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Show rip. TjT Ifp "ir a rip I . ii-. ilw i-i j Jl A Novel from the Play By Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood ThP Br.t. coryrltrht.19?0. by Mary Roberts Rlnehart and Avery Hopwnoi. WNU Service . . . I L , STOFrY FROM THE START Defying all efforts to capture him, after a long series of murders mur-ders and robberies, a super-crook super-crook known to the police only as "The Bat" has brought about a veritable reign of terror. At his wits' end, and at the man's own request, the chief of police assigns his best operative, An-dGXson, An-dGXson, to get on the trail of the Bat. CHAPTER II Continued She had skimmed the paper hurriedly hurried-ly now a headline caught her eye. "Failure of Union Bank" wasn'li that the bank that Courtleigh Fleming had been president of? She settled down to read the article, but it was disappointingly disap-pointingly brief. The Unioo bank had closed its doors the cashier, a young man named Bailey, was apparently under un-der suspicion the article nient'ioned Courtleigh Fleming's recent and tragic death in the best vein of newspaperese. newspaper-ese. She laid down the paper and 1 thought Bailey Bailey she seemed to have a vague recollection of hearing hear-ing about a young man named Bailey, :who worked in a bank hut she could cot remember where or by whom his name had been mentioned. Well it didn't matter. She had other things to think about. She must ring for Lizzie get up and dress. The bright morning sun. streaming In through the long window, made lying In bed an old woman's luxury and she refused to be an old woman. "Though the worst old woman I ever knew was a man !" she thought with a satiric twinkle. She was glad Sally's daughter young Pale Ogden was here in the house with her the companionship com-panionship of Dale's bright youth would keep her from getting old:wom-anish old:wom-anish if anything could. She smiled, thinking of Dale. Dale was a nice child her favorite niece. Sally didn't understand her. of course but Sally wouldn't, Sally read magazine mag-azine articles on the Younger Generation Genera-tion and its wild ways. "Sally doesn't remember when she was a Younger Generation herself." thought Miss Cornelia. Cor-nelia. "But I do and if we didn't have sport-S roadsters in the eighties we had buggies and youth doesn't change Its ways just because it's bobbed Its hair." Before Mr. and Mrs. Ogden loft for Europe, Sally had talked to her sister Cornelia . . . long and weight ily, on the problem of Pale. "I'mlilem of Pale indeed!" thought Miss Cornelia Corne-lia scornfully. "Dale's the nicest young thing I've seen in some time and she'd be ten times happier If Sally wasn't always trying to marry her off to some younz snip with more of what fools call 'eligibility' than brains! But there, Cornelia Van Oorder Sally's given you your innings rampaging ram-paging off to Europe and leaving Pale with you all summer and you've a lot less sense than I flatter myself you have. If you can't give your favorite niece a happy vacation from all her Immediate family and maybe find her some one that'll make her happy for good and 'all Into the bargain !" for Miss Cornelia was an incorrigible matchmaker. Nevertheless, she was more concerned con-cerned with "the problem of Pale" than she would have admitted. Pale, at her age, with her charm and beauty "why, she ought to behave as If Fhe were walking on air," thought her aunt, worriedly. "And Instead she nets more as If she were walking on pins-and-needles. She seems to like being here 1 know she likes me I'm pretty sure she's just as pleased to get a little holiday from Sally and Harry she amuses herself she falls In with any plan I want to make anil yet " And yet Pale was not happy Miss Cornelia felt sure of It. "It Isn't natural for a girl to seem so lackluster lack-luster and and quiet at her age f nd she's nervous, too as if some-tMng some-tMng were preying on her nil ml particularly par-ticularly these last few days." Then Miss Cornelia's mind seized nr-on a sentence in a hurried flow of her sister's last instructions a sentence sen-tence that had passed almost unnoticed unno-ticed at the time something about Pale and "an unfortunate attachment but of course, Cornelia, dear, she's ro young and I'm sure it will come to nothing now her father and I have marie our attitude plain!" "Pshaw I bet that's It." thought Miss Cornelia shrewdly. "Pale's fallen in love, or thinks she has, with some decent ruing man without n penny or an 'eligibility' to his name and now she's unhappy liocuuse lux parents don't ap-yirove ap-yirove or bccnuse she's trying to give bltn up and finds she can't. Well " and Miss Cornelia's tight little white curls trembler) with the vehemence of her decision, "If the young thing ever come to me for advice I'll give her a piece of my mind lhat will surprise lux- and sr-indali.e Sally Van (Jorrhx Ogden out of her seven kciis-ch, Sally thinks nobody's worth looking nl If they didn't come over to America v. hen our fi.mily did she ha :n't gumption gump-tion enoii::b realize that If some people hadn't come over later, we'r all Mill be lling on crullers ami 1 ni li punch !' 