Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-06-22
BY ARTHUR STRINGER

veil OF etneT' Arc YOU Stdyi"S Sioee'
you girl with the gray eyes? And
when he was convalescing in the st.
Andrews sunroom, before his married
sister had whisked him off to Pasa-
dena, he'd even lifted my hand Dust
a little bleached with bichloride) up
to his lips and said: II don't see,
gray eyes, how l can ever live with
out you"
But that seemed q long time ago.
And many things had happened since
then. From time to time. now, no.
ticed that he looked at me with
trouble eyes could see the un-
spoken question on his face. NY
Wrinkle, I could see. was suspicious OF
me. He no longer believed in me-
And remembered that l wasn't In a
position TO explain things to him. II
it hurt me little to feel that he
couldn't at, least give me the beneft
OF a doubt. still wrung a sort of
black JOY out of his bewilderment.
didn't see Wrinkle again until that
night when rushed down in a fever
ishly altered Paquin dinner gown.
Then saw Wrinkle at slightly
closer range than I had expected. for
it so happened that i was seated that
night at dinner between him and Rear
Admiral Trevor Ferris I'd thought
for one foolish moment that Wrinkle
might like me in my unexpected
Queen Of Sheba get-up. But in that
] made the mistake Of my life. Instead
of melting with admiration, he looked
me over with cool and scoriac eye,
relapsing into morose and troubled
silence from which the fluffy de-
butante made repeated but Intellectual
attempts to rouse him.
That dinner was far from being all
play to me, for I kept going up and
down that double line of prattling
grandees. pondering which one OF
them covld be gem thief and what
reason that particular person could
have for purloining poor little Ores
den-china heiress' wedding gifts.
Again and still again my attention
went back to the self7obliterating
Miss Blanchan. and I decided, as l
sat there. to find out a little more
about that long -jawed maiden lady.
i also felt rather interested in Gwen
dolyn De Haven. And I also decided.
as 1 sat there, to telephone in to
Sloan's Office that night for two or
three dictaphones and a field bridge
for listening in OH the house wires.
1t wasn't until dinner was almost
over that Wrinkle swung about and
faced me.
What are you doing here?" he said
quietly, yet with a note of finality
that was anything but pleasant.
I'm doing what everybody else here
seems to be doing-enjoying myself"
was all the satisfaction 1 would give
him.
80 it seems!" he said, with what
couldn't possibly be called knightly
grace.
The next two days were anything
but idle days for Toosey and me.
made a camera inspection for finger
prints and attached my field bridge to
the house circuit and, using the deco
ration as screen. craftily planted
three dictaphones where I thought
they'd do the most good. I also most
thoroughly looked over the wall safe.
which proved a portly enough vault,
for which a Tudor fireplace had been
SdCTiuCcu. 1uc chtIdHSC " thiSb PAo-
tected by a four-tumbler combination
lock. was rather cleverly concealed.
But after I'd persuaded Mrs. Obden-
Belpont to stow the jewelry away in
that safe L secretly wired a mat in
front Of the safe door and had 1t con-
nected with buzzer beside my own
bed.
Besides all this, while was busy at
my end of the line, Toosey was corre-
spondingly occupied in a surreptitious
inspection and appraisal Of the forces
below stairs. We had worked thor
oughly, but we had worked fruitless-
ly. Not a thing out Of the ordinary
had occurred. And not a clue had been
unearthed.
There at 'Miramar" it had aston
ished me to find out how complex life
could become, how ruled by procedure
and system and convention. The
thing was too big for me. 1t tended
to subjugate me, to leave me as OBJ
liberated as Miss Blanchan herself had
become. And as the time for the
much talk ed -about and much written.
about Serwin- Obden- Belpont wedding
drew nearer I more and more realized
how barbaric the mating rites Of
he-and- she thing Of the human tribe
could become once you looked at It
through the cool light Of reason.