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gasM ary^mr ^Hasiinfpim Brdd1eip| WiMJUL stawll fi. /«t« SYNOPSIS H* Seton, young and beautiful an expert on paintings, la com >ned to vo over the collection paintings 1* the home of tbe ltby Kellers In New York, where party la In progress. From her eh* witnesses » man In an room strike a woman. Short after lira. Keller sends up word, her to loin the party at din Leila hastily dresses and goes u She Is seated between Mr. a critic, and Monty Mitchell, j noted lawyer. Introductions fol Th'ere are Mr. Harridan, Miss Van Aletyn, Mrs. Crane, Mrs. fatklns and Prince and Princess iclnl, guests. Leila finds she Is ting the place of Nora Harridan. Harridan leaves the table, and shell explains he has gone up to how his wife's headache la He iturns shortly. Deck, saying he tnust put In a call, leave* Upon his (turn, he begs Leila to secretly take message to Nora to "take no steps ■until I see you." Leila consent!, finds the Harrlden rooms empty so informs Deck. Coming out she Letty. Harrlden asks Princess slni to run up and see his wife, to princess reports the absence of >ra. Search Is fruitless. Harrlden ilts that he had a row, and be sve* she is spitefully hiding. An >n, a maid, reports seeing Deck near rora’s room. Letty tells of' seeing ilia come from the room. Leila ac cuses Harrlden of having struck his wife. This Harrlden denies. CHAPTER II—Continued : ! «T 'I don’t think that’s possible. Look and see for yourself,” said her sis 1 ter; and they came to the window. ■I hastened to help undo the bolts, } ’and opened the wide casement We all looked out in turn, the crisp air Striking sharply on our bare should * ers and arms. I liked the shiver of i It; It seemed to speak clarity and reality, after all this pother of do mestic brawls and a vanished wo man. One by one we three craned our heads over the edge, examining the scanty stone sill. Hi “That’s too fantastic,” said Mrs. Keller again. She added dryly:. “You’ll find Nora Is safe In New .York, enjoying the powwow. . I y shall never forgive her—treating me like this.” I, Down below us, we could hear the voices of some of the men returning. :: I took one more look out, down at ; that group of men; and so It was I I who saw first what there was to see I —down In the checker of shade In the shrubbery directly beneath the - window. Something half hidden—a faint lightish blur. I said excitedly: “Mrs. Keller— . isn’t there something therel” And I drew back for her to look. 8he Called sharply down to the inen: “Look there—in the shrubbery —under the window. There is some a thing—” * It was invisible .from where they s were, for tbe shrubbery was thick f and high, and the front part nn : broken. Nearer the house the ■ branches had bent in under the bun that they found there, the still light body of a woman In gold pa jamas: the lifeless form of Nora Harrlden. CHAPTER III F A w COULDN'T be real, I felt It was like some scene In a dreadful play. Tbese couldn't be real people; this wasn’t a real death.... It didn’t g,seem possible that Nora Harrlden r could be dead; my Impression of her vitality, of her exultant allveness, was so Intense that I could not bring myself to believe In her death. Not till I had looked on her face, jp I saw the thin, sharp curve of the reddened lips, like little knife blades, and thought—In spite of my pity for the dead—that It was a hard, cruel, triumphing little mouth, . piade for exultancy. |p: They were kneeling all about her, feeling her pulse, her body. She lay In those Incongruous gold ^pajamas, one slim silken foot bare of Its shining slipper, on a sofa In the hall, until the doctor came. ; No bones were broken, he'report v ed; the bushes had eased her fall. But over her ear was a ghastly wound with the blood dried about It "Struck on something hard,” he paid saplently. “Penetrated—death dHirast have been almost Immediate." Bis voice, as he phrased that slid Into a consolatory calence. He was looking up at the husband, who stood motionless beside him, his head slightly bent I could not see his face; his hands were clenched at the sides. I felt suddenly a queer pity for those hands—I wondered If i of thorn bad Indeed struck out that adored woman who had In ited him- so much. .. . And then I thought again that It have been Alan Deck. Surely the husband would rather have the of tbat blow upon himself than map ms loung mlght that grim, unshaken tones: “She proba bly wanted more air—tried to open the window wider, and was dl**y— ■he'd taken headache stuff—and fell." “Oh, an accident; undoubtedly,* said Keller. 