Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-01

matters. Phyllis was suddenly aware
that women were becoming newly anx-
ious to ingratiate themselves with her:
and Relief Brainard furnished her the
reason. They know you are to marry
Radley, my dear. They think you will
share his power and multiply his
History repeated itself in minor
events. in kind II not In detail. There
were plenty Of variations upon the
theme Of marital jealousy, with and
without cause, revealed by the VicariOn.
One suspicious woman forced confess
sion from her scared spouse by merely
describing In general terms an 1mag-
| mary scene in one OF his haunts she
claimed to have witnessed by proxy. A
murder and two suicides that occurred
in nearby California towns were
charged to revelations made by the new
method. The newspapers seized upon
this and presently were assigning the
same cause to every deed of violence.
But people began to. pay little at
tention to the newspapers. Magazine
and book sales almost ceased. There
was no time to read. What with
morning matinees in the theaters
and with more and more managers
opening multiple-unit rooms for the
private accommodation of people who
did not desire publicity on the affairs
they wished to rehearse, nobody had
| time for anything else. OF course
there were furious arraignments of
| Brainard for furnishing private rec
\ ords at; ALL; and IL was asserted that
nothing was recorded that he did not
permit to be recorded. But some Of
the people who criticized him most
were among those to avail themselves
Of his tempting service. Extravagant
sums were doubtless paid for special
privilege perhaps to suppress special
privilege! Phyllis grew sick over
whispered reports that came to her
and marveled at the extent to which
the thing had gone. She began first
naively to doubt that Radley actually
handled the mere physical detail Of
issuing all the permits credited to
sible, and was comforted by the GER
tainty that half at least of the stories
she heard were untrue. When she
asked him. in one Of the now rare
opportunities to ask him anything, he
laughed and shrugged, and offered to
set condenser up for her in her own
home where she could check up on
any of his activities she desired. He
showed her a new machine he was
making in which SO records could be
made at once, all portions of one, or
all of separate events.
He was quite as Indifferent to per-
sonal danger as ever, 1t appeared. He
had the Bonmar surrounded with q
battery OF powerful lights that burned
all night Of every night, and the cur
rent for which, he said, was furnished
from q dozen different circuits, SO that
1t could not be cut or by accident or
design without elaborate preparations.
The purpose was obvious. It was adj
vertised of him that he never went any,
where out of the light; and the infer
ence would have needed no pointing,
even II she had not heard him tell OF
his reasons for believing himself pro-
tected. Possibilities of killing him
subtly or at long distance were pub
licly discussed, and reports were monot-
onously recurrent that it had been at
tempted by one ingenious method or
another. But he only laughed at these
stories also.
Nevertheless. the change she had
seen beginning In him went on. His
face haunted her. The consciousness
Of his power was not more plainly
written in his eyes than the growing
ruthlessness Of its use. Yet there was
a constantly recurring flicker of some
thing there that belied both. What
was the ruling motive that guided him?
What was his incentive? Sometimes,
she seemed to feel that he was asking
these questions Of himself Which