CHAPTER V
Mr Warner upon meeting’ the
p> sliuau others to deliver two let*
lei io Mrs. Alaturin, owner of lha
t‘"le Star House. One of lhe.se let
ters is from the British govern
ment ordering her to hold herself
leads to tube rare of evacuees, un
less she prefers to take cure of
dependent relatives. Mrs. Muturin
is mueh upset over these orders,
hut dutifully mails an advertise
ment to the London Times offer
ing accommodations for four peo
ple “in a hotel forefront military
objectives.’’ John Wynter reads
the ad and decides to go to Pole
Star House. John Wynter on his
way to Battle Point meets Odette
Hannan anil happilv discovers she
lives there.
^ es. Odette was breathint
rather quickly. "I have a shop ]
was bombed out of London am
kPt up here, in Devonshire ^
nice, safe place." she smiled. '
Thut'6*’ i * should imagine
time " Why ' Ve c,,n,e ''ere for t
"Dear me," she said, “it is ode
A^e von6 KOi"y to t!attle Puini
V am°” y°Ur way tlu‘,e now?’
fn>m London?”
Straight from London.”
city lo°oWk?” S that hlesse<l °h
umne. Battered hut clothe
rhif ?ub,ime dignity. After all
where eTse^'l ZZZZ (7 any’
chuli ' 1 ,ari t he able to- I
h.r".S.'"t0 ,MI »»"»«, of
her m1whar!1 L 1 even hate having
how 7 Sfe'>1s,^wardly some,
now But I needed a rest and mv
rfthWanted "1e t0 *0' Thev'ai’e
er GM erf7niy T,hpr «nd fath
there a Off r '* En*lish chMain
Uieie and of course now thev can
thatgthev 0nie' A)S°' 1 ‘ion't 'know
ermvn|Want to; 1 have a broth
'"dVh° Iy onp- « prisoner of war
Oh dear. I am sorry.” Then
iTuiVT" wro,,f! a bi°w',)p
reason f t °-Ce be&“n had a
reason to begin to distrust hir
first instinct about a case, he was
handicapped. "What about have
S* somf tea before we start hack''
He said. "That is to say if you
will allow me to take you back,
perhaps you have a car."
“No. I came by bus. I should
love some tea,” said Odette, press,
ifiy the catch of her powder case
Then she glanced up “Are you
one of those men who hate seeing
women powder their noses?”
"Not a- bit. 1 am excellent at
directing the operation. Now then
lead off and I'll tell you where you
have put on too much.”
“Is that right?” she twisted a
luughing face to meet his.
"There." Oh. he was crazy,
thought John Wyliter, feeling her
face between his hands. Utterly
and completely crazy; he knew it
as be pressed his mouth down on
"Good heavens!” Odette had
shaken liersell Hee. but there
had been quite titty seconds’ hesi
tation before doing so, decided
Junu Vv yliter.
"i know; out i couldn’t help it,
you looked so lovely."
"bo you generally . . .”
“No, 1 swear 1 don’t, it simply
was—what 1 say. You looked so
lovely.”
"Oh!” At any cost he must not
see how it had affected her, she
thought quietly. "Tea would be
heavenly,” she remarked calmly.
"Do you know a nice place to
have it?”
"Yes, a charming one. And in
spite of the war they’ll give us a
beautiful toasted tea cake.”
“Magnificent.”
“Where did you leave your
"Lower down the lane.”
"How did you know that ther
was a lane? They started to wal
down the narrow rutted littl
track close together.
”1 dudn’t. 1 chanced it. It’s s
well concealed.”
"How could anybody . . .?”
“How could anybody what?"
“Betray his country.”
"Betray his country.”
‘‘1 can t imagine, said John
Wynter simply. And suddenly his
heart was like lead in his breast.
A bad move that; as the secret
drinker talks frankly and freely
of how he would love to be one if
he dared. The same old name—
she must be very new to it. No,no
he was mistaken, he thought
fiercely. No one with a brother a
prisoner or war could lake upjWith
espionage. Unless . . an ugly
case suddenly leaped into his mind
A man that they could not catch
—nearly all his victims were wo
Watching John Wynter as he
strolled around the bonnet of the
car, Odette wondered exactly
what it was that she felt. A de
licious sense of adventure; a light
that never was on land or sea, as
some poet had said.
