| Show I 1 PRINCESS IlC lC bJ 1 I COPYRIGHT 0 fl Ii fI 7 S bY NEA rV ce- ce 7 anne e fl BEGIN HERE TODAY TODA Vera Cameron permits herself tc to tobe be transformed from a plain busness business business' bus busi- ness ness' girl into a beauty by Jerry Macklyn 1 her boss advertising manager of Peach Bloom Cosmetics company company Jerry falls in love with Vera also called Yee- Yee Vee-Vee Vee Vee and his love persists even when he learns she consents to the transformation only b because the man she falls in inloe inlove love lo w with th Schuyler Smythe ignores her Vera spends spends' her vacation n at Lake Minnetonka 1 because Smythe Is there Smythe Smyth and other guests mistake her for Vivian Crandall ex- ex princess wh vho efter a Paris divorce is in hiding Vera emphatically proclaims her true identity but tut is not believed d The learn from hotel guests returning to the city of their supposed daughters daughter's whereabouts Vera gets word while she and Smythe are n the pIer late tt at night that she is wanted at the hotel She and Smythe flee in a a stolen ear car Smythe confesses his love and says they must be at ie- ie e- e lieving he loves her for herself alone Vera Tera tells him the truth s b. b her identity with rry's Jerrys letter Smythe is furious revealIng himself as a fortune hunter However However How How- ever he retrieves when it occurs to him this girl may really be the princess who is trying to to outsmart a another other man Two Iwo them nd mas massed ed men stop Vera is tal taken en with them in au an airplane all air Plane to a shack in the mountains Prince Ivan Vivians Vivian's husband ex-husband awaits her there Vera and the prince are h horrified when the men imm immediately announce announce they wih hold them for a ransom from the Vera convinces the prince who is furious at the dig dig- covery Vera is hOt his wife th that t they must play the part otherwise the men angered at findIng her unable to draw a ransom will murder murder mur- mur der them M Meantime Jerry Macklyn in NewYork New York reads of what has happened at the Minnetonka At the office J Jerry rrY Is stunned when a Rosemary Fitch tells him she saw Vera that morning In a subway jam her old old plain self again wearing ta cles le She tells tells' him she gave her hel one orie of the er adver- t thing ng b booklets in which Veras Vera's p plc- plc c- c tures appear Jerry gets a phone call and a request to come immediately imme- imme to nn an address In the Bronx Jerry surmises it is Vivian Crandall herself who is sumin summoning hi him and he hurrIes awa away NOW GO ON WITH CHAPTER For an instant after the dor dol was opened to hIm Jerry Macklyn l felt an absurd conviction that he was gazing upon Vera Vem Victoria Cameron as she had been before he had conceived conceived con con- his dIsastrous scheme of I transforming her ler Into a be beauty uty But it was for an instant only For Forthe the woman who was searching his face unsmilingly was neither like I the old od Vera nor the new and yet strangely reminiscent of bot of them Her hall hair a dark gleaming Coppery red was parted In the middie middie mid mid- die and brushed smoothly toward th the ears ears where twin braids were coiled like small wheels and r close to the head Her c n was in its even pallor unrelieved by rouge but lik like the old Vee Vee Vee's her eyes were dIsguised behInd large rimmed spectacles with amber tint ed lenses How do you ou do Miss 1 Craig he said He was waa careful to leave the initiative to her The ahe name on her herbell herbell bell was Craig and that was what he would call her until she hose to give him to address her bY h hr r. r reaL name Come Com in Mr Macklyn 1 she directed directed di- di hIm gravely I r I rent the place furnished she explained negligently In her low lov impersonal but musical voice A voice not unlike Vee Vee's Vee he decIded tie tie- except for its faint flavor of blended continental accents Mr 11 l I d do you know why I 1 sent for you she asked abruptly I believe I do Jerry smiled mile at her H He could not feel Ill at with her She seemed too much like the girl he lov loved d to be a stranger strang- strang er to him You are Vivian Cran- Cran dali of I had been o co course expecting expect expect- ing word from yO you all all all' allday day ever since my secretary told me this morning that she had seen Miss Cameron in the subway I knew of course that she had not seen Miss Miss' Cameron but but you i iAh Ah VIvian Crandall raised the enchanting eyebrows which Jerry had used Sf l as a t tm m model del for the ne Vee Vee-Vee's brows You are disarmingly disarm frank I s suppose sup sup- p pose I may as well wel remoVe these horrid glasses I 1 ani really leally not not m myself sett at all w With lh them on on and she lift lifted d them from her lOSe anti and n to I couch b sl f. f her with grimace of distaste So I am really like this r ous double of mine this girl rl who has lias been so so te teas as to be while she was vas p playing th the adventuress Vivian Crandall led dra She is not an adventuress she has not pos posed d as Vivian Crandall and she is in danger dang of her life Ufe through gh no fault of h her r own Jerry l leaned forward land and frowned I s suppose pp s it an also that she has a haircut h exactly like likel l th one r from Paris the one one I have worn malt my myre recent recent re- re re- re cent photographs s and in the por- por trait that was painted In l Paris arl 1 this spring pring No jt was n tan accident Jerry Jer- Jer ry answered honestly hIs fare face flushing darkly If you'll be p pat pa- pa t tl nt with me me I l' l tan an explain the whole situation In a few words words- account for