Show TELEGRAM FICTION I A A Rob Eden Story BEGIN EGIN HERE Fran Tran Carey sten stenographer found an anold anold anold old fashioned locket er but one nei-one noone claims U t for months and 1 thc then only after alter a series of pus zUni Incidents First Firt Fran vis Ls f fol l. l l- l lowed by a tall blond young young man man She She- wears the locket to a a dance an and andrec rec receives a note nate from him warning her herto herto herto to guard it she fi finds her apartment apartment apart apart- ment has been ransacked for for the locket lockeL A A false claim is made for it by telephone ho e. e Fran meets and falls falls' in Inlove love with Ward charming suave w who wio o has has' opened an office across across' the hall hail from where she die works work Sh She learns that the man who followed her is I Christopher Christop er Abbott pr prominent lawI lawyer law I yer She interviews him but he refuses refuses re reo re- re I fuses to tell her why he followed her heror herI I or w what at value the locket may have Ward is the tool of ot Ellen and Jay Spencer Spence sister and brother who f know the value 01 the oj the locket and arc are arc determined to have it Their plan is that Ward shall m marry r y Fran and on onI I their honeymoon arrange a fatal accident accident ac eident Of Ot the conspirators only La Lad Lael Hubbell Wards Ward's mistress objects ob ab ob objects to this cold blooded murder Fran has been completely taken In by Ward though her r roommate Nina Markh Markham m intuitively suspects him Abbott also suspects cb W Wards Ward's rda m motive tive in marrying Fran The wedding has been set for Saturday afternoon Thursday Harriet Raleigh eccentric wealthy old woman dies Called to the office of af Abbott Miss Raleigh's lawyer Fran is told that Miss Raleigh has arranged her will so as to leave to the person who sho was in possession of an old fashioned locket which Miss Raleigh h herself had deliberately lost where Frans Fran's had been en found But Abbott tells Fran that her locket after aUer all aU is not the one and shows her earrings and a brooch which the original locket matched he said I Frans Fran's locket does not match those Abbott shows her At lunch she tells Ward of what is to her only a slight disappointment but but which shatters his plan The wedding is set for lor the next afternoon CHAPTER 22 Ellen Spencer and Ward Quentin sat at looking at each other across the small mall hotel room which Ellen had taken for the day doy Its a trick the woman exclaimed bitterly Its a trick Its no trick Ward said emphatically call cally pushing the ash tra tray away from h him n. n l I lAll All my plans ruined ruined- ruined I All AU our aur- plans he corrected Is Wasted I put up the mone money all of it it every cent of it Six thousand dollars wasted on that girl Terrible The money gone gone gone- Well you inherit under Miss Raleigh's will Youre You're not sitting sitting sit sit- ting so badly The was a gam game ble You spent It Quentin You got the good out of it it I saw none of It You and the girl girl girl- Ward Vard got up impatiently Women were s so petty about money He hated dealing with them for that rea rca son Ellen moaning about her lost as 83 If it it had been When she was getting in cash when the will was probated and he was getting gettin nothing All these weeks lost lost lost- Just what did she say Who Quentin asked kicking a footstool out of hi his way The Carey girl i Ive told you a dozen Um times what she said Ellen Cant Can't you understand understand under under- stand English The locket she found isn't the locket It do doesn't nt match the set Miss Raleigh had And we know it had to match the set that's set that's what the will said 1 if IL you'll think back to the time you ou read It it If It only the will had been en more snore specific specific we we would have known which locket it was wasl Ellen mourned shaking her head from side to side sadly Housekeeper Ages Aes The late Miss MiS Raleigh's housekeeper housekeeper house house- keeper had aged five years in two hours There were lines around her mouth which had never been there before beCore new streaks of white in her hair Her skin was an ashen gray and her lips bloodless Her shoulders sagged forward as she s sat t in the straight backed chair Two T hours ago everything was so the future her and ab sol tely assured l Millions they would have for divided by three gave them apiece Two millions for tor her for Jay and for lor who shouldn't have insisted on equal rights but who had regardless Her work wark her plans plans- True it was was Jay who had given her the original idea with the tile casual suggestion that Mi Miss Raleigh's will might be ce eccentric as as the lady lidy who signed it But after his one hunch it vas vas' left to her to manage everything Wasn't it she he who had taken the risk of opening the sale safe in the thi library of Raleigh Park The safe sale had not contained the will but that h had hd d not ot daunted her Not Ellen Spencer She Sheh h had d reasoned corr correctly If It the will wasn't In In the library safe sale surely surly it was wag in Christopher Abbotts Abbott's safe in inthe inthe inthe the Boyer building A difficult mutter mat mut ter ter for for a woman for Jay was squeamish to to hire a professional safebreaker but she had done it and paid the man from h her r own pocket for the job In Abbotts Abbott's safe was what she he wanted H Harriett Raleigh's will both the original and one C copy P Seven million dollars to charity a quarter o of 01 a million doll dollars rs for servants an and retainers of af which she