The Pensacola journal., 1917-08-17


: to him. without a word he went int
o the arcana behind the partition tba
q cuts off the mysteries of the pre
scrlptlon room in every drug stor
u from the front of the store.
= When Muller returned he hande
heT packet. for which she paid an
which she dropped quickly into he
,. close to herself
= Adele turned and was about to hurr,
from the store with Constance. cor
excuse me-" she said suddenly as
ane hed Just recollected something
! ! promised friend of mine I'd teIe
phone this afternoon. and 1 have for
q 70 90 1t. 1 see a pay station
mere. Constance waited
Adele returned much mora ouiok,,
man one would have expected she couIi
: can up number, but Conktsnc,
tnought nothing of it at the time. sh.
old notice. however, that as her frfenf
emerged from the booth a most mar
yelous change had taken place in her
iier step was frm, her eve clear. her
hand steady. Whatever II was rso.
soned Constance. 1t could not have
quickly 0 ~
was with some curiosity as to
JUST what she might expect that Con
stance went around to the famous
Icupleo two floors OF what had been a
"ioe orownstone house before busi-
ness and pleasure had crowded the
residence district further and further
uptown. 1t was a very weiI-known
bohemian rendezvous. where under,
oeml-' and upper-wor1d rubbed elbows
| without friction and seemed to an
for II. - pay
Adele. who was one Of the perform
ers had not arrived vet but Constance
VINO mad come with her mind still fun
OF the two unexpected encounters with
Drummond, was startled to see him
mere again. Fortunately he did not
see her. and she slipped unobserved
INTO an angle near the window over
looking the street
Drummond had been enKrosses in
watching some one already there. and
constance made the best use she could
o., OF her eyes TO determine who it was.
Ihe outdoor walk and a good dInner
mad checked her headache, and nov tina
excitement OF the chase Of sornethInr.
she knew not what completed the
cure.
II was not long before she diseov-
ered that Drummond was watching in.
tehtly' without seeming to do so. a
herVous-looking fellow whose general
Washed-out appearance of face vyaa es-
pecially unattractive for some reason
or other He was very thin, very pale.
ana very starry about the eyes. Then
too' 1t seemed as II the bone in hIs
nose was going, due perhaps TO the
shrinkage OF the blood vessels from |
some cause.
Constance noticed a counIe ~ -,r,s
whom she had seen Adele speak to |
on several occasions approaching the
young man.
There came an opportune luIl in thu
music and from around the corner Of
her protecting angle Constance could
JUST catch the greeting of one of the
girls, Hello. Sleighbells! Got any
snow?"
1t was rAmark that seemed partIe-
ularly malapropos to the sultry wealth
er' and Constance half expected a burst
'f laughter at the unexpected sally.
Instead. she was surprised to hear
me young man reply in a very serious
ana matter-of-fact manner. Sure. Got
any money. May"
She oraned her neck, carefully avoid
ing coming into Drumraond's line Of
vision, and as she did so she saw two
silver quarters CLEAN nomentartIYI
rom ,i.:.l1 hand H5., to haRd steaIthiIy a small
white paper packet.
others came to him, both men and
v omen. 1t seemed to be an establish
ed thing, and Constance noted that
1
Who is that?" asked Constance OF
the waiter who had served her some
times when she she had been with
Adele. and knew her.
why. they call him s1eighberls
Charlie" he replied. "a coke fend"
which means a cocaine mend, I sup
poser she aueried.
Yes. He's the lobbygow for the
grapevine system they have now of
selling the dope in spite OF this new
law"
Where does he get the STUFF she
asked.
The waiter shrugged his shoulders
he gets II in spite of the law and ped
dies II. Oh, it's all adulterated-with
some white stun. 1 don't know what,
and the price they charge Is outrage
ous. They must make an ounce retail
at five or six times the cost. on. you
san bet that some one who N at the
top is making a pile OF money out OF
that graft. all right"
He said It not with any air of right
eous Indignation, but with certain
envy.
Constance was thinking the thing
over in her mind. Where did the
coke" come from? The grapevine"
system interested her.
"sleighbells" seemed to have dis
DOSeQ OF all the COKE ne nAO DTOuEnt i,
with him. AS the last packet went
he arose slowly. and shuiTled out. Con-
stance. who knew that Adele would
not come for some time, determined q
follow him. She rose quietly, and. un-
der cover of a party going out, man
aged to disappear without as far as
she knew. letting Drummond catch a
OF her. This would not only
employ her time. but she felt II was
better to avoid Drummond as far as
possible at present
At a distance of about half a block
she followed the curiously shunling
hgure. He crossed the avenue, turned
and went uptown. turned again, and.
before she knew it. disappeared IN a
drug store. She had been so engrossed
In following the Iobbygow that 1t was
with a start that she realized that he
had entered Muller's.
What did II all mean? Was the
Iruggist. Muller, the man higher up
She recalled suddenly her own expert
ence of the afternoon. Had Muller
tried to palm off something on her?
The more she thought of It the more
sure she was that the powders she had
taken had been doped.
Slowly. turning the matter over in
her mind. she returned to the Mayfair.