else to consider besides us and Miss Lynn. I'm thinking about Mrs. Hammon and the girls." ne fol lowed Bob to the door and let him out, stepped swiftly down the hall, then, without knocking, opened the door to Lilas Lynn's bedroom and entered. Lllas was busied at her dressing. At his entrance she uttered a frightened cry rfnd a silver spoon slipped from her nerveless fingers. Merkle saw a little open box, a glass of water, the cap of a pearl-and-gold fountain pen, but took scant notice of them, being too deeply stirred and too much surprised at her appearance. She was no longer the vi tal, dashing girl he had known, but a pallid, cringing wreck of a woman. She shrank back at sight of him, bab bling unintelligible words and cower ing as if expecting a blow. "Did you shoot him?" he asked, grimly. Shivering, choking, speechless, Lilas stared at him. A repetition of his ques tion brought no reply. Seizing her roughly, he shook her, muttering savagely: "If I were sure, by God, I'd strangle you!" She remained limp; her expression less stare did not change. Merkle heard a stir behind him and found Jimmy Knight's blanched face peering in at him. Even fright could not entirely rob the younger man's fea tures of their sly lnquisitiveness. "Mr. Hammon's calling you," said Jim, then blinked at the wretchedly disheveled woman. "Here!" Merkle beckoned him with a jerk of his head. This girl must get away from here. She'll ruin everything in her condition. Try to put her In some kind of shape while Lorelei packs her bag. We had better get her out of the country if we can." Jim's quick eyes took in the articles on the dressing table. "Ha! Dope," he exclaimed. "She's a coker she's filled herself up. But, say you don't really think she did It, do you?" "I don't know what to think. It's just as bad, either way. Hammon's wife and daughters must never know. Now, quick. See what you can do with her." Merkle returned to the library, sent Lorelei in to her brother's assistance, then scanned his friend's face anx iously. But Hammon had not moved; the sweat still stood upon his lips and forehead, his jaws were still set like stone. Several months before, Bob Whar ton, during one of his hilarious mo ments, had conceived the brilliant no tion of hiring a four-wheeler, and driv ing a convivial party of friends from place to place. The success of his ex ploit had been so gratifying that he had repeated the performance, but he was in a far different mood now as he left the Elegancla. The shock of Lorelei's announcement, the sight of his stricken friend, had sobered him considerably, yet he was not himself by any means. At one moment he saw and reasoned clearly, at the next his Intoxication benumbed his senses and distorted his mental vision. For once in his life he wished himself sober. Broadway, that pulsating artery of New York life," was still flowing a thin stream of traffic despite the lateness of the hour, and Bob's mind had be come clearer by the time he reached it. Several taxicabs whirled past, both north and south bound, but he knew better than to hire them, so he waited as patiently as he could while those billows of intoxication continued to ebb and flow through his brain, robbing him of that careful judgment which he fought to retain. At last the clop-clop-clop of a horse's hoofs sounded close by, and an un shaven man In an ancient high hat steered a four-wheeler to the curb, barking, "Keb, keb!" Bob lurched forward and laid a hand upon the driver's knee. "Very man I'm lookin' for." The hiccup that fol lowed was by no means intentional. "Yes, sir. Where to, sir?" But Bob shook his head vigorously and waved a comprehensive gesture toward the west. "Got a party of my own back yonder everybody soused but me understand? I'm the only sober one, so I'm goin to drive 'em home, see? How much?" "How much for what?" demanded the cabman. "For the cab one hour. I'll bring it back." ,Nuning except Bob't personaj pea ranee prevented the driver from, whipping up without more ado. The night was old and these Jokers some times pay well, the man reflected. "Ilow'd I know you'd bring It back?" he inquired. "Matter of honor with me. Til be back in no time. Will ten dollars be right? I'll make It fifteen, and you can lend me your coat and hat. We'll exchange have to, or no joke. Is It a go?" The offer was tempting, but the driver cannlly demanded Wharton's name and address 'before committing himself. The card that Bob handed him pat an end to the parley; be wheeled into the side street and re moved his long, nickel-buttoned coat and his battered tile, taking Bob' broadcloth and well-blocked hat In re turn. "First one o' these I ever had on,"' he chuckled. "If you ain't back I'll take these glad rags to Charley Voice's hotel, eh?" "Bight! The Charlevoix. But I'll bw back." Bob drove away with a parting flourish of his whip. The elevator was In Its place, the-hall-man dozing, when Wharton en tered the Elegancla and rang the bell of Lllas Lynn's apartment. Once he had gained admittance little time was: wasted. He and Merkle helped Ham mon to his feet, then each took an arm ; but the exertion told, and Jarvis hung between them like a drunken man, a gray look of death upon his face. "Watch out for the door-man," Jim my Knight cautioned for the twentieth time.- "Make him think you've got a. souse." "Aren't you coming along?" asked: Bob. But Jim recoiled. "Me? No. I'll stay and help Lllas make her get away." Merkle nodded agreement. "Don't let her get out of your sight, either, un derstand? There's a ship sailing in. the morning. See that she's aboard." Jarvis Hammon spoke. "I want you all to know that I'm entirely to blame and that I did this myself. Lilas is a good girl." The words came labori ously, but his heavy brows were drawn down, his jaw was square. "I was clumsy. I might have killed her. But she's all right, and I'll be all right, too, when I get a doctor. Now put that, pistol in my pocket, John. Do as I say. There! Now I'm ready." Bob Wharton mounted the box and drove to Central Park West. At Sixty- -seventh street he wheeled into the sunken causeway that links the East and West sides. Once in the shadows, Merkle leaned from the door, crying softly, "Faster! Faster!" Bob whipped up, the horse cantered, the cab reeled and bounced over the cobblestones, rocking the wounded man pitifully. To John Merkle the ride was terrible, with a drunkard at the reins and in his arms a perhaps fatally injured man, who, despite the tortures of that bumping carriage, interspersed his groans with cries of "Hurry, hurry!" When he felt the grateful "smoothness of Fifth avenue beneath the wheels he "Did You Shoot Him?" Grimly. He Asked leaned forth a second time and warned Bob. "Be careful of the watchman in the block." The liquor in Bob was dying; he l-ent downward to Inquire, "Is he all rlgfct?" Merkle nodded, then withdrew his head. The Hammon residence has changed owners of late, but many people recall Its tragic associations and continue to ?.int it out with interest. It is a mas ale pile of gray stone, standing Just ea?t of Fifth avenue, and Its bronze' doirs open upon an exclusive, well-j ke side street. At the farther corner, y discernible beneath the radiance, of street light, Bob made out the wat'hman, now at the end of his pa trol. The moment was propitious; there could be no further delay. : Do you believe Lllas is really guilty was she justified? And do you think that Jimmy Knight will use this occasion to collect blackmail money? (TO BE CONTItf UJaU
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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Dec. 15, 1916, edition 1
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