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ask no questions a traveller views england by beldon dvff after twenty years absence synopsis annassa west leases brides hou in connecticut several previous tvii- ints had died there mysterlouxly and a bride had disappeared it la stipulated that the new tenant ask n- question- john diamond owner at a new ycrk newspaper insists that ann leave her rtable boy utto is murdered then a deputv who is put on guard in the house is shit to death a strung wno has been riding one of anns harsei at light rescues her from a morass when the iteks aid of dr cranson a veterinary urgeon alva cropsey managing editor if diamonds paper learns of a rayaizr- sous naturalist who searches at night the stranger who had ridden drucula ippears and is hired as stable boy he jives his name as david smith chapter xiii contd there was an uncomfortable si- nce broken by david youve every right in the world to distrust me and you do i can ee it in your eyes admit now youre not quite sure whether i had anything to do vith the two murders or not annassa was frank enough to ad mit she had had her doubts today since coming to the red barn to be sxact those doubs bad begun w seem ridiculous her companion studied her admir ingly not afraid to face issues are you why should i be and you lord i dont know he drew a breath through lean nos trils and looked down at her from a beight of six feet and four inches whatever brought a girl like you o a place like this annassa gave to her reply more onsideration than the question de served or so she thought i came to right a wrong a look of inereulity was her re ward and how are you getting on badly she admitted very bad ly with a sudden savage gesture he planted his clenched fist against the wall damn it all brides houte cant held its secret forever it shant ill tear- the place apart shingle by shingle ill she jut heir hand on his arm her voice was tense with excitement then you came on the slme errand that wrought me instantly the old air of caution re- turncj what gave you that idea and in a troubled tone i doubt if a wrong that isnt righted on the spot can ever be oh so far as that goes she tried to speak gaily i am beginning to doubt everything even my ability to escape the fate of my predecessors on this farm he caught his breath thats whats been worrying me gulping out the words as though ch one stuck in his throat ever since you came here more suspicious this time along a ciffcrent line you didnt come to spy on me youre not being paid by someone to svare me away his look of surprise was better than a thousand denials i scare you away say listen stooping till his face was less than a foot away from her own ive been so afraid youd quit i havent known what to do every night ive stood under your window until long after the light went out and every morn ing ive waited till you made the rounds of the stables dreading lest youd gone wondering if id ever see you again if i he took a deter mined grip on himself when he spoke again it was with intentional brusquencss dont talk rubbish of course im not being paid your barging in last week with all the live stock was a complete surprise id been anticipating an uninterrupted month or two here to work out some thing for myself tho mistress of britb house thought a moment well if we both want to be un interrupted and wo both want to find out whats going on hero then theres no reason why we cant work together is there her companion threw back his head and laughed till the echoes woke in the rotting rafters youre a persistent kid no i suppose there isnt any reason why wo shouldnt work together and to show that im no niggard when it comes to a bargain im going to let you in on a discovery i made the day before you arrived swiftly and without a glance to see whether she followed him the big stranger led tho way to the harness loom where ho paused before the trap door which had first lured her on to tho discovery of ottos dead body taking a small flashlight frcm the pocket of his flancl shirt ho handed it to her and stooping lifted tho door by means of the ring imbedded in one i its centro planks the light made it possible to get down the ladder without mishap so her guide did not offer to assist her but when the cel- ar had been reached she found a hand stretched out waiting and jxard a warning ary- with they mind you tont trip over thing the floors covered broken glass and rusty nails without further comrwr picked their way to the farther cor ner where david dropped the fingers which had rested on his palm and took over the flashlight here as he spoke he was lifting away packing cases handling their weight and bulk with the east of a child playing with a set of building blocks in a monlent the wall behind had been laid bare and annassa saw near the floor a round dirk hole scarcely larger than the top of a hogshead the mouth of a tunnel announc ed the giant in a voice whicn trembled with some strange emotion your stable boy snooping around among these boxes came upon t a fairly dangerous discovery it cost him his life annassa west stooped and peered into the hole where does it lead to i dont know you havent explored it no she stood up you found it last week and havent explored it yet why his answer amazed her go into that rat hole its im possible physically impossible the girl measured the opening with a piece of scantling and then tried it against the wide chest i think you can do it she said gravely and waited her heart thump ing for the answer no the heart thumped a little harder whj not her companion turnra the flash light down so that his face was hid- r from her i lied a moment ago it is not a physical impossibility it is a men tal one and there is no use asking me what or why because i do not know myself if i did i woi id not be here now in brides house you issue no 5332 chapter xiv conning tower was not a bad name for noah peabodys gilded lunch wagon at the boardedoff end where its proprietor slept a bowtd window gave on the village of hales crossing in three directions here attached to the framework just high encugh to be operated from a wing chair was an ingenious device resembling a rail road semaphore a