1 heard the doctor assenting. I had a feeling that he would assent politely to anything these plutocratic clients dictated. “She was there on the bed when you came up, wasn’t she, Dan?” Mrs. Keller asked. Harrlden hesitated. 1 couldn't be sure. The room was dark, and 1 assumed she was still on the bed sleeping, so didn’t speak.” He add ed, with posittreness now: “She was there when I went down. When I came In to see her after I had dressed—that was at eight, or a lit tle after—she said her head ached, and she wanted nothing sent up. I rang for the maid and told her not to come In to do anything In the room—that Mrs. Harrlden wanted complete rest I don't remember whether Mrs. Harrlden said any thing further to you or not Anson. Did she?” “Why no, sir,” said Anson. “But you saw her there on the bed." "Why, yes, sir,” said Anson a little surprised!;. “I could see through the door. Ton sort of whispered to ife. You said she was asleep.” “Did X?” said Harrlden wearily. “I forget—I think she’d turned over and wanted to sleep. And I don’t remember whether the window was open or not” "Anson,” said Mrs. Keller, "was the window open when you came up?” “Why, yes, ma’am, It was,” said Anson promptly. “I remember the room felt chilly, so I closed and locked it” There was more talk, I remember; and then Mora Harrlden was carried upstairs. Her husband carried her, her bare arms drooping over his big shoulders, her blood-stained head child’s asleep on him, and took'Her to the bed I had seen wait* Then Mrs. Keller, practical In all stress, said abruptly, “Look here, Dan—I want you to take charge of her things.” She went to the closet If her pearls are In there, I don’t want the responsibility. Take them in your room,” she said, and stepped quickly Inside. The next Instant she gave a queer, muffled cry and came stumbling out And then, In a thin voice of hor ror: "It’s blood! I stepped In It!” We all stood about staring down at the Jade green slipper she lifted, at the wet dark stain on the sole. The princess gave a little cry, and Keller and’ the doctor hurried Into the closet Harrlden stood rigid by his wife’s bed. Then both men came backing out and Keller was holding up a fore finger, dark-stained and sticky. "It’s blood all right” he said. The doctor nodded affirmatively. Every one stood staring at them a moment then fluttered forward to that open closet door and I went with them. The light was on In It On the floor, just under a sweep of orchid silk, lay a dark heavy pool, its edges blurred where feet had stepped Into it It must have been there, dark, unregarded, when Har rlden had stepped in, to glance about for his wife’s gold pajamas. I glanced about for Alan Deck. He was not In the room; he had not followed when we had trooped like sheep after Harrlden and his dead wife. Perhaps the sight of Mora in Harriden’s arms.... "This puts a new complexion on it” said Keller. His words seemed Incongruous, but his tone did full justice to the terrible gravity of the situation. He turned directly to Harrlden. "That blood in the closet—that came before she went out the win dow. This doesn’t look an accident, Dan. Some one got In here Some thug—” His eyes turned to the win dow. “I suppose that way Is possi ble,” he said grudgingly, "though how any one could get In the grounds —I suppose he was after her jewel ry. He got In, thinking the room empty, went to her closet to rum mage, and she jumped off Hie bed after him—she had plenty of pluck. Then he struck her and flung her out.” Keller’s next question, so emi nently that of the practical man seemed to me shocking In Its Imme diate concern for material things. “Better see if anything's miss ing,” he advised briskly, “See If he got away with anything." Harrlden did not stir. "What the devil does It matter?" led. He looked half savage meat is of Tain*. Any jewel taken would be a due. If—If you can Mas yourself- to It, Mr. Harrlden.” Harrlden. like a man suddenly waking, moved forward:. 1 know where ahe put the box,” lie laid, he went Into the closet. I remember Mrs. Crane's saying In a low tone to Keller, "Hadn't you better telephone the lodge have them keep a sharp look-out?” and his telling her to do It She was Just moving away from the phone when Harrlden came out of the closet, bearing a morocco-covered box. “It’s locked, all right," he re ported. "Wen, If If s locked there can’t be anything missing—the thief wouldn’t lock it up .again,” Mrs. Keller mur mured. "We might open It, anyway; to make sure,” said Keller. "Do you know where the key Is?” "She kept It somewhere In her dressing case.” - Harrlden went to a small green dressing case and began fumbling about in It I don’t knew why I watched his strong, blunt fingers so closely. They seemed to fascinate me, I felt so deadly sorry for them, in the work they had to