Evening journal., 1917-12-19

y
this blackmailing business did not begir
until after her success I'm England was
assured, it may be that its genesis lies
back somewhere in her past
"Oh, by George, I never thought OF
thati Maybe tt does. Mr.. Cleek. At all
events, her father was once prominent
IN the. anarchistic movement, but SHE'D
at murder and was banned by tho sec
ton. Aftcrward. his body was found IN
the Neva fairly riddled with bullets, and
his widow, fearing for her life and theirs,
flew with her two children TO Paris,
where she subsequently died, leaving
them all alone IN the world and without
a friend or a penny 10 bless them. AZ
that time, Luella was thirteen years OF
ago and Alexis ten. but she even thcn
found a position In the corps de ballet
Of the Eden Theater and was tho soiu
support OF her little brother. 10 whom
she was-and still is-devoted heart and
soul Deprived of n sound education
herself, her one desire was 10 give him
one at any sacrifice, and she bent all her
energies 10 that end: for as she rose In
her profession her salary naturally In
creased and every penny not absolutely
necessary for tho purpose of living went
10 pay for his schooling. Her great
dream for him was OF course, varsity
career; but that, OF course. was never
within the possibilities until this year
when her visit 10 England and her sud
den leap into popularity made all things
possible"
Il see. Then it is fair 10 suppose that
she lost no time In entering him for such
a career, Is II not2'
"Yes. He's at local tutors estab-
llshment now, working hard for Cam
bridge and hoping to pass into Emman-
uel next term. Poor Lex IL will be "a
vain hope now, I'm afraid. unless you
can get hold Of the blackguards who are
draining my poor girl of her earnings be-
fore they absolutely pauperize her; for
she'll give up her last farthing rather
than have anything happen to him.
When u was just herself that was
threatened, she could stand that; but
now that they've found out about Lex
and arc threatening him Il is positively
the last straw"
How did they hnd out7 Or don't you
known"
mo. I don't Nobody does. But pos
sihly II was-as Marceinc suggested-be-
cause Of her taking that furnished house
at MAZDA Vale and raahly insisting upon
bringing Lex thoro 70 live with her In
stead Of letting him continue 10 board at
the tutors as formerly. AS Marcelno
rightly says, they might never have
known OF hts existence but for that"
quite so. And who. please, Is this
Marcehne?"
Miss vultee's dresser and waiting
maid Marceline Dubois ls her name
"H-ml French. eh? Miss Nulteo eot
her here or abroad"
"Oh. abroad. Has known her for
years. In the days when sho was In the
corps dc ballet AZ the Eden Theater she
and Lex used TO have lodgings In the
same house with Aiarcellnc. and her
mother and Nine Dubois looked after
the boy w-'le Luclls was away at tho
theatcr."
II see. a. At this Marcellne might
almost be said 10 have been raised with
the boy-that is, n sho Is young. Is
she7"
About Jueila's own sge-twenty-three.
should say"
"Just 60. The boy ten. Marceiine thir-
teen. Just the ages for childish conf
deuces. It is, then, quito within the pos
/ Fihilties that from her little compan-
IONS innocent prattie Marceline may
have learned a great deal Of the family
former history-his birth I'm Russia. h'
fathers anarchistic connection, his ead
taking on with tho rest"
"Oh. as FOR that. sho knew all about II
from the first. So. too, did her mother
and father"
Mother and father stiff nvmg7'
''No-dead That's how Luella came 10
left all alone IN tho world, you know,
and they had been so closely connected
in tho old days. When Luella rose to tho
point Of needing n dresser and being
able to afford one, she naturally thought
Of Marccllno and-thero you are
quite So" agreed Cleek There you
aroi Marceline would naturally know
Just when the state Of her mistress
finances rose, Of course, and-there you
are againi'
But, good heavens above, Cleek. 40
you mean 10 say that you suspect
Gently, gently, gently, Mr.. Narkom
May not q man IN search Of an idea dc
Gently unoarth a possibility without re-
/ Farding 4 as a certainty and gallopinE
on on Il pellmeu7 II seems TO me from
the manner of tho attack that there
more than a nero likelihood that there
/ IS woman's hand AZ tho bottom OF n,
and that as the trouble did not begin
until after Miss Vultee came 20 England
and made her remarkable success II Is
az least probable that q arises from
some one who Is IN a position to know
! the actual state Of her finances. and Il
/ Il is or is not possible for her 20 be
squeezed ] gather from what Capt
! Kennedy says that the blackmailinE he
/ gan almost Immediately her success was
assured"
Absolutely Immediately. Mr.. Cleek
She opened at the Frivolity on the un.
/ derstandinE that should her dance be
the success Mr.. Collingwood expected
from his private view OF II her SALARY
was 20 be 200 pounds a week for a season
Of three months. On the first night OF
! her appearance. she took the house by
| storm. on the very next day the first
Z Of tho blackmailinE letters turned up al
I the theater. demanding that that daS
week she should place the sum OF q
pounds IN a hole at the roots Of a Ger.
I tain tree in Hyde Park, walk away
without ever once looking back or al
anv time mentioning the matter 10 q
/ living soul; otherwise she would mec,
/ with n violent death on her way 20 the
theator the night following. Terrorized
/ Ike this. she compiled with that de-
mand Mr.. Cleek. and carried the money
to the tree, believing that she had by
so doing purchased immunity from the
wretch or wretches who had threatened
her She had not. however. The next wccl,
brought a similar demand; and so Il has
continued week after week, ever since;
only that as time passed the sum re-
cuircd Of her has gone up and UP until
almost all her earnings have gone into
/ the NAV. OF the Unsuitable monster that
T is preying upon her She has never let
/ Lex know what horrible thing is prey
( ing upon her-for he IS a weak, deli
cate, highly strung fellow. and she has
always feared the conseduences-but to-
! day he has had to know. and the shock
Of the thing has almost driven him
/ silly"
"No doubt, 81 he Is as easily terror
lied as his sister seems 20 be-" said
Cleel. But why. please. has he had 20
know today. captainY
Because Of the terrible thing which
has followed Luella's acting upon my
rash advice yesterday. Mr.. Cleok. I'm