was to get a measly her brother Jay who was Miss Raleigh's estate manager and for the lucky lucks person person who io found nd the locket lockeL The cop copy was in Ellens Ellen's safety ty deposit deposit de de- posit box that minute Will Is Annoying that the lock locket t should not be d described in detail in the will Frightfully annoying Abbott under terms of at the will had the remainder of the set to which it belonged the earrings and the brooch in his own safety dep deposit st box And safety deposit boxes were practically impregnable as Ellen realized d. d W Wasn't nt it she EU Ellen n Sp Spencer nc r. r who had hId decided that the locket being ben lost might be advertised as U found r Of course coune and it was she who d discovered dis ib covered Fran Careys Carey's ad in a back issue of af th the Herald Found at Third and Cedar as clear lear as u day printed in t the e Herald To be dropped at Third and Cedar and left for lost lost as clear as day in Miss Raleigh's will fourth paragraph twenty seventh page for page for the will was wu a lengthy one The same lame locket to be sure Rise surel Abbott had thought that too because he knew about Miss Carey an and was pro protecting pro ro her when Ellen and Jay dis covered the will wUl in Apr April The brainstorm of af Quentin belonged be be- longed to both of af them but Jay claimed the credit for that too tOOf A third party was Wa needed Who would be better for that third party than the charming Interesting Ward Quentin Quen Quen- tin whom Ellen had known in his childhood through his aunt who was wasa a school chum and with whom as a grown man she had renewed acquaintance ac ac- ac on the Riviera several years ago when she had a months months' leave of af absence from Irom Raleigh Raleigh Ral Ral- Park Wards Ward's exploits with women women wo woo men amu amused d Ellen for lor h he had become confidential about th them m in the south routh of France in a rare mood mooda of loquacity When she ran across him in town a week before she read Miss MIS Raleigh's will she told Jay and they laughed together Then when they n needed eded someone well someone well Ward was Wa the thel man The meeting seemed sheer good luck Reviews Review Scheme Who could connect Quentin with her and Jay No one His aunt was dead The trip abroad was past past past- long past As M. she told Jay Jays they couldn't have hit on a better beUer confederate confederate confederate erate and Jay agreed The first scheme was that Quentin should make love to the Carey girl get the locket for himself claim it for himself The final scheme Wards Ward's w was more snore daring than this He should marry Fr Fran Fran and and Ellen didn't like it Too dangerous danger danger- ous besides it gave cave Ward to too much power It gave him everything However he wouldn't come in an any other way so that finally hits his plan was adopted I j I Six She million dollars dollar gone I Flown away Ripped away really Ellen gave a quivering sigh and shut her eyes They were hot burn ing and she who had neve never had a headache in her life felt fel I ja a dull throbbing at the back of her neck So sure sure and and now everything ruined turned Leisure money how she oved oved it how she longed for it Ten years of her life lile riven to Miss Mils and nd i In every h hour ur of that tit tit-ai-i 10 0 i year Jr envy for the great gifts her mistress had and the little miserly me we she made of the gifts gUts For 10 years ears Ellen had hated Mise Raleigh quite cordially but in the last two hours her hate had grown a hundredfold Well Quentin broke Into her thoughts we ve can say weve we've been taken for tar a ride A nice ride Im I'm going Ellen Lad is waiting for me me I What are arc you going to d do Her eyes opened slowly Me I dont don't know yet Ive I've got gotto gotto gotto to think this out Came as such a shock I haven't got my senses er ses back So long long long- longHe He picked up his hat and went vent out aut without a backward glance Her Feet Dra Drag Draff Ellen got to her feet fed somehow She had never had any trouble with her feet before rore but this they were weak and her knees pained her badly Her hat was on the dresser but when she looked in the mirror to put it on on she saw not her own image there but Harriett Raleigh's The familiar wrinkled smiling face with the too wide mouth the nose that was slightly Roman and the small eyes that twinkled so much about nothing Ellen had always always al al- al ways hated M Miss s Raleigh's eyes eyes eyes- they seemed to contain mysterious marvelous secrets which she never told and which welled up constantly in the dark pupils Even these last three months when Miss Raleigh had been bedridden not able to move to speak her eyes had twinkled on merrily mer rily full fuU of 01 their secrets secret full lull of their love for life Yesterday when Harriett Raleigh's bright eyes closed abruptly and the f feeble eble spark of life lite went out of her bod body Ellen wept with relief The Theother Theother other servants thought she was weeping weep weeping ing from grief as they Were vere Miss Raleigh's face was wa still in the mirror when she turned to get her pUr purse and It followed fallowed herd her d down wn to the elevator levator and haunted her until she came caine into the lobby When she got Into th the Ral Raleigh limousine Urn Um half halt an hour later John John- the late Miss Raleigh's chauffeur r th thought Miss Spencer looked pretty done up Mourning like the rest of them He wasn't feeling any too chipper him him- sel self I ITo ITo To be continued i i Copyright Register and Tribune Syndicate te |