The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-03-06

when Max Lewis told you that l was
the girl all right, because my first
name was Rhoda, you told him to find
out where lived"
Il told you that myself this noon,"
Claire broke in. whats that got to
do with it?p
"And you told him." Rhoda went on,
mot to waste any time about 1t, be-
cause might see Mr.. Forster's adj
vertisement any day and answer it."
Rh0da could see that this bit of infor-
nation startled her and she went on
little more confidently. HE did find
out where lived by going home that
night with Babe, and he found out
that the studio was empty all day be-
cause she told him we both worked
and the other girls were away. He
tried to find out whether my name
wasn't Rhoda Mcfarland, but she
didn't tell him. Yesterday afternoon
the studio was broken into. The
burglar didn't find any papers, because
he didn't know where to look. But he
did find three hundred dollars of
mine, and he took that. To-day"
Rhoda went on, "after I'd told you
that my fathers papers were in the
trunk and sealed up, and after you'd
gone out and telephoned. !"
you think Max went and got the
trunk, do you, and that he brought it
here?"
eyes," Rhoda said. "And I think
he's in that alcove with it now.''
The woman gave a vicious laugh.
"All right" she said, Ego and see for
yourself. If you can find Max or the
trunk, you're welcome to both Of them.
Go and look, and then get out. I've
been insulted about long enough"
This wasn't the way Rhoda had ex-
pected the scene to work out. She
was assailed by sudden doubt that
the trunk might not be in the alcove
after all, nor Max either. She'd be in
hideously uncomfortable position If
she went and looked and nothing was
there. Yet she couldn't go away with
out looking. This might be nothing
but magnificent bluff by Claire.
"Thank you," she said, II will go
and look" But it took all the resolu-
ton she had to set her legs in motion
down the room.
The alcove contained bed, taw-
dry, oriental-looking affair, too low
for the trunk to be under, couple of
chairs and a dressing table, but no
trunk, no litter of papers, and no
Max.
$50 as far as you like" said Claire
who had followed her. "Perhaps
they're hidden in my closet or in the
bathroom"
Rhoda was on the point of giving it
up. But the bathroom door stood ajar
and Rhoda's glance had gone that way
as Claire finished speaking. 1t looked
like a rather large room for its pur-
pose. More than just bathroom.
She'd take look, anyhow, and make
sure. She was in the act Of going in,
but not yet clear of the door, and
Claire was at her elbow, when the
sharp jingle of bell somewhere in
That is to say, it startled Rhoda; it
paralyzed Claire. Her hard blue eyes
seemed to bulge right out of her head.
But that lasted only an instant. With
a convulsive movement Claire gave her
tremendous push that sent her stag
gering clear across the tiled floor to
the farther wall, whipped the key out
of the inner face of the door, slammed
the door, and locked her in. The bell
gave second peal just as the bolt
clicked home
She heard Claire open the door
the door she had come in by, Rhoda
didn't doubt; there was betraying
was no sound of the heavy footsteps
on the stairs that would have her.
aided the Juggling In of her trunk.
Claire must have thought it was the
trunk coming, though, or she wouldn't
have locked her up in the bathroom.
The silence, which had lasted half a
dozen seconds, perhaps, was again
broken by the ring Of the bell, per-
sistent this time and prolonged. 1t
wasn't the doorbell at all: it was the
telephone.
Rhoda heard the door slam shut and
the rush of Claire's feet across the
room. 1t was odd that in her own
fiat she should have mistaken the bell
She'd been expecting the doorbell, that 4
was why.
The instrument was just around the
corner Of the alcove. Claire said,
''Hello?" and then a moment later,
"Yes. Who is this? What is it you
want?"
An unfamiliar voice, evidently ask
ing Of this was Miss Claire Cleveland.
The stranger must have said his say
pretty concisely, for after quite
short pause Claire cried out in tone
of the liveliest establishment, "What's
that? What are you talking about?
Who are you, anyway" And again,
I Y Y " & ]