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Show Ihe RETURN AM i H 7 WYNDHAM COPYRIGHT y BA.RSE HOPKINS W NU. SERVICE Ni CHAPTER IX Continued 20 At the ferry, Weems voiced his de-Ires de-Ires to get out again to the coast to make pictures. Fort Lee, he said, was dead. Nothing doing In the East. In the West one could work outsirle all the year, and bis comedies were to be all exteriors'. Ere the Fort Lee dll was ascended, Trent was offered the chance of becoming one of the leaders of the film Industry. Weems proved It on the back of an envelope he had wrung from the reluctant Hubbard, who carefully removed the contents before he parted with It It was difficult diffi-cult to Judge from the bark ot his prospector's head Just what effect his eloquence engendered. "For the love o' Mike," he Bald, as Trent passed David More's little store, "say something." "I'll think It over," he was told. "To begin with. I'd like to see how pictures pic-tures are made." Weems took this as encouragement. "You shall see everything the studio has to 6how," he declared. "They know me." Weems was disappointed that Trent decided not to permit wholesale presentations. Weems grumbled about it to the girls. "I'd hove Introduced him to all the big ones, whether I know 'em or not I don't get him at all. He seems more Interested In the mechanics of the game than the other parts." Weems added. "Look at him, will you?" Trent was asking questions of a ' technical director when he could have talked with a starl "He must have money," said the lead a little wistfully. Look, Horace, the studio manager Is talking to him now." "I had to tell the old grafter I'd got new money In," Weems said a trifle apprehensive as to his Immediate fu ture. "That release Is bound to come, and then 1 can pay up everything. If they crowd me too much they'll lose It all." "So will you and me," said the lady soberly. The studio manager merely said thai If Mr. Trent had an Interest In the Horace Weems Productions, would he be responsible for their linanclul Indebtedness? In-debtedness? "I will not," Trent said concisely. "To begin with, Mr. Weems has stated that the company has all assets and 1JO IlllUlllllf.. "lies behind on last week's studio rental. Here's the statement." Trent looked over the items. He was no more anxious than another man to waste his money, bin he uc compnnled the manager to his office and pidd the accounts. He did not give the money because ne felt any re sponsibllity for Weems, and he did not uim at production. He was willing to settle the bill because he had certain definite knowledge to acquire and had given himself a week to get It In. "I'm going down to the village,' Trent told Weems. "I shall be back In half an hour." David More was finishing a story In a magazine devoted to light fiction when Anthony Trent came In. He had read of the Deal Beach exploits, and was peculiarly Interested. He thought he understood now why his client had been so anxious to learn the details he had been set to gather. "Here's another commission," Trent said In the security of small purlin at the rear. I wan! to rent for as short a term as possible a house with large grounds running down to the Hudson. I don't care what sort ot re pair the house is in or w.iat you have to pay. There's a place I have In mind somewhere north of Ossining which was empty when 1 passed through the town last It's the kind of rundown estate not modern enough to attract the rich commuter and too expensive for middle-class purses to keep up Here's some money tor a deposit II necessary. I'll come ami nig a lent when you've gol h few lo select from. Remember that I uiusi have grounds that are not over looked. Also 1 must nave an uninterrupted uninter-rupted view of the river." When Trent saw Weems again he looked upon a dilTerent man. Now that the embargo was removed. Uor ce was feverishly finishing a comedy "What picture is being made over there?" Trent asked. "A six-reel special." Weems returned re-turned "A crook story. Go and take a peek " The studio manager Introduced Trent to the director and stars and answered Ids many questions When Trem nn hack to the Van Uodcn apartment' he ws possed ol a vast am. .nut of Information He was having . miy tor it, r,, the prk.e would tv cheap If the end he sought were att.iined. Later In the evening he culled u, Mrs. Kinney, spoke a little to Sin t..n and then talked to Miuieuvi-eiie r,u pin. "You haven't forgotten tomorrow, 1 hope." "Not for a moment," she returned. "I shall be waiting at nine. It seems a shame we cannot bring poor Captain Cap-tain X." The names of the Immured were never mentioned. "Would It not be possible?" "It would be far too dangerous." While this was true, Anthony Trent could not conceal from himself that he did not want a third person on the trip. Sutton was already fortunate In having Mademoiselle so close at hand. CHAPTER X Confessions Trent was conscious of a certain restraint between him and Mademoiselle Mademoi-selle Dupln during the first few miles of the Journey. She had made up her mind that she would not add to the many obligations she was under. And yet to broach the subject seemed un gracious. But at the apartment they were so rarely alone that here, aboard, was the only opportunity. For his part Anthony Trent was thinking how little he knew of this beautiful and accomplished woman L- I 1 Late In the Evening He Called Up Mr6. Kinney. and how much more he desired to learn. What, he wondered, was her early history? The launch