Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-13

throng Atlantic Citys Boardwalk.
Within the small Boardwalk store
which had been made to look the
proper setting for Raj Hanoun the
All-seeing, it was very stuffy indeed. The three
women who waited in the reception room
stirred uneasily half impatient to hear their
own fates unfolded, half sorry that they had
come at all.
On one of the rickety chairs sat Dolly Grouse,
her legs crossed so that the shoddy red silk
dress hardly covered them, her patent leather
pumps swinging Dolly made dabs Of repair at
her face with lipstick and powder. Dolly was
iumpy, and she frowned absently into the mir
ror of her compact. She was next. Hanoum
had told her fortune two years ago, when she
was down at the shore with that dance hall
racket And he sure hit the nail on the head.
Told her to beware of blonds. And didn't that
SwenSon girl try to double-cross her the very
next day? Hanoum was the goods. Dolly would
have been back to him much sooner but she had
been detained as the guest Of the State OF
Pennsylvania for the last six months, and
where she could not get ct fortune telers easily;
either.
But that was all behind her now. A bad
break. No more following her own lunches.
These Hindu fellows could really see things o
person had ahead Of her. what Dolly had
ahead Of her now was the riSkiest thing she
had ever attempted Get job with the r1ch
Mrs Henry Rice out in Cleveland. Work quiet
and meek and efficient four months or So And
then one night when Mrs. Rice was out at
some dinner party or other, let Sandy into the
house. Let him knock her about httle-bind
and gag and chloroform her. And be brought
hack to consciousness q few hours later, by
doctor, and two or three policemen, probably. TO
be all bewilderment and outraged loyalty at the
news that her unknown assailant had made
away with Mrs. Rice's famous emeralds.
All simple enough really, If it weren't for
that little visit Dolly had just paid the State.
That rap was only for shoplifting. But a
record doesn't do you any good. Maybe it
would be better not to try the Cleveland stunt,
after all. But Sandy thought she was losing
her nerve. She wished somebody would advise
Well some one was going to. In just lew
minutes Hanoum would be looking into Dollys
future. And you could count on Hanoum.
Dolly uncrosSed her legs, ready to rise. The
woman ON the sofa looked to Dolly like the kind
who would sweep right in ahead Of person
If you didn't look sharp. These society danes
had o nerve.
MRS. REGINALD BANKS did have nerve,
AVE- but beneath the perfect folds of her green
cloth coat her heart was beating rapidly and
under the $50 worth Of black felt hat her mind
was In considerable turmoil She had come
down here to Atlantic City all alone to decide
something for herself. But in her spacious
@lite ct the hotel she had not found that she
could relax and think clearly, after all
HRS. Banks was IS, and though she knew
very well that she was beautiful she also knew
that beauty Of her sort was not q thing that q
woman could hunt on forever. If she made
- Sn1k k~o IN
trench. Divorced from Reggie, with very little
money, men wouldn't find her as irresistible, IS
they would think her a dangerous playmate.
All sorts of diSagreeable things could happen If
the big plan went wrong.
The big plan" being her marriage to Carter
Avery. Married to Carter, life would be so
smooth, so luxurious that, beauty or no beauty,
youth or old age, she would be secure in the
things she loved. The things which Mrs. Banks
loved were money, luxury, admiration, more
money, more luxury and more admiration. AS
the wife of Reginald Banks, she already had
those things in large enough quantities to
satisfy two or three ordinary women. But as
the wife of Carter Avery-well. Carter Avery's
ability to supply the things Mrs. Reggie wanted
was legendary and without end
And for the past year Carter had made per-
Sistent love TO her-so convincingly with such
fervid promises Of what life would be If only
he could marry her (and why, oh, why hadn't
ne seen her before }, that now, this
March IN Atlantic City, Mrs Reggie has about
made up her mind that she would be free. And
that marry her he not only could, but must.
Now, that plan, like DOllys, would all have
been simple enough except for one thing That
thing was that Carter Avery already had a
most substantial wife-a wife who had held fast
to her name and her place at the head Of his
table through good many years. Mrs. Avery's
friends said that she was determined to stay
married to Carter for two reasons-that she
loved him and that she didn't intend to have
her three children's lives complicated by divorce.
Her enemies said that she stuck because she was
duh, selfish woman, who chung to Garter long
after ne was tired of her and wanted gayer and
more decorative ladies about him. But both