The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-03-22
(Continued from Yesterday

had been that it was one of Gypsy
 Mans accomplices here ahead of the
 appointed time. That would have
 given her cause, all too much of
 of Gypsy Nan's accomp1ices, and, far
 worse than the fear of any physical
 attack upon her, was the sense Of ruin and disaster that the realization
 of quite different and more desper- ate situation brought her now. She
 knew the man. She had seen those square, heavy, cIamped jaws scores of times. Those sharp, restless black eyes under over-hanging, shaggy eye
 brows were familiar to the whole East Side. It was Rorke-'Rough'' Rorke, of 31eadquarters
 He came toward her, and halfway across the room another exclamation burst from his lips; but this time it held a jeer, and in the jeer sort of cynical and savage triumph.
 The White Moll!''
 He was close beside her now, and now he snatched from her hand the banknotes that, all unconsciously, she had still been clutcaing tightly.
 '.So this is what all the sweet char Sty's been about, eh?" he snapped. ''The White Moll, the Little Saint of the East Side. that lends a helping hand to the crooks to get 'em back on the straight and narrow again! The White Moll-hell! You crooked little deviI.''
 Again she did not answer. Her mind was clear now. brutally clear, bruta1ly keen, brutally virile. What was there for her to say? She was caught here at 1 o'clock in the morn ing after breaking into the place, caught red-handed in the very act of taking the money. What story could she tell that would clear her of thatt Nnt9f Eh Ina a wouldn't be stolen, and that she was going to give it hack in, the morning? Was there anybody in the world cred hlous enough to believe anything like that! Tell Gypsy Mans story, all that had happened tonight? Yes. she might have told that tomo ornow, after she had returned the money. and been believed. But now-no, It would even make her. appear in a still worse light. They would credit her with being a member of this very gang to which Gypsy Nan belonged, one in the secrets of an organized band of criminals. who was trying to clear her own skirts at the expense Df her confe1erates. Everything. eV- cry act of here tonight, pointed to that construction being placed upon her story, pointed to duplicity- Why had she hidden the identity of Gypsy Nan? Why had she not told the po-
  ted, and left it to the police to frus- nate 1t? It would fit in with the story of course-but the story was the result of having been caught in the act of stealing twenty thousand dollars in cash! What was there to ssay-and, above all, to this man, whose reputation for calIous brutal | ity in the handling of those who fell into his hands had earned him the sobrfquet of Rough" Rorke? Sick at heart, desperate, but with her hand clenched now, she stood there, l while the man felt unceremoniouSly | over her clothing for a concealed 1 weapon. 1
 Finding none. he stopped, picked up | 4he fashnfght tested it, and found 1t j broken from it's fall l :, Too bad you bust this. we'll have to go out in the dark after I switch ] off the light he said with unpleasant 1 facetiousness- 1 didn't have one with me, or time to get one, when got tipped off there was something ! doing here tonight" He caught her l urgently by the arm. Well, come l along, my pretty lady-(t Tlnis'M make ] a stir. this will. The While Moll!" He led her to the electric-hght l switch. turned off the light, and. with l his grasp tight upon her. made for l the front door. He chuckled in a 1 sinister manner. Say. you're prize. l YOU are, And pretty clever, too, l aren't you? I wasn't looking for l woman to pull this. The White Moll! 1 Some saint.
 Rhoda Gray shivered- Disgrace, l ruin. stared her in the face. A sea l of faces in a courtroom. morbid faces, | hid eous faces. leered at her. Gray 1 walls rose before her. walls that shut | out sunshine and hope, pitiless, cold | things that seemed to freeze the | blood in her veins. And tonight, in l inst a few minutes more-a cell.
 From the street outside came the 1 sound of some one making a cheery. 1 hut evidently a somewhat inebriated, i attempt to whistle some ragtime air. | 1t seemed to enhance her misery. to 1 enhance by contrast in its care-free 1 cheerfness the despair and misery that were eating into her soul. Her hands clenched and unclenched. If there were only a chance - some u-here-somehowt If only she were 1 not a womant If she could only light this huIkinE form that gripped so brutally at her arm! - Rough Rorke opened the door, and nulled her out to the street. She shrank back fnstinctly. It was quite | neb+ here from a nearby street lamp, 1 and the owner of the whistle, a young man. fashionably dressed, decidedly unsteady on his legs, and just op- rosite the door as they came out, had stopped both his whistle and his pro- gress along the street to stare at them owlishly.
 ",IJiio," said the young man thick i lv .'what'sh all this about-eh? what'eh you two doing in that place this time Of nignt-eh 2
 "Beat it." ordered Rough Rorke l curtly.
 .AThat'sh all right The young
 o.-ne nearer He balanced him. self with difficulty, but upon him 1 there appeared to have descended suddenly a vost dignity 'Im-his- Iau-'bidtng citizen. Gotta know Gotta show me Damn funny-coming out of there this time of night. Eh- what'sh the idea 2"
 Poueh Rorke. with his free hand, 1 .I,I,ed the vouns man by the shoul-