PAGE TEN
Mmrrmp matl trtbttnt!, Tiiwrcmn, oTrEfloy. thttrrday. REPTTreER 15, 1935.
TrrJ 9.xJ xjaltmarsh rj?
The Character!
Huro Stern, handtomt author,
living on (h French Riviera.
ArchU Lanuden, myself, Hu
' qo'$ friend.
Kent Gelu, a tlngularlu tin
pleasant cartoonist.
. Testerdin A 6ig American
named Dunning tries .0 pry in
formation out of us.
Chapter 14
Shattering Experience
PARLY the next morning I was
L awakened by a tapping on the
pane. I rolled out ol oed and. as I
turned to the window, saw a face
taring at me through the green
wreathed opening.
"Jean-Francoii!" I said, startled,
md then, with rising irritation:
"And what the devil do you mean
by spoiling the best night's aleep
I've had in weeks?"
Jean-Frangois slipped noiseless
ly into the room. He was a sorry
light, wan and disheveled. By the
look of him, he hadn't seen a bed
that night,
"Monsieur," he said, '1 am deso
lated to disarrange you, but I
have had a nerve-shattering ex
perience." "Go on," 1 said encouragingly.
He shuddered slightly, as at a
painful memory, and began his
story. He had tried, he said,
throughout the day to get a line on
Geiss's household and way of life,
but beyond the fact that his staff
consisted of a man and wife, a sur
ly couple who kept themselves to
themselves, he had found out noth
ing. And then suddenly chance fa
vored him.
' "1 stood," he said, "on the cor
ner of the rue de Dragon, waiting
for an inspiration, when suddenly
the gate of the villa opened and
a man and woman came out. I fol
lowed!" He had followed the couple to
a small cafe in the fisher quarter,
entering it on their heels. Jean
Francois found a strategic table
half-way between them and the
door and sat down to study them
behind the cover of a newspaper.
It was then that he received a
shock, for he knew their faces.
There had been, he said, a pe
culiarly scandalous police-court
case in Marseilles ten years before,
Ir. which a man and his wife had
been accused of baby-farming on
a large scale. Jean-Francois, de
spite his tender years, had fol
lowed the case, in all its ghoulish
details, with intense eagerness.
The baby -farming had been
proved, the neglect of the infants,
resulting In many deaths: but the
murder of a certain number,
though- suspected, could not be
substantiated, and the couple re
ceived sentences of Ave years
apiece.
It was not unnatural that Jean
Francois, finding himself opposite
them in the cafe, should experi
ence excitement, not unmixed
with a shuddering apprehension.
"For, you will understand, mon
sieur," he explained naively, "that
they were not nice people.
"I can quite imagine it," I an
swered gravely.
He made an expressive grimace.
"Ah," said he, "but I was not dis
mayed. I waited my chance to
scrape acquaintance!"
It came in a minute, with the
loan of a newspaper and the oflcr
of a drink. Polite exchange of com
pliments showed that the couple,
though willing enough to be treat
ed as long as their new acquaint
ance's cash held out, were chary
of letting Information slip; but the
cognac, though it did not loosen
their tongues, appreciably mel
lowed their tempers, and when
Jean-Francois suggested the pur
chase of a couple of bottles and
the adjournment of the sitting
to their abode, they agreed readily
enough, admitting that 'heir pa
tron was away for the night and
they were free agents.
The sitting lasted until the
small hours of the morning, and by
that time his hosts were com
fortably slumbering In their
chairs. Jem-Francois took credit
to himself that, by dint of spinning
out his drinks, he was still in very
fair condition, but he was filled at
the same lime with an immense
disgust, for, beyond the news that
there was a certain room into
which they were never permitted
to enter under pain of instant dis
missal, he had learned nothing. It
appeared to Jean-Francois that
two good bottles of cognac had
gone completely and irrevocably
down the drain.
A Tour Of Inspection
AND then a bright Idea struck
him. As his hosts were out of
action for a considerable period,
it was, he thought, i Heaven-sent
opportunity to have a look at the
rest of the house, and forthwith
he set off on a tour of inspection.
It was a largish place, richly
furnished, with two great salons,
a dining-room, and Big. ore stu
dio. But there was another door at
the end of a short passage whose
lock defied his amateur fforts at
cracksmanshlp. and he felt, sud
denly and unshakably. that here
was the hidden room into which
the servants might not enter, and
that inside it lay the secret of the
house.
