The Washington times., 1920-09-12
Ihe fatal Necklace
byRoyVckers

- 4 NY
mary Wilding. Escorted by a man,
tall. dark mustache. aQuiline nose.
straight chin. probably calling him
self Capting Gillingham."
There was moments silence.
during which Inspector Dolsn was
noting the particulars on his memo
randum pad.
Il say. Sorran," said the Inspec-
tor. rs that the girl you were sit.
ting with when we came in?"
"Yes." replied Sorran.
Il thought - something hap
pened." said the Inspector.
Don't build on IT," warned Sor-
ran. 'Its little more than a fancy.
Is II worth backing?"
Every time" was the reply.
CHAPTER v.
Cause for Alarm.
A NYONE but Sorran would
~ have been obsessed with the
- idea that he had drawn a
blank. Any other private detective.
. sitting in the lobby Of the Astor.
bilt at 10 o'clock on the following
morning would have worried over
those thirty-odd men despatched
from Police Headquarters the pre-.
vious night.
One Of the detectives had found
Miss Rosemary Wilding at one OF
the more reputable Broadway caba-
rets. She had been about to
leave. with her escort. when the
detectives came upon her. He had
heard the order given to the taxi
cab driver to drive to the Astorbilt
shortly before midnight.
Sorran did not worry in the least
He sat and thought 1t all over and
was quite content to come to no
conclusion.
At ten-thirty he went to the office
OF the hotel manager to have a chat
with Rawson.
Worst OF these foreigners" said
Rawson when they had turned to
the subject OF the Prince. They
get so Hdgety He rang up Mr..
Swandleton twice during the night
over some absurd trifle. and this
morning he telephoned that he
would not have any breakfast at
all and did not want to be dis
turbed until the man from the
trust company called"
Some ten minutes passed In cas-
ual gossip, which was then inter-
rupted by the ringing OF the tele-
phone.
Rawson picked up the receiver
and then nodded to Sofran and
grinned, from which Sorran de-
duced that 1t was the Prince.
mo, sir, not yet" he heard the
assistant manager say. 1T Is only
a quarter to eleven, and ! under.
stand that the appointment is for
eleven O'Clock. Yes, sir, we
shall ring YOU up the moment he
arrives and I myself shall escort
him to your door"
He replaced the receiver and
turned to Sorran
you heard that?" he said.
Nerves again."
Sorran left the office and re-
turned to the lobby. AS he reached
1t Miss Wilding emerged from the
elevator. dressed for the street.
Her dull green walking suit had
come from a good tailor, thought
Sorran, and thought Of what the
East Pennacook police sergeant
had told him about the reduced cir
cumstances of her family. He
noted with approval that she no
longer wore the atrocious necklace.
He approached her, wishing to
have a word with her before she
went out. But she gave him the
most distant Of mods and passed on
her way.
! He stood looking after her and
noted that she knew how to walk.
What the dickens was girl like
that in her reduced circumstances
doing at the expensive Astorbilt? :?
Through the glass doors came a
man whom he recognized as Henry
Marco, a director Of the Gibraltar
Trust Company. Sorran followed
him at a little distance TO the office
and hung about, waiting uncon-
Cernedly.
A minute passed-two, three min
utes.
Rawson emerged from the office
with white, anxious face.
"Can't get an answer from the
idiot" he said in an undertone to
Sorran as he hurried on to the
managers office.
A minute later Rawson returned
with Swandleton. The latter went
in and talked to the official from
the Trust Company and explained