The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-04-20
SECTION
When 4 Girl M0rYies
By ANN LESLIE.

apartment building I began to feel re-
 deved at once-for there, at the por-
 ta1S of the door, was the same old
 doorman- Everything was quite as
 usual-pIacfd and undisturbed. There
 was nothing here to suggest fire and
 calamity. I wondered for a minute if
 my ex-tenant had managed to put
 one over'' on CarIotta-
 Nothing wrong here, is there,
 James?' asked, eagerly. No, ma'am. Nothin' much,'' he replied, with one of his friendly grins. Seems like your apartment got the
 most of it. Started from a chaf1ng dish in the apartment under yours and licked up the walls into your place. Want nobody at home there.
 and so, while the folks below were beating out the flames in their place, the fire got a lot of headway in your
 flat. What damage the fire didn't do,
 the water the fire department turned on and the smoke from the place be-
 low did. Seems queer, put you was all burned out and them folks below didn't lose hardly anything Who are the folks below ?'' aslx.
 ed
 New tenants, ma'am name of
 Watson. They sublet for just a
 month, and was going to move out
 last night anyhow-so nothing of the1rs was lost. hopes you was in-
 sured, Mis- Harrison, ma'an." ''Yes, I'm insured,' replied, thick
 ly. But want to see the condition
 of things. Will you take Miss Storrs
 and me up now?''
 "I wouldn't go. Mis- Harrison.
 ma'am It looks kind of discourag- ing" protested James, kindly. ''You'u probably feel better after you gets
 your hands on the insurance money"
  glances. She shook her head slightIy. I think you'd better talks us uD,, James, I persisted.
 So James protested no more, ush. cred us into the elevator with him. and, producing his passkey, opened my apartm ent-or what was left of it. In the late twilight we could manage to see the desolation all about us. Rugs, books, tapestries furniture, pio- lures, ornaments-aII were burned OF | water-logged, or smoked or twisted into caricatures of the lovely things which had gone to make up my home. Suddenly Mabel Storrs made 8
 quick stopping motion, bounced upon
 something, and slipped IL Into the
 pocket of her blue serge coat.
 ''You can't expect no tenant to live here now, ma'am," apUIogfzed James
 ''Ain't no electricity or nothing. But
 we've got the men engaged to come
 right in and work as soon's the insur-
 ance folks has appraised everything with you. Ought to be all ready for living in a fortnight's time. In the
 meantime, guess we has to stand the loss of our rent
 1 After a brief tour of inspection,
 Mabel Storrs led the way back to the blue car and I followed with a nane- l less detection which seemed to be based on something deeper than the | loss of money invo1ved-on som mething l more immediate than the destruction of the furniture associated with my life with Jim. I had a distinct feeling l of somethfng-queer,
 "Did you notice that the floors weren't burned ?" asked Mabel. With the fire eating it's way up from the apartment beneath, it seems queer | that the floors are all intact" Mabel Storrs slipped her hand into | the pocket of her coat, removed the | little article she'd bounced upon in my apartment, and handed it to me.
 I looked down at the object lying in my palm. It was small leather matchsafe. And twisted in the cen- tre of it were two gold Ietters-"R.
 W.
 l CTo Be Continued)