foi that booklet that Miss iss Fitch gave You on on t the e subway this morning Vivian Vivi I Crandall drew tho booklet from beneath neath a sofa and sat lt r regarding the photograph pf of her double with Mth broodingly intent e eyes es while J rry made his straightforward straightforward straight straight- forward e taking all the blame u upon on himself himsel hd d absolving Vee-Vee Vee Vee so o carefully whet Ie he hai 1 finished hIs audience lifted h het l lovely he head d and s smiled d' d deeply Into his eyes ees Youre You're very in love with her arent aren't you J Jerry rry Macklyn l Lucky girl f I I am am he d honestly And I dont don't mind telling you that Id I'd rather r lock ou in this apartment apart apart- ment and keep you prisoner than t U. U let you endanger her life by ing the police and the press that you are safe and the that gitl gil is an imposter I I dont don't blame you she smiled and a faraway look came into he her eyes I know what it means to love like that Do you think that if I had meant to go to the police I I have sent for you You have I Inot not asked me why I am here or or why my parents have been so I foo-I- Ish as to put detectives on my trail dragging your poor little sweetheart into the net that they set for me No 1 Jerry shook his head he nd I wont won't ask you I have no rI right ht I am sure that your our reasons n are aregood e good ones nes or they would not b hI yours You are a very gallant gentleman gentle gentle- man Jerry Macklyn Vivian Crand Cran- Cran d l at him I remain hidden then and let your parents pay ransom for the wrong girl 1 if the kIdnapers demand de- de mand ransom as they undoubtedly will demanded Jerry More than that Vivian Crandall Cran- Cran dall dali answered firmly I shall try to help you find her and to protect I her from the consequences of her only that sin of looking like me She Sho really looks like me-a me great deal like me I mean meant she asked a note of anxiety in her voice It If your hair was cut like hers like yours was when that I of you was made you'd pass for twins Jerry assured her Excuse mo a moment Vivian smiled d and left the room He was wretched again with anxiety anxiety ety for tor the girl he adored and who was even then undergoIng otil God knew what tortures at the hands of beasts to whom the word mercy was unknown Then he looked up at the sound of a light footstep and thought that he was gazing at the very girl for whom his heart was constricted with agony The rhe coiled bral braids j ot of copper copper-col- ored hair which had covered Vivian Crandall's aristocratic ears were gone Her short hair brushed back from her broad white brow across her small head in the fashIon lash lash- Ion which which had had not long ago startled Paris into an ecstacy of admiration Judas Priest Jerry breathed I suppose that settles it Vivian Crandall smiled at him We will concede the the resemblance without further argument Those braids saved first bob and what a funny bob it was have been very useful In transforming the Princess Vivian into a demure little working girl But I think the tinted spectacles have been even more useful Now Jerry Macklyn l lets let's get down to business You want to rescue your lady fair in true knightly knight ly fashion dont don't you she teased hIm The the better Jerry grinned Even if she is engaged to that sleek haIred young socIety sheik Th The pap papers rs say ay that they were eloping to to be married when Vee- Vee Vee-Vee Vee Vee was vas kidnap d he added dIsmally I wouldn't take that too seriously serious serious- l ly Vivian Crandall comfor comforted ed him her voice a little crisp with scorn Remember that this Schuyler Smythe person whoever he may be thought he was eloping with Vivi Viv- Viv i ian n Crandall not with Vera Cameron Cam Cam- eron If If yo your r Vee- Vee Vee-Vee Vee Vee is the girl you think she is Im I'm pretty sure she would have told him the truth before before be- be fore they applied for a marriage license li- li cense and my experience with for for- tune s convinces m mc that the dashing young man would have scuttled away like a frightened rab- rab bit But that is' is not important now We Ve can deal with Mr 11 Smythe later and she clicked her perfect little lIttie teeth viciously I suppose you ou noticed no- no in the newspapers accounts of my that m my former husband bus hus- band the prince is also missing from his hotel and has not been seen since Tu Tuesday Did it occur to you t o connect the two disappearances disappear disappear- ances Jerry clenched his big hands so tightly that the knuckles cracked but he did pot fot dare urge her to hurry I think I could find the place she said her mouth twisting with witha a grimace of remembered pain and distaste She paused again her eyes brooding What t made me remember her ber the incident Was that Ivan remarked remarked re- re marked then that it was an Ideal place for an abduction He laughed as' as ashe he told me that if I ever left him hEd hE'd kidnap me and hold me there until I crime came to my senses Could you ten tell me how to get there ere Jerry demanded hIs breath coming In quick gasps Xo No but I might ht be able to show showY Y 1 the way VivIan Crandall told him simply Have you a car carVe We Ve can start before dawn In the morn morn- ing It is too late now we ue could not find the h hut t in Ih the dark un- un familiar famUlar as I 1 am with the roads And leave her with that beastall beast beastall all night Jerry groaned beating hIs hands together in a frenzy of impatience But I suppose that is the best we can do Poor Vee- Vee Vee If he has dared to t touch uch her Ill I'll kill him Miss Crandall To Be Continued Continue |
