Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-05

changed to one of uneaSiness.
There was a woman with him. And
such woman. A poor, neglected-look-
ing female, dressed from head to foot
in rusty black; garments that had nei-
Their shape nor pattern, but hung from
her emaciated form in every conceivable
length, f1uttering like the ceremonial
rags OF Scarecrow, Even her face,
oddly enough, was covered--a thick
black veil, or possibly 1t was q mans
silk muffler, had been tied in q knot at
the back Of her head, so high up as to
leave nothing exposed save a high and
naked-looking forehead.
In deSultory, half-hearted sort OF
way this creature was giving the veter-
mary quite tussle, fighting him with
feet and with hands whose long bony
fingers looked more like talons than
anything covered with human flesh and
blood. Her cries were scarcely human
either--raucous Squawks, boots, unin-
telligible shouts. AS they drew nearer,
the meaning Of this extraordinary be-
haVior became apparent. The poor thing
was either drunk or drugged or-both.
Under no circumstances must the
little doctor know he had had a witness
to this scene. No matter how pressing
the necessity at Brides House might be,
Miss Vests sense of delicacy demanded
that she slip away as unannounced as
she had come
But at least the question of Dr. Gran
sons strange choice of a habitation had
been settled. 1t was clear from the
tenderness he had exhibited throughout,
that the solitary shack in the woods had
been selected as refuge-a haven in
which to hide thing much loved from
the eyes OF an unSympathetic world.
The couple by this time reached the
steps that led to the porch. Fortu-
nately they were too absorbed in their
grotesque harlequinade to have eve or
ear for anything else.
The girl slipped back into the house
and found, as she had hoped, that there
was rear door as we'll as a front one.
IN a few seconds she had put the dig
tresslng scene behind her. Excited by
the incident, she completely forgot the
danger lurking in the Doggy ground be-
tween Cranson'S house and the south
| pasture.
Flying on light feet, the narrow strip
OF woods had been all but crossed: and
Annassa had caught a glimpse of Abby,
pacing restlessly back and forth beside
Cne ola nurylng ground, when tuft OF
moss gave as she Jumped on Il. III
the branch to which she had been hold
ing mad not snapped at the same tirnG.
her weight could have been shifted
quickly enough to avoid trouble. AS II
was, she found herself up to her ankla
IN what felt like cold, sticky dough. ~
IlrSt 1t did not promise to be so terribI 1
IL was not until she made a move 10
seI OUT mat the real sinking began
only an inch or two, but a rather orn-
NOUS inch when one remembered about
Chose pillow horses. 1t was like all quick
sanos; the more she worked, the deeper
her knees. "O0N'
Inc situation, as it dawned, was too
Mucous to seem real-too real to be a
product OF the indignation. Darkness
CLe unknown. A filthy, creeping death.
ana worse than all else, emptiness
Even the trees once so oppressively
close, had retired byond reach, their
ann shapes, aloof and impersonal. as
witness in a death chamber.
"Aoby!" she called, and knew the
ocotcnWoman did not hear her-Would
probably never hear.
only her body, from the waist I'D.
was free now. Caught in that strange
ly yielding wise, the rest of her had lost
the power to move. And as her bodily
strength failed, her mind conjured up
a panorama of events from the past
| the old house in which she had been
porn; hazy picture of her mother
| lying still and white in a bed of flow
ers; her first pony. The father who had
taught her to ride.
| DeAANJ' yOu see ndDDen
| TO your little girl?" It was the appeal
she had always made when a threatened
punishment promised to be too hunnili-
ating to be borne with dignity. 1t was
an appeal that had never failed. It did
not fail now.
From somewhere close at hand came
| a deep male voice:
Stop struggling, you little idiot, and
III have you out in a jiffy!"
A pair of hands were thrust under
her arm pits, leverage exerted. Slow
iy, and With as little discomfort as pos
slole under the circumstances. she was
| drawn from the hungry mud and set
on her feet, none the worse for her
narrowing experience except that she
| had lost both shoes. Even this minor
| discomfort was discounted when, with
out word, her rescuer caught her up
| in his powerful arms, Graded her
through the remaining few feet Of
| woods, over the stone wall and to the
south pasture, where Abby still kept
agttated vigil Once solid ground had
! been put beneath her feet he stepped
back, his hands clenched at his sides
in an attitude which, while not exactly
sheepish, nor yet self-satisfied, APP
peared to be a quite unexplainable
blend of both.
Annassa West looked up The man to
whom she owed her life was Draculas
night rtder-the mysterious stranger.
And swift on the heels of this discovery
came the feeling that he was not UNI
known to her, that she had seen him
before the pasture episode, seen him
close, like this, towering over her. It
was fleeting impression, gone as soon
as it had come, but it served to quicken
the interest he had already aroused in
her. She had scarcely had time to
murmur more than q conventional
THANK you" when the loud and insist
ent honking of a motor horn from tina
direction of the house announced the
arrival of some one--unexpected re-
Inducements probably from the Cross
ing; and with a start the girl remem-
bered the cause of her recent predica-
ment.
oh" she erred, "the watchman-tne
dead watchnSE IN the fireplace!"
Waterman! Dead" Her rescuer.a
whole attitude changed Disbelief--un-
easlness-fear-they stole across his
face like ripples over the surface Of a
lake. He was, she saw, prepared for
flight; and instinctively her hand shot
out to detain him. Catching at the
hrst thing that came within reach-a
fold of the loose flannel shirt-she
hung on while he struggled to be free.
"A dead man! The f1replacei" Sud-
denly his every muscle galvanized into
action. There came a savage jerk.
Cloth ripped. Buttons gave. The
shirt Slid down from one shoulder ex-
posing bronzed and brawny chest on
which was a splash of something
which had dark and ugly look in the
moonlight.
Let me go!" With one hand the
man sought to draw the shirt back into
place. With the other he wrenched
himself free. Then, as though some
gentler instinct prompted him to wipe