A prospecting tour round the
outside showed him a one-storied
oblong, wlndowlesa but roofed
with t glass dome, that he knew
must be the locked room, and a
tour round the upper story dis
JAPAN READY 10
TOKYO, flfpt. 15. -(AP) Japan
reudlncAa "to light, in every way,
with rm tf necMMry" hn:nH com
munism waa rvAlp(1 today In a
statement by the foreign office
apokeaman.
The announcement held romnnm
lat activities rsponlhlr for th
Cwchotlovnk -German crista and aald
closed . ..nail closet through
whose window an agile man might
climb and drop onto the lead para
pet. It needed only an instant for
him to put the thought Into execu
tion. There was a skylight in the
dome, partly open, and he squeez
ed through it, dropping, bruised
but triumphant, on the floor be
neath. He found himself, he said, In the
strangest room he had ever seen.
The outside was an oblong, but the
chamber within was hexagonal.
There was a black pile carpet on
the floor, and the walls ware hung
with black velvet curtains. In the
center of the room was something
like a prie-dieu, also in black, with
a small, sable-covered table before
it, and opposite the door, behind a
longer, narrow table also draped
in black, was a dais, with the
statue of a goat in white marble.
He had searched the room, ne
continued, and found nothing else
of Interest no papers, no indica
tion of the purpose for which it
was used and on that conclusion
he began to think of making a re
treat. It was then that he realized
that there were certain difficulties
to be overcome, for it was one
thing to drop from the dome and
quite another to climb up to it
again.
He sat down to think matteri
out. There was nothing to be done,
it seemed, but to wait until such
time as Geiss or his unpleasant re
tainers should open the door of the
room, and the thought of what
would happen after that caused a
gentle sweat to break out on his
body.
He sat there perhaps for one
hour, perhaps two; he had no
watch, and the minutes dragged
by on leaden feet when suddenly
there came an Interruption. He
heard a faint scratching at the door
of the room and realized that
someone was inserting a key in
the lock. He had barely time to
dart behind a curtain when the
door opened and someone entered
the room. He heard footsteps mov
ing to and fro, a muffled thumping,
and on that, plucking up his cour
age, he drew the curtain aside and
peered round it.
Escape
A DIM figure stood before the
prie-dieu, engaged in shaking
out and replacing the cushions
that covered it, and as his eyes
focused themselves, he saw that it
was a woman. She wore a sort of
overall, and her head was tied up
in a checked duster, but her face,
he could not see. It was evident,
however, from her actions, that
she had come to clean the room.
Finally he saw her turn and pass
out through the door, which, to
his unspeakable relief, she left
ajar. In a flash he was across the
room, peering down the corridor,
but though he could hear her foot
steps crossing the hall, there was
no other sound of life. Holding his
breath, for he knew he had no
time to lose, he crept along the
passage and found himself in the
empty hall.
The front door was opposite him,
and with a dart he was beside it,
had turned the well-oiled handle,
and was sprinting down the glass
roofed path. In another Instant he
found himself in the golden light
of sunrise, standing alone in the
deserted road.
He was tired, he was hungry,
and his nerve was not a little
shaken, but insatiable curiosity
had him in its grip. If, he reasoned,
it was true that the malodorous
couple were the only servants in
,the house, then this woman, who
ever she was, would leave the
house, once her strange task was
done, and he wanted to see where
she went.
It must have been a quarter of
an hour that he waited, but finally
there came the click of the gate
and he saw her emerge. The print
overall had gone, and she wore in
its place a faded cotton dress,
topped with a short, blue flannel
coat. She might, he thought, have
been anything between thirty
five and fifty. But what startled
him most was the realization and
this he was emphatic about that
she was an Englishwoman.
She made off down the street,
and he followed, using all the pre
caution he could; but he need not
have bothered, for she never
turned her head.
He stuck to the trail nobly, until
he saw her insert a gigantic key
into the lock of an imposing gate
way, cross a gravel sweep, and
vanish round the angle of a large
house.
"And the building what was
it?" I demanded.
He spread out his hands apolo
getically. "Monsieur, what an
anticlimax! It was only a private
hotel the Chateau la Vague. I re
gret much." he added, looking
like a small boy whose sum has
come out wrong, "that I could do
no better."
It took me a full minute to as
similate this surprising informa
tion. "Son," I said at last, patting
him on the shoulder, "you've done
better than you know. Here are
your marching orders. Go back to
your grandmother and have a good
day's sleep. When you've rested,
see what you can discover about an
American gentleman by the name
of Dunning, who says he's a corre
spondent for the Chicago Express,
rind out where he's staving,
what he's doing, and whom he's
meeting. You can report to me to
night." (CopvrtpM. 1H. Ha SkiltmankJ .