folding gate arm which could be extended or shortened at will and which pivotei easily from right to left at the end ox this arm was strapped a pair of old field glasses by whose aid the inquisitive noah had greatly increased his area of vision by eleven oclock on tuesday the breakjast demand for wheat cakes and coffee was about over and the call for hamburger with onions had not yet commenced a half hour of peace beckoned mr peabody thought to make the most of it with his eye glued to the field glasses he saw a closed black wagon leave seth tobys undertaking estab lishment a sign the body l the mur- deputy was at last to be re- rroved from brides house he also observed garlirg the stjly lodge keeper of berkshire towers when he passed down the road accompanied by his dog beetle over one shoulder garling carried a fishing rod which was as good as an announcement that mr diamond had gone to the city for the day it was no secret in the crossing that the house on the hill was never left unguarded for a mo ment when the master was at home a crndition of affairs which had piqued tho lawabiding citizens of that town beyond all expression the virtuous mr peabody adjusted the glasses for one last peep and hur riedly wiped them with the end of his necktie a strange man was coming down the iond from the direction of branhville it was evident he was heading for the ark so the arks pro prietor hustled back behind the coun ter and put on i fresh tick apron morning pardner he said when the screen door had opened and closed whatll it be ham and eggs said cropsey and a cup of black and white ohkay two eggs slid from their shells to a waiting pan a newspaper gent bent you well or hedged the managing editor of new yorks foremost news paper not exactly no need to bo afraid of me was tho encouraging reply i aint agin publicity i suppose youve formed a theory ar to who committed the murders me and everybody else in the crossing thinks that the runnels ghost is up to its old tricks i dont believe in such rubbish do you was his way of landing in the thick of the situation noah set a cup of coffee on the counter and pushed sugar and a pitcher of cram after it seth after twenty years 1 have seen eng land again and i am not disappointed all the lovely things i remembered and hoped to see once more are still there and have remained the same it is as though i bad returned to gaze upon an exquisite tapestry that had bung for many centuries iu the same honored place here and there a thread has been broken or worn away perhaps but it has been re paired so thoroughly that the design is undisturbed the background was put in with such solid painstaking ef fort that it has stood the test of years and if tears have sometimes dropped on those closely worked stitches the gold and silver threads have not been tarnished looking at london with eyes that had longed tor many years i did not search for nor count the new build ings in fact i must confess that there were some of which i was not even cognizant this sort of progress has been going on all over the world and there are some of us who absorb the results unconsciously regent street has maintained its crescent and the flower women still rest their baskets of fragrance at the feet of eros struc ture by structure a more modern set ting is being built around westmin ster but those delicately wrought pin nacles ethereal against the smoky london sky still grip ones heart for unless a frame is so unfitting as to be noticeable the picture remains undis turbed the morning sunlight still plays upon the fountains in trafalgar square and on the steel gray wings of pigeons wheeling around the base of nelsons column in kensington gar dens the sheep move lazily as ever be neath the trees cropping the grass as they go and one may still imagine the music of a pastorale or the faraway echo of peter pans voice calling i shall not soon forget an awakening one morning the first morning in london our windows looked out to whitehall court and very early while the light was still faint i heard the sound of bagpipes skirling nearer and nearer it came along until i was impelled to ruu to the window along the street his tartans swirling around him came a stalwart piper followed by a detachment of redcoated guards thep kept perfect formation and marched with all the pomp and cere mony of the centuries that lie behind the pageantry of london not even the sonorous chiming of big ben close at hand had thrilled me more the changing of the guard at buck ingham palace still goes on 1 saw the gay scarlet of the uniforms mass ed against the background of those drab old walls and i heard the band play i watched the orderly crowd of men women and children lined up out side the iron rails and gathered around the entrance it interested me having witnessed less tactful methods in other countries to notice the good- humored english bobbie admonish the crowd when they pressed in too closely toward the big gates every one opened up again with pleasing grace as he waved them back into place he did it with a slight motion of his hand and a smile on his face i like these london policemen they are friendly souls ready to give you in- tobys seen the hant he said evas ively hes told me so who is seth toby our chief of police with pride our undertaker hes a sdectman noah watchea cropsey at last edging closer seths our most upandcoriiig citi zen unless you count mr diamond asone of us to e continue formation or prepared to stretch out a protecting band when the traffic surges too heavily while i am on the subject of the handling of traffic i would like to com ment upon a condition that impressed me very much the absence of donts in the traffic rules this is not peculiar in london my companion and i observed it all over england motorists are requested not command ed admonished not threatened even the signs on the road are worded po litely a reckless driver of the most hardened caliber would dud it impos sible i think to resist the appeal gently please we had previously decided that the most interesting way to renew our acquaintance with the english coun tryside would be to hire an automobile and drive ourselves whither we would the courtesy