Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

03 Uirl Comes to rio In this, the most exciting and ingenious installment of our mystery serial, tragedy appears for the first time and Malcolm Allen is accused of murder. By Alice M. Williamson ILLUSTRATED B Y MODEST STEIN CHAPTER XVII. THE PROPHETESS IS UNVEILED. THE lady of the darkened room lay, as usual, on a cushioned sofa. But today the sofa was placed near the open window, and only a pair of rose-colored curtains drawn across the light gave that effect of warm, becoming dusk which the lady preferred. Even in the rosy twilight she was pale, but she was also very beautiful in a haggard way, and the great eyes that looked up at the man bending over her had passion in them as well as tragedy. Lopez kissed the thin fingers with the polished nails which Lady Gates had once thought were like "coral on ivory." "My Marco !" she murmured. "I have been waiting for you." "And I for the moment when I could come to thee," he answered in Spanish. He drew up a chair and sat down beside her. A French novel in a yellow jacket slipped off the purple coverlet and fell to the floor. Even that slight sound jarred the woman's nerves. She started, and then coughed a little. "Thou art not worse?" Lopez asked tenderly. "No," she said, when the coughing had stopped. "This is nothing. I'm a little tired, that's all. I've been out walking in the patio. But, oh, Marco, I am tristc — I am bored — bored — bored ! I know there's nothing left for me in life but this, and sometimes I wish, since I must die, I could die soon." "Thou wilt break my heart if thou speakest so!" Lopez said, and went down on one knee beside the sofa. "Forgive me," the woman begged. "I'm not ungrateful, really. You are more good to me than I thought it was possible for a man to be, Marco. And in return I can do so little !" "Thou hast done miraculous things," Lopez soothed her. "Lady Gates is our last success, but we have had many others before her. Silly women ! Their vanity is fair game. Our commission for Lady Gates' treatment was nearly a thousand dollars, my dear one. Without thee, neither she nor the others would have been persuaded. to go through with it." * Copyright, 192S, by Alice If. Williamson. . . Synopsis of Previous Chapters. Malcolm_ Allen, a young English novelist in Hollywood, is attracted to a beautiful girl, who attempts to leave the fashionable Restaurant Montparnasse without paying for the dinner she has eaten. Malcolm goes to her rescue, and later, dazzled by her beauty, offers her a chance in the movies. He is dumfounded when she expresses a preference to be a cigarette girl at Montparnasse. Lad}' Gates, Malcolm's wealthy aunt, arrives in Hollywood unexpectedly. Having a fortune, she is anxious to participate in the perennially youthful life of the movie capital. She meets Marco Lopez, professional dancer at Montparnasse. Lopez is attracted by Lady Gates' diamonds and evident wealth. He persuades her to visit a certain seeress, in reality his confederate, who tells Lady Gates she can once again have youth and love. Meanwhile, at the insistence of Malcolm, Lady Gates-makes stiff overtures to "Miss Smith," as the cigarette girl calls herself. Malcolm hopes to solve the mystery of Miss Smith through his aunt. Lady Gates employs Miss Smith, unknown to Malcolm, as her companion during the days she is undergoing a rejuvenation operation. About this time, Oscar Sonnenberg attempts to interest Miss Smith in entering the movies. Miss Smith, secretly loving Malcolm, induces Sonnenberg ... to produce his scenario, as Malcolm has been tricked by another producer and is in straitened circumstances, on verge of seeking aid from his aunt. When Lady Gates leaves the hospital she sends for her nephew. Malcolm, astounded, frankly tells his aunt he does not approve of her action, though admitting the remarkable change in her appearance. Lady Gates, angered, severs relationship with her nephew and devotes even more attention to Marco Lopez. Malcolm notices Miss Smith is avoiding him. Questioned, she admits it is necessary, and adds that she has come to Hollywood because of Lopez. She urges Malcolm to trust her. Miss Smith secretly secures Lopez a role in Malcolm's story "Red Velvet," production of which is shortly to start. "But what are a few thousand dollars to us?" the woman complained. "If we are ever to escape and go where we wish to go, we shall need many thousands." "I know," Lopez agreed. "And I see my way to winning the many thousands." • "Not by merely dancing at that wretched cabaret!" "It's not a cabaret, most beautiful one. But certainly thou art right. It is a pittance I earn ther.e. Yet it has been a stepping-stone, a means to an end. And the end is in sight, if again thou wilt help." "What can I do?" she asked. "There are two things thou canst do. I am almost afraid to tell thee what they are." "Why? Haven't you found me always ready to do what I can?" "But these things are different. My fear is that thou mayest misunderstand. Promise, before I tell thee, that thou wilt not do that." "I can't promise ! Tell me quickly. If you don't, I shall be excited, and then I shall cough." "The first thing is this — that thou wilt not be sad, or mind too much, if I am away from thee most of the time for the next two weeks. I have an offer to act in a picture. It is the picture I have spoken of, from the book written by Lady Gates' nephew." " 'Red Velvet' !" exclaimed the woman. "I know. But you dislike the young man. You've told me that he looks at you as if you were the dirt beneath his feet. He is putting the cigarette girl into the cast." "It is not Allen who put her in," Lopez explained. "He has no power. It is Sonnenberg, the producer. He is in love with the girl, and cares not who knows it. She ■is everything with him and in the picture. She does ■what she likes." "Then," said the woman quickly, "perhaps it is she who puts you in" the picture." Marco Lopez shrugged his shoulders. He had been as much in love with the lady of the darkened room as he could be with any one except himself. She still fascinated and held him as no other ever had, though he was a little tired of playing the servant. "Possible !" he admitted. "Miss Smith and I do not