HASTINGS
BRADLEY
Copyright by D. Appleton
Century Co, Ine,
WNU Service
CHAPTER XV—Continued
1 Be
“What I think,” Mitchell expounded,
“is that she followed Nora up to find
out what she could about the row that
had been going on—her eyes wouldn't
miss that. And I think she went
away because Dan came In. I think
Letty knew Dan was in It, somehow,
all the time. But she sat tight.”
“She would,” Deck answered.
“When Dan prompted her to ask for
the cigarette case and feel of it, and
have Clancy feel of it, he probably
told her he was sure the diamond was
hidden In it. She followed his lead all
right, but when she saw how it
worked out, when it came home to
her just what the consequences were,
when she heard him exulting over
Deck’s fate, then it all rather did for
her for a moment. But only for a mo-
ment. Do our Letty that justice, Alan.”
Deck nodded, unresentingly. “Oh, I
could have fried in hell If that would
have helped her get Dan”
“Donahey’s talking to her now.”
sald Mitchell. “She's pretty well shot
to pieces, but 1 don't think she'll give
Dan away.”
Mitchell continued: “When Lella,
here, brought out what Rancinl had been
up to with Anson—"
“That must have tickled Dan pink,”
Deck interjected.
I Interrupted by asking Mitchel
when he had first suspected Harriden.
His dark eyes twinkled. “Hard to
say, now Thought it was you,
Alan, at the beginning, but I tried to
keep an open mind. . . . The radiator
marks puzzled me. But 1 didn’t see
my way till I saw that play about the
cigarette case and examined the clga-
rettes, and even then I didn't suspect
the beginning of It—the andiron, the
dummy on the bed. I kept bothering
over Anson's testimony."
They spoke of Insanity as the de
fense. Mitchell thought it would end
In mistrial, Deck conjectured that
with all Harriden's resources it would
never come to trial,
“And I'm not so sure It wasn't In-
sanity—the Anson part,” sald Mitchell.
“No sane man would have choked that
girl to death and put himself Into such
Jeopardy over the little she had to tell.
.- = Well, he may pull himself to-
gether and fight it out. You may be
the one tried, after all. Don't lose
hope, my lad.”
We could banter about it. Reaction
was strong In us. There comes ga
time when you are drained of horror,
when In sheer self-preservation you
revert to what is normal and gay.
And In spite of all my pity for that
hard, desperate man upstairs, my com-
passion for poor dead Anson, I was
feeling now a very lively sense of re-
lef and self-rejolcing
We ate all the sandwiches: we
drank all the coffee and we smoked
innumerable cigarettes. Then Deck
went to get himself another drink,
and Monty Mitchell and I sat there,
still talking.
He told me that he declined to take
back a word about my foolishness but
courage. “You stood up there, facing
if you were seelng it!”
of ours?”
“You were
“Standing by.”
house. I tried to say so,
he told me.
rather desperately In love with you,
Leila Seton.”
For a moment I just looked at him.
held a bright, deep warmth.
“Am I too late?” he sald, and it was
strange to hear his volce sounding
like that. “Is it Deck?"
I didn’t say anything—I was too
busy wondering at myself. For it was
not Deck, the Alan Deck of my
dreams, the man who had taken such
possession of my sympathies. Deck
was vivid, exciting, romantic—and he
was ready, I felt Instinctively, to play
at love with me, to yield to a new
glamor.
But I didn’t want him. I was terri-
bly sorry for him, for all the disillu.
sion he had been through in his bit-
ter passion for Nora Harriden: I was
fiercely protective for him against any
danger he might be In through her
death, I was ready to lle for him, to
steal those letters—
But Deck, as a man, had grown un-
substantial. He had simply not been
there. He had shielded himself be-
hind my explanations, he had been
willing to use my sympathy on his
behalf. He hadn't sprung to defend
me as Mitchell had done: it hadn't
been Deck who had crossed the room,
before Harriden's glaring eyes, to put
his arm through mine. The comfert
of that touch I would never forget.
Oh, Deck had been everything
he ought to have been, but Mitchell
had been so much more. And there
was so much more to Mitchell.
I didn’t think I liked handsome men
any more, desperate reckless men who
ran to you for sympathy. I was
cured of them. I liked men with force
and character and steadiness, with
bantering galety and dark, qulzzical
eyes,
So I shook my head violently about
Deck.
