Picture Show (May-Oct 1920)

8 The Picture Show, June 2bth, 1920. THE SILENT DUPE, fZ?Zt6., " Oh no. Not unless she tells him herself !" Sylvia was brought into the Court along with a man and a woman. Mona recognised Clara. Sylvia who appeared very weak and ill, turned suddenly in the dock and held out her arms towards where Mona was sitting with Bobbie. " My darling ! My darling baby !" she cried, and then collapsed into a torrent of tears. Even Mona, who know her so well, could not help a deep feeling of pity at Sylvia's distress, and a fresh hope stirred in her heart. Perhaps, after all, Sylvia having learnt her bsson, would now settle down and make Jack a good wife. The police-court missionary assisted the weeping girl from the Court, and beckoned Mona to follow them. " You can take her home," she said, when they were in her tiny little sitting room at tho end of one of the numerous passages. *' I shall have to visit her and see she is keeping a good girl." Sylvia had caught hold of her baby and was smothering him with kisses. The other two w omen exchanged glances. No doubt the week's imprisonment had done tho girl good, and brought her to her senses. Sylvia and Mona left the Court, Sylvia carrying the baby. She drew a deep breath as they mingled with the folk in the street. " Oh, Mona ! It has been awful. I thought I should have died. Clara has got fix months', isn't it terrible. I was scared to deat h when that funny old man said it, I thought he meant the same for me." As they passed into the broader thoroughfares she gave Mona back the child. "Isn't he a weight, Mona? But it was a splondid idea you bringing him. I think that little scene went down all right with everyone, don't yovi ? One of the girls I met put me up to that. She told me that just because she giggled, she got a month. If you could cry and appear dreadfully ashamed, you stood a chance of getting off much more easily." Sylvia was now speaking in her usual lighthearted manner, and Mona stared at her with unconcealed horror. " Oh, Sylvia, How can you talk like this," she svid. " 1 can't believe you mean it, dear. You should not. There must bo some good in you, Sylvia, or Jack would never havo loved you." There was a sob in Mona's voice which, try as she would, she could not conceal. Sylvia glanced up at her and the smilo passed • from her face. " Have we heard yet from Jack ? Does he know anything about me ?" " No. He has come back though, and isn't it wonderful, his sight is restored. 1 told him you wore away visiting !" " That was dear of you, Mona'; you really aro a decent sort. What had 1 hotter tell him ? Where can I say I have been ?" " I don't know, Sylvia." They wcro Hearing the little house when Sylvia spoko again. • " Jack is not at homo waiting for us, is he ?" " No, ho went away as soon us ho discovered you were not at homo. I promised to let him know as soon as I hoard from you." i'iiey had reached t he garden gate, and as they went up tho path Sylvia caught sight of her neighbour, Mrs. Brown, and nodded to her. But Mrs. Brown only responded with a stoney stare. " Sho saw a paragraph in tho paper. It was she who showed it to mo," said Mona in a low voice. " Oh, dear !" Sylvia mado a flippant grimace, lint her hand sought for Mona's. " Don't take any notice of anything I may have said to hurt you, old girl ; I don't mean it. I'm very grateful for all you have done, honest J .on. and if you don't stay with mo I sha'n't have a friend in tho world." They had ontored the sitting room now, and Mona placed tho sleeping child on tho couch. " I should write Jack at once, if I were you, Sylvia. I will stay until you hear from him, but 1 want to get back to my own place and start work again." " How ghastly it is to be poor. Oh ! how I hate it." Sylvia threw her hands abovo her head and glanced contemptuously round the little room. " I ought never to have married a poor man." Then sho turned to Mona. " Do you think that Jack will ever make money like he used to say he would ? " " He may," said Mona quickly. " I think it is quite likely. What you have to do is to encourage him, and make his home as comfortablo as you can." " Oh, do stop lecturing, I've had enough of t hat," cried the young wife irritably. And then she flung herself .into a chair and, burying her face in her hands, began to cry. " You are run down and upset, I'll make a cup of tea," said Mona kindly. " I have some new laid eggs and some real butter I got especially in tho hope of your return." The Right Thing. SHE went out of the room and soon appeared with the tray. Sylvia went up to her. " Mona," she said eagerly, " I have just thought of something. I've a bracelet upstairs that belonged to my mother. I wonder if you would take it to the pawnship for me." Mona glanced at her strangely. Sylvia caught hold of her and kissed her. " I do so want the money, I want to get some things in for Jack," she added as an afterthought. Mona did not reply-. Was it possible that Sylvia had not learned her lesson after all, but was still thinking of getting rid of some of the stolen jewellery after her experiences of the last few days ? Sylvia taking Mona's silence for consent ran lightly up the stairs. Mona heard her at the linen cupboard, and the suspicions sho had tried to dismiss grew to a certainty. She poured out the tea and waited. Sylvia canao down the st airs ; there was a peculiarly ugly expression on her face. She seated herself opposite Mona and leaned her elbows on the table. "Now I know why you have been so considerate in staying here," she said. You've robbed me ! Where is tho parcel that was up in that cupboard ? What has happened to it ?" Mona's face was burning with indignation, but she managed to explain briefly. " He was a fair man with a ljght moustache and a scar on his face," said Mona. " I should recognise him anywhere again." iSylvia was silent. She