Clue of the Silken Ladder

  CHAPTER 3 _SOCIETY ROUTINE_

  Penny followed City Editor DeWitt to a small, glass-enclosed office alongthe left hand wall of the newsroom. Miss Hilderman's desk was clutteredwith sheets of copy paper which bore scribbled notations, itemstelephoned to the _Star_ but not yet type-written.

  "There should be a date book around here somewhere," DeWitt remarked.

  Finally he found it in one of the desk drawers. Penny drew a deep breathas she scanned the long list of social events which must be covered forthe Sunday page.

  "Do the best you can," DeWitt said encouragingly. "Work fast, but becareful of names."

  The telephone bell rang. As Penny reached for the receiver, DeWittretreated to his own domain.

  "Hello, Miss Hilderman?" a feminine voice cooed, "I wish to report ameeting, please."

  "Miss Hilderman isn't here this afternoon," replied Penny politely. "Iwill take the item."

  Gathering up paper and pencil, she slid into the revolving chair behindthe telephone, poised for action.

  "Yes," she urged, "I am ready."

  There was a lengthy pause, and then the woman at the other end of theline recited as if she were reading from a paper:

  "'A meeting of the Mystical Society of Celestial Thought, Order of Amar,67, will be held Tuesday night at eight o'clock in the Temple, 426Butternut Lane. The public is cordially invited.'"

  "What sort of society is the Order of Amar?" Penny inquired curiously,taking notes. "I never heard of it before."

  "Why, my dear, the society is very well known," the woman replied. "Wehold our meetings regularly, communing with the spirits. I do hope thatthe item appears in print. So often Miss Hilderman has been carelessabout it."

  "I'll see that the item is printed under club notices," Penny promised."Your name, please?"

  The woman had hung up the receiver, so with a shrug, Penny typed the itemand speared it on a wire spindle. For the next hour she was kept busywith other telephone calls and the more important stories which had to berushed through. Copy flowed steadily from her office by way of thepneumatic tube to the composing room.

  Shortly after five o'clock, DeWitt dropped in for a moment to praise herfor her speed and accuracy.

  "You're doing all right," he said. "So far I've only caught you in onemistake. Mignonette is spelled with a double t."

  "This job wouldn't be half bad if only brides could learn to carryflowers with easy names," laughed Penny. "When I get married I'll haveviolets and sweet peas!"

  DeWitt reached for the copy on the spindle. "What's this?" he asked."More to go?"

  "Club notices."

  The editor tore the sheet from the wire, reading it as he walked towardthe door. Abruptly, he paused and turned toward her.

  "Miss Parker, this can't go through."

  "Why, what is wrong?" Penny asked in surprise. "Have I made another errorin spelling?"

  DeWitt tore off the lead item and tossed it on her desk.

  "It's this meeting of the so-called Mystical Society of CelestialThought. The _Star_ never runs stuff like that, not even as a paidadvertisement."

  "I thought it was a regular lodge meeting, Mr. DeWitt."

  "Nothing of the sort. Merely a free advertisement for a group of mediumsand charlatans."

  "Oh, I didn't know," murmured Penny.

  "These meetings have only one purpose," Mr. DeWitt resumed. "To lurevictims who later may be fleeced of their money."

  "But if that is so, why don't police close up the place?" Penny demanded."Why doesn't the _Star_ run an expose story?"

  "Because evidence isn't easy to get. The meetings usually are well withinthe law. Whenever a police detective or a reporter attends, the servicesare decorous. But they provide the mediums with a list of suckers."

  Penny would have asked DeWitt for additional information had not the cityeditor walked hurriedly away. Scrambling the item into a ball, she tossedit into the waste paper basket. Then upon second thought she retrieved itand carefully smoothed the paper.

  "Perhaps, I'll drop around at the Temple sometime just to see what it islike," she decided, placing the item in her pocket. "It would beinteresting to learn what is going on there."

  For the next half hour Penny had no time to think of the CelestialTemple. However, at twenty minutes before six, when her father came intothe office, she was well ahead of her work.

  "Hello, Penny," he greeted her. "How do you like your new job?"

  "Fine and dandy. Only routine items rather cramp one's style. Now if Iwere a regular reporter instead of a society editor, I know severalstories which would be my dish!"

  "For instance?" inquired Mr. Parker, smiling.

