Show Telegram Priscilla By Fiction RICH R RELA Wayne CHA CHAPTER EB x The matron closed the door heard the turn of the lock decisively She had lad been in this place of bitter sighs for or over a dozen years and she had lost ost considerable of her sympathy with the years ears In the first year of her sojourn at the place there would have been sympathy motherly tenderness but not lot today Even a young gentle and cultured girl was just another case caseto to o Maggie Hilaire these days Now you girls quiet down she said sternly Dont let us have any goings on like last night Hear The girls heard the clatter of her sturdy shoes marching with determination deter deter- down the corridor with never a thought of turning back Startled by Step Nancy burled buried her face tightly in inthe inthe inthe the pillow remembering the the admonition admonition admonition ad ad- monition of the aced hard faced girl who played solitaire Not for words would she have cried aloud She was startled then to hear a step by her cot and feel a rough but aut tender hand stroking back the therod therod rod red hair hall And Kates Kate's voice strangely strange strange- ly sympathetic unbelievably ably tender tender tender ten ten- der Listen kid just you cry It'll do you good If we couldn't bawl once In a while white in this place here it would be one hell of a note Somehow the tile profanity did not grate grato upon Nancys Nancy's cars ears with any roughness Back of ot Kates Kate's uncouth words stood the tenderness of her hands and the soothing quality of ot other her voice Nancy sat up I 1 wont won't cr cry She brushed the tho tears away defiantly I 1 wont won't cr cry I 1 will not cry It isn't my fault that Im I'm here I haven't done anything wrong I will not cr cry Kate looked at the other girl ad ad- As a 0 mother might gaze at t a petulant daughter As an nn older plainer sister at a best beloved younger sister Gosh kid youre you're pretty with that mop of red hair of ot yours and those red-brown red eyes You should worry Times oughtn't to be hard for a frill like you And Nancy smiled through her tears Kate pulled at her sleeve Come on now Dont Don't begin to cry again It wont won't do you ou any good Come on en over and take a hand at this game Ill I'll teach you double soli soil taire Solitaire is a darn good game to know If you aim to do much boarding around at places like this You'd just as well learn it from an expert The other girls laughed Kate was wa-s a bootlegger by profession She had had varied experiences in a boarding house like this as all the tho girls knew very well Spent Wretched retched Night But in spite of ot the friendliness of ot the motley crew of girls and women who were her roommates for the thc night Nancy spent a wretched sleepless night She made many plans plans and and put each of them away before she had had much chance to ponder First to call can David Walton If she had been capable of ot clear sane thinking Nancy might have been surprised at the persistency with which her thoughts turned to David Walton Yalton True she thought of ot Don Blair but but In a detached impersonal sort of ot way Don wanted her to be bc careful not to give away his alibi Don had pledged her not to tell what had happened that Sunday night And he meant her to keep her promise even if it to keep It meant her own personal liberty Her own reputation But it would be easy enough for forthe forthe forthe the detectives to trace where she had been that night They knew she had started to How easy with that information to piece together every step she had taken for the day She dozed off oft into a n fitful sleep at last Only to dream fearful dreams Of being shackled hand and foot of walking In a pathetic single single- tile file procession with other girls girls girls- a 0 sort of ot prison chain gang Wild ideas of ot course because in her heart Nancy knew she had been guilty of ot only one crime crime If if crime it could be The crime of pretending Pretending something she was not Most of ot her trouble trouble trouble trou trou- ble centered about bout that one Indis Indis- Morning brought Mrs Murphy puffing excited and determined She was highly Indignant when denied the privilege of ot seeing Nancy Visiting hours Indeed she sniffed Ill have a lawyer here in 30 minutes to get th that t girl out of here Its It's a crime crimo and a shame keeping a sweet young thing like her herIn herIn herin in jail She hasn't done anything Id I'd swear she Officer Impersonal But the coated blue-coated officer at the desk said Yes Madam and No Madam as Impersonally as 1 If the girl upstairs had been just another bum and Mrs Murphy herself herselt worthy of scarcely more interest than a polite slightly bored tone of voice Even the attorney Mrs Murphy brought could not move heaven and earth to get Nancy back Into Mrs Murphys Murphy's custody When visiting hours finally arrived and Mrs Murphy Murphy Murphy Mur Mur- phy could whisper for a few minutes minutes min mm- utes to Nancy through the bars barsot of ot the detention cell there was very little encouragement she could give her The attorney was arranging that mysterious thing called bond and that meant anywhere from a afew afew afew few hours to a few