recognised the man easily by the description but she was' not confessing Unit to Mona. " It really does sound a most improbable yarn, and if you saw the man taking them why ever did you not tell Jack about it ? I should think that Jack thought your story very weak, didn't ho t I should not have believed it and I don't seo how he could anyway !" Mona got up from her chair. " I am going," sho said. " It is no use, Sylvia, I will not stop with you another moment." " Yes, now you have taken tho jewellery you want to be off," exclaimed Sylvia, her eyes gleaming with malicious pleasure to feel that, at lost, she had somothing to say which she could see really hurt. It also gave her a certain satisfaction to say these things, although in her heart she had to confess they were all untrue. Yet she wished they were. If there had only been an opportunity of getting Mona into trouble. Mona, who always did only what was right. . Mona did not trouble to reply. The week on remand had not improved Sylvia. There was a certain hardness dnd a coarseness which Mona had not noticed before. Mona went upstairs and collected her few belongings and then once more entered tho sitting room. Sylvia had not moved, but she glanced up. Mona wont to where Bobbie was sleeping. Her whole heart was crying out for him. Should she leave him to the tender mercies of his unnatural mother, or should she humble her pride and ask to take him with her ?" Love for the child prevailed. " Shall 1 take Bobbie with me for a few days ?" she said. Sylvia stood up suddenly. " If you go and leave me alone here I shall nui away," she said. " I would be frightened out of my life. I simply could not stay here." Mona realised with a sudden helplessness that Sylvia might do as she said, and in her anxiety to get her from the police-court, had she not promised to be responsible for her? She suddenly made up her mind. " Look here, Sylvia," she said sharply. " I am standing no more nonsense. You will put on your hat and come out with me. We will send a wire to Jack and when he arrives we will tell him all the truth, so that ho can take the responsibility of looking after you in future." " Mona, you would not dare ! " Sylvia was genuinely startled, and Mona quickly seized her advantage. " Why should I keep shielding you ? " she said coldly. " You mxist see for yourself that sooner or later Jack must find you out. You can't go on deceiving him." " But — but, Mona, I do really mean to go straight in future." " Well, tell him so, and no doubt ho will give yon another chance." Sylvia was by now thoroughly frightened. " He would never forgive me," she said, in a trembling voioe. " I know he wouldn't." " Then behave yourself now. Write him at once and tell him what you like. Or, better still, why not go up to Manchester and bring him home with you ? You can then tell him what you please. And I will take charge of Bobbie and the flat until your return. We can send a telegram to say you are arriving." Sylvia's eyes sparkled. " I should like that ! " she said, and then her face fell. " This wretched money. How can I go when I have not got my fare ? " 1 will see to that," said Mona quietly. ".Will you, really ? Oh, Mon?>, you are' ft dear ! " Sho would have thrown herself into Mona's arms, but Mona held her off. " This is your last chancp, Sylvia," sho said very steadily. " If yon play false now I am done with you, and Jack shall know everything." " Who is going to play false, Mona ? How . could I, even if 1 wanted to ? Besides, I wont to go to Jack. He is so big and strong, I always feel safe when I am with him. And I feel I want someone to love me and mako a fuss of me, now." 'You had better go and get re."dy, then,'' said Mona, speaking sti'.l in that hard, cold voico. " Wo can wire at the station, and I will see you on tho train." Sylvia went singing up the stairs. She was delighted at the thought of a change ; besides, she was afraid of London, without Jack. She wanted him move .than sho had ever before in her life. Tho terrible consequences of her wickedness had not yet worn off. Sylvia had hod a thorough ncare during her week on remand. Mona heard hor moving about tho room above, and half an hour later she descender). She was wearing a black satin ettpe over a vivid green frock, and a large picture hat trimmed with wavy green plumes. It was not by iny means a suitablo costume for travelling, but Mona had to adn.it that Sylvia looked extremely girlish and young. " Jock likes mo in a big hat," she said, smiljng at Mono. "I. do look nice, don't I 1 I rape Jack is staying at a nice hotel." Mona had taken little Bobbio in her anbr, and dressed him once more in his shabby tiBle garments. She had not dared to look at her own reflection. Sho knew that her eyes were hard anil unsmiling, and that there were grim lines around her mouth. She knew that sho was plain, and that no man would glance at her twice. Sylvia went on talking ; sho evidently meant to ignore tho othor's coolness. " She is bad-tempered," she told herself j " but I'll soon be away fjoin her, tho dis-. aereeable old thing." Mona sent the telegram, bought the girl her ticket, and watched until the train sped out of tho station. Then, and not till then, did hi r face relax. In spite of herself her mouth drooped at t he cornors, and a sob escaped her. Try as sho would, sho found that no longer could she control the burning misery which hod steadily kept growing in her heart all through the day.^Jn va;n she told herself that sho had done tho right thing in sending Sylvia to her husband. It. was the tit and proper place for her to be. Jealosy had fixed its cruel claws in her heart. The ugere thought of S\ 1\ ia and .lack together was torWlv. She had acted on the impulse, feeling that iMaa tho right thing to do, but now she was sufMjfog — suffering ! [Another instalment of this splendid serial next ueek.)