“You mean that?" Mitchell's volce
leaped out at me, almost incredulous.
ly. “He's such a taking devil! Lella—"
He checked himself: he didn't touch
me or make any speeches. He just
said quietly, “Don't be-—grateful—or
anything like that. But—if you eonld
manage to—to learn to love me"
“I do. IT do now™ I told him as as
suredly as If I hadn't Just found It out
an Instant before. I am stupid about
words: I couldn't say anything of
what I felt to him. TI only sat there,
breathless, looking at him, feeling my
own happiness and his, , , .
And then Deck was back, his glass
in his hand, .
Monty jumped to his feet. “Here's
a toast—we'll make it a loving cup”
he cried and caught me by the hand,
drawing me up beside him.
“To Lella—~who loves a lawyer!”
The glass In Deck's band was mo-
tionless. He looked at me.
“No foolin'?™
I looked at him. “No foolin'.™
Deck put the glass to his lips. He
took a long drink. “Well, I'm glad for
you, Monty, old chap, and I'm damn
sorry for myself, , . , It's the hell of
a world”
It was In the silence following that
pronouncement that we heard the shot.
The shot that Dan Harriden had fired
wife's body, the shot that he wouM
rather meet than the courtroom with
its publicity and scandal — the shot
made,
THE END
*
*
* warmth. ..
*
A glowing love story
that bursts with life
and vitality . . . the
tale of a great dis-
appointment that was
culminated by a new
happiness, a new
bright star that re-
mained steadfast!
*
CAUGHT IT, TOO
The club bore was relating one of
his long-winded stories that every-
body knew by heart. He was de-
scribing what happened to him
when he went on a trip to the Grand
Canyon in America during a world
tour.
“The soft curtain of night was
just falling,” he orated. ‘‘There 1
stood, drinking in the scene, with
the giant abyss yawning before
me—""
One of his listeners interrupted
“1 say, old chap,”
“was that abyss yawning before
you got there?”
BUDDIE ENOWS
Sister—Ben says he'll give you a
quarter to go to the movies when
he calls this evening.
Jimmy—I'd rather stay home and
see real life.
Figures
“The star we have discovered,”
said the astronomer, “is revealed
by light which started 3,000 years
ago, traveling at the rate of 186.
400 miles per second, which would
ahead!" said the political
economist. “Make your string of
figures as long as you like But
for the love of Heaven, and also of
earth, don’t put a dollar mark in
front of them!"
Take a Couple of Days Off
First Veteran—They've just in-
vented a new type machine gun
for the next war,
Second Veteran — How many
rounds in a belt?
First Veteran—They load this
gun on Sunday and shoot it for the
rest of the week!—Foreign Service.
Ab, Wilderness!
Zone Cop—Hey, you! Didn't you
her me say “Pull oves there?"
Buckvan—Why, I thought you said,
"Good afternoon, Field Marshal!"
Cop (smiling)—Isn't it a warm
day today, Field Marshal!—Motor
Pool Gas Tank.
Tough Baby
Bill (viciously attacking a piece
of chicken)—This must be an incu-
bator chicken.
Joe—Why?
could be so tough.
Continued
Boss of Advertising Office—See
fast food ad.
Young Aspiring Copy Writer—S'no
use--can't write cereal stories.
TIP TO DADDY
“What's funny about 17"
“Why, take away the whole of it
A Selfish Constituency
“Are you going to send your con-
gressman back to W. 3"
“No,” replied Farmer Contossel.
good company that we've decided
to keep him home.”
Business as Usual
Abe (who has discovered a bur.
glar in his house)—Hands up or
I'll shoot.
Quick-witted Burglar — Twenty
dollars for the gun.
Abe-—Sold.
Didn't Know It Was Loaded
Judge—You admit you drove
over this man with & loaded truck?
Tiailhooo
~~ (f] Tales and
Traditions
from Américan
Political History
FRANK £. HAGEN
nn
ELMO SCOTT WATSON
—
THE BIG SHOW COSTS
wafted into office on a cloud of
same breeze,
| that the
due for a
dential
cigar-making industry is
boom, now that a presi
election year is with us,
was elected the astounding num-
ber of 100,000,000 more cigars were
manufactured than the
{ year. By 1920 and its increased
| population the boost in cigar mak-
| to the tidy total of $20,000,000 above
| that of 1919.
| ” ; 2
The astonishing thing about the
| big, countrywide show of an elec-
| tion is that the Havana filler the
politician stuffs into your mouth is
| merely an item in the whole came-
| Paign and election costs. The lat-
ter, it has been estimated by com-
petent and conservative observers,
reaches $40,000,000,
In addition to that huge sum there
are other millions impossible to
compute,
Out of all this spending it is
perhaps fortunate for the Ameri
can public that usually more good
than merely the choosing of a Pres-
ident is the result.
