' ^^ "â- i ^ ' l^ ||| » » n i ^ »»i»i» â- y i ^ I - -â- fi m §ijK k> Agatha Christie tllNOPSlS. ">ri a blrak KiirUdIi wliittr'.i afu-.-iinxi k purly <>r iieiclihnrM, K<><l>'i°cd at l>i« hi>iiiu of Mrs. Wlllftt itti*l her tliiui^htvr \ li li'l. In the vlllaKf uf Sltlaforil !..ar Dartmoor, turn to table tlppInK for aiiiusrment and I'lt'lve a meKHHise that L^KI'tuln TrfVclyun haH been imird.Tfl. CHAPTER I.â€" (Convd.) "Ijook here," said Ronnie. He took hi.s hands from the table. "I cull this k rotten joke." Mis voice trembled. "Tiirn up the lifc'ht.'," mid Mr. Uy- troft. Major Burnaby ro.so and did so. The luddcn jflnre revealed a company of palp uneasy faces. Kvcryonc looked at each other. Somehow â€" nobody quite knew what to Fay. "Silly nonsense," said .Mr.s. Willett. '"Nobody ought toâ€" to make joke.s like that." "I wasn't shovinK," .said Ronnie, feelin(r unspoken critici.sni leveled! at him. "I swear 1 wasn't." "I can .say the same,"' said Mr. Duke. "And you, Mr. Rycroft?" "Certainly not," said Mr. Rycroft warmly. "You don't think I'd make a joke uf that kind, do you?" growled Major Burnaby. "Rotten bad taste." "Violet, dear â€" " "I didn't. Mother. Indeed I didn't. I wouldn't do such a thing." The girl was almost tearful. Kveryone was embarrassed. A sud- lien blight had some over the cheerful party. Major Burnaby pushed back his chair, went to the window p.nd pulbd aside the curtain. lie stood there look- ing out with his back to the room. "Twenty-five minutes past five," said Mr. Rycroft glancing up at the clock. He compared it with his own watch and somehow everyone felt that the action was siKnificant in some way. "Let me see," said Mrs. Willett with forced cheerfulness. "I think we'l better have cocktails." The situation grew a little easier. "Well," said Ronnie, raising his gla-s.s. "Here's how." The others responded â€" all but the (dlent figure by the window. "Major Burnaby. Here's your cock- tail." The Major roused himself with a Btart. He turned slowly. "Thank you, Mrs. Willett. Not for me." He looke<i once more out into the night then came slowly back to the group by the fire. "Many thank.; tor a very pleasant time. Good night." "You're not going?" "Sorry, Mrs. Willettâ€" but it's got to be done. If theic were only a tele- phone." "A telephone?" "Ye.s^to tell you the truthâ€" I'mâ€" well, I'd like to be sure that Joe Tre- »clyan'.s all right. Silly superstition knd all that â€" but there it is. Natur- »lly, I don't believe in this tommy rot -but^" , "But you can't telephone from any- where. There'.s not such .t thing in Bittaford." "that'.s just it. As I can't tele- phone, I'll have to go." "(><j â€" but you couldn't get a car town that road! Elmer wouldn't take Ills car out 0:1 such a night." Elmer wa.s the proprietor of the lole car in the place, an aged P'ord, hired at a handsome price by those nho wished to go into Exhr.mpton. "No, no â€" car's out of the question. My two legs will take me there, Mrs. Willett." There was a chorus of protest. "Oh! Major Burnaby â€" it':; impos- jihle. You said yourself it was going lb snow." "Not for an hourâ€" perhap.s lot.ger. I'll get there, never fear." Argument and entreaty had no more tffect on Major Burnaby. He was an tbstir.ate man. Once his mind wa:i jnade up on any point, no power on Wirth could move him. He had determined to walk to K\- hampton and see for himself that all *as well with his old friend. He wrapped himself up in his overcoat, lighted the hurrjt'ane lantern, and ItepiH'il out into the night. "I'll just drop into my place for a Kisk," he said cheerily, "and then pu,sh straight on. Trevelyan will ))ul pie up for the niuht when I gtt there. Kidi<'ul<)us fuss, I know. Everythinu: Are to bo all riRht. Don't worry, Mrs. Willett. Snow or no snow. I'll ret there in a ciiuple of hours. (i<H)i1 Sight." He stro<le away. The others return- Mt to the fire. Rycroft ha<l l<Kiked up at the sky. "It is going to snow," he murmured Id Mr. Duke. "And it will U-gin long tpfore he gets to Exhnmpton. I I ope he g<'ts there all right." Duke frowned. "I know. I feel I ought to have rime with him. One of ux ouchl to â- avc (lone so." "Most dixlrej^iiing," Mrs. Willett was saying. "Most distressing. Vio- let, I will not have thai silly Kanu' playe<l again. Poor Major Burmiby