'ho v. as Ju-I. Mi etcMng nut her hand to ring for Lizzie, when a knock came at the door. She gathered her l'aisley shawl more tightly about her shoulders. "Who is it oh, It's only you, Lizzie," as a pleasant Irish face, crowned by an old-fashioned pompadour pompa-dour of graying hair, peeped In at the door. "Good morning, Lizzie I was just going to ring for you. Has Miss Dale had breakfast I know It's shamefully late." "Good morning, Miss Nelly," said Lizzie, "and a lovely morning it Is, too If that was all of it," she added, somewhat tartly, as she came into the room with a little silver tray whereupon where-upon the morning mall reposed. We hare not yet described Lizzie Allen and she deserves description. A fixture in the Van Gorder household since her sixteenth year, she had long ere now attained the dignity of a Tradition. Tra-dition. One could net imagine Miss Cornelia without a Lizzie to grumble at and cherish or Lizzie without a Miss Cornelia to baby and scold, with tile privileged frankness of such old family servitors. The ttwo were at once a contrast and a complement. Fifty years of American ways tifffJ not shaken Lizzie's firm belief In banshees and leprachauns or tamed her wild Irish tongue fifty years of Lizzie had not altered Miss Cornelia's attitude of fond exasperation with some of Lizzie's Liz-zie's more startling eccentricities. Together To-gether they may have been, as one of the younger Van Gorder cousins had irreverently put it, "a scream" but apart each would have felt lost without with-out the other. "Now what do you mean Ir that were all of it, Lizzie?" queried Miss Cornelia, sharply, as she took her letters let-ters from the tray. Lizzie's face assumed an expression of doleful reticence. "It's not my place to speak," she said with a grim shake of her head, "but I saw my grandmother last night, God rest her plain as life she was the way she looked when they waked her and if It was my doing, we'd be leaving this house this hour!" "Cheese-pudding for supper of course you saw your grandmother!" said Miss Cornelia, crisply, slitting opfn the first of her letters with a pa-perknife. pa-perknife. "Nonsense, Lizzie I'm not going to be scared away from an Ideal country-place because you happen to have a bad dream!" "Was it a bad dream I saw on the stairs last night, when the lights went out and I was looking for the can dles?" said Lizzie heatedly. "Was It a bad dream that ran away from me and nut the back door, as fast as Baddy's p'g? No. Miss Nelly it was a man seven feet tall he was, and eyes that shone in the dark and " "Lizzie Allen !" "Well. It's true, for all that," Insisted In-sisted Lizzie, stubbornly. "Anil why did tiie lights go out tell me that, MKs Neily? They never go out In the city." "Well, this isn't the city." said Miss Cornelia, decisively. "It's the country and very nice it Is and we're staying stay-ing here all summer. I suppose I may be thankful," she went on ironically, "that It was only your grandmother you saw last night. It might have been' the Bat and then where would you be this morning?" "I'd be stiff and stark, with randies at my head and feet," said Lizzie gloomily. "Oil. Miss Neily. don't talk of that terrible creature, the Bat!" She came nearer to her mistress. "Oh. Miss Neily, Miss Nelly do let's go back to the city before he flies away with us all '." "Nonsense, Lizzie," said Miss Cornelia Cor-nelia again, but this time less firmly. Her face grew serious. "If I thought for an instant that there was any real possibility of our being In danger here," she said slowly. "But oh, look at the map, Lizzie! The I'.at has been flying In this district that's true enough but he hasn't crime with-In with-In ten mlh'S of us yet !" "What's ten miles to the Bat?" the obdurate Lizzie sighed. "Ami what of the letter ye had when ye first moved In here? 'The Fleming bouse Is unhealthy for st rangers. ' It said 'Leave It while ye can.'" "Some silly hoy or some crank." Miss Cornelia's voice was firm. "I never pay any attention to anonymous letters." "And there's a fiViny-looltln' letter this mornln' down at the bottom of the pile " persisted Lizzie. "It looked like the other one I'd half a mind to throw It av:iy before you saw It!" "Now, Lizzie, that's quite enough !" Mi-s Cornelia had the Van Gonlor maimer on, now. "I don't care to dls-ctu-r your ridiculous fears tiny further. Where Is Miss Pale?" Lizzie assumed an altitude of prim rebuff. "Miss pale's gone Into the cily, ma'am." "Gone Into the city?" "Yes, ma'am. She got n telephone call this morning, early-long-dlstunce It was. I don't know who It. was called lux." "Lizzie! You dliln't listen?" "Of course not. Miss Neily." Lizzie's Liz-zie's fio-o was a study In Injured virtue. vir-tue. "Miis Pub' took the call In lux own room nnr shut the door." "Ami you were outside the door?" "Where else would I be dustin'. that time In the mornin'?" said Lizzie "But It's yourself knows well enough the doors In this house is thick and not a sound goes past them." "I should hope not," said Miss