“That’s it,” Slamming the door
John fitted in the key. “Which
way when 1 get to the bottom of
the lane?"
“To the left.”
“Is it far?”
“Is it far?”
“No, only about three minutes,
less in a car.”
“Good. I could eat a whole loaf
with the greatest ease, spread
thick with Devonshire cream and
strawberry ^am.”
“There it is," said Odette, as
-he pointed out the low white
washed cottage.
"I see—" alter a time she will
t II me. John,, slowing down, was
leering into the cutb. "1 shall get
ier out of it somehow. God will
help me." What on earth was the
matter with him, he thought ai
rily as the long car slid to a
standstill. "What is your name?”
he said aloud.
“Odette."
“Fanciful. Like its owner. We'll
walk in together, making a line
effect between us. Surely this
place doesn’t often see two such
good looking people hand in hand
“Do you think you’re good look
ing?” Odette was sliding along
the seat.
“Yes, don’t you?”
“No." Odette burst out laugh
ing. They stood on the path and
laughed like children. “Oh dear, I
am disappointed," said John.
“Then 1 think you are."
“1 knew you’d have to admit it
eventually," said John, and with a
little quick gesture he imprisoned
her hand and tucked it under his
They went into the shop like
that. A charming old timbered
room with a blazing log lire in the
grate. Hardly anybody there.
"Shall we sit by the lire?” said
Odette. She speaks trustfully like
a child.
Odette came to the conclusion it
had been like a scene from a play.
A thing- that you could watch from
the body of someone who wasn't
you at all. A someone who could
I be lighthearted, gay, trusting,
I Because the world was line and
brave and there was nothing in it
that was vile and filthy to keep
you chained down. Chained to a
corpse, thought Odette a few
hours later, shivering in her small
bed and craving to sleep, although
she knew she could not. Because
the letter had been there when
she got home; it had come by the
afternoon post. Her code. Oh God
where had she put it? Of course
—after all that frenzied search it
had been where it ought to be.
Yes, but you had to be so careful
—-so careful. Never mind, he was
near. Bole Star House, and Joan
Mafurin had always been awl'ullj
nice to her. Briefly comforted,
Odette turned on her side, bury
ing her face lower into her pillow
Something w'ould happen to make
everything all right. To the sound
of the distant sea smashing oil
the rocks, Odette dropped silently
1 to sleep.
While John Wynter, delight
fully and agreeably surprised by
the charm of his hostess and the
comfort of everything, especially
his bed, was already sunk in sleep
Although the most fantastic of
dreams chased him as he lay there
Mrs. Manvers-Pollock was de
lighted with the appearance of the
new visitor. So distinguished look
ing. "So you have come to join
us in our seaside eyrie.” She spoke
almost coquettishly as John VVyli
ter sat down at the breakfast ta
ble next to hers.
“Yes.” John Wynter smiled
very charmingly, but all the same,
he reflected, the lady must not be
encouraged to talk.
“Have you come far?” Mrs.
Manvers-Pollock was unfolding
her napkin.
from London.
“Our other guest is a- French
man.” she said confidentially. “A
Monsieur Victor, Flee French, of
“Really." But here was Mon
sieur himself, correct to the last
detail.
“Bonjour, Madame." Just in
side the door. Monsieur made his
delightful little bow.
"Bonjour, Monsieur.”
“Well, this is amav.ing.” John
Wynter had got up in his chair.
"An unexpected pleasure,” said
Monsieur warmly.
“And also to me,” said John
Wynter feeling, oddly enough, he
was telling the truth. For there
was something about the little
Frenchman that he liked.
Later, he thought about Mon
sieur, leading his own sad little
life with all that he possessed
filched from him. Well—walking
to the window John Wynter stood
staring out. A gorgeous view,
good enough for a stage setting.
Yes, that was it—he had got it
now, that was the feeling that
obsessed him A feeling as if he I
were one of a large gudience in
waiting for the curtain to go up.
As if things hadn’t begun yet. as if
it were just that breathless mo
ment before things did begin.
Soon everything would be jerked
into activity by that sharp, incisive
rap of a conductor’s baton. Then
things would begin to happen.
With a pistol shot the audience
would be galvanized into activity.
