The Ordway new era., 1915-10-01
TWENTY.SIxTH EPISODE
THE MASQUERADE BALL,


So confident was Elaine that Ken
nedy was still alive that she would
OF us seemed obvious.
She even refused to accept Aunt Jo-
sephine's hints and decided to give a
masquerade ball which she had
planned as the last event OF the sea-
son before she closed the Dodge town
house and opened her country house
on the shore of Connecticut.
1t was shortly after the strange ap-
pearance of the fussy old gentleman
that I dropped in one afternoon to
ind Elaine addressing invitations.
while Aunt Josephine helped her As
we chatted, 1 picked up one OF the
pile and mechanically contemplated
the address:
m. Del Mar. Hotel La Costa. New
York City" y
Il don't like that fellow" I re-
marked, shaking my head obviously.
oh, you're - Jealous, Walter"
laughed Elaine. taking the envelope
away from me and piling it again with
the others
Thus It was that in the mornings
mail, Del Mar, along with the rest Of
us, received a neatly engraved little
invitation:
Miss Elaine Dodge
Requests
the Pleasure Of Your Presence
at the
Masquerade Ball
to Be
Given at Her Residence on Friday
Evening, June 1st.
Good" he exclaimed. reaching for
the telephone, I'll 60"
In a restaurant in the white light
district two of those who had been en-
gagged in the preliminary plot to steal
Kennedy's wireless torpedo model, the
young woman stenographer who had
betrayed her trust and the man to
whom she had passed the model out
OF the window in Washington, were
seated at table.
So secret had been the relations Of
all those in the plot that one group
did not know the other. and the
strangest methods OF communication
had been adopted.
The man removed a cover from
dish. Underneath. perhaps without
even the walters knowledge, was a
note.
Here are the orders at last" he
whispered to the girl. unfolding and
reading the note. Look. The model
of the torpedo is somewhere in her
house. Go tonight to the ball as a
,masquerader anu search for it,"
"Oh, splendid" exclaimed the girl.
I'm crazy for a little society after
this grind. Pay the check and let's
get out and choose our costumes"
The man paid the check and they
left hurriedly. Half an hour later
they were at a costumer's shop choos-
ing their disguises. both careful to get
the fullest masks that would not ex-
cite suspicion.
It was the night of the masque-
rade.
During the afternoon Elaine had
been thinking more than ever OF Ken
nedy. It all seemed unreal to her.
More than once she stopped to look
at his photograph. Several times she
checked herself on the point Of tears.
NO." she said to herself with
sort of grim determination. "No-he
is alive. He will come back to me
he will"
And yet she had a feeling OF ter
rifle loneliness which even her most
powerful efforts could not throw on.
She was determined to go through
with the ball, now that she had start
ed 1t, but she was really glad when
It came time to dress, for even that
took her mind from her brooding.
As Marie finished helping her put
On a very effective and conspicuous
costume, Aunt Josephine entered her
dressing room.
Are you ready, my dear" she
asked, adjusting the mask which she
carried 20 tnat no one would recognize
her as Martha Washington.
In Just minute. auntie,' answered
Elaine, trying hard to put out of her
mind how Craig would have liked her
iress.
Somewhat earHer, in my own apart
nent, had been arraying myself as
Boum-Bou and modestly admiring
~ txintioa n.4ds Of circus clown