do. Once he paused and his face bad a queer, arrested look; I remember thinking that some especially Intimate pos session of his wife’s had touched some chord of deep and bitter re membrance. He swept his fingers back and forth over the silk for a moment as If he had forgotten what he was after, then suddenly his hand lowered and he drew out a small key. Harrlden unlocked the case, star ing down Into each tray of bright, glistening things. I wondered If he were thinking that those lovely bau bles would never go about hr throat and wrists again. Then his voice came, with that sharp, almost grumbling Irritation In It "The pearls are here—and tho emeralds. But the diamond chain Isn’t here.” Some one said, "Hasn't she It on now?” and Harrlden turned quickly to the bed. He bent over her, then straightened and came back to us. "It’s gone,” he said. “That’s a clue, then,” the doctor declared. "You must lose no time, Mr. Keller, in notifying the police.” “The police 1” said Keller. All his repugnance toward the sensational publicity was in his tone but he moved at once to the room phone, his wife murmuring to him In agl "It’s Blood!" tated undertones. The doctor went I on, “And nothing more here mnst be touched. We mnst set a guard here.” “Do we have to go through all this?” demanded Harrlden. “Let the I damn diamonds go.” “I’m afraid we mnst," Dr. OIU phant told him. “It’s the only way to get the—the man.” We were all trooping downstairs, I rather on the outskirts, when Monty Mitchell dropped back beside me. His small, bright eyes were glit tering behind their glasses. “Why would Nora ran into that closet after a thief?” he put directly to me. “She’d have run to the door and screamed." “He may have caught her and dragged her in,” I said, and then, “She was excited—no one of us knows what he’ll do when suddenly flung off balance.” “Anyway he shoved her in that closet before she was dead,” he went on. “She must have been there some little time for all that blood to form. Then he thought again and decided to give it the look of an accident so he put her out the window. ... A 'strong fellow." I thought of how easily Harrlden had carried his wife up the stairs and murmured, “She doesn’t look heavy.” “About a hundred and fifteen,” said Mitchell. “Ton seem a simple hearted young creature, you never knew her—yet you rushed to her room to help her cover her slapped cheek." He gave a snort iangn. -yon may be glad she wasn’t there—she'd have skinned yon. She wouldn't have dreamed you’d come In any thing but malice.” "Ion don’t make her sound very pleasant” “I never liked her,” he said bluntly. "Come and have a drink. We need It” The others had set the example and as we entered the white dining room for the second time that eve ning I saw It v •• • V*? local autheeftleg, with a bead official named Donahey wbooe eyes were ae cynical as HartWen’a own, and tbe boose became a bustle at confusion. Fingerprint men and cameramen trooped upstairs to work, policemen tramped through all tbe rooms, searchlights flashed outside the win dows In tbe shrubbery. When they went to examine the place Where tbe body bad been found, Monty Mitchell threw a coat about me and drew nwont wtth him. Perhaps he wanted my observation, as he said; perhaps he was simply being kind to me, the outsider among those whispering groups. The police had turned the head lights of their car on the shrubbery and every leaf stoo^ out In brilliant detail. There was not a bit of blood to be found anywhere, nor did they find any object which could hare made the wound In her head. The dense bushes bad received her body and eased it to the ground. "She was dead before she got here,” I heard the Inspector say. The ground had been so trampled by the men who had lifted out Mrs. Harrlden’s body that all footprints were Indecipherable, and there were no marks to be found of any ladder. Slowly Donahey nodded, still studying the window. "Might have got In somewhere else and used the window for a getaway." There Is no use In going over those hours, moment by moment, those hours In which we sat wait ing or milled around, eddying to each report. very thoroughly they vent over the place while Donahey inter* viewed each member of the domes* tic staff. He Interviewed them sep arately. butlers, maids, cooks, laun dresses, chauffeurs, the linen wom an, the lodga-keeper, the boathouse keeper and not one of them had a suspicious thing to communicate. “Well, If It Isn’t an outside Job It’s an Inside,” Donahey retorted dispassionately. “Somebody got In here somehow.” I could see that Donahey was letting it stand for what It was worth at the present Between the Interviews there were constant re ports from the men who had been sent out to check up on things and the sum total of those reports was that the lodge-keeper said there had been no attempts to enter and that there was no marks of foot prints about the base of the walls or any ladder marks, or any signs of disturbance of the glass cement ed on the top of the walls between the spikes. “Well, that’s fine,” said Donahey sarcastically. “No way Into the grounds and no way Into the house. Except by the front door.