A pistol shot—John Wynter turn
ed and went over to his dressing
table, from an empty locked draw
er he took the vicious little weap
on that he always carried with
him. Satisfying himself that the
release was locked but that it was
loaded, he slipped it into his hip
packet and pulled the zip across it
And now then, what should he do
next? Have a pipe and read the
paper if it had come and then to
write a letter or two? By the way
had the post come? Leaving his
bedroom, he walked along the cor
ridor and down the stairs.
“Two letters for you, Mr. Wyn
ter,” Smilingly, Joan looked up
from her dusting. The new arrival
was the best of them all! Fright
fully good-looking in a sort of
hard-bitten way,
"Thanks very much.”
He disappeared into the library
as someone called her from above
"Airs. Mat ii lin."
“Yes.” .loan stood still.
"May I speak to you for a
moment?”
"Oh. certainly, Mrs. Manvers
Pollock.” Joan pot down her dus
ter and ran upstairs
"The night before last," be
gan Mr*. Manvels Pollock, "there
was signalling going on just below
• his house.”
"But wTiat would they signal
for?"
“That I cannot tell you.” Mrs.
Manvers-Pollock's voice was mag
“I don’t believe it.”
"But I saw it.”
"I expect you thought you did.
You know you mustn’t look out
after the blackout,” Joan said
gently.
"I mustn’t look out after the
blackout? But why not?”
"It isn’t safe. You see, we face
But you don’t suppose for one
moment that I looked out of my
uncurtained window with the light
on do you?” Mrs. Manvers-Pollock
had drawn nearer the window.“I
had better take my information
to another quarter,” she said
“No.” said Joan, turning from
the window and thinking what a
bother a woman in a house always
was. "1 do understand how you
feel about tbe signaling, but 1
honestly don't think that you need
worry We had all this talk before
about signaling. We found out
what it was. It's old Laurie, from
the place where he keeps his sheep
He goes along there with a hur
ricane lantern, and it swings anil
looks like a dot dash, dot dash.”
"I prefer to adhere to my orig
inal opinion," said Mrs. Manvers
Pollock briefly. "And I shall bring
the notice of it to some responsi
ble authority.’"
"Oil, please don’t do that,’’said
Joan anxiously. "Don’t you see
how it will upset everything and
everyone? This huii-e under suspi
cion and the people too. It will be
horrible for everybody. I know
bow it is with the people who be
gin to get the idea that everyone
is a spy and that all the extra
lights are signaling. My son. Shol
to. is training to be a lawyer, and
lie told me it’s quite well known.
Libel cases and all that because
people get excited and say things
that aren't true."
(TO B-K CONTINl.'KD)
i Enlist State’s
4-H’ers To Save
Soil On Farms
A new 4-11 contest, which will
enlist the membership of the lar
gest rural youth organization in
protecting American farm lands
from further disastrous losses of
fertile soil, has just been incorpo
rated in the club’s program. Nam
ed the "National 4-H Soil Conser
vation Contest," one of the chief
objectives is to prevent, soil was
tage and deterioration by practic
ing approved methods of protec
tion and conservation. Present
membership of the 80,000 4-H
Clubs throughout the nation now
totals roundly 1 3-4 million rural
hoys and girls.
Practically all states in the Un
ion have accepted the contest,
which has been approved by the
federal and state extension servi
ces. and soil, conservation service.
Field workers of these services
services will be available to help
4-Hers make the activity a potent
factor in saving soil and improv
ing forms.
An incentive to participants,
special awards for outstanding
4-H records of achievement in the
activity are provided by the Fire
stone Tire and Rubber Co. These
comprise gold plated medals for
county winners, $50 War Bonds
for the six highest ranking partic
ipants in their state, all-expense
trips to the National 4-H Congress
in Chicago next December for 10
sectional winners, and from the
latter, eight will be chosen to
receive $300 college scholarships.
