Evening star., 1927-05-06

made no attempt to doll up, Bill no.
ticed. Her face was haggard and the
dark lines about her eyes revealed the
state of mind into which Laffin's per-
f1dity had thrown her.
HAS that devil been foun1?" she
asked Immediately she came into the
room. ooh, Mr.. Holbrook, isn't it
dreadful! All I've had from him was
500, though he promised faithfully
he'd send me a check the next morn
ing 1 haven't seen the color of his
money, and the tradesmen's bills are
coming in; it will cost me over 1000
| to settle. And it was Van Campo s
fault; he said I'd get publicity out of
it, and I haven't got so much as a
| line! Whatever am l to do?"
| IF you'll sit down quietly and tell
me all about it," said Bill, maybe ]
can help you--as far as publicity
goes"
mot that kind of publicity" she
said sf1rilly Il don't want anybody
| to know that it wasn't my house, or
| that somebody else was paying the
| bills 1t would ruin me professionally
| Mr.. Holbrook. I've got to think of
my career. And Charles says that he
won't pay penny. I'm ruined, abso.
lutely ruinedr'
Bill looked at the $4,000 wristlet she
wore, was daZzled by the Gcintillations
of a ~reat pear shaped diamond that
hung on her breast, and even observed
that the hands that geSticulated in de-
spair sent forth strange and beautiful
flashes os color, and in the face of this
evidence of ruin" was not as sympa-
thetic as he might have been.
Its not my house at all" she said:
"of course, you knew that? Latin
took it because he wanted to find out
something about Sir Richard Paxton,
who is one of the heads of the treas
ury. / don't understand very much
about it, because stock exchange bust.
ness makes my head ache. But it was
all about the war that he wanted to
know. 1t seems that we owe America
a lot of money"
Have you only just discovered
that?" asked Bill with gentle irony.
How was / to know" she asked
impatiently. Anyway, we do owe
America a lot of money and we have
to pay them every year or half-year-
I forget which. And he wanted me to
find out when the next interest--that
was the word, interest'-was to be
paid. He said that the British govern
ment had been buying dollars, and he
wanted to make sure whether the
AAiOllCy was SOlIlS W ia III 'dDSI
currency or in ~old and had an aw.
full job to find out, Mr.. Holbrook.
You've no idea how mean these gov
ernment people are. And Sir Richard
likes me very much, indeed-in fact
he's perfectly dippy about me-" She
could not resist the simper and the
downcast eyes that accompanied this
immodest claim.
Bill was listening with all ears now.
The mystery of the house in Portman
place was less of a mystery to him.
II suppose it was because had this
grand house that he was more open
and frank with me. It's CURIOUS what
snobs people are-but they are, Mr..
Holbrook! Anyway, he told me that
t. money was being sent in paper
currency-that's the term, isn't it?
Paper currency"
That's the term" said Bill, with an
assumption of carelessness. "And
when is it to be shipped?"
'On the goth of July--that's next
weekly the" she frowned in an
effort of memory. II can never keep
ships in my head-it was a curious
name."
"Escorial?" asked Bill, his heart
beating a little faster.
'"That's 1.-THE Escorial. Fifty mil.
lion dollars! Isn't it wicked to send
all that money to America? They'll
probably spend it on cinemas, which