Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-31
INSTALLMENT VII.

A H1lNED at b116 IbOtc DuhBd1OW
~ she occupied in st. Francis
"A Wood, LAnny put her car in the
L a garage, entered her home and
sat down to read Nance Belden's
letter. And when she failed to find 1t
she did some of the logical thinking Of
which she was so eminently capable in
situations where her emotions were not
being preyed upon.
Good work." she decided finally.
THAT girl 1 picked up on the road to
Greenbrae stole it out of my handbag
when / got out to look at the fiat tire.
She must have visited Nance before l
got there. She was hsshy sort Of
damcel, too, now that 1 think of it.
An underworld huzzy, doubtless; doubt
less, too, known to the police. So
Nance had no opportunity to slip her
the letter The matron watched too
closely. Nance feared that would be
the case, so she had an alternative
plan. What shrewd judge of human
nature that girl Isl She knew she could
work on me, and, oh, what fool I
was to permit it! Why, I'm as law
less as she is, only I'm responsible
knew 1 wouldn't fail to visit her, so
she described me to her confederate,
who spotted me when I drove up to
the main gate and parked my car.
when the confederate saw me coming
back she drove nail about an inch
into my rear tire-simple as two and
two are four. The nail was driven all
the way in and the air was out before
we'd gone a mile. Oh, dear, dear, dear,
what a sifnpleton 1 am! 1 suppose l
ought to do something about this, but
then If do how can I explain my
conduct to the prison offlcials?"
She realized thoroughly now the
extent to which she had been an Access
sorry before the act. What act? she
wondered. Well, she would have to
herself. Even Stephen Burt could not
share her confidence in this, for Lanny
was Justly proud of her intelligence
and integrity and loathed the thought
that a suspicion of either might obtain
in the mind of her beloved Stevie. She
feared, should he learn of her adven-
ture, that he would never quite trust
her again. And that would be unbear-
able
That sly minx-telling her she could
read the letter before mailing IT, that
If she did not approve of its contents
she was free to destroy 1t. That was
the point upon which the susceptible
Lanny had impaled herself.
"Well. it can't be anything so very
| important" she decided finally. sit
couldn't be part of a plan to escape,
because escape from that place is i'm
possible. Besides, no woman convict
has ever succeeded in escaping from
San Quentin. In all probability it was
just private message to one of her
old underworld friends. That girl is too
intelligent to dream of formulating
plans for escape Why, she couldn't
get out Of the front gate. Shed have
to swim the bay TO escape, even If she
succeeded in getting through the exit
| from the womar1's quarters and past
that suspicious guard in the little house
| there"
So Lanny made herself a highball
and resolved to dismiss all thought of
the incident. She also resolved to give
Nance Belden a piece of her mind II
and when she decided to visit her again.
And she was not at all certain she
would make Nance another visit.
Two weeks later, while she was sit
| ting before the fire, reading, her tele-
phone rang and mans voice said:
us this Miss Rebecca Lanning?"
Eyes. Who is this?"
"Never mind You wouldn't know me
IL / told you who I am. I'm friend
of Nance Belden."
"Oh, indeed" ironically. And who
might Nance Belden be?"
Lanny was nobodys fool On the
instant every sense was alert, for II
this was a trap set by the authorities,
who In some mysterious way had gotten
] wind Of her escapade. she was resolved
not to walk into, it.
'Are you going to be at home for an
hour, Miss Lanning?" the voice pur-