Soil conservation authorities
state that 100 million acres of
American farm lands show some
signs of erosion, and an equal ac
reage lias been deiinitely mipov
erislied. it is estimated that an ad
ditional 50 million more are bor
dering on the same condtion
Vour first introduction
should tell you
WHY
BLACK
DRAUGHT
BEST SELLING LAXATIVE
all aver the South
fpll0» Lobtl DlfihsSii
COTTON-MADE PLASTICS
Cotton-mad© plastics are featured in the above exhibit dis
played by Governor Thomas L. Bailey of Mississippi in bis office it
Jackson. The articles were made of cottonseed hulls plastics manu
factured by the Tennessee Agricultural Chemical Engineering Ex
periment Station; and of protein extracted from cottonseed and
prepared into molding and adhesive powder by the Mississippi
Agricultural Experiment Station Chemistry Department.
BEHIND THE SCENES
0 IN AMERICAN BUSINESS ,
By JOHN CRADDOCK •
jrL
I
IS.
NEW YORK, May 15.—It will j
he easier for ministry throughout |
the country to carry out the home
front precaution assignments now
that the National Selective Ser
vice Board has given promise that
hundred of thousands of essential
workeis will be deferred until
pool of men under the age of 2<i
has been used up As things stand
now men of — t> and through 2d
veal's of age will also lie deferred
when they qualify as “necessary
to and regularly engaged in an ac
tivity in war production or in sup
port of the national health, salety
or interest.”
While nut promising an indefi
nite deferment of men over 20,
Major tieneral Lewis B. llershey,
director of Selective Service, has
indicated that the current pool of
men under that age will meet
draft quotas for approximately t> .
months.. The new draft rulings'
give industry the first real break
in the manpower situation since
1P42. when hundreds of thousands
of employees were lost to the
draft. Many important business
establishments may now proceed
with plans which heretofore were
not feasible because of constantly
changing war draft regulations.
SCRAP NOTE—The miracle of
America's aluminum industry,
which expanded production seven
fold to meet the requirements of
military airplanes, manufactured
more than 75 per cent ol alumin
um, is by this time know to every
one who can read. But no more
dramatic proof that our production
has outdistanced the enemy could
be offered than that provided by a
hatch hardle recovered from a
German mosserscmitt shot down
over Tunisia in the African cam
paign. It bore the marking, "B
2000) 16 ALCOA.” Records of Alu
minum Company of America
showed the part had been shipped
from its Cleveland foundry to the
Glen L. Martin not later than
February 5th 194,'?, enabling gov
ernment officials to establish be-1
yond doubt that it had been sal
vaged by the Germans from an
Allied plane shot down over ene
my territory and quickly put back
to work on a Nazi ship. Possible
speculations: (1) Goering likes
our aluminum better than his own
(2) Hitler is running low on alu
minum. Or, Cl) Jerry is “taking"
it, but apparently he can't make
it.
THINGS TO COME—New, cir
cular fluorescent globes tit inside
the shades of Hour and table
lamps will be put into production
by Wostinghouse Electric as soon
as war conditions permit Electric
motors small enough to tit into the
palm of the hand which develop 2
horsepower at 120,000 revolutions
per minute. Continued high in
comes from farms for at least a
year after the, tight in Europe end
because of the heavy food ship- |
ments which will be necessary to
feed civilian populations:
HUMAN HAIR GETS THE
AIR—Human hair, long used in J
connection with weather reports ,
and to reveal the secrets of the
stratosphere conditions, has now
been replaced with a more accu
rate “magic moisture meter" de
veloped by the engineers of the
Friez Instrument division of Ben
fix Aviation Corporation. Accord
ng to A C. DeAngelis, general
manager of the company, the new
clement. Known as an electric hy
drometer strip, replaces human
tair in the Ray Sonde, an instru
ment which is attached to a free
lalloon and radios weather infor
mation to an automatic recorder
in the ground, from heights to 10
miles up above the earth.
Human hair, the best previous
.■onductor, according to DeAngelis
s still relatively slow in reaction
o moisture changes The electric
lygTometer, on the other hand, is
immediately sensiitve to such vari
ations, and gives a much more ac
curate picture of weather condi
tions high in the sky when the Ray
Sonde passes rapidly thiougb dif
ferent strata of clouds.
Blondes, who were asked at the
beginning of the war to donate
their supersensitive hair for
weather study purposes, may now
relax in the knowledge that Kay
{•ionde is doing the same job for
them mechanically.
