Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-20
Continued From Yesterdays starr
TWENTY-FoURTH tNsTALLMENT.

w WITH Cranson's dramatic de-
n I nouncement of John Dia-
wv mond, a silence fell upon
the room-a silence which
remained unbroken until q
rusty squeak announced that the latch
of the front door had been lifted.
All eyes turned in the direction from
which the sound came In the hall,
just outside, stood a dirty and Woe
begone little figure.
It was Willie Prentice. Seeing him
self observed, the newcomer took step
forward and asked, with what, under
the circumstances, was the anti-climaX
of anxiety:
"Has any one seen that man who
went out with me little while ago."
Cropsey said in a shaken voice, you
mean David?"
"That's what he called himself, I
think" Prentice crossed to the center
of the room, scraping his foot on the
backs of his trousers legs at every other
step. did he come back here?"
Miss Barth told him no, adding with
nervous impatience that it would be
well if some folks knocked before they
walked into houses that didn't belong
to them. 1t was evident the good lady
had her mind set on hearing the rest
of what Derrick Cranson had to say,
and was displeased to the point OF dis
traction upon encountering delay
from such trivial sources.
AnnasSa West, however, was OF q
different mind. She stepped forward.
The light from the candles on the
mantel shelf fell full on her tense face
and gold gown.
what happened-to ny-stable boy?
When did you last see him?"
Cropsey cast the girl look and saw
| that she controlled herself, but with
an effort.
1--WE went as far as the cellar in the
| red barn." explained Willie Prentice
| in his high-pitched schoolboy tenor.
land David showed me the mouth OF
the tunnel. He said some one must
have been through 1t In the last hour
or two because the packing boxes had
been moved and not put back. I got
down on my hands and knees"-invol-
J unfairly he crouched as he described
| the scene-"and crawled a little way
| into the hole. I didn't hear anything
of David. I called, Are you coming
with me?' No one answered, so
backed out again." Here the narrator
retreated a step or two by way Of help
ing his hearers to visualize what hao
happened. And he wasn't there. He'd
"left me fat"
Annassa West half closed her eyes
For moment she swayed on the high
heeled brocaded slippers. But as Crop
sey reached out hand to steady her
her voice, firm, mistaken, demanded
What did you do then?"
why, then" said Willie Prentice, as
prosaically as though dark underground
tunnels were a part of his everyday
existence, IT went to the hole again
and crawled through 1t until I came
to the end"
And you found "?" Cropsey
and Annassa West put the same ques-
ton, both in one breath.
/ Willie Prentice wiped some mud from
his face with still muddier hand
kerchief.
Nothing" he said in discouraged
voice, nothing at all. Suddenly, there
was up out of the ground, no better
of than was before"
To most of the company this talk Of
tunnel was an irritating and mean
ingleSs depression, but to Miss West
and the managing editor of the New
York Free Press no topic could have
been more grippingly vital. There wa,
one other In the room who listened
with alert attention, had the other:
but noticed it, and that was the little
veterinary.
cropsey asked eagerly. Where die
/
ION the other side of the graveyard, ;
said Willie, and wiped his face for tn,
second time. I'm that Doggy patel
of wood"
"Ah!" The veterinary flung himsel
forward with such unexpected fur!
that both Cropsey and CARING, wht
had been his jailers, were taken UNI
, aware and lost their hold on his arms
. But free, the little horse doctor made
no attempt to touch the wounded mar
) on the couch. Instead, taking up {
! position near the mantel, he snatcheC
/. the heavy wrought-iron poker from it
. hook, swung 1t about his head. "StanC
: back" he ordered. And they obeyec
! the tone of desperation in the voice
I There was a breathless momen
while he glared at them from l''-"c
I bushy brows. Then, in an unexr Id.
calm and rational voice:
t 1T see I must tell all" He raiseC
one hand dramatically.
S Behind me lies the secret OF Bride
S House, and before me the author of it,
Pointing to the owner of the Dali.
5 Free Press, THAT man. cringing Their
e under the name of Diamond, Is in real
d ity John Kenny. cHeap adventurer
Almost 80 years go he came to Hale