The Washington times., 1936-02-29

ideas on bringing up children, her
curiosity is very human. In a few
minutes she said: "Is this Mr..
Lloyd as handsome as his pic
tureS?"
quite" said Dad.
HAS he talked yet?"
mo. He is a very fine young
man, you would think to look at
him. His reputation in the city
is excellent. His family lives in
the East and are people Of some
means. He seems to have been
genuinely grieved by. the girls
death. But he is very stubborn
and very firm about revealing his
relationship to her or his where
aboutS that night. He will not
talk, even to me. It looks bad for
him from that angle. I had a
hard time getting him off, and
I'll have to produce him when
ever he is wanted"
Won't that be rather risky?
Are you sure Of his innocence"
"Of course not, Mother. But
I'm gambling on It,"
"Is there anything new on
'George'?" I asked.
"Well, yes. At least, Mr.. Sin
clair, who is leaving with the
body tonight, and will return
later, has told the police Of q man
named George Darlington to
whom Miss Sinclair was once en-
gagged. They are looking him up
now"
When we left the table I had q
lot to think about. Most Of all,
I think I dwelt on Connie, trying
to realize she was the body" trav-
cling north tonight. All that youth
and gaiety and prettinesS shut UP
in a coffin, gone forever. Who had
wiped them out like that?
I managed to shake off those
morbid thoughts by turning to the
persons involved. Naturally Bruce
Lloyd was the most fascinating. I
would like to have known about
his romance with Connie. What a
wonderful lover he would have
made! I rather wished Dicky were
taller, that he didn't wear glasses,
and that his hair had some kind
of color.
In the back of my mind, how
ever, were some practical prob
lens. What puzzled me more than
the telephone call was the ques-
ton Of what had become Of the
pen. remembered so well, my
handing it to Connie and thank
ing her. I could see the tableau
perfectly. The late afternoon sun
came in through pale green cur.
tains and frightened her head to
a brilliant red. She leaned against
a table with some pale yellow roses
on it in q green vase. She had a
book in one hand and the pen in
the other.
Dicky was standing by the door,
and was perched on the arm Of
chair, when the other two teachers
knocked. They did not come in,
but they asked her to the movie,
and looked at Dicky and me dis
approvingly. As Connie said no
and talked about the letters, she
replaced the book on the table and
flourished the pen.
That picture and the image Of
Mrs. Sardoni'S handwriting were
the things I went to sleep thinking
about. Where had I seen writing
of that Spider-web variety before?
That same pale green paper, the
same finely drawn lines tracing
anna" below four other words
that blurred, composed a second
picture in my memory.
felt that in those two pictures
were important clues to the mys-
terry. II could only find them!
CHAPTER VI
The next morning I went to
school with these problems still
unsolved. The kids were all talk
ing about Darlington and Melvin.
Opinion was pretty much divided,
but most everyone thought Melvin
a bad egg, although very few said
outright that they thought he COM
mitted the murder.
To be COntinued)
tcopy right. 1885. by King Features
Syndicate. 1nO.)