  "First, there's an Oriental Shop on Dorr Street that I shouldinvestigate. The Japanese owner acted very mysteriously today when I wentthere. Louise and I saw him making a silk ladder, and he refused toreveal its purpose."

  "A silk ladder?" repeated Mr. Parker. "Odd perhaps, but hardly worthy ofa news story."

  "Dad, I only wish you had _seen_ that old Japanese--the sinister way helooked at me. Oh, he's guilty of some crime. I feel it."

  "The _Star_ requires facts, not fancy or emotion," Mr. Parker rejoined."Better devote your talents to routine society items if you expect toremain on my payroll."

  Penny took the announcement of the Celestial Thought meeting from herpocket and offered it to the publisher.

  "Here's one which might be interesting," she said. "How about assigningme to it after I get this society job in hand?"

  Mr. Parker read the item and his eyes blazed with anger.

  "Do you know what this means, Penny?"

  "Mr. DeWitt told me a little about the Celestial Temple society. He saidthe paper never ran such items."

  "Certainly not! Why, I should like nothing better than to see the entireoutfit driven out of town! Riverview is honeycombed with mediums, fortunetellers and faith healers!"

  "Perhaps they mean no harm, Dad."

  "I'll grant there may be a small number of persons who honestly try tocommunicate with the spirit world," Mr. Parker replied. "My concern isnot with them, but with a group of professional mediums who lately haveinvaded the city. Charlatans, crooks--the entire lot!"

  "Why don't you write an editorial about it?" Penny suggested.

  "An editorial! I am seriously tempted to start a vigorous campaign, butthe trouble is, the police cannot be depended upon to cooperateactively."

  "Why, Dad?"

  "Because experience has proven that such campaigns are not oftensuccessful. Evidence is hard to gain. If one place is closed up, othersopen in different sections of the city. The mediums and seers operatefrom dozens of private homes. When the police stage raids they acquire noevidence, and only succeed in making the department look ridiculous."

  "Yet the mediums continue to fleece the public?"

  "The more gullible strata of it. Until recent months the situation herehas been no worse than in other cities of comparable size. Lately anincreasing number of charlatans has moved in on us."

  "Why don't you start a campaign, Dad?" Penny urged. "You would be doingthe public a worthwhile service."

  "Well, I hesitate to start something which I may be unable to finish."

  "At least the public deserves to be warned."

  "Unfortunately, Penny, many persons would take the attitude that the_Star_ was persecuting sincere spiritualists. A campaign must be based onabsolute evidence."

  "Can't it be obtained?"

  "Not without great difficulty. These mediums are a clever lot, Penny.They prey upon the superstitions of their intended victims."

  "I wish you would let me work on the story, Dad."

  "No, Penny," responded her father. "You attend to your society and allowDeWitt to worry about the Celestial Temple crowd. Even if I should launcha campaign, I couldn't allow you to become mixed up in the affair."

  The telephone bell jingled. With a tired
sigh, Penny reached for thereceiver.

  "Society desk," she said mechanically.

  "I am trying to trace Mr. Parker," informed the office exchange operator."Is he with you, Miss Parker?"

  "Telephone, Dad," said Penny, offering him the receiver.

  Mr. Parker waited a moment for another connection to be made. Then Pennyheard him say:

  "Oh, it's you, Mrs. Weems? What's that? Repeat it, please."

  From her father's tone, Penny felt certain that something had gone wrongat home. She arose, waiting anxiously.

  Mr. Parker clicked the receiver several times. "Apparently, Mrs. Weemshung up," he commented.

  "Is anything the matter, Dad?"

  "I don't know," Mr. Parker admitted, his face troubled. "Mrs. Weemsseemed very excited. She requested me to come home as soon as possible.Then the connection was broken."

  "Why don't you try to reach her again?"

  Mr. Parker placed an out-going call, but after ten minutes the operatorreported that she was unable to contact the housekeeper.

  "Mrs. Weems never would have telephoned if something unusual hadn'thappened," Penny declared uneasily. "Perhaps, she's injured herself."

  "You think of such unpleasant things."

  "Something dreadful must have happened," Penny insisted. "Otherwise, whydoesn't she answer?"

  "We're only wasting time in idle speculation," Mr. Parker said crisply."Get your things, Penny. We'll start home at once!"