Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1933-11-30
CHAPTER XIV
In Retrospect

"For the life of me, Mr.. Rankin tbe
whole thing sounds too incredible"
Mr.. Warwick said, shaking his head.
Except for yOur proofs, wouldn't
believe it possible that woman COULD
live so long disguised as boy in q
young mems dormitory. And get away
with it, undiscovered"
The detective settled himself COM
fortably in his chair and lighted a Gig
arctic.
ut wasn't actually for such a long
time. Mr.. Warwick" he returned, draw.
ing on it. Mrs. Jordan wasn't run
ming the risk of being caught a mo-
ment more than she had to. She
started to play her part at the opening
of school in the fall, when she came
east to matriculate. prepare her sched-
ules and arrange for a room in the
dormitories. She wanted one as close
to Stuart as she conld get. without be-
ing in constant danger Of encounter
ing him. Luckily. she obtained II In
the adjoining building and on the same
floor; that is quite important. But
you'll find she only remained two
weeks in October. when her convenient
Illness forced her to drop out until
the second term. Then she returned
to Philadelphia on January thirty
first. to be always on the scene during
rushing season and the approach of
fraternity limitations. That was lust
the time she dropped out of sight as
Laura Jordan; she gave up her apart
ment in st. Louis on January twenty
ninth, and Myra Prentiss took her
place at the Fenton hotel for the
month Of February. I failed to con-
meet the two events in spite of the
obvious coincidence, on hearing Miss
Prentiss' confession" ~
Seated in his office. Mr.. Warwick as
sured the detective of the schools will
ingness to wash its hands of the en-
tire crime; the authorities could pro
duce whatever evidence they chose.
| The solution was too sensational to
hope to suppress further, despite the
vast influence of alumni and trustees.
the resultant scandalous publicity.
But in such quarters" the super
visor continued, "the students are
| thrown together and live a more or
less communal life. You'll have to ex-
| plain how she managed to mingle with
them on some degree of intimacy"
1t was the second morning after the
actress arrest that Rankin allied on
him to discuss the universi.y's final
interest in the case. The supervisor
had expressed his perplexity With GER
tain details of the crime that opened
the above conversation.
''That's just it, she didn't" Rankin
met his observation. "The first time
visited her room, the charwoman told
me how aloof Randall was. She said
he never invited his neighbOrs into
| his room or Joined in the rough-house
they INDUCED in. One typically fem
| mime trait she mentioned was his neat
ness in keeping his room in order him
self"
"Still, there were contacts Mrs.
Jordan could scarcely avoid. Especial
ly in the Mushroom. no matter how
cautious she was to escape embarrass-
ment"
The detective shook his head. "No,
her practice of staying in bed late
eliminated most of them. Remem-
Der, beside those in the lavatories,
each room has its individual wash
basin. It's small point, but it meant
the difference between success and
failure in her imposition; without 1t,
her scheme was impracticable. She
could wash and dress fully in her own
quarters. And use the washroom, too,
just as conveniently as the other stu
dents"
Mr.. Warwick drummed thoughtfully
on the top Of his desk with a pencil.
well, how about in classes, RAN
kim" he inquired. "She couldn't very
well help being thrown in with them
there and meeting the professors 40
well"
"She simply failed to attend them
at all, sir" Rankin replied. "As un-
derstand it, the teachers receive no
check-up list of who has been assigned
to them; they don't know their pupils
until they present themselves at the
beginning Of the course and personal
ly hand in their names.
"Of course, she went through the
formality of arranging her schedule of
courses for the year and selecting her
particular hours with particular teach
ers. But no one was the wiser when
she just didn't show up, either in Oc-
tober for a few weeks or again, In
February and part Of this month"
Eyes, that is true of the college de-
partment," the supervisor nodded,
where Randall that is, she
registered. Other departments do give
each instructor the names of his stu
dents. Gymnastics Of some sort, for
instance, are required of every boy
twice a week; how did she evade
that?"
Ito be continued next week.