wilt probably plunge into a s.iowdrift â€" or if ho do<sn'l he'll die of the cold â- nd exposure. At his age, toi. V'e'v foolish of him to go o(T like that. (»f course, ('apluii. Trevelyan isY««rfecllv •II ridht." Everyone echoed: "Of course." But even now they did not feel real- ly too comfortable. Supposing roniething had happened to Captain Trevelyan, . , Supposing! CHAPTER II. Two and a half hours later, ju.st bo- fore eight o'clock. Major Burnaby, hurricane lantern in hand, his head dropjHsd' forward so as not to meet the blinding drive of the snow, stumbled up the path to the door of Hazelmoor, the sm.x.ll house tenanted by Captain Trevelyan. The snow had begun to fall about an hour ago â€" great blinding flakes of it. Major Burnaby wa,s gasping, emitting the loud sighing gasps of an utterly exhau.sted man. He was numb- ed with cold. He stamped his feet, blew, puffed, snorted and applied a numbed finger to the bell push. The bell trilled shrilly. Burnaby waited. After a pau.so of a few minutes, as nothing happened, h.^ pushed the bell again. Once more there was no Etir of life. Burnaby rang a third time. This time he kept his finger on the bell. It trilled on and on^ â€" but there was still no sign of life in the house. There was a knocker on the door. Major Burnaby seized it and worketl it vigorously, producing a noise like thunder. And still the little house remained silent as the dead. The Major desisted. He stood for a moment as though perplexed â€" then he slowly went down the path and out at the gate, continuing on the i-oad he had come towards Exhampton. A hundred yards brought him to the small police station. Ho hesitated again, then finally made up his mind and entered. Constable Graves, who knew the •Major well, rose in astonishment. "Well, 1 never, sir, fancy you being out on a night like this." "Ix)ok here," said Burnaby curtly. "I've been ringing and knocking at the captain's house and I can't get any answer." "Why, of course, it's Friday," saiil Graves who knew the habits of the two pretty well. "But you don't mean to say you've actually come down from Siltaford on a night like this? Surely the captain would never expect you." "Whether he's expected me or not, I've come," said Burnaby testily. "And as I'm telling you, I can't get in. I've rung and kn<x-ked and nobody an- swers." Some of his uneasiness seemed to communicate itself to the policeman. "That's odd," he said, frowning. "Of course it's odd," said Burnaby. "Think he might have been taken bad?" The policeman's face brighten- ed. "I'll try the telephone." It stood at his elbow. He t<»k it up and gave the number. But to the telephone, as to the front doorbell. Captain Trevelyan gave no reply. "I/ioks as though he had been taken bad," said Graves as he replaced the iX'Ceiver. "And all alone in the hou.s^^ too. We'd be.st gc-t hold of Ur. War- ren and take him along with us." Dr. Warren's house was almost next door to the police station. The doctor was just sitting down to dinner with his wife and was not best pleased at the summons. The snow was still falling. "Damnable night," murmured the doctor. "Hope you haven't brought me out on a wild goose chas •. Trevel- yan's as strong as a horse. Never has anything the matter with him." Burnaby did not rci)ly. Arriving at Hazelmoor once more, thoy again rang and knocked, but elicited no response. The doctor then suij;gestcHl going round the house to one of the back v;indows. Easier to force than the door. Thero was a side door which they tried on the way, but it loo was lock- ed, and pres<'iitly they emerged on the snow-covered lawn that led up ti) the back winilows. Suddenly Warren utleivd an exclamation. "The window of the studyâ€" it's open.'' True enough, the witulow, a Erench one, wius standing ajar. They quicken- ed their steps. On a night like this, IK one in his sense would open a win- dow. There was a liuht in the room that streamed out in a thin yellow band. The three men arrived simultan- eously at the window -Burnaby was the first man to enter, the constable hard on his heels. They both stopped dead inside and .