Nogales international., 1930-08-01
Second Install1nent
WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE.

WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE.
She found herself standing on corner
in strange city; beautiful young woman
who did not know her name nor remember
anything about her past life. A policeman
asked her if she were in trouble. Frightened.
man who had been watching her came. up
and spoke. He said that he had noticed
her having breakfast in the hotel where he
was also staying. She thought he looked
honest, and she was terribly afraid. espe-
cially after she had found nothing in her
purse that would tell her even her name.
She consented to let him escort her to the
Garland Hotel. In the taxicab she learned
for the first time that she was on Fifth
Avenue in New York.
Now Go On with the Story.
eyes" he told her, thinking it out
as he spoke. "We can do it like
this: | will get out of the cab a
block from the hotel and walk the rest
of the way. When you reach the Car
land, go to the desk in the main hall,
and ask the clerk if there's any mail
+ for you. If there is, it may give you
all the information you need. Any
way, it will give you your name. Ii
. there isn't any mail, the clerk may
mention your name as he tells you So.
In any case, go from the desk to the
writing-room at the left of the en-
trance, and sit down at one of the
double writing tables. will come into
the hotel just behind you, and after
you have left the desk, if see that
you haven't got anything, I'll ask
Robinson, the day clerk, who you are
and where you're from. He'll tell me.
/ He's a nice chap, and we've talked a
! lot since I came. Then I'll come in
and sit down opposite you at the desk
you have chosen, and if there's any
one else in the room / will cater to
convention by asking you to lend me
a bIotter or something of that sort.
We can fail into a 1ow-voiced chat,
and I'll tell you what I've learned"
"You think of everything" she as
sured him, with relief; and again there
was a faint suggestion Of smile
around her moutl.
There was no trace of smile ten
minutes later, however, when the clerk,
having greeted her with evident recog-
milton but without mentioning her
name, turned from his inspection Of
! the mail rack to tell her there were
J no letters. It was heavy blow, but
she left the desk without signs of its
effect. The hotel was strange to her.
Nothing she saw suggested that she
had ever been there before, except
the attitude of the clerk. He had
gone to the mail rack with the assur-
ance of ore who knew exactly what
he was looking for, and he had also
run over few letters that had Just
been dropped on his desk. On a sec
ond thought she turned back to him.
"My key, please"
He took a key from the rack and
handed it to her, and when she had
found the writing-room and sat down
at table she looked at the number
on the brass tag. One hundred and
twenty-eight. SO the young man with
the nice face was right that far. She
was a registered guest at this hotel
and the hotel itself, though a trife
passe, was reassuring in appearance
and atmosphere.
Her slight delay had caused her to
pass her new acquaintance in the lobby
and he stepped aside to make way for
her, raising his hat with conventional
courtesy as he did so. She responded
with an almost imperceptible negative
sign, but he saw it and approached his
friend Robinson.
"Who is that girl?" he asked cas-
ually, nodding at the slight retreating
figure, as he lit the match he had asked
for and applied it to a cigarette.
"She sits at the table next to mine"
Robinson gave him an understanding
grin.
easy to look at, isn't she? Her
name is Parsons, | think-Miss Eve
Parsons. At least it's as much like
that on the register as like anything.
She begins word with one big
clear letter and goes on with wavy
line. But we've called her Miss Par
sons ever since she came and she
answers to it." he added philosophic-
ally, so guess it's all right"
Where's she from?"
The young man lounged against the
desk in the manner of visitor to the
city, talking without much interest
but to kill time; and the clerk good
humoredly bore with him, having moth
ing else to do at the moment.
That's another queer thing" Rob
inson remembered. Il can't make
out her home town, except that it
begin with N. I meant to ask her,
but forgot. Jenkins, the night clerk,
was here when she registered three
nights ago, and he didn't pay much
attention, because she said she was
leaving again the next morning. I
suppose she changed her mind, the
way women do" he ended with large
tolerance. Anyway, you see she
didn't CO."
"How about her letters? They
would settle the matter of the name,
at least" the guest suggested.
"She hasn't had any, yet"
II wonder if could make out the
names. I'm rather good at reading
scrawls. Do you mind letting me look
at the register?"
Robinson produced the book, turn
ing back two pages with smile.
AS he talked he ran a finger down