The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-09-29

The girl looked her surprise. mo,
didn't, Mr.. Rankin. Why should I
be curious, when I believed Laura's
story that he was out of town with
herr?
ut shouldn't be difficult to locate
him, at any rate" Rankin confided to
Captain Chambers; then to the girl:
'Have you any idea how long they've
been acquainted?"
well, only incidentally, 1 figure
their affair must be going on over a
year-at least, since last January. At
first, I was afraid to agree to the
proposition; and to reassure me,
Laura said she had been cheating her
first lover with him even last winter
and he was none the wiser"
"And who is he? Can you tell me
that or where he might be found?"
Rankin queried.
But as he expected, Myra Prentiss
was ignorant of any facts concerning
the man she supposedly helped to out
-it. Not once did the actress reveal
his name or discuss her establishment
with him. AS with most of her ex-
PLANTATION, Rankin was convinced his
very existence was fictitious-part of
her alibi to cloak her nefarious jour-
ney to Philadelphia. She had not
dared supply the show-girl with her
correct address in the East; hence the
Lake Geneva address, probably an ac-
commodation, from which Myra's let
tiers lin the unlikely event there were
tor Prince in St. Louis and thence
on to her. Or perhaps the physician
actually stayed at the Halfway house
while she went east, to lend verisimili-
tude to their fake rendezvous. Which
ever the case, inquiry at the lake
would settle it; but of one point, the
detective was practically certain. BY
now, Doctor Prince had surely re-
turned to st. Louis-and somehow, he
must apprehend him.
For unlike the mythical duped lover,
the physician was very real indl-
vidual. And that portion of Mrs. Jor-
dams fiction dealing with him came
perilously close to the true situation
last May, when Stuart had been his
wife's dupe and that Of her paramour.
After their marriage in February
year ago, she had continued her secret
relations with her lover, begun before
she met the boy. But her letters had
never named him; now, suddenly, the
show-girl had identified him with the
confederate who helped her create her
alibi. Certainly, Rankin calculated
the evidence logically indicated they
were the same. By her own admission
the actress was intimate with Arnold
Prince before her first contact with
Jordan. And it seemed impossible
that there was still another man for
whom she double-crossed both her hus-
band and her sweetheart.
If the physician were actually the
lover over whom Laura Jordan quar-
relied and separated from Stuart, then
he was manifestly as interested as she
in preventing the boy from depriving
her of the Jordan estate.
Rankin was amazed, once he con-
cluded that they plotted the murder to-
gether, how the complete details of the
crime fell into proper place. Step by
step, he could trace every develop
ment-Doctor Prince with the know,-
edge, as a member of the fraternity
necessary to accomplish the deed, and
the actress actual commission Of it.
Since the central body of Mu Beta Sig
ma established the same secret code
and ritual for every chapter, the physi-
clan could have informed Laura Jor-
dan how to enter the Gamma chapter
initiation: given her the secret knocks
and passwords of recognition to get
by the sergeant at arms; related how
the PLEDGES and brothers were ar
ranged throughout the ritual; know
when the opportunity to reach Stuart
would arise. And he could also de-
scribe the robes-perhaps supply her
with his own costume, used years be-
fore. Under its voluminous folds,
woman was as effectively concealed
as a man. The actress then needed
only key to the fraternity house and
must ascertain the date and hour of
the initiation.
The detectives sudden inspiration
at that instant sent his cogitations rae
ing forward excitedly. OF course-the
blond girl Benjamin Crawford acct
dentally met, who failed to keep the
blind rendezvous with him the Tues
day night Of the initiation! When the
student described that encounter, Ran
kin had considered it merely an anus
ing and typically collegiate Irritation.
But now he perceived it's true sig
nificance. The woman must have been
Laura Jordan: and far from being
pickup. she deliberately engineered
the meeting for a twofold purpose.
Thus, she guaranteed Crawford's alb
sence from the ceremony and could
take his place without the addition OF
an unaccounted member. And in fix
ing her date, she subtly learned from
him at what hour and day the initia-
ton would be held.
The first essential, Rankin clearly
discerned, to the success of the muir.