â- •omething like a muffled cry came from the ex-soldier. In another mo- ment Warren was- liesid? them, and <*aw what lliey had seen. Captain Trelevyan lay on the floor, face downwanls. Mis arms ; prawled widely. The r(K>m was in confusion â€" drawers of the bureau pulled out, pa- I'cis lying about the (loir. The win- d,)W tu'side them was splintered whei-e it had been frrced near the lock. He- side (Captain Trev lyan »b a dark j;r< an lai'/.e liihi- abuiil two inches in di.-' meter. Warren spiimir I uvn-.'. He Knell c â- .vn l.y the |.'i-(..stratc nRi.r;'. One minute .'Uffic.d. He ri . c l,i hi â- feet, his face pule. (Ti> U; ct/utifiueU.) Skerrymore: The Parallel Here all Is sunny, and when the truant KuU Skims the green level of the lawn, his wing Dlspetals roses; here the house is framed Of kneaded brick and the plumed mountain pine, Such clay as artists fasbloii and such wood As the tree-climbing urchin breaks. Hut there Eternal granite hewn from the living isle And dowelled with brute iron, rears a tower That from its wet foundation to its crown Of glittering glass, stands, in the sweep of winds, Immovable, immortal, eminent. â€" From "The i'oems and Ballads of Itoliert Louis Stevenson." Collecting Fad Proves Not For Wealthy Alone New York. â€" It is possible to be- come a e<d lector and assemble a col- lection without spending one penny, according to members of the collec- tors' group at the American Woman's Association. P'ver since September a group of about 30 collectors have been meeting once each month at the association to compare their treas- ures and to relate the experiences they have had in gathering them. And while one of them has price- less old lace and another has old fur- niture, both of them confess to hav- ing inherited their possessions so they have spent nothing. Another of the group has picked up shells at the seaside on various vacation trip.^. The mounted shells shown interested her fellow collectors quite as much as some of the costly articles owned by other members. In the group there are women who spend all day in offices and utilize their collections as hobbies' for their few hours of recreation. There are housewive* who brighten the mono- tony of routine tasks by collecting Chinese textiles or old rings. And then there are women of independent income who can add to their collec- tions as they like. There is an artist who has co'.le"- tions of old rings, Chinese prints, textiles, shells, and Chinese costumes. a playwright whose interest is in lace and old jewelry, a librarian who owns priceless family lace, a genelo- g:ist who is just interested in collec- tions but doesn't have one herself, a teacher who owns pewter, furniture, and Chinese textiles, and a whiter who buys old jewelry. At each meeting one type of col- lection is cho.sen as the subject and owners bring what they have to show. New Rail Coach Streamlined A new sixty-foot streamlined rail- road coach only a quarter the weight of a .standard coach and seatliig forty- two persons is being tried out. A low gravity center adds safetv and the bodv is of aluminum. London Baby Clinic in 1816 It has just l)een discove; d that in 1S16 London had a baby clinic where mothers could take their children and receive a<ivice. Speaking much is a sign of vanity; for he that is lavish in words Is a nig- gard in deed. â€" Sir Walter Raleigh. Romance of Eighties Revived Again Wedding Bells Ring Out for Lord St. Leven and Dowager Countess of Dartney A 75-year-old peer and a 72-year- old peeress are honeymooning in Europe thi.<i month, after a secret wedding at the parish church of .N'ewhaven, Sussex, a couple of weeks ago climaxed their half-century of romance, interrupted for 40 years when each married another person. The' wedding brojght together Hrigadler-Genoral Lord St. Levan, owner of St. Michael's Mount, Corn- wall, Island estate on which a castle rears precipitously from the sea, and Julia, Dowager Countess of Dartrey. Only 12 close relatives of the eld- erly couple were present .at the wed- ding and a woman relative "gave away" the bride who is a grand- mother. Even servants of the coant- ess were surprised, they told a re- porter who discovered, two days late, that the marriage had taken place. TQie romance started when L<ord St. Levan, then a Guards officer in his early 20's met Mis.s Julia Womb- well, daughter of the late Sir George Wombwell. For a considerable time the two were seen together at most smart functions