Evening star., 1925-09-20
Pandora Gets Away.

~ you, without a name at
tached." she read. TT. is
Il to warn you that you
have made great mis-
take In claiming to be guilty of Mrs
Haste's disappearance. Rawdor
Wells has murdered her, and the
truth is bound to come out. Youl
sacrifice can do no good. and it viii
do much harm. You possess proofs
of Wells gpilt. If, instead of assert
ing Your own, you tell what yor
really know when you are questioned
tomorrow, your reward will be great
You shall learn who are your par
ents and be told the secret of YOU,
birth-a secret which would be OF
immense advantage to you. But keer
to your present mad course and YOU
VIII never know more about your
self than You know now. Behind the
bench on the floor of your cell YOU
Will find a pencil and a bit of paper
similar to this. Write on 1t Yes OF
No, according to the way you make
mp your mind, wisely or foolishly
Roll the paper into a ball again and
stuff it into the keyhole. That is all
YOU need do, Others will do the rest
Remember, this is. your one and only
chance, offered by a-Well- Wisher."
Many mysterious things had hap
pened In the last "a hours, but to
Pandora this seemed the most mys-
teriouS or, at least. the most un-
accountable of all.
She looked under the bench. and
there in a corner against the wall
was tiny end of pencil with a
neatly sharpened point, and a little
ball of clean. blank paper.
There was no hesitation in the
girls mind as to which of the two
words she would write. Yet. if she
had not been so passionately de-
cided, the temptation would have
been very great.
know who were her. father and
mother; whether poverty and acci-
dent had guided the person who left
her there in a box a the door of the
Hastes' house, or if that house had
been chosen for a particular reason
She had seen the clothes she had
worn at the time, and the wra ppings
in the box. They were poor, yet she
had dreamed sometimes that in spite
of this bit of evidence-in spite of
all the rest-that she came of people
In Ken and Rawdon's class of life
Once, 1t would have meant a great
deal to find out that this was true
But now-now life seemed at an end
for her. before 1t had fully begun
What did 1t matter who she was
she. the girl who had confessed to
q crime?
Still, she was excited and forgot tc
think of her position in reading this
incredible, anonymous letter. How
amazing 1t was that the person who
asked her to take back her confes-
sion should be one who knew who
she really was.
Or. that mart l,,re
It might be SO, for almost every
ono who knew her knew she was
Kennedy Haste's, adopted sister. ANY
body could easily find out as much
as that. and then make lying prom
ises!
She wrote the one word NO in
large letters on the bit of blank
paper, when she had well smoothed
1t out. And on second thought she
added underneath, II don't believe
YOU know anything about me tha,
every one doesn't know"
Again she crushed the paper into
a little round ball and pushed il
into the keyhole, as she had been told
to do.
The light was so strong now that
she imagined it to he about o'clock
Even in prison. Pandora supposed
that YOU were not routed out and
than o'clock, In that case, il would
he long time before she could ex-
rect 10 be called. If only she could
drop asleep for an hour or two. She
began to feel so utterly spent that
II seemed she would have dfff1culy
In getting through the day unless
she had a little rest. @
So far, she had not even tried to
sleep. But now she lay down on the
bench. which was also. the bed, or
hunk. her head. on a wooden support
that perhaps called itself a pillow
covered with a coarse blanket. 81
heheve-- m going to sleep" she told
herself as cool cloud seemed to
sweep over her, beginning to blot out
remembrance. How wonderful to
forGet-ff only for "A little while.''
it was the last she knew.
Police SerGt. Anson was dressing
In his small, semidetached house
close TO the police station when the
knocker banged furiously on his
green painted front door.
His wife's toilet was not so far ad :
Tanced as his own. FOR it was even
earlier than he usually rose. and he
was obliged to answer the knock him
self
hack with him last night, stood on
the doorstep, and Anson knew in
Stantly that he was to hear bad news
or some sort, though he could not
guess what it might he.
Miss Haste's cell is empty. SER
Eeant. The words We're flung
brusquely at his head.
Empty" Arson gasped.
Yes, sir; and the door locked on
NJ
let herself out. and there's nobody
In the place would do it. But there
1t is! She's gone"
Arson finished dressing in less
than three minutes. hardly heard his
pretty young wife asking What
about breakfast. Bill?" and buckled
on his belt in the front yard.
AS the constable had said, There
1t was" The girl was undoubtedly
gone and the cell was undoubtedly
locked on the outside.
Ardry-le- Mare. being proud of its
modern and up to- date cells, had
thought 1t necessary to provide a
wardress for the benefit of the rare
female prisoners gathered into the
police fold. and II had been the duty
of this woman to open the cell where
Pandora Haste had passed the night
She had done so, taking food. and
had found no one there. Although
she had seen and searched the pris-
oner at the time of the girls arrival,
something after midnight, and knew
positively that was the cells num-
ber, she thought that, after all, she
must somehow have been mistaken
The list of names with the numbers
of cells told her. however. that there
was no question OF n mistake The
girl had been spirited away as mys-
teriously as though she had gone
through the keyhole.
This was a grave affair for Seret