** " CHAPTER IV IT WAS our turn then. A bizarre scene, I thought, to be taking place in the pale gray drawing room, the heavy Inspector In his dark uniform seated formally be hind that Incongruously fragile In laid table, the strained group of men and women In evening dress, and the ring of policemen fringing the borders of the Aubusson carpet Donahey’s notes and papers were spread out on the table before him and among them was a list of the guests the Kellers must have pro vided, that he consulted now care fully, checking us off one by one. There were ten of us present now, beside the Kellers, for Deck had reappeared from the seclusion he seemed to have been keeping, and Harriden himself had come down and stood, grim and expressionless, on the other side of that little table. What Donahey wanted first was an account of the last time Mrs. Harriden had been seen alive. Ev ery one had seen her at late after noon cocktails, then Harriden re ported that they had gone upstairs to dress, a little before seven-thir ty, he thought, that later he had gone Into his wife’s room and she had said she had a headache and would not go down. V “About what time was that!” Harriden considered. “About eight, Td say. I know It waa time to go down. Td already dressed.” Not a word did he say about any other conversation between them, though earlier in the evening he had blurted out that there had been a row, and that he’d been afraid of what his wife might do, in hysteria or dramatics. Well, I did not blame him for holding that back. He was not called upon to offer up that secret bitterness to the public.. .. He went on, “The maid saw her at that time, too." “Anson,” mentioned Mrs. Keller, and Donahey’s pendl moved. “I rang for her just as I was leaving the room, and I told her Mrs. Harriden did not want to be disturbed or have any dinner brought up. No one was to come till she rang.” “What was Mrs. Harriden doing then?” “Lying on the bed.” He added, “The room was darkened, and she said she wanted to go to sleep." “What happened next?”’ (TO BE CONTINUED) Old SIMM* at Wedding The significance of throwing old shoes after a bridal couple Is un certain. The cnstom appears to be of purely English origin. Her. B. Cobham Brewer’s ^Dictionary of Phrase and Fable declares." ’On Anglo-Saxon marriages the father delivered the bride’s shoe to the bridegroom, who touched her with on the head to show his anthor Youth Problem Most Pressing President Resolved to Make Jobs for Young Folks; See Roosevelt Gaining By EARL GODWIN WASHINGTON.—Five mil lion unemployed young men end women, moet of whom have never had jobs although trained and ready to work, preeent the real youth problem. There la much more to the problem than the politicians see; and moat of the politicians are falling to sat isfy this vast and Important section of the public. Time was when boys and girls, went to work whenever they felt Uke It; but today the only young men sure of a job are .the youngsters with a pull or good luck, plus the boys who get Into the CCC camps. As for the young women who need work and who are trained for work or professions, the poli ticians seem to have forgotten them entirely. Nevertheless, this restless, yearn ing army of young Americans want action; and It Is to them that the President directs his promise that unless Industry closes up the vast gap In employment the government must and will act Industry seems to me to be completely unable to extend employment because Indus try Is In the grip of the Franken stein monster, “Efficiency.” The more money Invested, the better the machinery which means less work men needed to turn out the goods. Here we are within a hair’s breadth of previous Industrial records, and yet only 80 per cent as many human beings are at work. The more In dustry, then, the wider the gap be tween production and employment —simply because of labor-saving machinery. It Is not a depression any more which keeps American youth from a Job—It Is so called “Efficiency.” • • • FIR8T LADY INTERESTED The Roosevelts, both the Presi dent and the First Lady, have been delving Into this situation respect ing young men and women. It’s one of the fine things Mrs. Roosevelt has been hammering on. More than any one else Mrs. Roosevelt Is