Omaha daily bee., 1921-07-24

askew, made her black hair cling stringily to
her cheeks. She was unconscious OF 1t all.
Gripping her handbag tightly, pressing 1t
against her bosom, she came to the driveway.
Fifty yards away, perched slightly above
the level of the main road, stood the Inn.
From the seclusion Of a clump OF bushes
Rosa surveyed the place. Somewhere within
its walls was Halsey-with another woman.
The thought made her writhe. physically as
well as mentally. She pressed the handbag
tighter to her, until the hard bulk OF the
automatic pistol inside hurt her flesh.
The slight pain tended TO steady her
nerves. Up TO now she had had no definite
plan Of action, but now she felt that any
hasty, impulsive action might prevent her
from doing that which she had set out to do
To burst wet, disheveled, into the Inn,
meant. she believed. to arouse instant curl
osity. II Halsey were lunching in public
room, her entrance might give him warn.
ing. II he should by any chance, see her
coming UP the driveway
Ahead Of her. ten yards away. was a huge
tree that gave better promise of secrecy
She sped across the lawn and stood behind 1t.
Now, closer to the building, she noticed that
balcony ran around the second floor.
reached by outside steps. II she could
ascend them :.
Her brain, obsessed with her desires, was
functioning more clearly than it had on the
ride out here, but 1t was not normal Had it
been so, she would have realized that the
rain and wind had so changed her from a
quietly dressed woman who could pass as a
lady to blowsy. bedraggled woman who
might be anything at all; that, unless Halsey
came face to face with her, there was no
danger of recognition.
Had she been able to think clearly, she
would have known that no suspicion would
have been aroused by her entrance. taxi
breakdown could happen to any one that
any one should seek shelter from the storm
was a natural thing. not something to invite
curiosity. But she thought incoherently.
She must approach by stealth, relying on
surprise. :. .
Almost above her head, it seemed to her.
the lightning flashed. The roar of thunder
that followed seemed to shake her. But she
felt no fear. For in the fash she had seen,
in one Of the French windows that opened
upon the Inn balcony, the man in search Of
whom she had braved the storm.
AS a searchlight might light up the re-
cesses of a cavern, so the lightning showed
her clearly the interior Of the room. The
second floor Of the Cresthill Inn was elevated
above the ground only dozen feet. Where
Rosa stood the ground rose, as though low
ingly to embrace the great elm from behind
which she peered. Her head was only foot
or so below the level Of the private dining
room, and so she could see, from the waist
up, the figure Of Halsey and also the figure
few feet away from him, Of a woman.
For a moment she leaned against the
trunk Of the elm. She had known; Of course
she had known. But somewhere, deep down
in her subconsciousness, had lurked hope.
1t was a ridiculous hope, one that she was
unaware Of entertaining, but it had existed.
And now 1t was gone.
Into her eyes came hate that would endure
as long as life was in her. If, In the same
subconscious region that the false hope had
5welled, there had been any faltering Of her
intention, it disappeared now. She would do
what she had come to do!
The elements seemed to conspire In her
behalf. For, following this last illumination,
came that almost utter darkness that the
thunderstorm sometimes brings with it. She
gathered her sodden skirts in one hand and
raced across the downward, then upward,
sloping bit of lawn to the stairs that led to
the balcony.
She paused. breathless. Not the exertion
Of the brief run through the pelting rain, but
the rage and hate within her made her heart
beat, made her gasp for breath and lean.
lest she fall, against the flimsy balustrade
that guarded the stairway.
Though score Of the Inn employees might
see her, might at the last moment interfere
with her plan, she would not move But
slowly her breath, and with it her power to
move came back to her. And she saw that
from where she stood she would be invisible
to any one in the Inn.
Tho IF tho cfajryrav farad hfank
wall. There was no window between 1t and
the corner Of the building at the right. And
from the view Of any one at the windows at
the left the stairway itself sheltered her.
Unless she had been seen to run across that
stretch of lawn. But evidently she
had not for no one called to her, no one
came in search Of her.
The balcony itself shielded her from the
observation Of any one on the second floor.
She had only to climb the flight Of stairs,
walk to the window where she had seen Hal
sey, and whose location was burned in her
brain-as though her brain had been a cam.
era plate and the lightning the fashlight
that fixed a picture upon its sensitive sur.
face-aim through 1t. .
Crouched there in the rain, she withdrew
the automatic pistol from the handbag. She
threw the bag from her. She could not be
haIpSl Gu ohC iSHiON GU icI NCii. NdI Gully
she examined the weapon. She had done go
at the pawnshop, but she verified her pre-
vious results. 1t was in perfect working
order, ready, as soon as she slipped the
safety catch, to hurl a leaden rain Of death
She slipped the catch.
Cautiously, although in the roar Of the
wind and the rattle of the rain against win.
dow panes and balcony floor. no sound Of
footsteps could possibly have been heard
within the Inn, she climbed the fight Of
stairs.
At the top she turned slightly to the right.
There, where she could touch the streaming
glass with the soaking flngertips Of her
gloves, was the tall French window through
which she had seen the figure of Halsey.
She noted that the window was slightly
ajar. One Jerk Of the handle and it would
stand wide for her entrance Half-crouch-
ing, like some feral thing, she put forth her
hand.
Inside the room Allayne was staring at
the man who had locked the door and who
now stood. threatening her with a revolver
with his back to the window, the only other
mode Of egress from the room.
Fifteen hundred dollars" said Halsey,
contemptuously. Fifteen hundred That's
what your good name is worth, eh?"
Its not the price Of my good name"
Ailayne retorted. at Is to enable YOU to
save your life"