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Show The Lovely Pretender I Tlqrm Fiction by PritcilU Wyn gav In Ih alarm. Thar ware other policemen at th arena anly a few minutea later, but It aaama there waan't any trace af tha bandit. - "Ind ha get away la a rarT" Mary could not have prevented that agonlaad aunt Ion. "Tea. One f th Delta aaw him. In a big car. Ha headed for the open country. Hi car )uat roared aa ha got It Into apeed " "Probably mile and mile awy from here by now Mra. Jervl ventured. ven-tured. "I tell you. girla. tha world ia getting mora and mora baxardoue to II v m. Why, when bandit get t th point that they can Invade a ram pus a campua. mind you. with innocent atudanta on It, why I think tbinga have coma la a pretty paaa." Th houee rang now with tha excitement ex-citement of returning Rho. All of them had heard tha atory and each of them had a different vereloa and a different theory concerning It. Someone had th presence af mind la turn on Ih abort wave radio and get tha polir cal la. Then, sitting awed and excited around It. lha girla bataned aa tha graateal man hunt In Ih hiatory af Ih country got under way. Hearing th Radio Raporft "Calling all car, calling all car Be on the lookout for a large coupe, headed aouth. Man and woman believed be-lieved ta be ocrupanta of It. Man driving. Bring them back dead ar live" Aggie held Mary' hand. "Isn't It earning, Mary?" Mary waa glad that. In th dim light, her companion could not e how tha terrible new affected her. 8h kept trying to brae hereelf not to worry about It Waant aha In enough trouble heraelf without worrying about thia affair which did not concern her? After all. aha had been only a reluctant wltnea to a part of tha affair. If aha called lha police and told them about how chance he4 made her an observer of lha tragedy, they could only queation her and obtain very lull Information from tha queation I ng. And to tell her part of tha atory would entail an explanation of how she came to be In that vicinity and away from tha Kho houae. Mora than ever Mary realised that tha hoprlesa net of clrcumatancee tightened tight-ened relrnlleaaly about her. IContinued Friday I (Copyright, 1UT, for Tha Telegram.) Hrr vole sounded far away, eve to heraelf. "I'm glad you're hot feeling hurt about It " Mr. Jem watched her young friend with kindly runnaiiy. "Why ahould I feel hurt? Chrie waa very kind t me. I'm'a new girl and everyone haa been very gra-rioua gra-rioua to m. I'm glad that Bueen la happy. And that t hria la happy." Khe waa relieved then that plump Mr. Jervta felt th need of tea and Invited her down ta th kitchen. "It just about time tha girla began be-gan getting homa. Wa ran make a cup of tea and ait and visit " It waa peaceful, then ta ait down at the coay little table with friendly Mra. Jervia. Mary waa glad to be taken away from her worriea. Thia quiet friendliness blotted out, temporarily tem-porarily at least, thoaa awful screams and shouting that had pursued pur-sued her aa aha fled down tha alleyway alley-way only a short time be for. She wondered what had happened. hap-pened. Had II been a real holdup or just a bit af jollying by aome overaealou fraternity group carry-inr carry-inr out a pledging rite T She waa not to be In doubt very long aa to what had actually happened. hap-pened. Aggie Baker came rushing in from her data. They heard her bidding a haaty good-night to her escort, heard her a lam tha front door, toaa hrr hat and coat to tha nearest chair and com rushing ktlrhenward. wher aha expected, rightly, to find Mra. Jervia. "Uoodneaa. what I It?" Mr. Jervl Jer-vl laughed at Aggla perched agalnat th Ubla blinking at tha lights. "Have you heard what ha happened?" hap-pened?" "Uoodneaa, no. We'v been her all evening. Juet cama downstairs a few minutea ago to brew a cup of tea and wait lor you girl. What haa happened?" "A holdup. On the campus " Aggie waa brealhlea with th newa. Holdup on Th Camput "A holdup?" Even though Mary auaperted what Aggie had been about to aay, her voire held amaxe-mrnt amaxe-mrnt and consternation. "Yes. It Just seems it could not have happened here. Hut It did. .Two students. I