Cornelia, Cor-nelia, rebukingly. "But tell me, Lizzie did Miss Dale seem well this morning?" "That she did not," said Lizzie promptly. "When she came down to breakfast, after the call, she looked like a ghost. I made her the eggs she likes, too but she wouldn't eat 'em." "Il'm," Miss Cornelia pondered. "I'm sorry if well, Lizzie, we mustn't meddle In Miss Dale's affairs." "No, ma'am." "But did she say when she would be back?" "Yes, Miss Neily. On the two o'clock train. Oh und-"-I was almost forgettin' she told me to tell you particular par-ticular she said while she was in the city she'd be after engagin' the gardener gar-dener you ;ioke of." "The gardener? Oh, yes I poke to her about that the other night the place Is beginning to look run down so many flowers to attend to. Well that's very kind of Miss Dale." "Yes, Miss Neily." Lizzie hesitated, hesitat-ed, obviously with some weighty news on her mind which she wished to Impart. Im-part. Fitvilly she took the plunge. if n mm V. 'ss J-fr Her Fingers Trembled a Little as She Turned the Missive Over. "I might have told Miss Pale she could have been lookin' for a cook as well and a housemaid " she muttered mut-tered at last, "hut they hadn't spoken to me then." Miss Cornelia sat bolt upright In bed. "A cook and a housemaid? But we have a cook and n housemaid, Lizzie! You don't mean to tell me " Lizzie nodded lux heat. "Yes'm. They're leaving. Both of 'em. Today." "But good heav Lizzie, why on earth didn't you tell me before? I'm really very much unnoyed witli you because you didn't. I shall get up Immediately I want (o give those two a piece of my mind. Is Billy leaving too?" "Not that I know of the heathen Japanese!" said Lizzie sorrowfully. "And yet he'd be better riddance than cook or housemaid." "Now, Lizzie, how many times have I told you that you must conquer your prejudices? Hilly Is an excellent butler but-ler he'd been with Mr. Fleming ten years and has the very highest recommendations. recom-mendations. I am very glad that he Is staying. If he Is with you t help him, we shall do very well until I can get other servants." Miss Cornelia Cor-nelia had risen now and Lizzie was helping her with the Intricacies of her toilet. "But It's too annoying," she went on, In the pauses of Lizzie's deft ministrations. "What did they say to you, Lizzie did they ;lve any reason?" "Oh, yes, Miss Nelly they bad reasons rea-sons you could choke a goat with," said Lizzie, viciously, as she arranged Miss Cornelia's transformation. "Cook was the first of them she was up late I think they'd been talking It over together. She comes Into the kitchen with her hat on nnd her bag III her hand. 'Good morning,' says I, pleasant enough, 'you've got your hat on,' says I. 'I'm leaving,' says she. 'Leaving, are you?' says I. "Leaving,' says shr'. 'My sister has twins,' says she. 'I Just got word I must go to her right away.' 'What?' says I, nil struck In a heap. 'Twins,' s'Mys she, 'you've heard of such things as twins.' 'That I have,' says I, 'and I know a lie on a face when I sis? It, too.' " "Lizzie I" "Well, It made me sick af heart, Miss Nelly her with her hat and her bag and lr talk about twins and no consideration for you. 'Well !' says she, 'you can see that Annie, the hnusenialirs leaving, tor'.' 'lias her skilix got (wins as well?' says I and looked at her. 'No,' says she, as bold as brass, 'hut Annie's got n pain in lux side and she's feared It's appon-dyr-Ills so she's leaving lo go back to lux family.' 'Oh,' says I, 'auij what about Miss Van Gorder?" 'I'm sorry for Miss Van Gorder,' says she the falseness of her! 'But she'll have to do the best she can for twins and appendycitls is acts of God and not to be put aside for even the best of wages.' 'Is that so?' says I and with that I left her, for I knew If I listened to her a minute longer I'd be giving her bonnet a shake and that wouldn't be respectable. So there you are, Miss Neily, and that's the gist of the matter." Miss Cornelia laughed. "Lizzie you're unique," she said. "But I'm glad you didn't give her bonnet a shake though I've no doubt you could." "Humph !" said Lizzie, snorting, the fire of battle in her eye. "And is it any Black Irish from Ulster would play Impudence to a Kerry woman without getting the flat of a hand in but that's neither here nor there. The truth of It is, Miss Neily," her voice grew solemn, "it's my belief they're scared both of them by the haunts and the banshees here and that's all." "If they are, they're very silly," said Miss Cornelia, practically. "But it doesn't matter. If they want to go, they may." An hour or so later, Cornelia sat in a deep chintz chair in the comfortable com-fortable living room of the Fleming house, going through the pile of letters which Lizzie's news of domestic revolt had prevented her reading earlier. Cook and housemaid had eo'i'e and gone civil enough, but so obviously determined upon leaving the house at once that Miss Cornelia had sighed and let them go, though not without caustic comment. Since then, she had devoted herself to calling up various vari-ous employment agencies without entirely