shown us by our fellow motorists was most gratefully re ceived for we were conscious that this was our first experience in many years of driving on the lefthand side of the road we left london with the feel ing that everyone traveling toward or with us would be instantly aware of our inexperience and perhaps consider us objects of annoyance but a few miles brought us reassurance before long we gave ourselves up to the joy of the moment could any thing be lovelier than england in sep tember the trees were green and leafy with no suggestion as yet of winter for the seasons still seem to come less violently here than in some parts of the world not until we found ourselves much further north did we discern any yellowing leaves the quiet lowlying meadowj of bucking hamshire and oxfordshire looked so verdant that we wondered it we bad forgotten their green or if they were more green this year than ever before we meandered through villages re joicing to find familiar landmarks passing the lovely old ivycovered houses of chalfont st giles and the unspoiled red brick and timbered cot tages of wiekham end there was a common where i had once as a little child gathered wild foxgloves and still farther along a signpost poiutlng to a footpath across the fields remind ed us of a place where we had both spent many happy hours ami so on all the way to oxford we found no perceptible changes here perhaps we did not look for them we seemed to be as it were turning the pages of a wellloved book we knew so much of it already by heart that we were sure of the enjoyment to be found on each page it seemed fitting that nightfall should find us in stratfordonavon the little town that nestles in the very heart of england and yet belongs to all the world to sleep in an old fourpost bed in a room with lattice windows appeared a right culmination to a day into which so many memories had been crowded we found ourselves one sunday evening beneath the turrets and bat tlements of ludlow we walked through the quiet streets of the little town that still appears to shelter un der those dominant walls and then our steps led us to the footpath that follows the outer line of the castle in contrast to the peaceful valley of the teme these mighty stoneworks tower ed above us like cliffs and we were re- i minded of the part this great castle had played in the history of the bor der gradually tho dusk crept over the stretton hills beyond the river and the shadows deepened beneath the arches of the old ston bridge little groups of people passed us sauntering a band of youths a mother taking her small flock home to bed an aged superb quality always salad fresh from the gardens bellringing in italy wheu you come to think of it it is really astounding bo much individu ality there is in bells and belriuging throughout italy used as we are to the peals and the wellordered tradi tions or bellringing in england per haps we are apt at first to be a little contemptuous of what seems to be the harumscarum jangling of bells in italian towns but hearken patiently and eventually you will find something like order emerging out of chaos and before you know it you will find your self becoming fond of what you first regarded as nothing but a cacopho nous din the bells are unmistakably different in tone from english bells they are no so mellow and as a matter of fact some of them are positively harsh and raucous not a few of them are cracked and hoarse but in some subtle way they fit into the picture as nothing else could and you would miss them terribly were they silenced the method of ringing or perhaps you prefer to call it the lack of method diffe iu every city and town vene tian bellringing is not to be confound ed wii t florentine bellringing any more than the note of the mtiangoua could be mistaken for the voice of the major bell of the duomo in florence rom u bells again are every bit as individual in tone and the niiirr in which they are rung as are the bells of either florence or veuice whether it be the marangonas deepthroated crash that sends saint marks pigeons circling upward from tho piazza or wethir i be the snarling roar of the great bell in giottor tower with ail the lesser bells of florence following in chorus italian bell music adds much to the complex charm of file land at san sepolcro the campanile and bells make a very characteristic feature of the town and one is glad to hear the metallic clangiior as many times a day as it pleases the ringers to pull the ropes from down the tiber ati up to rotr by haroll donaldson eberleln geoffrey j marks frank a wallla girl guide news a is j- our are w if couple a boy and girl arm in arm we felt ourselves slipping into place with those people and once again we felt ourselves a part of england waiting there in the twilight we talked no more of those old warlike lords of the marches but into our thoughts crept some lines from hous- mans lovely poem oh come you home of sunday when ludlow streets are still and ludlow bells are calling to farm and lane and mill leave your home behind you your friends by field and town oh town and field will mind you till ludlow tower is down gwen castle in the christian science monitor a romance iuss the future of britain by stanley baldwin there are times when you think you can see some way ahead but 1 think the man who says he can see some way ahead is a charlatan we must not begin to think what we are going to do in the future un til we have got this country a great deal straighter than it is now we have got our economic iolicy through as a national government in a way we never could have got it through as a party we have got it working now with the approbation of practically the whole country and for that reason it is very unlikely to be upset by any future government unless it fails of its purpose if it fails well then i cannot see what lies before this country every thing except what we have done has been tried and the attempts have all ended in failure and in dis aster i dont let names distract you there are things happening in the industry of the world today that will undoubtedly lead in the course of the next generation to some form of con trol and international control dont