and society wagged its head, prophesying wedding bells. They parted, however, and soon pretty Julia Wombwell married the Earl of Dartrey. For 10 years I»rd St. Levan re- mained a bachelor. He went to Egypt and had a distinguished mili- tary career. Then he married Lady Kdith Edgecumbe, a daughter of the Earl of Mount Edgecumbe. They had two daughters. She died in 1931. Lord Dartney had died In 1920. The Dowager Countess visited St. Michael's Mount. Uniformed oars- men rowed her from the mainland. Later Lord St. Levan visited her in London. From reminiscences of their former association romance reformed. They were married by special li- cense of the Archbishop of Canter- bury. Lord St. Levan's daughter, Hon. Hilaria St. .A.uhyn, was "best man." She handed over the ring at the appropriate moment. Enjoy This Finer Quality Iffli M V A 9B m% TEA Fresh from the Gardens" «0] The Joys of Exploration Trousered Marlene Dietrich Jeered by Paris Crowd Paris.â€" Marlene Dietrich, the screen star, followed by her husband and 17 trunks, arrived here from Hollywood and was jeered by a large crowd at St. Lazaire station. The German actress was garbed in a chocolate polo coat, beret, and shoes, and a man's lounge suit, of pearl grey. She wore huge goggles. Miss Dietrich attracted the biggest battery of photographers since Col. Charles A. Lindbergh flew the Atlan- tic. She was tired from the voyage over, she said, and proceeded to Ver- .sailles, a suburb. Unearth Old Medal Gananoque, Ont. â€" Workmen repair- ing pathways in the town park here dug up an old American medallion dated 18G3. One side bore the inscrip- tion "The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved. â€" Jackson." On the reverse was the date, a statue of a man on horseback and the words "First in War and First in Peace." Garbo Is Back! The joys of exploration are as var- ied as the numbers and characters of the explorers themselves, and the joys change during the lifetime of each person. I can remember the time when my greatest ambition was to be the first to step upon some tropi- cal desert island, or to penetrate to where no white ma.i's foot had ever trod. Then came the period of peri- patetic journeys, of covering as much ground as possible in a given time. But I soon found that the isl- and might be "desert" in very truth, with no return in scientific loot, and the thrill soon passed of encircling a sandy pit and seeing none but one'.? own footprints. I came to learn that worthwhile observations of birds and animals and insects were great in proportion to the smallness of terri- tory covered. One might shoot a large parrot or catch a brilliant but- terfly as one travelled, but to go slowly or to sit quietly was to invite the acquaintanceship of many rare and interesting creatures. To be a go-i naturalist one must be a strol- It. or a creeper, or better still a squatter in every : ise of the word â€" never a traveller. Then came joys within joys. For to be a squatter alone is only the be- ginning. We can divide our observa- tions into static and dynamic. We .can wait for hours and days for the glimpse of a bird, or for the court- ship of a spider, or spend a whole night of the full moon in hopes of seeing a jaguar or a vapock, not from the point of view of a man, but from that of another jaguar or an- other water opossum. This method is of vital importance, and probably four-fifths of creative study of life histories must be gleaned in this manner. But there remains a residue of technique which excels all It is the supreme achievement, the essence of intelligent deduction, which, when successful, brings to us r. great feeling, never of conceit ot egotism, but of gratitude, of awe, at ' aving been permitted somewhat tc enter into the ver^- life feelings anv intimate habits of wilderness folk. A vocal bond is an unforgettable relationship. It is probably that every creature wlr^L has ears an;i can become audible has some sound to which it will react at once, and toward which it will immediately fly or run or creep er hop. With th« miserable range of whistled or ut tered tones which is our degenerat* heritage we can rarely command 01 put this into practice. One of mj first successes was the master sounc of the chickadee. One could