Evening star., 1936-08-22
INSTALLMENT XIV.

Very deliberately he rose to his
feet and faced the younger man. His
tones were unrufled.
II thought we had decided to drop
the dramatics but If you insist" :"
He held up his slender, well-shaped
hands and regarded them through his
half-closed eyes. "I'd much prefer
not to demonstrate. but could choke
the life out Of you with those =. be-
fore you knew what was happening,
my friend. So please -"
The cold gray eyes flicked their
glance into Deeds bored relent-
iessly. With every muscle tense, the
younger man appeared to be hypno-
tized. He heard Sloan's words, SEEM
ing to come from a great distance.
I think you are going to be sensible
now. Try to get 1t into your juvenile
mind that am not defaming any
ones character. You are trying to
be very heroic and you want very
much to threaten me to tell me
that the young woman's name is not
to be brought into our talk"
Deeds moistened his lips with his
tongue. But no words came.
That is all very commendable, "
Sloan assured soothingly. You are
quite fond Of Miss Kendall We
might as well have that over with
=. and I admire her, too. assure
you that have every reason to believe
that she Is above reproach. In every
way. Come I mean that. Some
thing tells me that you would 60 to
almost any length to be of service to
Miss Kendall. 1t pleases me to give
you just such a chance to render
her service you never have dreamed
Of. You may have to do without her
thanks, but I can assure you that
you'll never regret helping her"
Deeds drew long. quivering breath
I'm sure you know the terms,
Elledge pursued evenly. They are
easy all you have to do is carry
on for little as you have been. The
young lady will never know how nearly
you have come to making her . . un-
happy, we'll say. You have my word
for that. am not going to ask you
for any promise. Just forget all
this"
He was out of the room and closing
the door softly after him almost be-
fore Deeds was aware Of it.
That young man moved stif1y to
his bed and sank down. The strength
seemed suddenly to have left his legs
For long time he sat motionless,
staring down at the floor. trying to
subject his whirling thoughts to some
semblance of order He couldn't un-
derstand exactly how it had happened
how that man got out of the
room without having his head torn
off his shoulders. Silly to believe that
he had any what? Supernatural
powers of some sort? Rot! Nothing
but clever crook. And yet >.
Deeds admitted to himself that he
had felt p,'werless to do anything, even
when he heard Joan's name!
He gave a little shiver at that
memory. It was the one thing that
fellow could have done to make him
take it lying down. That threat
or was it only bluff? No. it wasn't
There was something dangerous there
). danger for Joan. No living man
could make him believe that Joan ever
had done wrong. Unthinkable. But
she might be trying to shield some
one else . some one she cared for.
And Elledge knew
Deeds racing thoughts caught at
Jere Kendall. Was that the answer?
Joan had voiced the suspicion that
her father and John Elledge had some
thing in common. Maybe the doctor
had something on Jere using it
as lever to try to get in Joan's good
graces. Or get her in his power, more
likely. Whatever it was, Sloan had
intimated pretty broadly that it would
mean trouble for Joan. He was willing
to lay of, provided Deeds kept his
mouth shut. For 10 days or So
Why that short time? What were
the Elledges pulling off :. . that they
would feel themselves in the clear so
shortly? Sloan was resourceful and
unscrupulous. He was the brains Of
this thing. His brother maybe
they weren't brothers at that was
dupe. A tool.
Joan had said she never saw the
Elledges until she came home this
Summer =. pretty sure she said so.
If she had known them, how could
she disguise 1t so cleverly, appear to
find them mysterious? And yet, Sloan
Elledge knew something about Joan
something that would injure her.
1t was impossible to take his threat
lightly.
Deeds thoughts were running in an
aimless circle. 1t was so damnably
insufferable to take orders from q
crook. The more he thought of that
angle, the more inclined he was to
barge into the Elledge quarters and
see if that guy were as good with his
hands as he thought he was There
would be some furniture upset before
those white fingers clamped them
selves on his neck.
But how explain q rough-house in
another mans room? 1t would mean
explanations =. and Sloan was just
that smart. He would have the ad-
vantage and have the nerve to be
magnanimous so that Deeds
wouldn't be ordered out.
Sloan Elledge had won that point
hands down. With matters as they
stood now, Deeds McCune wouldn't t
leave not with Joan exposed to
those two. And he had made no
promises. He would stay, but that
wouldn't keep him from getting as
busy as he liked. It was going to
be a mean proposition to face those
mugs as If nothing at all had hap
pened. But that was his game for
the present.
For q long time he sat on the bed
-. thinking. planning, discarding one
scheme after another.
He was on one tough spot.
In the late afternoon he went for q
solitary walk along the shore to get
himself in hand. He wanted to make
sure of that before he met the Others
at the evening meal. There was q
sardonic smile on his face as he set
his course in an opposite direction to
NAPLES Beach. At least, he wouldn't