FANCY DRESS DANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 426, 7 August 1928, Page 5

FANCY DRESS DANCE

A successful fancy dress dance was I held in the Karaka Hall on Friday evening in aid of funds of the district, i The committee responsible for the " success of the dance were, Messrs, i Parker, D. Egan, L. Colquhoun and J. | Fettes. The hall was prettily decorated with green foliage round the i walls and streamers of red and green " formed a canopy above the dancers. , Chinese lanterns gave an effective ' finishing touch to the decorations. The fancy dresses were very gay | and original; the outstanding ones being Mr and Mrs. Les Grant, who , won the first prizes for the best dressed man and woman. Mrs. Grant represented a Russian Peasant and Mr. | Grant a Cossack. The prize for the best woman’s fancy dress went to i Miss C. Jolly as Madame Pompadour. Mr. E. McGee secured first prize for , the best men’s fancy dress, a repre- I sentation of a Shiek. The prize for the most original costume went to j Mrs. E. P. Laing as a witch. The most original prize for the men was awarded to Mr. Neilson. Others were; Mrs. Hastie, “Rumanian”; Mrs. C. V. Grant, “Dutch ( Girl”; Miss M. Egan, “Question”; Miss M. Coster, “Starlight”; Miss K. Fitzpatrick, “Zoological Garden”; Miss Col- | quhoun, “Pierette”; Miss J. Marsh, “Italian”; Miss M. Young, “Pierette”; Miss S. Lever, “Ballet Girl”; Miss _ A. | Wadd, “Convalescent”; Miss D. Laing. “Spanish Dancer”; Miss A. K. Foster, < “Pierette”; Miss B. Grant, “Swiss Girl”; \ Mr. D. R. Jarvis, “Arab”; Mr. G. Laing “Pirate”; Mr. D. Egan, “Jazz Pierot”; | Mr. J. Fetters “Clown”; Mr. L. Allan, \ “Spanish Toreador”; Mr. J. Alexander, “Chinese.” | The judges of the costumes were Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Pavitt, of Papakura. Putman’s orchestra from Tuakau 1 played delightful music which added greatly to the pleasure of the dancers. Tourists who lately drove long distances in France remark that even in small provincial towns hotels have installed baths and running hot water, and that five-course In tcheons, “vin compris,” are being served for five persons for a total of 76 cents.

' really ought to be looking for my missing friend. His absence is getting serious, and ” Sheila interrupted me to tell her ' mother all about it; as she finished the ■ man in velveteens came hovering near 1 the open window. “Well, Parker?” called Sheila. ! “Anybody heard anything?” But Parker had no news to give. He had questioned all the men in the stables and the gardens; none had | seen or heard of the missing gentleman. By this time Mr. Elphinstone j had returned with an armful of hooks j and old photographs; he wanted to I monopolise me, but his wife impa- I tiently waved him away. “Really, Malcolm,” she exclaimed, “Mr. Holt can’t look at pictures of you and his father when he’s so i anxious about this unfortunate old c gentleman of his! The poor man may t be lying in some out-of-the-way place £ on the moors with a broken leg! i Can’t you make some sensible sugges- 1 tion?” * Mr. Elphinstone, thus adjured, laid 1 aside his collection of memorials, c took off his spectacles, sat down, 5 helped himself to some fish, and after \ a few reflective sips at a cup of tea, * leaned across the table towards his \ step-daughter. * “How would it be to inquire at High ~ Cap Lodge?” he suggested. “Verner’s 1 people might have heard something, ( or know something. I believe lie has ( watchers out, at night—we haven't, ( now.” g “Good!” said Sheila. “I’ll take Mr. i Holt across there presently.” t “That,” she continued, turning to * me, “is my cousin, Verner Courthope’s, place—High Cap Lodge. Your 1 friend may have wandered on to his t ground, you know—Verner has all the < I moor on the south-east and east —a 1 i wild district. We’ll go and see him.” < j We each made a hurried breakfast 1 I and set out, Mrs. Elphinstone drop- | ping one or two practical hints, and J Mr. Elphinstone very earnest that as . soon as I’d found Mr. Mazaroff (whose j disappearance didn’t seem to trouble } him greatly) I should return to Mar- t rasdale Tower and look at his books t and papers. Our way led towards the 1 . hills, and became rugged and lonely, j

“My cousin has a small shooting 1 party at his lodge,” announced Sheila, i as we came in sight of our destina- i tion, a long, low-roofed building set ' amidst pine-trees in a defile of the moors. “There’s himself, and his ; manager (Courthopes are ba.nkers, : you know, in the city), a man named ; Armintrade, whom I loathe, and an- ! other man, a London doctor, Eccleshare, whom I detest! They shoot all day, and I believe they sit up play- ■ ing cards or billiards all night, and I suppose we shall find them at breakfast.” She was evidently well acquainted with High Cap Lodge and its arrangements, for without any ceremony or delay she led me in by the front hall, down a passage and thrust open the door of a room that led out on a fine stretch of moor. Three men, lounging around a well-spread breakfasttable, turned in astonishment at our! entrance, examining me closely. I I, in my turn, took a good, close look at them, individually and collectively, as they pushed back their chairs and rose to their feet. For I had a sudden notion, and one that I closely bordered on suspicion. I re-! membered that when Mazaroff had intimated to me that he wanted to spend that first day at the Woodcock alone,j he had also said that there was a man in the neighbourhood whom he wanted to see on business. And for the moment it flashed upon me that as all these three men were from London, the man to whom he referred might

be one of them; two, at any rate, were connected with banking and financial matters: so, also, as I knew well enough by that time, was Mazaroff. But I got no help from my inevitably superficial examination of the three. One, obviously the host, was a youngish man of a somewhat heavy and sullen cast of countenance, good looking in a rather animal fashion, but with too much jowl, and over-much sign of temper about his eyes. I saw at once that he was by no means ■ pleased to see me, a stranger, in 1 Sheila Merchison’s company. The I ■ second was a sleek and sly-looking j f middle-aged man, with a carefully j trimmed beard and a somewhat supercilious air—-this I presently discovered to be Armintrade, the bank manager. And the third was a great, fleshy man, j a sort of man-mountain, clean-shaven, j ! heavy of feature, especially of nose j j and lip, whose ferrety eyes fastened j I at once on my companion in a fashion that made me restive, stranger though j I was to everybody there. Sheila paid no more attention to the | two guests than was represented by [ ! a curt nod; she went straight up to j | Courthope. i “Verner,” she said, “this gentleman , - : is Mr. Holt, whose father is an old ; friend of Mr. Elphinstone. Mr. Holt ] \ is staying for a day or two at the Woodcock, where he came with a j friend. Mr. Mazaroff, in Mr. Mazaroff’s car. Last night Mr. Mazaroff, who is ! an elderly man, went out on the moor and he’s never returned. Have you or your people heard or seen anything of him?” (To be Continued>