Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1939-10-27

stairs!"
When the photographers flash bulb
was ignited, Janice felt it, rather than
saw it. She couldn't have covered her
face in time to beat the flash-but
her face already was covered, because
Janice's arm was in front Of her face
and the reason it was there was be-
cause Janice was crying.
Yet in that flash everything stood
revealed to Janice-everything. AS
clearly as the bright flare illumined
the penthouse surroundings did that
other inner flash, which came to jan
ice, show course for Janice to take
course she must take.
Jack Blaine, attorney for the Nor
tons, was going through with his
fight against Linda. And now she,
Janice herself, had given the Mortons
some pictorial evidence for that court
battle.
That was why the Mortons' hire
lings, who had scuttled below after
obtaining the picture, had taken it!
That was why they had watched and
waited. She wasn't Janice to them
she was Linda!
Their picture would show the coat
that Linda had worn. Janice's picture
"a picture of girl in a distinctive
coat, her face covered-would be Lin
da's picture to the public and mabye
the court, too!
Thus Janice, who loved Linda so
sincerely, would be the innocent in
strument responsible for handing Mick
ey over to the Mortons.
Janice's course became clear to her.
She must stop them from producing
that picture. She MUST!
Immediately before her lay a fork
in that clearly-defined course-two
ways to accomplish the same end, the
end that must be achieved.
The first was to follow immediate
ly after the Mortons minions, the
photographer and the shadow to catch
them before they sped away, and to
convince them, then an dthere, that
she was NOT Linda. The second i. {.
Janice, heartbroken girl with lit
tie for which to live, was strangely
fascinated by the prospect which that
second fork held for her. Strangely
and morbidly gripped by the way it
beckoned. In this second solution was
definite, irrevocable answer, no loose
ends.
1t was magnet which drew Janice,
in swift nervous steps, to the parapet
at the edge Of the roof. AS she near
ed the waist-high wall, her steps
slowed. Her hands felt the cold con-
crete of the parapet. For an instant
she stood there poised, her tear-dim-
med gaze slowly sweeping the broad
panorama of the city she loved-bril-
liant, warm, alive.
Then she looked down, down into
the void which ended in the bright,
thin lines of signs over the sidewalk,
twenty-six floors below.
A tear, the first to fall from her
trimming eyes dropped-into obliv-
ion, Janice, absently seeking to fol-
low it's course, found her clearing WIS.,
ion focused on spot at the curb a.
cross the street, far, far below.
There, by beetle-like car, she dis
cerned two tiny ant-like figures, fig
ures of men who doomed much larger
on the roof only moments before, to
throw shadow over her whole life.
Sight of them-that and a we'll
spring of new inner strength which
she found in that sight-decided for
Janice, in that instant, what to do.
Janice did not follow her fallen tear
into oblivion.
Turning blindly, from the the para
pet, she ran, stumblingly, from some
thing strong-but not quite as strong
as herself; ran for the elevator to fol-