was a fast one, and soon overhauled a liner going through the harbor shipping at half speed. "It's the Brabant," he exclaimed, and told the steersman to go as close to her as he could. "I cam- over In her," Trent told the girl at his side, "and met a very decent de-cent sort of purser aboard. I've an Idea I can use him If he Is still there. She should be buck here In exactly twenty days. 1 had a fearful qu trier of an hour on that staunch snip when 1 left Dover." He told her ol his n terview with the Inquiring purser. "The tragedy with people like us,' she said gravely, "is that there must always be the fear of such interviews. "I know." he answered a little gloomily. "That very thought is never far away from me. 1 cau uevet be certain that some one hasn't .'cvntm Just as much thought to get'ing m: as I have given to evading capture. I mistrust people on whom i ought to rely. 1 am Invariably looking fur mo tives. Sometimes 1 think i have slain the ability to enjoy people." "Am I not to be misled?" she asked. "You are dilTerent." he answered. 'You can understand because you have suffered too. That Is why you and I should always he good friends I know you will never go had. to the old life. Yet how many men who have lived better Uvea than 1 could yoo convince? con-vince? Collective prejudices send la-nnmerable la-nnmerable men hack to the crime they went to escape." "Didn't you enjoy the Grant house party?" she asked, after a silence, "Not at first In the beginning I felt every man was watching me suspiciously." sus-piciously." "We pay." she sighed, "whether In prison or out of It" "AJ1 this Isn't very cheerful, Is it?" he returned. "I suggested this trip to keep you In good spirits, and we both drift Into morbid moods." He reached for nis glasses. "What do you see?" she asked. "The good ship La Belle Alliance In the offing." A numoer of small craft passed and repassed the stranded vessel. She lay pathetically on her side, a mass of rusty red and faded black. Apparently Appar-ently none of the Grant household was on the private beach. "I wonder if Mrs. Grant will let me go back." said Mademoiselle Dupln when the launch was headed for borne. "Surely you don't want to go back?" he cried. "Why not?" she answered. "1 cannot can-not remain where 1 am any longer. 1 shall never cease to be grateful for what you have done. Some day I may be able to repay you. 1 can never forget what you rescued me from. But you must see I cannot be a burden to you any longer. "Burden !" he scoffed. "Thut is absurd." ab-surd." Nevertheless he saw that nothing would alter her. "If you must go 1 cannot bold you back, but please don't go back to Deal yet That might upset my plans and bring suspicion sus-picion on you. Do me this favor. Stay on with Mrs. Kinney until my scheme for Sutton succeeds or falls. You are putting me under obligations. He was morose and gloomy till you went there, and 1 want him at his best Don't go back on me now," he pleaded. "If 1 can believe 1 am helping you It Is different" she said, "but I only suspect more of your generosity. "Sometimes you have looked at me," she said, "as though you wanted to know about my past 1 have felt it as strongly as if you had spoken." "You cannot imagine how much I have wanted to know," he returned, "but I haven't any right to ask." "I think 1 should like you to know. My father was Russian and my mother French. They died when I was quite young. For years 1 was at a convent in Paris. My guardian was a Colonel Ogilvie, who had been fo a time in the Russian service with my father There was very little money left from the estate. My father was suspected of liberal tendencies tend-encies and his lands confiscated. Yet, when 1 Joined Colonel Ogilvie and his ' friend Count von Schonbrunn in Cannes, it was given out I was an heiress. 1 was not yet eighteen. They took a splendid house for me, which was in reality a gambling establishment establish-ment although I did not know It There Is much money among the visitors visi-tors to Cannes, Nice and Pau, and there was a vast profit in the house. The police broke up the establishment at Cannes. So we moved to Nice, where there was a scandal about crooked play. And so on in other cities. You may believe me or not, but I was kept In Ignorance of this. I was convent-bred and had been taught obedience to my guardian. I married Count de Beaulieu before I was twenty. He thought I was an heiress, and my guardian and Von Schonbrunn thought he was the head of the rich branch of his family, instead, in-stead, be had nothing. When It all came to light he left me. I had news of his death while you were staying In Old Westbury." "1 remember," Trent said. It was this death which had seemed to clear the way for her marriage to Captain Monmouth, the man who had repudiated repudi-ated her so strangely. "After he left me. and 1 found out what sort of a man my guardian was, 1 Joined the rest of them, knowing full well their way of life. 1 think I wanted to avenge myself oj all men I was In London for a season and then came here. Vou know what I wus here. That Is all." Her story was very much what Trent had Imagined it to be. Certainly Certain-ly she had more excuse for her career tlniD lie had for his He believed her wholly when she said she had been for so long in Ignorance of the men surrounding her. "Are there any people over here, men and women with whom you were associated In the ltlviera, who might recognize you?" (TO BE CONTINUED.) ..u - "-V J M.v -"! -Y- M.).VAi 4 .H |