Picture Show (May-Oct 1920)

Picture S/iotc, October 9t/i, 1920. 17 Trovers hod cast a spell over her. He was always throwing hints about her people, and tolling her that -h was above them in education. Little by ItUJc, by Mattery and innuendo, he had poisoned the i Iri's mind against her family. Kate was determined she would be a lady, and she thought it would be nothing less than heir duty to let Jim Radburn know that she could never marry him. "Jim," she said, "why did you consent to withdraw your nomination ? " " Because I love you, Kate, and, as I told you, theie. ain't nothing I wouldn't do for you." " I'm sorry, Jim," returned the girl, " I respect you as a friend, but we can never be more to each Other, My education stands between us." At the word " education " the sheriff winced as though he. had been slashed with a whip. So that was the cause of Kate changing. In his generous de-ire to give Kate something he himself lacked, he had forged a weapon to destroy her love for him. Kate could scarcely have dealt him a more bitter blow. But the man's (Treat heart rose to the occasion. There was nothing mean in Jim Radburn's make-up. " I sec, Kate," he said slowly. " Well, I'm glad you got your education. If I can't be your husband, I'll still be your friend, and something tells me that there will yet be a time when you will need me." He raised his hat and walked away. That night Kate met Robert Travels in the woods beyond^hc village. " I'm sick and tired of my family," she said. " They don't understand me, and I don't seem to understand them. I wish I. was out of it all, Robert." " That's just what I've been thinking about all day, Kate," said Travers, putting the right amount of sympathy into his voice. " I've been burning to ask you to marry me every day since I came here, but it's just the same with me as it is with you, Kate. My family are very proud, and if I married beneath me they would cut me off without a shilling." " Beneath you ? " retorted Kate. " If you thought. I was beneath you, why did you make love to me,? " " I don't mean you, Kate," returned Travers hastily. " You are above me in every way. It's your family. If I told my mother that we. were e-igaged, she would naturally wish to come down and ste your people, and, much as it grieves me to say it, dearest, I know she would never consent to outmarriage." f " Then the only thing for us to do is to part! " cried Kate hoarsely. " No," said Travers. " There is a way, Kate. If we ran away and got married, and then' went to ir.y mother, she never need know anything about your family." " You mean elop; ? " gasped Kate. " Don't shudder as if it w;'.re some dreadful thing 1 was suggesting," said Travers, as he put his arm closer round the girl's waist. " Hundreds of people have dene it, and if we don't take that way there is no other." With all his specious flattery and tender protestations of undying love it took Travers all his time to persuade the girl to elope, but he did so in the end, and they arranged they should go away that night. When Kate reached home she went to her bedroom and hastily packed a few things in her bag. Just as she had finished she heard her mother on the stairs . and she pushed the bag under the dressing-table. " What's the matter, Kate ? " said Mrs. Vernon, knocking at the door which Kate had locked. " Open the door." With a white face, Kate unlocked the door and confronted her mother. " I was a little tired, mother, and thought I would go to bed," she said. Mrs. Vernon looked at her daughter suspiciously. Kate was not used to telling lies, and her face gave her away. " Well, there's no need for you to lock the door if you did want to go to bed," said Mrs. Vernon. J ust then her eyes caught sight of the packed bag. " So that's it, is it, Kate ? You are running away, and with that Travers. It is a mercy that I felt a warning something was wrong. You stop there, my girl. Your father must know about this.'' Mrs. Vernon rushed down the stairs, and went up to her husband, who was talking to Jim Radburn. In a torrent of words she told him what she had discovered. " And now, Joe Vernon, you've just got to go right up and talk to that daughter of yours. I've warned her again and again. Now you must act." Joe Vernon looked helplessly at the sheriff. " You talk to her, Jim. She always did take notice of you." " There ain't no need, Joe," replied Radburn. " Kate just wouldn't do anything wrong. You just take her to your heart again. I'll go down town, and, to make sure, I'll keep an eye on Travers. I've got my suspicions about that man. Sam Fowler has been released, and is coming to town to-night. I got to meet him at Clark's stores with a detective, so I'll be busy. Don't you worry about Kate. She'll be in a different mind in the morning." The Chase. CLARK'S stores was alL excitement when the sheriff arrived. Sam Fowler was already there, and was the hero of the hour. He introduced Radburn to a detective the railway company had put on the case, and that officer chew the sheriff on one side. " From certain clues I have found the real robber Is in this neighbourhood," he said. " I can depend on ycur assistance, sheriff ? " (Continued on page 18 ) fsSYLVIA breamer: The Charming Film Star Who Believes That All Her Luck and Success is Due to the Influence of Cats. AT tho milcposts in tho life of Sylvia Broainor aphynx-like cats have watched, with eyes that hold the secrets of tho centuries, to guido her on tho road to stardom. And Sylvia has obeyed their mystic nods and winks. For the little Australian actress is a strict adherent to the eulL of Catisin. Sylvia was born in a large, white houso in Sydney', Australia. At the rear of tho house was a big, white barn. Rats and mice had been troublesome in the barn, so Sylvia's parents bought several eats to live there. By the time Sylvia was a little girl, there wove forty -nine eat s, all sizes, colours, and varieties. She spent hours playing with the kittens, and watching the bigger eats hunt mice and bask in the warm sunshine. Their Supernatural Powers. SHE noticed that good weather always came when the cats began to wash themselves ; and whenever they licked their soft fur against the grain, washed their faces above tho ears, or sat with their tails toward the lire, bad weather was sure to follow. Other strange things caused Sylvia to study books, to find out if these little animals were really possessed with psychic powers, or the ability to foresee into the future. As she read she became converted to the strange cult of eats. She learned the truth of what she had already observed, aud a great many more things, for tho weather prophesies were but simple examples of their supernatural powers. So Sylvia Breamer decreed that, to her, cats should be a symbol of luck, happiness, and success. x She soarod in the theatrical world, from a chorus girl in an Australian musical comedy, up the ladder to stellar heights, each rung was climbed and progress made, only when black cats crossed her path, or the knowing eye of a feline advisor slowly winked. She crossed the sea to America, and attained the success that cats had prophesied. Her first engagement in filmdon was secured in New York-, when a little Maltese curled in her lap and purred words of encouragemeitt. The Art of Expression. IN her latest picture, 'Athalie," from the novel by Robert W. Chambers, which Sidney A. Franklin directed for Mayflower, Miss Breamer, in the title role was required to play the part of a spiritualist. It was from the soft, appealing eyes of a Persian cat, that looked Mrnfi with mystic gaze as though into the distant future, or the years that had passed, that Miss Breamer learned to portray her role. She studied for hours the eyes of this cat, and from the protean shades and shifting glances, was able to master the art of psychic expression. In her portrayal of " Athalie,'' the visions which she saw and the revelations that appeared to her in the crystal of the '"fakir's" home, were enacted in the depths of her large, brown eyes. In her home at Hollywood, Miss Breamer has a dozen cats, which she cares for by scientific methods. Her favourite, " Ming," which is the Chinese w ord for " cat," played a part in " Athalie." " Ming is a handsome Persian, with a wealth of love and knowledge in his eyes. It is this cat that Sylvia studied for hours, and which guides with a psychic understanding tho progress of her life. Miss Breamer has a dozen cats at which she cares for by scientific her home methods. With " Ming," a handsome Persian, whom Miss Breamer studies for hours, and which, sh: says, guides with a psychic understanding the progress of her life.