All Story Magazine, December 1913 — page 160: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

G i; / Jack | Harrower SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. LIFE ELLIS, successful actor, is in love with Doris Armont. covers that she is apparently the ward of a grotesque doctor. He follows her, dis- Because of a mix- up concerning a friend of his, one ‘fom Bradworth, Ellis gets admittance to Doris’s house, and, after a surprising conversation with her and Leidner, the doctor, agrees to become engaged to the young lady, though he has to promise to ask no ques- tions and to curb his suspicions of whatever he may see or hear in the house. Hardly is this agreement made when Kronholtz, an outsider, comes and demands a certain ring from Dorts. Leidner forces her to give up this ring, but Ellis, unable to ask questions, yet filled with curiosity, follows the man who took the ring to an apartment hotel, where he finds a woman who calls herself Doris Armont, too. From the latter he succeeds in rescuing the ring, but suddenly discovers that he is being spied upon by a man with remarkably piercing eyes. CHAPTER VII. ACTING OFF-STAGE, [IE man with the gray eyes stared. Our glances met; then instantly he looked away and became ab- sorbed in studying the frescos round the ceiling. I sought to locate the girl I had tricked. She was walking aimlessly to the center of the room: and a few feet away stood the individual who had been sent by Kronholtz to receive the ring, star- ing directly at me with a perplexed frown on his hang-dog features. He, too, had seen me recover the handker- chief. evidently noted *my red carna- tion and my glance into my palm. Began November All-Story Magazine. Single Copies, 870 Quickly he strode to the woman’s side, doffed his hat, and began speaking to her excitedly, nodding his head re- peatedly in my direction. She turned, with a bewildered expression on her dark features, and surveyed me. If my wish had not been working up to concert pitch at that very instant this story would never have been writ- ten—for the plan I then and there de- cided upon like a lightning-flash proved to be the pivot upon which all that fol- lows turned, I had the ring. But I needed more than that. I wanted the riddle of the ring. The girl probably knew. I would speak to her. A scheme unfolded to me as smoothly as if I had rehearsed ; 3 5 cents, comlicloooks.com