Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-19
CHAPTER I.
Hester Storm Gives Her Name as
Jenny Regain.

Jenny Regain.
A near-sighted German music teacher
crossed his legs at an inopportune mo-
to the startling incidents of the following
upon several lives.
This singular occurrence took place on
a railway train in England a boat train
with passengers from Paris, three of
these, a strangely assorted trio, being
brought together by fate within the re-
spectacle cushioned walls of first-class
carriage. On one side sat an English
bishop, in formal black garments, talk
ing with evident interest and certain
Difference to very pretty and smartly
dressed American girl, whose fresh
views and charming lack Of reverence
seemed to delight the rather heavy
minded but well-meaning prelate.
Small wonder that the ecclesiastical
gaze was held in rapt attention. for Miss
Betty Thompson (of New York and re-
Gently of Paris) was not only fair to look
upon with her teasing blue eyes. her long
curling lashes, her auburn hair shot
through with golden lights and her ador-
able mouth upturned at the corners, but
she added to these the fatal gift Of I'M
listened and marveled, while the tired
lines faded from his face and he re-
flected that. after all. the ride from Dover
to London was very short, amazingly
short.
The other one Of this trio. whose meet
ing here was to have such far-reaching
consequences. was quietly att1red young
woman, travelling alone. her black hair
and warm ivory coloring seeming to in
dictate a Latin origin. She. too, was a
girl of striking beauty, but there was
something of sadness and yearning in the
depths Of her lustrous dark eyes. AS If
weary with the journey she dozed from
time to time or seemed to doze. her thick
lashes lifting occasionally at her compan-
ions and then dropping again. while a
faint, half-wistful smile played about her
full red lips.
IAN interesting face whispered the
larly interesting face. Wouldn't you say
so, Miss Thompson"
Betty studied the sleeping girl mo-
ment and then nodded thoughtfully. "a
sort of wild beauty. I've been looking at
her and wondering If" She paused in
perplexity.
"You think she is fellow-countrywom-
an?" suggested the bishop.
I'm not sure. butt think she's un-
happy and as the stranger stirred
deliciously green as these hedges?'
The dark-eyed girl was far away in her
reveries. living over again fragments Of
her life that seemed to flash by in lurfd
memory pictures, just as this rushing
English landscape flashed before her half
closed eyes.
Now the great halls of Monte
Carlo, hushed groups around green-cov-
cred tables, worshiping groups, one
would say. with tense, eager faces-and
the clink Of gold Stupid people! Bound
to lose their money anyway. so-what did
it matter?
Now the blue of the moon
kissed Mediterranean and a signing or
chestra playing on the marble terrace.
And that most ridiculously careless
South American general with his gold
cigarette case! Fancy having real rubies
and emeralds set in a cigarette case!
What did the man expect?
Now the pigeons at Mentone
circling in frightened sweep over the lazy
gardens while a Russian countess suns
herself by the beds of chrysanthemums
What a fool to carry all that jewelry in
Now Paris, a nice enough town
and they could have it. All very fine
driving in the bois and slipping tea at
the Continental. but American secret
service men were nosing about and-it's
a pity If a girl can't speak a friendly
word to an old lady from Grand Rapids,
Mich, without getting called down for it.
Time to move on. Hester Storm, es-
pecially as you have eight hundred dollars
ry. So one ticket, please. to Manhattan
Island, for a girl who is going home and
wants to look her sister Rosalie in the
eyes and-is just a little sorry for certain
straight. yes, straight, for the rest of
her natural life.
At this moment by some perversity
of chance. phrase in the droning talk
opposite caught Hester's ear and brought
her to alert attention.
Five thousand pounds. my dear; not
a penny less" the bishop declared i'm
pressvely.
The Storm girl tingled with sudden in
terest. yet managed to keep her eyes clos
ed. Them gradually and cautiously. she
lifted her heavy lashes and peeped
through them: The bishop was fussing
with a handbag. searching for some
thing, taking something out, a purse of
brown leather. fat purse with heavy
elastic band around it, And. in his bland,
pompous way he was telling Miss Thomp-
son about his recent and most sue
cessful visit to America in the interest
of the Progressive Mothers Society The
Americans had been SO kind to him, SO
generous; their contributions, together
with those Of Americans in Paris,
amounted to this splendid sum that he
was now carrying back to London.
Five thousand pounds! And he eX-
planned the extraordinary combination of
circumstances that had prevented him, a.
the last moment. just as he was leaving
faTlS, from OepoSltlnS tnIS money With
his bankers.
Five thousand pounds! 1t was evident
ly wiser. unquestionably safer, to remove
so large sum from his careless hand
bag to the shelter of his ecclesiastical
coat. the inside pocket-there! And
straightway the transfer was effected
with benignant smile. while the strang-
err sized up the situation very much as
a professional golf player would study
a difficult shot.
Not that Hester had any personal inter-
est in this fat brown leather pocketbook
or any designs upon 1t. No. no! She was
done with that sort of thing, quite done
with it, but from the detached standpoint
of a former expert she could not help re-
fiecting that here was an opportunity a
most unusual opportunity, If one could
just see the right way of handling it.
Then she thought of the very large sum
involved. Five thousand pounds. Twenty
five thousand dollars! How small it made
her poor little eight hundred seem,
Twenty-Five thousand dollars! A fortune
all one could ever need! And there it was
black coat of an absent-minded bishop!
Dear. dear. If this wonderful chance had
only come sooner-before she made her
good resolutions!
However, she had made them and would
hold to them. She had given her promise
to Resale, her promise true, and come
what might She was going to keep
straight. The bishops purse was per-
fectly safe far as she was concerned
Besides, with only three of them in the
carriage, she couldn't get the purse If
she wanted to. There must be other pas
sengers. two or three others. so that the