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© Beu Ame« William*—WNU Service
CHAPTER IV
Mrs. Sentry slept not at all till a
little before dawn; she woke to face
a naked sun just rising in a raw
and aching glare above the eastern
horizon, leering at her through the
•trees whose foliage had thinned even
during the night and now would
soon be gone. Her eyes opened, but
not to full consciousness; she lay for
a while, turning her head sidewise
to avoid the glare, watching small
shadows shift and change on the
rough plastered wall.
Then she turned to look toward
Arthur’s bed, and saw the spread
and pillow cover rumpled as though
someone had lain there; and she
remembered that Mary had come in
to her last night, weeping in furi
ous and passionate revolt, in hurt,
tormented pride.
And little by little she remem
bered all the rest, picking up this
fact and that circumstance, and set
ting them in their proper relation to
one another. I’m glad I’m alone,
can be alone for a while, she
thought; and she decided that if any
one came to wake her she would
pretend to be asleep. Mary had
seemed to blame her father, with a
raging bitterness; had been filled
with anger more than grief, like a
mother robbed of her child, a girl
of her lover.
Thinking of Mary, Mrs. Sentry
thought of Neil Ray. Mary had not
Vnentioned him last night; yet there
had been something like terror as
an undercurrent to her wrath. Mrs.
Sentry wondered what Neil Ray
would do or say to all this. Re
membering his anxiety to escape
from the house the other night, she
thought there might be something
of the prig in that young man, a
tendency to deplore—
Deplore? The District Attorney,
she remembered, had deplored
something last night. “Deplored the
necessity!” That was it. He had
asked her to promise that the chil
dren would all remain available as
witnesses if needed; and he had
admitted that he could not require
her to testify, but she had said of
course she would stay near Arthur.
“Near my husband,” she had said,
and remembered now that when Ar
thur gave her the new ring, the
emerald, on her birthday three or
four weeks before, he had signed
the enclosed card “Your Husband,”
and she had felt a sense of strange
ness at the time, because he usually
used his name, just Arthur. And
also the ring had been a lavish pres
ent, without precedent in recent
years, so that she had smilingly
accused him of a guilty conscience.
Her birthday in September! Miss
Wines had worked for her husband’s
firm during the summer; and that
mysterious absence of which the pa
pers spoke, when the girl was sup
posed to have gone to New Hamp
shire, was in August; and then
when they all came home from York
Harbor for Mrs. Sentry’s birthday,
in September, Mr. Sentry gave her
that beautiful emerald and signed
himself “Your Husband.”
She understood now. He must
have sought to ease his conscience
so, and she thought with more ten
.derness than she had felt toward
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!IIIIIIIII!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!I!IIIIIIIIIII!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!IHIIIIIII
BLAKELY THEATRE
THURS.-FRI., OCT. 13-14
SHIRLEY TEMPLE in
‘LITTLE MISS BROADWAY’
Saturday, October 15
BUCK JONES in
“RIDE ’EM, COWBOY”
LATE SHOW SATURDAY NIGHT 10:30
“LADY IN THE MORGUE”
Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 17-18
“MY BILL”
KAY FRANCIS—BONITA GRANVILLE
Wednesday, October 19
STAN LAUREL and OLIVER HARDY in
“BLOCKHEADS”
iiiiiiilliiiiilllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiTiiiilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliillllililillilllllllllllllllllllll
film for years how unhappy he must
have been since then, playing a
part, suffering through sleepless
nights. Insomnia. I wonder, she
thought, whether I’ll have insom
nia now. I slept last night, a little.
I’m still half asleep. It doesn’t hurt,
so I must be. Why am I so sure
Arthur did it? If I were a young
girl, his bride, I should be loyally,
blindly sure of his innocence; but
I’m an old woman, old, old. Bar
bara is sure he is innocent. Does
Mary know, I wonder? And Phil? I
wonder whether I shall see Arthur
today. I can’t help him. It’s the
children who need me now. I won
der if they’re awake. What time is
it? I ought to keep my traveling
clock on the bedside table here, so
that if Mr. Flood asks me how I
knew it was quarter past eleven,
when Arthur came home that night,
I needn’t say Arthur told me. I
needn’t actually lie. I can say,
“There was a clock on the table be
tween our beds.” I needn’t say I
looked at it.
She rose at the thought and went
to fetch the clock from her dress
ing-room and set it on the table here
beside her bed, but she did not lie
down again. The household, the
servants, would be excited when
they saw the morning papers. She
must control the situation. She
dressed, and rang, and when Nellie
came, pale and shaking, she asked
crisply, “Are the children down,
Nellie?”
