Evening star., 1921-07-17

stage. Inc auu'e"eo
- bled the usual applause
and DR.. Reginald Fortune put up his
opera glasses He considered him.
self connoisseur in the art of music
halls. and Birdie Bolton was unique
and bizarre She was no longer
young, and had never been pretty.
A helmet of black hair. a gaunt face
which never smiled. a body as lean
as boys which sometimes slouched
and sometimes jerked-such were her
charmes. She wore nothing mucn
above the waist but diamonds, ana
below it barbaric fleuucss In maze
of color. She began to sing In
voice wildly unfit for the strange
creature she looked-a Ismall, sweet
yoice-and what she sang was a
simple ditty about her true love lot
saking her. And then she went mao.
There was a shrieking chorus-cah
Won imagine a steam whistle piaylns
rartime?-and a dance OF weiro' WIN
yehemence, The lean body was Ion-
tcrted a dozen ways at once, .ne She
white arms whirled and stabbed. one
sasmad 10 he a dozen women fighting,
and each of them a prodigy OF iorce;
n was not a pretty dance, but IL hao
meaning. her
crazy rainbow fiounces ana nouoeu a.
the audiences which thunaerea ,t an his
on.r, classes. she's a bit OF a
Nonderss YOU know" he said 10 the
naval lieutenant who was MS coni-
"It.s wild bird" the LIEUTENANT
agreed and as the rest OF sence ,me Of
was merely frocks and the absence u
frocks they won't off 70 supper.
In the morning. which was Sunoay'
reirdie Bolton came to see LIT. ne
pald Fdrtura. j. was her ,;,,a :,
able creed that she could not i've
noise. and so for years she mao
a,,.msd house in the still rural sub
urh of westhampton where Reggie
"a his father practised. The eioer
~ Fortune at first looked after ner'
but when Reggie came on the scens
Miss RoltOr dec'"rir" WI" ator.
1rankness that she liked her noctors
young, turned herself over 10 ni"'
X Il +
1Y daylight Miss Bolton dressea
u and even overdressed. the part OF
q brisk British spinster she was
,,ar,, ,ai,or-made and severely tweedy'
ond thus locked leaner than ever. But
her eyes retained CLEAN OF oe'"-
ment.
you gave US a great show last
night" Reggie said ,,,. po,-
"Were you in 'front.'? sald MISS no,
ton. and made a face. oh' N
Sorry. I was rotten.
Reggie understood that his prefes-
sional interest was required.
"What's the trouble" he SAID
cheerfully. po,.
That's your show" said MISS bol-
ton; Put me through H. h...u. CON-
hdential and dull upon the usuai
themes of a medical examination. Az
last. We'll. you know. we don't get
to anything" Reggie said. This Is
all quite good and normal. "ha'
making you anxious?
Dreams" said Miss Bolton Why
do 1 have dreams? ! never dreamed
in my life till now. .i,-a.r
what sort OF dreams"
"Oh. any old sort. Bally rot. one
on the stage. One night May1-May
Weston was her companfon-"May
would keep parrots in the bathroom.
Then I hear a noise and wake up
and there isn't any noise.",.
sa sHaTss SSn have Not this nSs5 ssess
again. But say. doer its. not fair.
] don't drink and 7 don't drug. But
I'll be seeing pihs. 1<ats II thfs goes
on" " 80,
rs there anything Worrying you
Just now?' =. ..:
Was it possible that Miss Bolton
blushed? Reggie could not be sure.
You're a bright boy. doc Be Rood"'
She shook hands and gripped like
man. The big emerald she always
wore ground into his fingers. Birdie.
the strong girl. Bye-bye," she
On the next morning Reggie was
just out of his bath when he was
told that Miss Bottoms housekeeper
had rung up. Miss Bolton had had
an accident and would he 60 at once.
Tell Sam" said Reggie, and jumped
into his trousers. Samuel Baker, a
young taxi-driver whose somniscient
impudence had persuaded Reggie to
enlist him as chauffeur and factotum.
had the car round and some sand
wiches inside it by the time Reggie
was downstairs. Neither he nor
Reggie lost time.
Normanhurst. Miss Bottoms house.
stands by itself in an acre or so OF
garden, and is in the mid-Victorian
or amorphous style. As Reggie
jumped out of the car the house
keeper opened the door. She was a
brisk. buxom woman: she looked. and
perhaps was, just what a house.
keeper ought to be.
What's wrong. Mrs. Betts?" Reg
gle said.
IT'S very serious, sir This way.
please" She led the way to Birdie
Rolton's boudoir. stopped. took a key
from her apron pocket. and unlocked
the door. "Hallo!" Reggie said.
I'm afraid you're going to have
a shock. sir" said Mrs. Belts. and
opened the door for him.
Reggie went in. The sunlight
flooded Birdie Bottoms face. which
was white. She lay on a sofa. She
open wound in one side OF her throat.
and from it red line lay across her
bare shoulder, down her arm, to
purple stain on the carpet.
Reggie went across the room in
two strides and bent over her. She
had been dead for hours.
Who found her, Mrs. BettsT
The upper housemaid. sir. She's
been having Mysteries ever since"
Bah, Was the room just like
this"
NO, sir. Miss Weston was asleep
in that chair"
"What?" Reggie stared. The mis-
tress murdered and the companion
placidly asleep by her side-perhaps
that would not have startled his calm
mind. But he knew May Weston.
and had written her off as a dull,
simple creature-a cushion Of a girl.
Miss Weston was asleep in that
chair" the housekeeper repeated.
Il saw her myself. I came in. sir.
acreamed. Miss Weston was in even
ing dress. too. She didn't wake at
the screaming. either--just stirred.
] went to her and shook her, and
Miss Weston said, 'whatever's
this? 1 said. and she woke up and