Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-07-07
THE
WOMAN IN BLACK
BIZ EDMUND CLERIHEW BENTLEY
pyright. 1919. by the Century company,

Yesterday it was as ordinary. l see
nothing of the next room. Madame
sleep like an angel-she see moth
ing. shut the door. l place the
plateau open the curtains-I pre-
pare the toilette-I retire-voilar p
Celestine paused for breath, and
spread her hands abroad.
Trent, who had followed her
movements and gesticulatons with
deepening gravity, nodded his head.
Il see exactly how it was now," he
said. Thank you, Celestine. So
Mr.. Henderson was supposed to be
still in his room while your mistress
was getting up. and dressing and
having breakfast i'll her boudoir."
"Oui, monsieur"
Nobody missed him, in fact" re-
marked Trent. We'll, Celestine,
am very much obliged to you" He
re-opened the door to the outer
bed room.
1T is nothing, monsieur" said
Celestine, as she crossed the small
sroom. II hope that monsieur will
catch the assassin of Monsieur Man
derson. But I not regret
him too much" she added with sud
den and amazing violence, turning
round with her hand on the knob
of the outer door. She set her
teeth with an audible sound, and
the color rose in her small, dark
face. English departed from her.
"Je ne lie regrette pas du tout, du
tout' she cried with a. flood of
words. "Madame-ah! je me jet
terais all feu pour madame-une
femme 81 charmante, ST adorable
Mais I'm homme CONNIE, monsieur
maussade, boudeur, impossible! All,
monde ma vie! Jen avais par
dessus la tete, re monsieur! All!
vrai! Est-ce insuppo-table, tout de
meme, quill existe de- types CONNIE
ca? Je vous jure que
"Finissez &c chahut, Celestine!"
Trent broke in sharply. Celestine's
TRADE had brought back the men,
DRY of his student days in Paris with
a rush. EN- VOLTA une scene! C'est
rasant, vous savez. Faut rentrer
ca, mademoiselle. Du reste, c'est
bien imprudent, croyez-moi Hang
it! have some common sense! If
the Inspector downstairs heard you
saying that kind of thing, you would
get into trouble. And don't wave
your fists about so much; you might
hit something. You SEEM" he
went on more pleasantly, as Celes-
tine grew calmer under his authori-
tative eye, ito be even more glad
than other people that Mr.. Man
derson is out of the way. I could
almost suspect, Celestine. that Mr..
Henderson did not take as much
notice of you. as you thought neces-
sary and right"
"A peine sill m'avait regarded"
Celestine answered simply.
Ca, c'est un comble! observed
Trent. You are a nice young wo-
man for a small tea party, | don't
think. A star upon your birthday
burned, whose fierce, serene, red,
pulseless planet never vearned in
heaven, Celestine. Mademoiselle, l
am busy Bon jour. You Ger
tainly are a beauty"
Celestine took this as a scarcely
expected compliment. The surprise
restored her balance. With a sud
den flash of her eyes and teeth at
Trent oveE--her shoulder, the lady's
maid opened the door and swiftly
disappeared.
Trent, left alone in the little bed
room, relieved his mind with two
forcible descriptive terms in Celes-
tines language, and turned to his
problem.
He took the pair of shoes which
he had already examined, and placed
them on one of the two chairs in
the ROOM then seated himself on
the other opposite to this. With
his hands in his pockets he sat with
eyes fixed upon those two dumb
witnesses. Now and then he whis-
tied. almost inaudbly. a few bars.
1t was very still in the room. A
sudden twittering came from the
trees through the open window.
From time to time breeze rustled
in the leaves of the thick creeper
about the sill. But the man in the
room, his face grown hard and SOM
Der now with. his thoughts, never
moved.
So he sat for the space of half an
hour. Then he rose quickly to his
feet. He replaced the shoes on their
shelf with care, and stepped out
upon the landing.
Continued Tomorrow.)