The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-04-15
FRANK l.. PACKARD

how, or by what means, she was in possession of the information that en- abled her to communicate with him. But she must risk that-put him off, if necessary, through the plea of haste, and on the ground that there was not time tonight for an unneces- sary word He had given her, believ- ing her to be Gypsy Nan, his tele- phone number, which she, in turn, was to transmit to the White Mol1, so he believed, had never received that message-and it must of neces- sity be as the White Moll that she must communicate with him tonight, It would be hard to explain-she meant to evade 1t. The one vital point was that she remembered the tele- phone number he had given her that night when he and Danglar had met in the garret. She was not likely to have forgotten it!
 Rhoda Gray. alias Gypsy Nan, scuf- fled along. Was she inconsistent? The Adventurer would be in his eIe- ment in going to the Plugs room, and in relieving Pinkie Bonn of that
 money; but the Adventurer, too, was a thief-wasn't he? Why. then, did she propose, for her mind was now certainly made up as to her course | of action, to trust a thief to recover l that money for her?
 | o1e SAt1AI00 d 11LIl0 "SaT11y as Sno reached the drug store, stepped into | the telephone booth, and gave cen tral her call. Trust a thief Mo- \ it wasn't because her heart prompted her to believe in him; it was because 1 her head assured her she was safe \ in doing so. She could trust him in | an instance such as this because we'll, because once before, for her sake, he had forgone the opportunity l annrnnriafin0 nd l necklace worth a hundred times the | sum that she would ask him-yes, \ if necessary. for her sake-to recover ! tonight There was no
 1 She was listening in a startled way I now at the instrument. Central had given her 'information"; and 'tinfor-
 nation was informing her that the number she had asked for had been | disconnected.
 She hung up the receiver, and went 1 out again to the street in a dazed
 and bswildered way. And then sud denly a, smile of bitter self-derision l crossed her lips. She had been a fool! There was no softer word-a fool! Why had she not stopped to think? She understood now! On
 the night the Adventurer had conffd- Gypsy Nan, he had had every reason
 to believe that Gypsy Nan would, as
 she had already apparently done, be- friend the White Moll even to the eX- tent of accepting no little personal risk in so doing. But since then things had taken very different turn. The White MolI was now held by the
 gang. of which Gypsy Nan was sup posed to be a member, to be the one
 who had of late profited by the gangs
 plans to the gangs discontinue; and
 the Adventurer was ranked but little
 lower in the scale of hatred, since
 they counted him to be the White
 MolPs accomplice. Knowing this,
 therefore, the first thing the Advenur-
 CT would naturally do would be to
 destroy the clew, in the shape of that
 telephone number. that would lead
 to his whereabouts, and which he of
 course believed he had put into the
 gangs hands when he had confid ed
 in Gypsy Nan. Had he not told her.
 no later than last night, that Gypsy
 Nan was her worst enemy. He did
 not know, did he, that Gypsy Nan and
 the White Moll were onei And so
 that telephone had been disconnect- ed-and tonight, now. just when she
 needed help at a crucial moment
 when she had counted upon the Ad-
 venturer to supply 1t, there was no Ad-
 venturer, no means of reaching him, and no means any more of knowing
 where he WaSi
 Rhoda Gray walked on along the
 street. her lips tight, her face drawn and hard. Failing the Adventurer,
 there remained-the police. If she
 telephoned the police and sent them to the Plugs room. they would of a cert nty recover the money, and with
 equal certainty restore it to its right
 full owners She had already thought of that when she had been with | AL I- loath even then to take such a step because it seemed to spell ruin to . her own personal plans; but now there was another reason, and one
 far more cogent. why she should not do so. There had been murder com
 mitted back there in that under grouid dug-dive. and of that mur-
 der Pinkie Bonn was innocent; but ii
 Pinkie were found in possession ot
 that money, and French Pete, to save his own skin from the consequence: of greatr crime, admitte1 to it's orig
 ina1 theft. Pink:e would be convicted
 out of hand. for there were the other:
 in that dive, who had come running . along the passage, to testify that al , attack had been made on the door O. . French Pete and Marry Days room
 and that the thieves and murderer, had fled through the cellar and es . | capped.
 . Her lips pressed harder together And so there was no Adventurer upo1 whom Se could call, and no police . and no one in all the millions in thi . great pulsing city to whom she could ;, appeal; and so there remained only . | herself
 Well, she could do it. couldn't she -' Not Gypsy Nan. of course-but a . the White MolL It would be wortl it, wouldn't it? If she were sincere . and not a moral hypocrite in her sym N pathy for those two outraged old peo ' pie in the twilight of their lives. an, . if she were not a moral coward, ther remained no question as to what he . decision should be.
 (Continued Monday