Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-23
LADY SLIPPER
By Ella Wister HaineS
Author of "MYTERIOUS SWEETHEART"
Copyright 1926. Thomson Feature Service. Inc

/ He left the house an hour before I
did, and then of all the strange coin
cidences, / found him aboard this
very boat
Il see" Chris said understa ndingly.
"Oh Anne, I'm so grateful to you for
| letting me at least explain why I'm
here And I'm SO sorry, so terribly
sorry that l ever made such a mis-
| take"
| That's all right. Chris. Let's call
| the affair closed and try to be friends
| | think it's only fair to tell you that
was in Dr. Sands drawing room with
, Victor quite by accident, but the fact
/ that you so misunderstood me showed
me that a marriage between us would
! he a fatal step. | could never endure
suspicious nature. l must have a
perfect trust and implicit confidence
above all things. And now that you
know that. we need never refer to the
matter again. It's a closed chapter.
Tell me how you began 10 feel i'll?
The doctor said you had fever"
at was last evening. l was on the
deck when l thought-well.
thought l saw something unusual.
Later in the night that 1000 note
blew into my room. 1t put me in a
funny position-and when Lady de
We're was found missing and you
weren't in your room, things began to
get complicated. However, | suppose
there will be no further trouble now.
| The poor woman must have jumped
overheard. I've been waiting to get
an interview with the captain. the
doctor gave me a dose that kept me
sleeping all morning.
Il know Anne replied, land that
interview is about to take place as
SC Thncn Of
whose cabins are off that corridor are
all to be called to account, but Chris,
those pigeons, How are you going to
explain about them?"
Explain? What is there to say? I
crawled into the boat and found them
there, that's all"'
Yes, but 1 can't help wondering;
you found the money, too, and when
person has disappeared it makes
everybody think things"
Now don't you worry, Anne"
Chris was so eager to preserve this
new understanding between himself
and the girl he loved that for the
time being he was blinded to every
thing else. Il know that I can make
matters perfectly clear to the cap
tainr'
But here he had to stop. The
blessed tete-a-tete was brought to an
end by the entrance Of the captain,
the doctor and the first officer.
'Mr. Dahlgren." the captain ad.
dressed Chris, II had expected to hold
a conference with you and Miss
Morris md several other passengers
as soon as you felt better, but as long
as you are already up and dressed
and some additional details have come
to our attention, shall hold that con.
ference here and now. 1 feel sure
you are eager to help us in every way
possible to unravel the strange dis
appearance of Lady de Vere?"
Very eager. captain! May I in
quire if you have looked into the life
boats?"
yes" the captains eyes narrowed;
1.-THE last one to be searched was the
one in which you have been keeping
your carrier pigeons. May inquire,
why you did not report that detail to
us before? Provisions are made for
caring for pets. We never like to
have them smuggled in
II must insist upon your believing
that the pigeons are not my pets, cap.
tain. | never saw them beforew
Then what were you doing in the
boat, Mr.. Dahlgren? Explain that
and the matter can be dropped
Chris hesitated
We'll" he said at last, hating to
tell anything that might involve an
other person, Il had been wondering,
on my own account, if Lady de We're
might possibly have hidden herself in
boat thought I'd look y"
1t was a lame, stumbling excuse,
and Chris knew it, but he couldn't get
another man into trouble, not even
such a ridiculous person as Audrey
Winston,
Several quite unusual things have
happened to you Mr.. Dahlgren." the