Evening star., 1925-03-13
Continued from Yesterdays Starr

That's telling" he said: but I don't
mind telling you. You're my niece Jane
| Smith and not my daughter Renata
Moiloy; and, even IL l wasn't her father,
I'd always know you from Renata, the
way ! could aways tell your two
| mothers apart when no one else could.
Your mother had a little mold on her
| left eyelid, just in the corner. where it
wouldn't show unless she shut her eyes
| My wife hadn't got 1t, and that's the
way l could always tell her from her
sister. And my daughter Renata hasn't
got 1t, but you have; and when you
| blinked, in yonder, 1 got glimpse of 1t;
and when l flashed the light onto you
again and you shut your eyes, I made
| sure. And now, perhaps you'll tell me
where in all the world is Renata?"
James gaze rested intelligently upon
| Mr.. Molloy. The corners of her mouth
lifted little. The dimple showed in
her left cheek
"Renata," she said in very demure
voice, sis in a safe place, like the
money you went abroad for
Molloy looked at her uncertainty; in
| the end ne laughed.
Meaning you won't tell me-" he said.
Meaning that I'm not sure whether
I'll tell you or not"
Maybe it would be better if 7 didn't
know. That's what you're thinking"
Yes, that was what I was thinking"
''Weli WE'LL said Mr.. Molloy. Then
he laughed again. I've the joke on
Ember anyhow he said. HE thinks
he's got a patent for most of the brains
in the country, and here he's been led
by the nose by slip Of girl just out
of school. And what's more, he was
taken in and 1 wasn't. He'll find that
| hard to swallow. will Mr.. Jeffrey Ember.
You'd not have taken me in, you know,
even II I'd not had the mole to go by.
And one Of these fine days I shall twit
Ember with that"
"Are you 50 sure you'd have known
me?" said Jane. 'Why?"
my dear GIRL" said Mr.. Molloy, '1f
| you knew your cousin Renata, you'd not
be asking me that. II I find a girl In
an underground passage all in the dark,
well, that girl is not my daughter
Renata. And If, by any queer sort of
| chance, Renata had been in that hole
where I found you. she'd have screamed
| blue murder when / turned the light on
her. Then, at an easy guess, / should
say you had Renata beat to a frazzle
! in the matter of brains. I'm not say
ing, mind you, that Pm an admirer of
brains in a woman. It's all a matter
| of opinion. and there's all sorts in the
world. But you've got brains. and
Renata hasn't, and Ember's had you
under his nose all this time without
ever knowing the difference"
Jane laughed.
Perhaps didn't exactly obtrude my
superior intelligence on Mr.. Ember,"
she said. Her eyes danced. you've
no idea how stupid can be when I try,
and I've been trying very hard indeed"
| 1.-THE devil you have?' said Molloy.
''Well, you had Ember deceived and
that's a grand feather in your cap,
can tell you. He's a hard one to de-
ceive, is Ember."
Jane gurgled suddenly.
"As a matter Of fact" she said, 81
deceived you, too. Yes, did, really
| did. You know the morning you went
off to America, or rather the morning
| you went off not to America? At the
| fat? You said ood-bye to me, not
| to Renata."
And where was Renata thenR'
Jane twinkled.
'In the safe place." she said.
"I'll swear 1t was Renata the night
before" said Molloy.
"Yes, that's clever Of you, 1t was"
Molloy was thinking hard
And which of you was it in the
| night when we thought the roof had
| fallen in and came into Renata's room
| to look out of the window? I'd my
heart in my mouth, for ] thought 1t
| was a bomb. Was 1t you or Renata
| sitting up in bed like a ghost?"
THAT was me-" said Jane. You
| couldn't have been nearly SO fright
ened as I was"
"Then you changed places between
and IL that night?"
I'VE changed places" said Jane,
'just as you and Mr.. Ember came
| home. I shut Renata's door just as
| you opened the door of the fiat. 1
was in the hall when the lift
stopped"
| "Then I think / know how you did
| IT." said Molloy. He seemed inter-
| ested. But I'd like to know who
put you up to it; and I'd like to know
| who gave the back entrance away;
| and I'd like to know how Renata,
who hasn't the nerve Of mouse, got
| down that blamed fire escape alone"
| Jane dimpled again.
"You do want to know lot, don't
your" she said. -