The Washington times., 1937-08-26

| bI1C DdOC Vi b1IC 1lIBI WALL w DO
there a gate?-she wondered.
Should she thrust through the
rosebuSh back into the secret pass
age, and gain her room?
WOULD MURDER HER
But If Lola overlook her in that
passage, she would murder her be-
fore anyone in the house could
come to her assistance.
The darkness was suddenly
pierced by a pale shaft of moon.
Help! Help!" called Toni, now
under the lighted window with its
still Tapping curtains.
"I'll help you, YOU"
She was face to face with Lola!
Screened by foliage, Lola had
raced round the opposite way! In
a flash, Lola was on her, hurting
her to the ground, with the
strength of a demon choking her.
PowerlesS against such fury,
Toni was fighting for life. She
knew that.
A stream of invective poured
from the mad girls lips. A knee
pressed fiendishly on her chest.
Toni could hardly breathe. She
was choking. Her struggles weak
ened.
whats all this about?" From
far away she heard a male voice.
Hands were bleSSedly dragged
from her throat. The weight on
her chest was lifted.
It was Niklas and bis chauf.
feur.
IMPLORES HER
II beg of you that you will over
look this thing, marquise! I i'm
piore you in the name of all that
1 have done for you that you will
not forsake the club" said Niklas
earnestly.
They were sitting in the library
of his house. Lola's shrieks were
stilled. They had given her a
bromide.
1.-THE club is Notwithstanding,
for it was true he had been kind
to her-"too dangerous!"
Guys warnings Brew.
Ster's warning-came back to
mind. The attempted holdup in
the park; that lamp crashing at
the club and barely missing her:
then Lola's attack!
A significant sequence!
From a decanter on a table be.
side them, Niklas poured her
brandy. please take this"
Toni was now fully dressed,
ready and anxious to leave. 1t
was 2 in the morning.
She gratefully took the restora-
tive.
You are mistaken in thinking
our club dangerous, marquise,"
said Niklas smoothly. ANY one
as beautiful as you-so admired
and prominent in the eye of the
public-must expect an occasional
diSagreeable occurrence. Most
real artists rise above it,"
Toni gave a trembling laugh.
It had an ironic sound.
aren't you rather undertaking
what I've been through? Twice,
in few brief weeks, I could have
been murdered"
mot as bad as that, marquise?
I grant you that you had an
| alarming experience with poor
Lola. That is the exception. We
should never have removed her
from the sanitarium. I blame
myself"
Toni's eyes swept the dark, in
scrutable face. What was really
going on in his mind?-she won.
dered.
COMPLETELY INSANE
"She is, I fear, completely in
sane. I had thought to cure her.
She has worked for me a long
time. Before her illness she was
one of the finest dancers on
Broadway. It is sad case. You
must be lenient, marquiSe."
Lenient, thought Toni grimly,
with the woman who had almost
Strangled her! Philanthropy could
go too far!
"Just why did Lola Marquita
single me out? If she is insane,
why not somebody esle?" Toni
asked.
you cannot guess?" 1t was
said impressively, with meaning.
In the dark eyes of Niklas, a spark
was lighted. 1t was as though,
without saying anything in words,
he wished to convey message.
mo" Toni spoke coldly. She
had got the message-or believed
that she knew it. Fling cold
water on it. Put out that spark.
"She was jealous of your sue
cess, marquise. 1t is not the first
occasion on which poor Lola has
had an-outburst," he said in his
meticulous English.
yet you permitted her to
dance at the club? To come to
your home2"
Il had thought her cured. Alas!
there is seldom recovery in drug
taking in it's advanced stages.
Lola, unfortunately, is drug ad.
dict.
How terrible!" breathed Toni.
you find it terrible, marquiSe?
I, also. 1t is q curse, is it not?"
Again that watching, hawklike
look. And Toni shuddered. "Of
course!"
Her illness accounts for the
violence of tonight's attack upon
you. I trust, because of our mu-
tual interest in the club, because