days There was no definite assurance of any any- thing To Mrs Murphys Murphy's entreaty that she telephone someone just anyone as far as the landlady was concerned at the office Nancy turned a deaf deat ear Honey you ought not notto to be so stubborn this wa way You ought to let some of your friends help you Theres There's th those se nice young men that used to call for you at the tho house Either one of ot them would be willing willingto to help out I know that Just let me call them up Please Nancy Lauds Lawyer But Nancy shook her head Those two of all others she would not see sec Even kind David whose tender eager arms would be a blessed haven She could not summon summon summon sum sum- mon even him And so the only friend she seemed to have in all the world went vent away in discouragement discouragement ment Mrs Murphy Just you keep a stiff upper lip dearie deane This lawyers lawyer's got brains Hell He'll get this thing fixed up So Nancy went back to the interminable interminable in interminable in- in terminable double solitaire with Kate Tho older girl leaned over the thc table peering at Nancy in her kindly kind kind- ly Jy sighted near way the matter kid Nother knockout blow That old dame seemed to be pretty if it you ask me Your mother 7 1 Nancy refused the the theother theother theother other girl offered No she keeps the rooming house where I stayed Kato Kate grinned I thought so Those old dames arc are all alike arent aren't they All cut from one pattern Nancy shuffled shuttled the cards idly Another game of solitaire when she had played dozens and dozens al al- al I read ready But there was nothing else to do Better solitaire than to go mad with her thoughts She brought an attorney Hes He's going to arrange bail Kate cut the deck That means maybe now maybe later I know them birds pretty well myself A Ada Aday Aday da day In here Is an eternity But a aday aday aday day to them Well its it's just another da day I guess I know Ive I've been in jails from San Francisco to Now New York and all sorts of ot lawyer lawyer lawyer law law- yer chaps good bad and indifferent ent have balled me sue out I know Nancy laughed Her first spontaneous spontaneous spontaneous spon spon- laughter since she had come como into the place Then you ought to know the ropes Kate Kate patted the red-haired red girls girl's hand in a bluff natured good-natured ture Atta girl Laugh Theres There's nothing in life worth crying about honey When you get as old as I Iam Iam am you'll know that In the meantime meantime mean mean- time just try to believe it and take It from me you'll be bo a a. darned sight happier happler I can just bet youre you're Inhere Inhere in inhere here on account of ot some man Most women are If It the they were left to themselves and weren't trying to help any man there're mighty few of us would get in hero Now aint it the truth dearie deane It It hadn been for lor some man man man- Nancy ancy thought of Don He had said he loved her That he would do anything in the world to make her happy lappy Yet she would soon have been seen in this awful place for 24 hours He certainly knew she sho was here Probably the tho fact was already plastered plastered plas- plas over the newspapers And yet he 10 had made no effort to help her And Nancys Nancy's guess was largely correct Don Blair walked the floor of his private office that very minute minute min mm- ute wondering what he could do to help the red-headed red girl whom he loved oved so much as his selfish impulsive impulsive sive nature could love and at the same time help the father whom he be ador adored d with all the wistful mistaken dreams of ot his shattered boyhood Made Blade His Decision At last he made his decision A Avery Avery Avery very definite one He would not dare help Nancy Tilton He must avoid questioning as long as he possibly could But David could help David had always held more than a a. friendly interest in the girl girt David would be exactly the one to help Nancy But David Walton Valton was not in his office oice Miss McIntosh sat there behind behind behind be be- hind closed s d doors Oh Ohi hello she said I came In here trying to get some work done away from the hullabaloo of that place Wheres Walton Yalton 1 Gone Miss McIntosh pointed to the tho noon edition of a daily newspaper newspaper newspaper news news- paper front page up on the desk There in m letters that swept with boldness across the tho front page was the story that Nancy Tilton who claimed to be the daughter of James Tilton and the granddaughter ter of Mrs James Tilton Sr was held in the Cook county jail on a charge of ot being implicated In the robbery of ot thousands of ot dollars oi ot securities from Blair Bonn Benn CoDon Co Don Blair picked up the paper rolled it and struck it into his pocket Ill read this over Awful Isn't it 1 And as he went back to the se security security so- so of his own office ho he was wondering wondering wondering won won- dering about a haired gray-haired man man man- hidden away in an upper room of ot ofa a a. loop hotel Strange that even to his son Donald Donald Don Don- ald aid Romaine would not reveal his whereabouts on that Sunday night To bo be continued Thursday Copyright for The Telegram |