New Britain herald., 1926-12-20
Broken { J! n @I breads !;'!!::;i!!;,!:
 
WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE
0D26 NEA SERVICE NC,

night in October of 1898, comes Martha Walton. a nurse, bearing . woman who had tainted on the train on which Martha had been travel ing.
 Elwell is an artist. He has a son, Jim, aged 5. Late that night twin girls are born to the woman. who dies without revealing her identity. The Elwells adopt the girls.
 The story then moves forward IS years. The twins, now grow ing to beautiful womanhood, have been named Margaret and Eliza beth and nicknamed Rusty and Betty.
 America enters the World War and Jim Elwell enlists. Two nights before he leaves he discovers that one of the twins loves him and that he loves her. He tells his mother this but does not tell her which twin 1t is, as he wants her to love both of the twins equally while he is away.
 The day before he leaves, Jim decides to take both the girls to Chicago for last good time. They decide to wear the diamond ring their mother had worn when they were born.
 NOW BEGIN THE STORY
 CHAPTER TX
 Prof Elwell had estimated the stone to be worth thousand dollars at the time the twins were born but he knew that diamonds had more than doubled in value in the inter- vening IS years. The ring was the girls joint legacy, and because of it's heavy band and it's unusually large and peculiar setting he had always held the feeling that 1t might some day lead to the unraveling of the mystery attached to their birth. It was only one special occasions that either of them ever wore 1t.
 He placed the ring beside Rusty's plate. y..
 There you are, my dear" he said and gave her hand a little pat, "the reward of good work"
 Rusty picked up the beautiful gem and looked at it with wrapt gaze. That part of the ring surrounding the stone was so large as to give 1t an almost topheavy appearance. The diamond was perfectly cut and gave off a white gleam.
 She pressed it to her lips for an instant and then passed it across the table to Jim.
 You wear 1t first, big fellow she said and the smile that accom- panied her words was like a free will offering to the gods of sacri- flee.
 Jim patted her hand. "Bravo!' and slipped the ring on his finger, where it remained until the trio had reached Chicago. when Rusty took it over for two hours Of joyful pos session. And it is doubtful if there ever was a diamond ring that gave to it's wearers quite so much unal-
 
 loved pleasure as that ring gave to those girls that day.
 A telegram announcing their com ing had been sent to Dick Can- fields address from Camdenville that morning with instructions to meet the trio at the station in Chi cago.
 But they found no Richard await ing them on their arrival. This was a grievous disappointment to which the three gave voice in three distinct and separate keys.
 We'll" was Jim's final decision when it became evident that the telegram had missed fire somewhere and he had failed to get any an- swer to a telephone call, "the quick est way to find out whether Dick is in Chicago or not Is to get a taxi and shoot out to his aunt's place."
 At the smart apartment building in upper Michigan avenue it was learned that Dick Garfield had gone to New York to join his aviation unit and that his aunt had returned to her old home somewhere in Yer mont. So the three from Camden vile had recourse to their own de- vices that day for Seeing life in a great city,"
 That's that" said Jim when he and his pals had re-entered their taxi, "and now the next thing on the program will be something else. Aye, something else," he grinned and looked mysteriously at his two con- panions.
 Both grinned In response, although one of the twins, it might have been noticed, blushed very becomingly while the other giggled 8 little tremulously. =.
 Something like an hour afterward Jim engaged a room for the girls at a hotel in the Loop that they might remove the dust of travel and freshen up a bit for luncheon. After tickets from q speculator in the lobby for a matinee that aft ernoon, he loafed around until the girls came down.
 And they did not fail to attract at tention, even in that busy place where thousands came and went during the day.
 One Muddy" Waters, well known to Chicago sporting gentlemen as q fairly trustworthy hand bookie,' huskily whispered of his admiration to his partner, Jep Cohen, as Jim and the girls crossed the hotel palm garden in the wake of the head waiter and took their places at a small table by the wall.
 Lamp tn two fillies on that guys string." was Muddy's contribution. "A parlay shot on q coupla favor ties! At that" he finished, Ines gotta nawful handicap; ought to split his bet"
 with you, for instance" supple mented his partner the while his I1I o+ tY,,t +,