Dunning helps us out of a Jam, to
morrow. Japan waa pirparrd to Join Germany
and Italy, her alilca under an antl
comrminlpt pact, In "fighting agnlnM
red operations."
The apokraman said, however. It
was "premature to answer" the quca
tlon whether Japn would declare
war If Great Britain and France
MtouM become Involved In conflict
with Germany over the Cwchoalovalt
situation.
"If the actuation makes It nrcea
wiry," he added, "Japan la ivtidy to
fight in every way, with arm, li
necraaary.
WINDOW GLASS-We sell window
tlai an1 will replace roui nroken
window nftionaDly r.uwbrtdt CaD
lnet Work
STRANGE AS IT SEEMS By JOHN HIX
For further proof address the author, Inclosing stamped envelope for reply. Re. V. .8. Pat OS.
FBll
Rofl&m UNION -
KlPffr PnPMPD iM
&NCl6Nt 0YPT--oTrW
mf-TUiPip; foiiLOfLL
PROPERTY
ORIfilNM. OWNERS
portrait of Death
Originator of the dread revolution
ary tribunal which ordered the guil
lotining of hundreds of victims of
the Reign of Terror In France was
Jean Paul Marat, president of the
Jacobin club.
So fanatical did Marat become that
he at one time publicly asked for
the heads of 370,000 Frenchmen. De
livered over the revolutionary tri
bunal, he was acquitted and received
In triumph.
One woman looked on Marat In
the 1 light of a bloody tryant; she was
Charlotte Cordny D Armani), whose
lover had been assassinated by
Estabrook Denies
Bomb Complicity
HILLSBORO, Ore., Sept. 15. (AP)
Jack Estabrook denied today that
he had anything to do with dis
turbances In Portland In connection
with the picketing In 1933 of the
Marlnoff brewery or the bombing on
Memorial day of that year of the
William Fuegy store at Rlckton.
Estabrook Is being tried for com
TAILSPIN TOMMY Calling
BEN WEBSTER'S CAREER
I v3a o v
. FS? rlJa W.y i'm okay, fellows! well, tailspim. .
'. 11 -. .) YOU CAM THIS QUE8R3 MY VsOMETHINS
, PiU . I PERFORM AN CHANCES IM GO WRONG,
h-rj 7-f- I "M AUTOPSY ON THAT V THE BENDIX! A DOC?
")HL i -N '''"'- WvV BUS of mime if J iftn. iF ; yZl?-
'111 ( LOOK, BEN, THERE ) r -GTrra - li M HE WAS SO 1
I'll HE IS! OH BOY, ?FlfL- ' 3 MAO HE DIONT 1
1 AN IS HE , pI-s Tar- ' 3 EVEN SEE US.',
LOOK, BEN, THERE
HE IS ! OH BOY,
AN' IS Ht ,
-? BURNED UP!
I I -7 BUKNEUUP! F U a ' ?
hz I I ""A , V 1 tremww. iu i i i jSj,
THE NEBBS-Poor Buttcrny
uF-u.o,STevE:,vJWAT'C3
COME OVER. NOU .
VOUR& MOT TME. MPPV-lpvPpv ,
GO-LUCKV STEVE VAJWO pAMMV 1VF LOST
came: to us
i q g-j 1 L
em
j
of
BrSCKlb fe
AT h PROFIT
henchmen of Marat aa a traitor to
the republic.
Traveling Into Parts alone, she
sought an Interview with Marat with
the expressed purpose of Informing
him against certain activities at
Caen. During the Interview, Charlotte
Corday drew a knife and stabbed
Marat fatally. She was tried before
Marat's tribunal and was condemned
to the guillotine the same day July
17. 1793.
Strange as It seems. Charlotte Cor
day asked for a painter Instead of
a priest aa her last request. No less
than three hours before her execu
tion an artist, Jean-Jacques Hauer.
plicity in the bombing, which was
alleged to have followed the store's
refusal to stop selling Marlnoff beer.
DENIES SHE PROVOKED
RUFUS HOLMAN ATTACK
PORTLAND, Sept. lfl. ( AP) Mrs.
Jewell Bruce Fearing of Portland de
nied yesterday she had provoked the
alleged attack at the state fair which
Is the basis for the warrant the
obtained against Rufus C. Holnwn.
All Kace Pilots 1
Fresh Supply!