For one thing, hundreds of thou-
sands of persons are employed—
not the least of them being news-
paper workers who figure briefly
but actively in compiling election
returns,
In Chicago, for example, the busi.
ness of collecting returns is in
the hands of the police. An offi-
cer visits each precinct, obtains
twe results of the vote. One of
these he speeds to the board of
election commissioners, the other
to the City News Bureau which has
moved bodily into Chicago's coun-
cil chambers for the evening.
Rents are paid out for organiza-
tion quarters, down to the smallest
precinct; spellbinders are em.
ployed, with all expenses paid;
bands are hired: banquets are
spread and the politicians
pass out cigars.
Did we say $40,000,000 expense?
Well, it's a conservative estimate,
anyway.
CROPS AND ELECTIONS
F THE Democratic party is dubi-
ous about the 1936 election it
may be because of the drought.
History of our political cam-
paigns indicates that the size of
crops has an important bearing ce
| national elections. In other words,
if there be a scarcity of farm prod-
ucts, the party in power is turned
out of office.
None can say that this is an in-
fallible rule, yet there are notable
periods and events which tend to
prove its truth. A seven years’
drought, for example, starting in
1833, is the first widespread de-
struction of crops of which there
is recofd. At the end of it, Martin
| Van Buren was voted out of office
and the Whigs came in with & great
show of strength.
{| A second drought occurred short
ly before the Civil war, but the
every trend of political develop-
ment for that period. In 1874 there
was a large Republican majority
in the lower branch of congress
i but there had been drought
years immediately preceding, and
| Democratic congressmen were
| elected in droves.
| Beginning in 1887, ten years
| showed a deficiency of rainfall and
crops naturally suffered.
| during this period, perhaps more
| power,
| crop years, 1934.
today for Old Man Weather to lay
such a heavy hand on political for.
tunes.
Only time will tell if this estimate
of the situation is correct. When
this is written, however, indications
point clearly that burning, dry
winds have destroyed a large part
of the spring wheat crop in the
Dakotas and Montana.
Industrial nation or not, it is at
least an even bet that when the
campaign warms up particular at.
tention will be paid to those three
Pal wilien and
arley--not to men
man Lemke, who hails from that
area himself.
© Western Newspaper Union,
man, servant-boy, ladies’ maid,
Sovid-beys Drimies and publisher,
DC ade padomnat. silk
2.2.2 8.2 8 88888848 8233
STAR
DUST
Movie « Radio
*%% By VIRGINIA VALE &k¥%
OU may think that it would
be all too easy to break into
320 20 20 20 20 20 2 0 2 0
*%
a star, But—well, just see what
Eldridge has to say
about it.
In private life she is Mrs. F'red-
March. In public life she had
stage for some years before they
were married. When he decided on
movies instead of the stage,
her own.
casting ‘Mary of Scotland,”
and
Fredric March are co-starred
(and a swell picture it is!). Miss
Eldridge wanted the role of Queen
Elizabeth.
“1 was selected only after every
been tested and rejected for one
reason or another,” says she. She
finally got it, of course, and turned
in an excellent performance.
nlf nn
Gertrude Michael was the target
for a lot of remonstrating when she
left Paramount;
there were people
vho said she'd find
that free - lancing
was a lot worse
than sticking with a
big company, even
though that com-
pany didn’t seem to
be doing a great
deal for you. Some
of them predicted
that she'd be com-
pletely out of pic-
tures, fir st thing
she knew.
Whereupon she signed up with
RKO and now she’s headed straigh
for the top—and the head shakers
aren't saying much of anything.
ota
That brand new motion picture
company, Grand National, has just
signed up a young man who looks
like big star material. His name
is Brilhart Chapman, and he's a
dancer-—has appeared in solo num-
bers for the past four years with
the Boston Sympheny Orchestra.
Recently he has been dancing at a
night club in New York, and nov
he's off to Europe on a vacation,
before he starts work before the
camera.
Gertrude
Michael
lf
Lily Pons is all set to begin pic-
ture work again, although she has
said that she doesn’t care too much
about it. She spent her vacation
in Connecticut, its climax being the
arrival of her mother from France.
wf
John McCormack,
Irish tenor, sang “Killarney’’ and
“Believe Me, If All Those En-
dearing Young Charms" in England
the other day for 20th Century-
Fox's “Wings of the Morning’ —
and if you see the picture you'll
see the famous singer in natural
the famous
ture produced in England.
iif
HNN
BRISBANE!
