Evening star., 1936-10-05
INSTALLMENT XXI.

~ lakewood followe HAPPY
Chance, the night club man
ager. from the room where
IL Goliath had been taken 10
recover from something he ate" The
; wide corridor was still congested with
dancing girls. and they paused to look
them over. The orchestra was moan
ing to close.
Floor show in just a few minutes
now" said Chance. Don't 60 away
without taking look at 1t. Mr.. Black
wood. There's a couple Of hot num-
bers Id like to have you see."
Another door opened and closed.
and a sultry brunette came toward
them from one of the dresSin. rooms.
She appeared to be the star OF the
performance Her 1.-the body was ad-
mirably revealed by the striking cos
tune she wore-black velvet trousers
fitting tightly around the thighs and
widening from the calf into flaring
hens, slashed at the sides ana laceo
with sacrlet ribbons. Her blouse ana
sash were of scarlet silk and her BLACK
hair-the color of a ravens wing
was drawn back smoothly from her
brow and knotted low upon her neck,
after the fashion of queue. In her
hand she carried a wide sombrero
with iineling coins around its rim.
Quite spick and Spanish, thought
Riley Blackwood.
GOOD evening, Mr.. Chance" she
nodded. and patted him lightly on the
cheek. Her voice was low anu mu-
sical. her smile disturbing.
Mr.. Chance beamed at her. approVal
In his appraising eyes. Good evening"
Valerie" he blurbed. 81 want to In
troduce YOU to a friend of mine. Mr..
RIackWood. Miss West! And you
better be nice to him, my dear, II you
expect tc 60 on the stage.
mot the Mr.. Blackwood?" the
dancers dark eyes coquetted. Her
red lips puckered and her hand came
nm tn meet the hand he automatically
extended.
Blackwood's head was spinning. He
murmured something about q happy
privilege" and dropped her fingers as
suddenly as If they had burned nim'
Then he recovered his wits ant chat
tered fatuously for several minutes
on subjects relating to their common
interest.
But he had weathered-with some
dificulty-one of the outstanding
shocks of his career.
He was smelling again the perfume
of the woman who had escaped MIN
in Rita Wingheld's apartment, only
a few hours before. Elusive-unfor-
pettable-the tang of it filled his nos
trils and prickled in his veins. FoI
an instant he had felt that he must
shout the tiding of his discovery aloud
Now he was saying, Il suppose you
do sing La Cucaracha' somewhere In
the show? I've been waiting for years
to meet somebody who knew all the
words" ,,
And the dancer was replying, Ill
write them out for you, II you ike.
learned them from q man who used
to live in Mexico"
He was laughing and reproachine
her: Some of the words, under
stand. are very naughty"
And Valerie West was laughing
too, and saying: "of course, I wouldn't
know the naughty ones! But IL
write them out for you anyway
He escaped at last and returned to
his companions.
Anne Gray and Philip Constantine
were resting after their activities, ano
the whisky bottle had been burglec
of half its contents. Their heads were
topether-across the table-after the
fashion of young persons who have
suddenly discovered that they have
much in common.
Goliath isn't here" said Black
wood, seating himself. II don't know
where he is. The manager says he
went home some time ago."
The red head and the novelist pre-
tended polite interest.
What the dickens can have hap
pened to him?" wondered Constantine
with furrowed brow.
Miss Gray was more practical
sought we to report 1t to the police?
she asked.
IT think not" said Blackwood dryly
~Any reporting that Is to be done IN
do myself, when it becomes neces-
sary. Are you staying for the floor
show"
I'VE may as we'll, now that we are
here. I suppose Mr.. Goliath was told
that had gone away. He may come
back, If he calls up and finds I'm
not at home"
"He may" said Blackwood. "It
he does, you might give me ring
and tell me what happened to him. u
But he greatly doubted that Goliath
would do anything of the sort. The
explanation of Colbath's disappear
ance from the night club was not 50
simple as had been suggested. 1t in
volved more than a stomach reaction
and a nap on Chances couch-more
than simple misunderstanding on
the part of Chances henchmen.
You're not staying, then, your
self?" asked Constantine.
II think not" said Blackwood
pleasantly. you'll see that Miss Gray
gets safely home, of course?"
"Oh, yes" said Philip Constantine
Don't worry about that, Riley" He
got up and, with an apology, accom-
panied his friend to the entrance
whats on your mind, old mann
he asked. Something's troubling
you, I can see. You're not still think
ing that Anne Gray's your red head
surely? There isn't a chance of it
reallyl She's one of the sweetest per.
sons I've ever met. Her story strucl
me as entirely reasonable. But thi!
Goliath must be something of dog
eh"
He looked anxiously at the amateur
and added, II suppose there's no harm
in telling her everything that's hap.
pened?"
"Have you already told her?"
"Well-practically!'
Then there's no harm in il. said