The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-03-23
THE ADVENTURER


 Twenty-four hours had passed. Twenty-four hours! Was it no more than that since Rhode Gray, in the guise of Gypsy Nan, as she sat on the edge of the disreputable. poverty stricken cot, grew suddenly tense holding her breath she listened The sound reached the attic so faint 1y that it might be but the product solely of thme imagination. No-it came again! And 1t even defined 1t self now--a stealthy footstep on the lower stairs. A small Ieather-bound notebook in which she had been engrossed. was tucked instantly away under the soil ed blanket, and she glanced sharply around the garret. A new candle, which she had bought in the single excursion she-had ventured to make from the house during the day, was stuck in the neck of the gin bottle, and burned now on the chair beside her. She had not bought new 1amp-it gave too much light! The old one, the pieces of 1t. lay over
 ner on the floor.
 The footstep became more audi ble. Her lips frightened little. The hours was late It must be already after II o'clock. Her eyes grew per tubed. Perhaps it was only one of the unknown tenants of the floor be- low going to his or her room; but, on the other hand no one had come near the garret since last night. when that strange and, vet, sinister trick of fate had thrust upon her the person. ality of Gypsy Nan, and 1t was hop ing for too much to expect such seclu- sion to obtain much longer. There were too many who must be interest ed, vitaIly interested in Gypsy Nan! There was Rough Rorke. of head quarters; he had given nos sign, but that did not mean he had lost inter est in Gypsy Nan. There was the death of the real Gypsy Nan, which was pregnant with possibilities; and though the newspapers, that she, Rhoda Gray, had bought and scan ned with such tragic eagerness, had said nothing aobut the death of one Charlotte Green in the hospital, much less had given any hint that the identity of Gypsy Nan had risked so much to hide had been discovered. it did not mean that the police, with their own ends in view, might not | be fully informed: and were but keep l ing their own counsel while they baited a trap. l Also. and even more to be feared. there were those of this criminal or ga nization to which Gypsy Nan had ! Gray. through a sort of hideous proxy, ] now belonged herself, Sooner or 1 later they must show their hands. and the test of her identity would come And here her danger was the greater because she did not know any | of them were, unless the man who ! had stepped in between Rough Rorke and herself last night was one | of them-which was a qeustion that | had harassed her all day. The man | had been no more drunk than she had been and he had obviously only play 1 ed the part to get her out of the clutches of Rough Rorke; but, against l this, he had seen her simply as her l self then. the White Mon, and what l could the criminal associates of l Gypsy Nan have cared as to what 1 became of the White Moh?.
 A newspaper. to procure which had been the prime motive that had Iured her out of her retreat that af- ternoon, caught her eye now. and she shivered a little as. from where il lay on the floor the headlines seem 1 ed to leer up at her. and mock, and 1 menace her. Co. The White Mol- The Saint of the East Side Exposed. l Vicious Hypocrisy Lowly Charity for Years Cloaks a Consummate Thief .." They had not spared her! Her lips firmed suddenly, as she listened The stealthy foorfau had not parsed in the hall below. IT was on the short, ladder-like fsteps now. l Ieadint up here to the Garret-and now it had halted outside the door. land there came a low, ins.stent Knocking on the panels.
 (To Be Continued)