The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-03-25
''THE WHITE MOLL'' FRANK l.. PACKARD ! Appearing every day in serial form in the Magazine Section of The Times.
FRANK l.. PACKARD

Htaoe' meant discovery ana after that She shivered a little.
 You needn't lose your head, just l because you've lost your temperi" she l said tartly, in a guarded whisper l The door into the hall is still wide | open. isn't it2''
 "Oh, all right!' he said, his tones l a sort of sullen admission that her re- tort was justified. But even now your voice sounds off color"
 Rhoda Gray bridled.
 ''Does ?'' she snapped at him. | i've got a cold. Maybe you'd get l one too, and maybe your voice would l be off color, if you had to live in a l dump like this. and"
 "Oh, all right. all right!" he broke | in hurriedly. 'For heavens sake don't start row! Forget it! See Forget it" He walked over to the door, peered out, swore savagely to himself, shut the door, held the can- dle up to circle the garret, and scowl- ed as its rays fell upon the shattered pieces of the lamp in the corner; then, returning, he set the candle down upon the chair and began to each way, up and down in front of the bed.
 Rhoda Gray, from the edge of the bed, shifted back until her shoulders rested against the wall. Danglar, too, was dressed like a gentleman but Danglar's face was not appealing, The little round black eyes were shifty, they seemed to possess no pu- pills whatever, and they roved con- stantly; there was a hard, unyielding thinness about the lips. and the face itself was thin, almost gaunt, as though the skin had had to accom- modate itself to more than was ex- pected of it, and was elasticially stretched over the cheek-bones.
 Well, I'm Hstening!" jerked out the man abruptly. You knew our game It Skarbo1ov's was queered. You got the seven-three-nine,' didn't you?'
 "Yes, of course. I got it," answered Rhoda Gray. What about it?"
 For two weeks now, yes more than two weeks"-the mans voice rasped angri1y-''thfngs have been going wrong, and some one has been buttinng in and getting away with the goods under our noses. We know now, from last night, that it must 1, have been the White Mol1, for one. | though it's not likely she worked all | alone. Skeeny dropped to the fact | that the police were wise about Skar- bolov's, and that's why we called it off, and the 'seven-three-nine' went | out. They must have got wise through shadowing the White Mon See? Then they pinch her, but she makes her getaway, and comes here, and, if the dope I've got is right, you hand Rough Rorke one, and help her to beat it again. It looks blamed | funny-doesn't it?-when you come to consider that there's a leak some where!"
 'Is that so!' Rroda Gray flashed l back And did you know before | last night that 1t was the White Mol1 who was queering our gamer"
 "If I had" the man gritted be- tween his teeth, "Pd-''
 Well, then, how did you expect | me to know it?" demanded Rhoda | Gray heatedly. And if the White | Moll happens to know Gypsy Nan, as she knows everybody else through | charity. and happens to be near here | when the police on her heels.an asks | for help. what do you expect Gypsy | Mans going to do if she wants to | stand any chance of sticking around | these parts-as Gypsy Nan?"
 The man paused in his walk. and, | jerking back his hat, drew his hand | nervously across his forehead. |
 You make me tired!" said Rhoda |
 
 could find the door without too much l trouble ?"
 Danglar resumed his pacing back | and forth. but more slowly now.
 "Oh, I know! know Bertha! | he burst out heavily. I'm talking | through my hat. You've got the toughest job of any of us, old girl | Don't mind what Pm saying. Some things badly wrong, and I'm half tai hot White MolTs the one that's been do- ing us, and what I really came down l here for tonight was to tell you that your job from now on was to get the White Moll- You helped her last last night. She doesn't know you are anybody but Gypsy Nan,and so you're the one person in New York she'll dare try to communicate with sooner or later. Understand? That's what came for, not to talk like a fool but that fellow I found here started me off. Who is he? What did he want?"
 ''He wanted the White Moll, too," said Rhoda Gray, with a short laugh
 "oh. he did. eh,' Danglar's lips twisted into sudden, ,merciless smile. Well, go oni Who is he?"
 'I don't know who he is." Rhoda Gray answered little impatiently. He said he was an adventurer- If you can make anything out of that. He said he got the White Mou away from Rough Rorke last night. after Rorke had arrested her; and then he doped the rest out the same as you have-that he could find the White Mo1l again through Gypsy Nan. I don't know what he wanted her for"
 That's betteri" snarled Danglar, the merc:less smile still on his lips '1 thought she must have had a pal and we know now who her pal Is. It's open and shut that she's sitting so tight she hasn't been able to get into touch with him, and that's what's worrying MT. Adventurer."
 Rrode Gray, save for a nod of her head. made no answer.
 Danglar laughed suddenly, as tl,o1,rl, in relief. thar, nor,snoz a1osa.