7
f i dowt TUisuk
I'LL pjfB fP
rr
h),mRO& GETS
SEPt-SICK ON
I
JocKSY
Louisville, Ki.,
M 17
Winkers ih
IMS fiflSfS
MONTHS OF
HIS CPiREgR
(Juli)-Ocil93o)
tfiT of DEATH
PRISON C6l,l.ToE'
EXECUTED ON THE GWLLoTlNE,
CHftRUJfflB CORPfVA
fRENCH REVOLUTIONARY HEROINE,
SRTfoR TH& PORTRAIT,
&Y jeftN-t)ftCQUgHfcU
-17??-
was summoned. In two hours he fin
ished her portrait reproduced above
and Charlotte calmly paid htm with
a lock of her hair and went to hr
death on the guillotine.
Robber L'nlon
Citizens of ancient Egypt, when
robbed, had merely to turn to a
Chief Robber to recover lost goods;
he In turn consulted his roll of mem
bers of a flourishing robber union,
procured the goods, and sold them
back to the original owner at a pro
fit. Tomorrow: What country once had
two queens in one day?
charging him with assault and bat
tery. Holman, Republican senatorial
candidate. Issued a statement prev
iously that Mrs. Fearing had precipi
tated the Incident.
She charged that Holman wrested
from her a placard of his political
bpponent, tore It up and twisted ner
arm.
The chief products of Siam Is
Other exports are tin and tin ore
rubber.
rice.
and
MY HEART'S JUST
BUSTIN" FOR THE
POOR LITTLE
FELLOWJ
AMD ITS ALL MV
MV UMGOVERsj ARLE.
TEMPER.. I .SCOLDED
jakjie roR eeiMa
OSCOURTEOUS TO
WES. MOTWE.C.
r
HEADGEAR
UJiUlfirtS
WATCHES MOTHER POTY1N6
6EttM6 READY To-fAXE HIM
-MINKS MOTHER'S SEW1N6-BASNET ON"
CHAIR MI6HT BE MORE SlVUSH . EMPTIES If
.while mother is picking up her sew-
lNE-THIN6&,-fR)E5 THE WftSTE PAPER
BASKET, FORTUNATELV EMPTV
S MATTER POI
jCopyrljTht, MM, by Tie B.n BynJlcMe, r.) ggj ' '
nope! poppa always
TOLD ME TO
FUL! I WAS OUST
CLOWMIMG COR THE
GRANDSTAND
IN. THAT'S
SEE THOSE
HAWKS !
r1 KIIP fll riPIIUFQ MV 4
C0U3 MNU DtHI II Dr.K
I LEFT CAL FADER
WATCHIN6 THINGS AT
THE FARM )
IP SOU ASK. ME . V
TUltsJK. SHE 15 THE
CWAMPlQNJ BRAT OF
THE WORLD A.KJD
VOO'RE LUOCV YOU
DiDisIT GET A CHAMCFJ
OTMAT-
1
ON HER HAf,
0Uf
(Copyright, 1938, by The Bell Syndicate, Inc.)
BE TRUTH
AS I CAMP
WHY I DlDNT
CURTISS
I've tdlO MvsELr
THAT A TMOUSASJD
TIMES BUT 1 CCkNJ'T
MAKE MYSELP BELIEVE
IT.. NJELLIE IS SO
BEAUTIFUL AMD
SWEET AMD I T
kawE LOVES
ME
OKAY. I Mf JEST A MINUTE. LADIES
PAL. I'LL r-& 1 HERE'S A FRESH SUPPLY ffrH
BE a I C4 0- THEM JUMBO E6GS JSTHZ !
Cum
By GLUYAS WILLIAMS
WoUDERS HOW HIS PICTURE BOOK WOULD
6E AS A rlftf. rlOT UEP.V COMfOR-fABVE
)
HVES If TREW WEU, ECEPf FORM'S
Tendency o keep slidin6 off
DECIDES, ON BEING DRESSED, THAT HE
LIKES HIS OWN HPrf BEST AFTER AH.
By C M PAYNF
By HAL FORREST
lJ , 1
ALL RACE
PILOTS ON u. a. L
m vthe lime! j rr i
Sy EDWIN ALISK'
Bv 801 HES8
WELL. KEEP OJ
THiKJK.KJe IT AMD STOP
MOPIVJQ - RlGMT SJOW
you're a. picture op
MORE GRiEC TWAM I'VE
EVER sSECM AJOD 1VE
BEESJ TO A MUWO'SEDy
t-i v if r r i e - r i
4