THI 5 WEEK
Honor Dead at Vimy
Spanish War Pitiless
Russia Aids Loyalists
Hitler Watches Spain
The dedication of the magnificent
war monument, designed by a Ca-
nadian artist, re-
cently unveiled
by the king of
England in mem-
ory of the Cana-
dian soldiers that
fell at Vimy
Ridge, is impor-
tant to all our
friends north of
the boundary in
Canada. It will
interest, also, all
Americans that
were sent abroad
in that fambus
fight, with which
| we had nothing
to do except lose our men and our
money. American soldiers, who
liked the Canadian and Australian
| troops better than any others they
met, according to statements made
by many, testify to the courage
with which the colonial Englishmen
fought at Vimy Ridge and else-
where,
Arthur Brisbane
Statistics of the war show that,
on the side of the allies, the per-
centage of death was higher among
| the Canadians than among any oth-
er troops involved, excepting the
French themselves, who fought at
their own frontiers to defend their
own homes.
Sixty thousand Canadians lie bur-
ied, each one an “unknown
dier,” around that great monument.
The king of England, after a long
and really admirable speect of ap-
| preciation, lowered the flags that
hid the monument which, as he
said, will forever honor the cour-
age of the Canadians that fought
and that lie dead and buried.
50}
1
The war that killed so many mil-
lions, blowing them to pieces, lea
ing them to die shattesed and agon-
izing on the battlefield: suffocating
making them insane with the
son gas just coming into fas]
seemed between 1014
horrible as any war
But the civil war, the worst, mos
savage, pitiless and ferocious of al
wars, now going q@ in Spain, makes
the big war comparatively mild.
Ve
and 1918
could be.
Lord Rothermere's London Daily
Mail eclipses in the horror of one
published statement all stories of
horror in the war and goes beyond
anything that could possibly be be-
lieved,
When the French newspaper, the
Friend of the People, described
fighters for Madrid's radical
| ernment digging up and throwing
from their graves the bodies of
Catholic nuns, that horror seems
beyond belief.
But Lord Rothermere's newspa-
per prints the statement that other
nuns ALIVE were seized—three
of them-—their clothing saturated
with gasoline, and burned to death.
The Daily Mail also quotes the
statement that in the city of Barce-
lona, when the radical forces had
conquered the _ebellious insurgent
inhabitants, “any Catholic priest in
the city was butchered without mer-
| cy.”
want to go to games, or can't make
it, can sit at home this fall and
hear what's happening on the grid-
sponsor for the broadcasts of one
hundred major games, over thirty-
son, whom you've heard doing an.
other sort of announcements with
Jack Benny, will do some of the
fn
If you listen to the Music Hall of
the Air, on the radio, you probably
Russia is, according to reliable
| reports, in constant communication
with the Madrid government by ra-
dio.
: Newspapers in England, and the
| more conservative newspapers in
| France, declare that Russia, in ad-
| dition to advising Madrid concern
| ing the immediate civil war and
| helping the Spanish government by
the purchase of Spanish bonds, is
| also sending by radio detailed in-
| formation as to the organization in
| Spain of a “Soviet government”
| similar to that existing in Russia.
he is the grandson
of the late Oscar
Hammerstein, one
of America's most
illustrious
theairical figures.
Ted tells this
story about himself.
He broke into the
theatrical business
CL by working for a
Richard Dix Broadway booking
This theatrical agent was one of
the important ones, and his waiting
room was usually filled with people
clamoring for work. Keeping them
from storming the inner office was
Hammerstein's main duty. He did
his job as bouncer very effectively
~and some of the people he threw
out later made good-—among them
Richard Dix, Chester Morris and
Ben Lyons!
3 nL]
ODDS AND ENDS . .. Her admirers
that Norma Shearer's
Many, fot hieuuse
France, thanks to the existing al-
liance with Russia — resented by
many of the old-fashioned French-
| men, who ask, “Is Stalin the real
| ruler of France?" —is under pres-
| sure from Russia to help the Ma-
| drid government against the insur-
| gents.
If Spain should become really so-
vietized, under the guidance of Rus-
sia, the Spanish peninsula would be
practically a branch and a depen-
dency of Soviet Russia at the south-
west corner of E-wope.