en-tirely satisfactory results. A new cook and housemaid were promised for the end of the week but for the next throe days the Japanese butler, Billy, and Lizzie between them would have to bear the brunt of the service, "till, yes and then there's Pale's gardener if she gets one," thought Miss Cornelia. Cor-nelia. "I wish he could cook but I don't suppose gardeners can and Billy's a treasure. Still, It's Inconvenient Incon-venient now, stop Cornelia Van Gorder you were asking for an adventure ad-venture only this morning and the moment mo-ment the littlest sort of one comes along, you want to crawl out of It." She hail reached the bottom of her pile of letters these to be thrown away these to be answered ah, here was one she had overlooked somehow. She took It up. It must be the one Lizzie had wanted to throw away she smiled at Lizzie's fears. The address ad-dress was badly typed, on cheap paper pa-per she tore the envelope open and drew out a single unsigned sheet. "If you stay in this house any longer DEATH. Go back to the city at once and save your life." Her lingers trembled a little ns she turned t lie missive over, but her face remained calm. She looked at the envelope en-velope nt the postmark while her heart thudded uncomfortably for a moment and then resumed Its normal beat. It had come at last the adventure adven-ture and she was not afraid! She knew who It was, of course. The Bat! No doubt of It. And yetdid the Bat ever threaten before he struck? She could not remember. But It didn't matter. The Bat was unprecedented un-precedented unique. At any rate, Bat or no Bat, she must think out a course of action. The defection of cook and housemaid left her alone In the house with Lizzie and Billy and Dale, of course. If Dale returned. "Two old women, a young girl and a Japanese Japa-nese butler to face the most dangerous danger-ous criminal In America," she thought, grimly. And yet one couldn't be sure. The threatening letter might be only a joke a letter from a crank after all. Still, she must take precautions look for aid somewhere. But where could she look for aid? She ran over in her mind the new acquaintances she had made since she moved to the country. There was Doctor Wells, the local physician, who had joked with her about moving Into the Bat's home territory he seemed an Intelligent man but she knew him only slightly she couldn't call a busy doctor away from his patients to Investigate something which might only prove to be a mare's-nest. The boys Dale had met at the Country club "Humph !" she sniffed, "I'd rather rath-er trust my gumption than any of theirs." The logical person to call on, of course, was Richard Fleming, Courtleigh Fleming's nephew and heir, who had rented her the house. He lived at the Country club she could probably reach him now. She was Just on the point of doing so, when she decided against It partly from delicacy, partly from an Indefinable Indefin-able feeling that he would not be of much help. "Besides," she thought sturdily, "it's my house now, not his he didn't guarantee burglar protection protec-tion In the lease." For a moment she felt .very helpless, very much alone. Then her courage returned. "Pshaw, Cornelia, If you have got to get help get the help you want and hang the consequences!" stie adjured ad-jured herself. "You've always hankered han-kered to see a first-class detective do his detecting well, get one or decide to do the Job yourself I'll bet you could, at that." She tiptoed to the main door of the living room and closed It cautiously, smiling as she did so. Lizzie might be about and Lizzie would promptly . go Into hysterics if she got an Inkling i of her mistress' present Intentions. Then she went to the telephone, and asked for long distance. j When she had finished her telephoning, telephon-ing, she looked at once relieved and a : little naughty like a demure child, : who has carried out some piece of Innocent In-nocent mischief unobserved. "M stars!" she muttered to herself. "You never can tell what you can do till you try." Then she sat down again and tried to think of other measures of defense. j "Now, If I wore the Bat. or an? j criminal," she mused, "how would 1 ' get Into this house? Well, that's It ' I might get In 'most any way It's so j big and rambling. All the grounds j you want to lurk In, too It'd take a ! company of police to shut them off. Then there's the house Itself let's j see third floor trunk room, servants' i rooms couldn't get In there very well ; except 'with a pretty long ladder j that's nil right. Second floor well, I ! suppose a man cou'.d get Into my bed- room from the porch If be were an ! acrobat but he'd need to be a very good acrobat and there's no use borrowing bor-rowing trouble. Downstairs Is the i problem, Cornelia downstairs Is the ! problem. "Take this room, now." She ros and examined it carefully. "There's the door over there on the right that ' leads Into the billiard room. There's this door over hero, that leads Into the hall. Then there's the other door i by the alcove and all those French j windows whew!" She shook her head. (TO RE CONTINUED.) |