respon sible for the aid the federal gov ernment is giving to boys and girls in schools and colleges; and the CCC camps are* undoubtedly the greatest national favorite the New Deal has produced. Now, with the administration In a mood of sober second thought, with many experiences behind them, I take it that Industry will be given a chance to reduce hours and keep up wages voluntarily. If It fails, then • a legal standard will again have to be set up and maintained by strong measures. The next time It will meet the Supreme court test In addition, the President will ex tend such organizations as the CCC camps and will ask to put Into op eration his long-time program of public work In the field of con servation. Of course, this Is not the only ap proach to the growing problem of unemployment There is every In dication that there will be compul sory education up to eighteen years of age, which will cut off youngsters below that age In Industry; and there Is growing feeling that work ers should retire and be pensioned at sixty-five. Nor are these things the only solution of the unemploy ment problem; thb government is striving for that great foreign trade It lost In the name of high tariff; It Is giving proper attention to the economic situation In the dull terms of economists. But in addition to all that the President Is going to make jobs for as many of these young people as he can. If the country does not accept Roosevelt’s job-making program, we might as well be prepared for a 25-year relief program. UNION LABOR WATCHE8 Organized labor Is watching this employment question with an ap praising eye. At present labor Is for Roosevelt but labor has never been handed over wlllynllly to any candidate or party; and only In the case of La Follette's run for the Presidency In 1024 did a labor or ganization solidly endorse a candi date. This was the year the four railroad brotherhoods went In 100 per cent for the Progressives. But the Liberty league and the Old Guard Republicans have so desper ately combated every humane bit of New Deal legislation for labor’s ben efit that the fight is largely a po litical fight of Labor against Big Business. A league of labor leaders to hammer together all the scat tered labor organizations as a Pro Roosevelt political voting army has been formed here with George O. Berry, printing pressmen’s union leader, at Its head. This may be .the start of a labor party. Not this year, but perhaps In 194a I think that all liberals, all progressives and all members of the farmer-labor group in the Northwest may be expected to line up behind Roosevelt—although I know that all progressive* In on# party the lint thing to do Is to drop tbs tltls ‘’Democratic." What will happen, I think, to that Roosevelt will have the great advanced-idea vote of the country; the great vote of the peo ple who want humanity ahead of cold business methods; • • • THE TALMADGE FLOP Not many weeks ago the country was treated to an exposition of pub licity from Georgia where (we were confidently told), the Southerners of the “grass root" variety were re volting against the administration and would stage a tremendous ova tion for Gov. Eugene Talmadge of that state. Talmadge la a sort of Huey Long circus actor who thrives on opposing his party’s leader. The Talmadge revolt was a conspicuous failure, but for some mysterious reason it was treated to tremendous publicity by some of the Eastern papers; and the reason now ap pears In the fact that the great grass roots uprising In Georgia was a Du Pont product The senate’s lobby Investigating committee finds out that Pierre 8. DuPont of the B. L DuPont de Nemours company, and John J. Raskob, a DuPont offi cial and former chairman of the Democratic national committee, were the principal financial back ers of this amazing flop. Whether or not these two high-powered fin anciers thought they were really effecting a practical endorsement of Talmadge as against Roosevelt for President Is something that only these two men know. When the Liberty league began to expose a large bank roll It was surrounded by crowds of gentlemen who are used to working anything on any side of any street—If there’s enough money In lb They were rather persuasive; so much so that they persuaded some of the smart est big business men in the East that money, enough of It and prop erly distributed, could stop Roose velt from being renominated 1 That la about as large an error as any one can make: TWO WAY8 TO THRIVE You don’t have to work In Wash ington If you don't want to; there are at least two ways of getting along. One Is to beg In one of the many parks; the other Is to organ ize some high sounding league against Roopevelt The latter takes