OLDSTERS KEEP WHEELS
ROLLING — Charles E. Wilson,
vice-chairman oi the War Produc
tion Board, has joined the Lite
Begins at Forty” club. Speaking at
a meeting of Selective Set vice di
rectors in Washington he stated
that the drafting- of young men
for military Service has not hurt
industry as seriously as feared it
would. While he admitted that
this was not “an unanimous opin
ion” he indicated that the oldsters
at home were more than holding
their own.
BITS OF BUSINESS—•Synthe
tic rubber, formerly considered,
formerly considered totally expen
dable, is no being reclaimed and|
reused The Fifth War Loan
drive, which begins June 12, will
supported by a 55-page campaign
book for the instruction of volun
tary workers. “Back the Attack”
will be the main theme of the
drive but “Buy More Than Be
fore will be an added tag_The
idea of travel rationing is practi
cally abandoned by the Office of
Defense Transportation because
of the number of workers which
would be required to enforce any
rulings which might be made_
Beginning this week southern cot
ton mills will work 48 instead of
40 hours to catch up with orders.
'Nuiut.STION
ScnutuMui Relief irta ladifMtiga
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““•* *• mki itSMsek fisldi UmlM Mi I
Place your order now
for 75% of your win
ter coal.
CHERRYVILLE ICE
& FUEL CO.
Phone 3231
“D-Day” Defined
WASHINGTON.— •‘D-Day" in'
American military terminology is
the day set for beginning the at
tack in any major operation that
is planned in advance—as for in
stance the European invasion.
It could just as well “X-Day,”
but the military some years ago
decided to use the term “D-Day”
simply because “D” is the initial
letter of the word “day.”
Similarly, the exact moment
for beginning the operations is "H
hour”—"H” being the first letter
of the word “hour”—instead of
the “zero hour" used in the last
Detailed operational schedules
are drawn up weeks or even
months in advance. In the inter
ests of secrecy, dates are not spe
cified in these written plans In
stead they specify that such and
such preparations are to be made
on “I> minus in,” for example,
meaning 1(1 days before “D-Day"
Until time for the schedule act
ually to be put into operation, on
ly a very few officers need to 1
know what the dute of “D-Day”
will be.
WILLIAM E. GFIFFIN
CHAIRMAN OF BREWING
RALEIGH, May 15.—William
E. Griffin. Durham business man,
is the newly elected Chairman
of the Brewing Industry Founda
tion's North Carolina Committee.
Chairman Griffin and the fol
lowing members of the Evecutive
Board were elected at the com
mittee’s annual meeting in Ral
('. I*. Niamey, of Gastonia, C.F.
Smithson, .Jr., of Fayetteville, X.
S. Forester of ftorth Wilkesboro,
D vv. Mc'Pherson of Littleton, and
H. G. Wright of Greensboro, rep
resenting the' distributors.
S. 1. Lewis of Raleigh, Walter
Bartlett of Norfolk. Douglas Gor
don and C. L. May of Newark, R.
K. Kennedy of Greensboro, and
W. J. Muster of Cincinnati, Ohio,
representing the brewers.
\Y. S. Bun trs of Raleigh is the
Treasurer of the Commission.
BUY BONDS
PRESCRIPTIONS
FILLED AT
Houser Drug Co.
WE DEL 2VER PHONE 4771
7
| Rom where I sit ...6y Joe Marsh^
rDoc finally agreed Jttf
on this point
We had a real old time church
aupper the other night. Bert
Childers played the fiddle, and
the ladies brought refresh
ments. Of course, we missed the
boys who were away—but all In
all It was mighty pleasant.
Only soar note was Doc Mo
Oinnis. “Bhncks," says Doc, “we
oughtn't to be enjoyin' ourselves
when American soldiers are
over there flghtin' a war."
Now from where I sit, Doc's
absolutely wrong. All of us are
working overtime to help the
War. We’ve got our worries and
troubles. It’s a mighty good
thing we can relax with a lilUa
wholesome enjoyment.
And I believe it's what the
men over there would have ua
do ... keep up the little friendly
customs they remember — like
the evening get-together*, hav
ing a glass of beer with friends,
and all the little pleasure* they
look forward to enjoying.
• 1*44, UCWtNO INDUSW FOUNDATION, North Carolina Coamittaa
Mf Ht 4ain, State Dirnctor, 406-607 IntvraMa tidy., talaigh, N. C
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