The Pensacola journal., 1917-08-10

after" or was Stella really there and
was she keeping her away from ME-. ME-.
Warrington to prevent friction between
two clients that would have been annoy
She could reach no conclusion. except
that there was a feeling of LUXURIOUS
well-being as she lolled back into the
deep recesseS of the lounge in the corner
OF the room separated from the next
room by thin board partition.
suddenly her attention was arrested Iy
muffled voices on the other side of the
partition: She strained her ears, 9ne ne
could not, of course, see the speakers OF
even recognize their voices, but they were
man and a woman.
We must get the thing settled rlgn'
away" she overheard the mans voice
You see how he Is? Every new face at
tracts him. See how he took to that new
one last night. Who knows what lll,, may
Couldn't We use herr" asked the
woman. -. ..u Shes
too clever But we must do something.
right away-tonight if possible"
A pause. How. them"
Another pause and the whispered mono
syllable. Dope"
"What?'
Il have it here. Use a dozen of them.
/ They can be snuffed as powder. or 1t
can be put in a drink. If you want more
see. will put the bottle on this shelf
way back. No one will see il.
note, something that will be sure to Set
him up here"
''Yes-just line or two-as if in haste %
There was a sound as If of tearing
sheet OF note paper from pad,
is that all right?'
Yes. AS soon as the market closes.
morrow's the day. Tonight we must
get him going and in the meantime a
meeting viii be held. the plan arranged
at the Prince Henry tonight-and then
| the smash. Between them all, he won
know what has struck him"
| ''All right. You had better so out as
| you came in. It's better that no one up
| here should suspect anything"
| The voices ceased.
! What did it mean? Constance rose and
sauntered around into the next room. II
was empty. but when she looked hastily
up on the shelf there was a bottle OF
| white tablets and on a table q pad OF
| note paper from which a sheet had been
| torn.
She picked up the bottle gIngerly. Who
| had touched it? Her mind was working
| quickly. Somewhere she had read OF
J ested her because the system had beer
| introduced in banks and she saw that II
was going 10 become more and more i'm
But how did they get them in a case
! Ike this? She had read Of some powder
| that adhered to the marks left by the
sweat glands Of the fingers. There was
the talcum powder. Perhaps II WOuld do
Quickly she shook the box gently over
the glass. Then she blew II off carefully
Clear, sharp. distinct, there were tht
| imprints of fingers
But the paper, Talcum powder woull
not bring them out on that. 1t must b'
A lead pencil; Eagerly she seized +
and with little silver pen-knife whitfield
off the wood. ScTape! sCrape! until sh'
graphite.
Then she poured it on the paper an'
taking the sheet daintily by the edges
prints with the others, she rolled th
powder back and forth. AS she looked
anXiously she could see the little grain
adhering to the paper.
able, for penciling. She took il deftly
1t made her think of that first tim
when she painted the checks for Carlton
A lump came into her throat.
There they were. the second pair o
telltale prints. But what tale did the,
tell: Whose were they? ,, -.
| very limited but like everything she did
70 the point. She studied those befor
her, traced out as best she could tn
even counted the ridges on some of them
1t was not so difficult, after all.
She stopped in an uptown branch o
her brokers in one of the hotels. TIL
market was very quiet, and even tn
! Rubber Syndicate seemed to he naTkin
time, AS she went out she passed III
telephone booths. Should she call u
| Warrington? Would he misjnterpret II
What If he did? She was mistress of he
own tongue. She need not say too much
: Besides, if she were going on a fishn
- expedition, a telephone line was as goo
y as any other-better than a visit
This is Mrs. Dunlap" she said di
q rectly.
e oh. how do you do, Mrs. Dunlap.
have been intending to call you up, but.
he paused, and added. you know We ar
: having a pretty strenuous time dow
y here"
q There was a genuine ring to the frs
- part of his reply. But the rest of
q trailed off into the old base tone
I'm sorry" she replied. i enjOye
last night so much"
u Ibid yOu2 came back eagerly.
i Before he could add anything she asked
= | I suppose you are going TO see Stcll
II again this afternoon"
''Why-er-yes." he hesitated. Il thin
y so"
n where? At veras" she asked. adopt
: ing a tone not Of curiosity but Of chidin
n him for seeing Stella instead of herself
[, The moment of hesitation. before n
;. said that he didn't know, told he tn
u truth. It was as good as a plain, Yes,
" For a few moments they chatted. A
| she hung up the receiver after his defer
| ential goodbye. Constance knew that sh
e had gained new angle from which I
9 observe Warrington's character. lie wa
o intensely human and he lin wrong.
S Here was a mess, all around.
q The day wore on. yet brought no in
u decision as to what she would do. thOug
= II brought no solution as to how to d
= It. The inaction was worse than any