whistl* chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee until Parus-' perfect and be rewarded by hardls a turn of the head. But in an un- seasonable February thaw, when on« felt spring and dreamed spring, but knew better than to say Spring, il we wetted our lips very carefully and holed down the finest whistle dia-' phragm, the resulting high, two- toned phoe-be! might bring a black- cap to our very face. My happiest refinement of this was when I learn- ed to bring a jungle wren of the gen- us Leucolpia to my feet from a quar. ter mile distance across a tropical swamp, by a single, almost inhuman-] ly high tone: and this is one of tha wariest of wrens, most difficult t<.' stalk. I derive a keen, childish joy from the knowledge that if t<>day I enter a tropical jungle and send forth a high, thin penny-whistle of a sound on exactly E flat above middle C; every sloth within heaving will either answer or slowly and painfully begin to turn in my direction. \ half-tone above or below will be the same aa silence to these creatures, and I feel mentally the richer for knowing th^ utterly useless fact of the exact mas- ter sound of the sloths. â€" William' Beebe, in "Nonsuch: Land of Water." (New York: Harcourt Brace.) Forests Turn, now, tired mind unto your rest. Within your secret chamber lie. Door shut, and windows curtained, lest Footfall or moonbeam, stealing by. Wake you, or uightwind sigh. Now, Self, We are at peaceâ€" we twain; The house is silent, except thatâ€" hark! â€" Against its walls wells out again That rapture in the empty dark; Where, softly beaming, sparlt by spark. The glow-worms stud the leaves with light; .\nd unseen flowers, refreshed with dew â€" Jasmine, convolvulus. glimmering white. The air with their still life endue, .4nd sweeten night for me and you. Be mute all speech; and not ot love Talk we. nor call on hope, but be â€" Calm as the constant stars above â€" The friends of fragile memory. Shared only now by you and me. Thus hidden, thus silent, while the hours From gloom to gloom their wiugs beat on. Shall not a moment's peace be ours, Till, faint with day, the east is wan. And terrors of the dark are gone? Nayâ€" in the forests of the mind Lurk beasts as tierce as those that tread Earth's rcck-strown wilds to night resigned. There stars ot heaven no radiance shed â€" Bleak-eyed Remorse, Despair becowl- ed In lead. With dawn these ravening shapes win go â€" Though One at watch will still rt-maln. Till knells the sunset hour, and lo! The listening soul once more will know Death and his pack aiv hot afield again. -Waller De La >lare in the London Spectator. â€" .> Tae c.".mt.'r.i man raiiAlU llic ixuli, l. ..;.). ;'.s .lie v.uveil t.ui..ell lo passengers on ihe S/?. .\nnie Johnson from whirii she disi-mharked at San Diego. She wore a gray costume with polka-dot scarf. Trucks Cross Africa After 3500-Mile Trsk Luxor, Kp.vplâ€" The l)roade8t part of the African continent has been cross- ed. Mr. and Mrs. T .^. (ilover. Captain U. B. Andrew add Mr. .S Morgan have arrived here from Khartum after t ekkiii;; two years wiih lliree trucks. During exploiatlons in the northern half of Ihe Dark Continent." they negotiatf'd the ;t,50i> miles from Dak- kar. the farthest p.)iat west, to Ba« Hafun, the most easterly point. Jimmy: Ma's telin' all de neigh- bors you're going to buy a car in a few months. Pop: Your Ma knows we are going to move in the Spring and the neighbors'll never see us again. Mt. Everest Climbers Camp 21,000 Feet Above Sea Calcutta, India. â€" Tweniy-on« thousand feet above sea level at a temperature of 20 degrees below zero,' members of this year's Mount Ever- est climbing expedition established their third camp last week. Braving the warnings of Tibetans that the gods of the mountains were infuriated at the recent airplana flights over their domain, four of the climbers at once set out to plot a route half wivy to the summit, ready for a final effo.'t to scale the 29,tK)0- foot peak. This year's expediiion fs ahead of the normal climbing schedule. Tibe- tans friendly to the climbers urge them to await the most favorable conditions possible, believing that the mountain gods are watching every n\ove and are ready now to wreak vengeance on anyone available for tha affront of the airplane expedition. issue No. 22- '33