didn't know either of them. They were parked In a car Just bark of tha Delt houaa. Seem like th polir can only piece thinga together because neither the girl or tha man can tell anything about II." "You mean they're dead?" Mary turned to Agnea fearfully. "Not dead, but dying both of them. Tha holdup man ahot aach of them half a doten times. Ha ahot right Into tha car at cloaa range. Neither the man nor tha girl ia expected to live." Mrs. Jrrvia waa absorbing tha horror of th atory. "Didn't they catch him? Was It a man? Wa ha alone? What happened?" Aggie, only too glad to tell everything every-thing that aha knew about tha gruesome atory, went on breathlessly. breath-lessly. "Nothing more happened except ex-cept that whoever tha bandit waa, ha got away. Tha car waa parked right, back of tha Delt house and it wasn't mora than a minute until there were mora than a doicn Delta there. "Tha campua policeman waa only a block away. He heard tha ahota. Chapter It Th lose of her ha, did not worry Mary greatly. The hat wa merely an Inexpensive beret, although Mary had admired It greatly because other girl teemed I like It ao much. Then. too. she had never aeen another like it The beret waa faah-loned faah-loned of twieted ribbona In varioua colore. It had a certain atyla about It that aet elf Mary lovely hair gorgeously. Now tba hat was gone. That waa all there waa to It Mary waated very little time in worrying about it Other thinga worried Mary more Chria wa angry with bar. Now she had lost even lha arant comfort hie friendship gav her. And the scene with Dean Royal had beea tha last at raw In all th worrisome, bothering event that had nagged her footstep aince aha cam to tha unive ratty. Only one thing wa certain. In th morning aba must aea Dean RoyaL Tell her th absolute truth about everything. Mry Dacidat To Laav Then aha muat leave thia place that had been at one and tha aama time tha seen of her greateat happiness hap-piness and tha seen of her great-eat great-eat fear. Mary felt profound relief when sh came to thia derision. After all, fata hadn't Intended tha Ilia of princeaa for her. If only aha had gone along aa Sarah Ellis first advised, Investing her money and establishing a little home. Then today aha might have known peace and quiet Instead of tha bitterness bit-terness and heartache that waa her lot. Mr. Jervl. th houaa mother, cam down th corridor again. Thia time aha tapped at Mary door and asked permission to enter. "I ran t alrep. Guess I'm nervou or aome-thing. aome-thing. I saw that your light waa at ill burning. Shall w have a little visit?" "Ye, why not?" Mary offered her guest a chair, trying to be rordiaL Mra. Jervia waa a plump Frenchwoman, French-woman, rather good looking and al-ways al-ways well groomed. All of the girla liked her because aha waa capable aa well aa tolerant. She eased hrr big body now Into a rhalr. atretrhed hrr legs out comfortably com-fortably and began what aha called the vialt "I'm eurprlaed that you r home tonight. Haven't you dated every free night?" Mary nodded. She pretended to be carefully arrutinixlng a fingernail. finger-nail. If ah held her hand firmly that way, one In tha other, their trembling waa not no noticeable. "Honey, I think you were Just superb to be so magnanimous about Sue" "Yea?" Thia waa aomethlng new. "Didn't you know that Sue Leonard Leon-ard has lwy been very fond of Chria?" "No." Mra, Jervia rrrutaed her plump legs. She nodded emphatically, pleased that lha could Impart thia bit of new. "Yes, my dear. And I think Chria liked her aa much aa h ever liked any girl. He a dated a good many girls, but I gueaa he never fell for any of them very hard." "I ." Mary waa surprlaed that her voice could aound ao cool, ao Impersonal. Chris It In Lov "Then when you cama ha wa juat bowled over. Everybody thought he wa craiy Jn love with you. I felt sorry for poor Susan. But aha waa game. She never aaid a word." "No, aha never aaid a word." Mary echoed dismally, thinking of nothing else to aay. "She wa th happiest thing you aver saw tonight. She threw hrr arm around me and juat danced, aha wa ao pleased that ha called bar" 'He a fin fallow," Mary aaid. |