run away with the idea that this is socialism socialism has no mean ing today in the economics of this country new gloves worlds surface same in all ages expert says washington oceans and continents always have been much as they are today in major outlines says dr charles e resser paleontologist of the smithsonian institution record of the rocks since earliest times on earth indicates that tho only changes ii- outline have bee minor ones caused by slow rising and sink ing of the land x mystery gloves fashioned of extra thin black silk lace are all the rage in paris at the moment they are said to enhance the whiteness of arms and hands rumor las it that mr tarzan johnny welssmuuer the famous swimmer to a great fleal in the company of lupe velez screen star here we tee him teaching the lupe to cycle first politician suppose you have said thidgs that you were sor ry for second politician oh yes but i havo alwaj3 managed to chow that i was misquoted each of the unemployed men in bo livia is entitled to obtain from the government tho gold washing rights of five acres in la paz area wit is an uneipected explosion thought of map making today making a map of the world is no longer simply a matter of cloistered draftsmen difficulties encountered by the national geographical society in completing their recently published world map demonstrated stopping the presses threo times in the final weeks of publication of the map in order to make changes neces sitated by new developments in the complicated maze of international re lations and by unexpected changes in names of cities was only one of in numerable obstacles faced in the societys task of trying to make an up- totheminute piclurlzation of the world probably the most trying task of tho numerous preliminary details tho society said was that of obtaining the correct spellings of names of cities and countries the japanese embas sy on one occasion in order to deter mine whether a final 0 should be placed on the word maricbukuo was forced to cable half way around the world the answer was yec many names which have been fa miliar to the world at large for cen turies fail to appear on this latest map in their place appear other names unrecognizable to most people for example nizhni novgorod famed for centuries as a great russian city now appears as maxim gorki the hague is now s gravenhage although the former name is listed in parenthesis to help the reader swyr- no islisted under its newest name izmir tho physical problem of printing tho map and distributing it was in it self no meau task more than forty- two tons of a particular kind of paper were used in making it and more than 5000000 impressions were made dur ing which process the sheets traveled an estimated total distance of moro than 2569 miles nearly two tons of special inks were used fr what do you think of our mural tablets asked the cathedral verger waal drawled tho american vist- tot i put a penny in the box over there but nothing came out so i guess i didnt get a chance to try them brownies heal i bet the air we bieatl ur nose not through our mouth i ivii our foes u is for back now all kr vi k w you must tuck in your ba 1 tall jo would grow c stant i for clothes we change eveij week for true brownies always for cleanli ness seek d is disease which is what we aoiii and make all the nasty germs oh annoyed e stands for ears we wash every day for otherwise how could wc hear vvtial folk say f is for feel take care j ttu do for think what a lot of work they dc or you g stands for germs those teeny things which hide in the dirt and illues- bring h is for hair so shining and bright we brush it at moruing and bnib ii at night ls indigestion an unpleasant pain if we dont eat so fast we wont gel t agi in j is for jubube it you have a penny think o your teeth and dont buy ioc many k is for knees if you hurt them at a i see that the cut is clean after you rail l is for laughter a tonic is that we all know the saying laugh and grow fat is for the medicine which ve must take we should need it for cleanliness sake n is for nails now don bite them please and do keep them clean for dirt hides in these o is for oranges eat one each day theye good for the skir aud keep spots away p stands for pallor which all brown ies shun their che ks should be rosy and tan ned by the sun q is for queer which is what we may feel if we eat many rich tilings or uolt down our meal rs rheumatism which is what tva may get if w dont change our clothes whed we get them all wet s is for soap use lots of it do it will clean you and keep you from fall ug ill too t is for teeth we clean every day for otherwise germs will soon mak them decay us for untidy a boggart is one who leaves all her buttons and laces undone vs vaccination the marits on our arm that save us from illness which may do us harm ws for ater of drinks its the best it beats lemonade gingerbeer and the rest x is for v do get a lot especially in winter when you want to get hot ys for yell we give when iu pain but we may av id it if ye use our brain zs for the zeal with which we obey these rules if we i all be strong brownier each day how to use the heaithabet tho firbt and second line- of each rhymo are typed or written out on separate slips of paper each brownie is given a first lin- and all the second lines are laed on tho floor round the room the brownie las to find a sec ond line which not only rhymes wl her fi t but also make3 tense for instance e is for ears we wash every da for otherwise germs will soon make them decay is not rlghi when she has found what she thinki to be the correct lie she brings i to brown c 1 who checks it and thvii gives her another first line until i supply is exhausted when all the rhymes have been paired off tho brownies ccnj into fairy ring tr- each brownie reads ut her own rhyme or rhymes in alphabetical or der from the guide how did your wife take it when you showed her that thousanddol lar bank note like she always does slipped it out of my pocket while i was asleep poverty no dls- rlch man- race poor man no but thats about all the good you can say for it 0 fli like to see something cheap id a felt hat certainly sir try tvi on on the mirrors on the left