only a typewriter and -an office ad dress. You can Issue statements against Roosevelt and the public will soon believe you represent something. Here's a typical Instance. Wash ington has been getting a lot of anti-administration farm publicity from a so-called farmers’ organiza tion which has been making the city folks believe that rural Amer ica IS opposed to the New DeaL It now appears that the principal con tributing farmers to this outfit are again the same old DuPont muni tions crowd. Among the "farmers” who have contributed are Alfred Sloan, Jr* president of the General Motors corporation; Oil Magnate Pew of the Sun OH company, Phila delphia; Ogden L. Mills, formerly secretary of the treasury under President Hoover; Wlnthrop Aid rich, chairman of tile Chase Nation al bank which Is located In that rich agricultural center near Broad and Wall streets, New York city; Silas Strewn, former president of the United States Chamber of Commerce. Can you Imagine these fellows trying to pose as farmers? • * • ROOSEVELT GAINING Straws Indicate rising Roosevelt popularity. Illinois, which was once in the habit of giving from half to a million majorities for Republican Presidents, showed a registration of 1300,000 Democrats voting for Roosevelt; about 730,000 combined for Knox and Borah. California pri maries showed a 60 per cent in crease In the Democratic registra tion and a corresponding decrease In G. O. P. registration. Every one here Is interested, too, In the prog ress of registration In the old Re publican Keystone state of Pennsyl vania which so far takes In the western counties and Indicates dou ble the ordinary Democratic strength and a decrease In the Re publican lineup. I mentioned the Wisconsin primaries, which give Roosevelt a two-to-one lead. Straw votes, polls and primary figures all may go wrong; but of late years the managers of polls have shown an uncanny ability to point the way. The polls which are attracting most attention are those published in some of the most con servative newspapers . . . and .In dicate that Roosevelt would win today by 4,000,000 popular votes; with 36 states for him. 12 against him and one state, New Jersey, doubtful. The Illinois primary results amazed some of us here; we be lieved that Knox would make a greater showing; as It Is he gath ered not many more delegates tq the Republican convention than Borah, and together these two big G. O. P. guns evidently did not make much of a dent In public opin ion, as the old Prairie state Is evi dently heavily Democratic. Borah thinks that 40 per cent of those voting for him In Illinois wlU vote for Roosevelt rather than for ten don, who Is expected to j$t the nomination, unless FERRY'S SEED are at In ANY climate Claims that spe- I ciai seeds are I necessary for I certain climates I are misleading. ■ The successful u cultivation of R gorgeous flowers I and tender vege» 1 tables depends I primarily on the 1 quality of the | seeds, and the care you give ohm, Ferry-Morse Seed Co. ha* de voted 80 years to developing aad improving the quality of Vega table and flower seeds. At The Ferry-Morse Seed Breeding Instt*; tote Stations in Rochester, Midi* and SaUnas, f>l-, over M/MW gar* mination tests are conducted annu ally to assure you that Ferry seeds will grow... over 0000 purity trials are conducted to insure uniformly superb quality. That's why you can plant FerryV seeds in any part of the country—* any dlmate—and reap the rewards of the quality bred into them., 1 Look for the Ferry display afc: your local stores. Write for peer free copy of our Home Garden Catalog. Ferry-Morse Seed Co* Detroit and San Francisco. INI FIRRY-MORSI BRIIDING INSTITUTI Ability Deserves Praha Men who deserve praise wan* too; don’t think they don't. rpHE end olererv day found n out, nervooa, often with hen But now, thanks to Nature's 9 work is ttm again—ahe^B to a movie or dance |BHe twitched ton elaxative. C m or poenoi aenvauves. lnite»d a balanced combination of laxative cicmena, puma uy nature, that work nato- j SSfeftSffW tot tee how much bet ter you fed you'll know w>Ly > vrartahic oorrec * improved, and smooth akin stored by daily treatment Resin PAIN in BACK and mi*, r. ... 1207 w. c*ir mood, V*., aid: ran ud I «*> to* well *t all. and had aa _ abength, hardly wink at night thing uani^ | regular m Glover’* M Medicinal lowed by a a Rabbit Grows Quia The young rabbit d< weight in six days .after B lack-Draught has men and women that a purely vegetable t have no hesitancy in t Draught relieves con easy, natural way.
The Wallace Enterprise (Wallace, N.C.)
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May 7, 1936, edition 1
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