“Philip is.”
“Neither of the girls?”
“No.”
Will you ask Oscar and Emma to
come up here, please, and you come
with them,”
Five minutes later they filed in
and faced her. Oscar stood stolid
ly. Nellie wrung her wretched
hands. Big Emma, the cook, was
crying openly, her lips mumbling
nervous blubbering sobs.
Mrs. Sentry said, “That’s not nec
essary, Emma!” And she added:
“We are all going to have an un
pleasant time for a while. Os course
I shall not be surprised, or blame
any of you, if you wish to leave.”
She felt grateful for their quick ex
pressions of loyalty. Grateful for
the loyalty of servants? Was she
already brought so low? “You’re
quite free to go,” she insisted stiff
ly. “But please understand, if you
stay, I shall expect a perfectly nor
mal household —as if nothing had
happened.”
She hesitated, then went on: “You
must, of course, help the police in
every possible way, be completely
frank, truthful, hide nothing!” It
was useless and dangerous to try
to drill the servants in lies or de
nials; and—there was nothing they
could really know, or tell. She add
ed: “That is all. I count on you.”
Emma wiped her eyes, and they
filed out. Later, after she was
dressed, Phil came in and said,
“ 'Morning, mother.” He kissed her
awkwardly, an unaccustomed ges
ture. “Dean Hare’s downstairs. I
wasn’t sure you were awake.”
“Perhaps he will have breakfast
with us,” Mrs. Sentry suggested.
“Is Mrs. Hare with him?” Mrs.
Hare was a cheerful, chuckling, loy
al friend, but—Mrs. Sentry hoped
EARLY COUNTY NEWS, BLAKELY, GEORGIA
I she was not here just now.
Phil said, “No, he’s alone.” They
went downstairs together. Dean
Hare was in the living-room, and
Mrs. Sentry greeted him almost with
a smile.
“Good morning, Dean,” she said.
“I hoped you would come.”
“I came last night, after I left—
j Arthur,” he explained, “but the
' house was dark. I thought, if you
were asleep, better not to wake you;
so I didn’t ring.”
“How is Arthur?”
He said slowly, “Shocked and
shaken, but—all right.” He added,
“I arranged about the telephone at
once, after Phil called me, so you
won’t be bothered.” He told her
the new number. “You can give
i it to your friends,” he said, and
continued, “Then I went to him, to
Arthur.” He hesitated, said thought
; fully, “You know, Bob Flood and
i Arthur and I played bridge together
i that night, Thursday night.”
Mrs. Sentry started to speak, then
said to her son, “Phil, tell Nellie Mr.
Hare will have breakfast with us.”
“I’ve had breakfast,” the lawyer
replied.
“A cup of coffee, at least,” Mrs.
Sentry insisted. “And you may
change your mind. Go on, Phil.”
Phil went toward the kitchen, and
Mrs. Sentry said, in a lower tone,
as soon as he was out of hearing:
“Yes, Arthur told me. He got home
a little after eleven.” Phil last night
had heard Barbara tell the District
Attorney that her father had come
home just before one; he must not
hear her say this now.
Hare nodded. “Yes, he told me
he came straight home; and that
of course makes it impossible that—
he could have done this. He couldn’t
have left the Club when he did, and
—gone to the office, and still got
home so soon.”
She said, “You don’t need to con
vince me, Dean!” But she was
thinking: So Arthur has lied to Dean
Hare as he lied to me. I suppose
he thinks—hopes—no one saw him
come home.
Then Phil returned to say break
fast was ready. They went into the
dining-room, sat down. “I must see
Arthur today,” she said.
The lawyer hesitated. “It might
be as well to—wait,” he advised.
“In fact he told me to ask you to
wait; that he wouldn’t be there long,
that it would be unpleasant for you.”
“Nonsense! I’m no—timid girl!
I shall see him today. Will you ar
range it?”
Phil said, “I’ll go with you, moth
er.”
“No, Phil. Not this time.” What
she had to say to Arthur none must
hear.
Dean Hare said tentatively: “I
don’t know whether you care to hear
the—reasons the police give for the
arrest. Os course, the news
papers—”
She thought of Fisher, the report
er; but—let Dean tell her if he
wished. She could think while he
talked.
She said, “I don’t read newspa
pers!”
Hare nodded. “I suppose not.”
And, choosing his words, he went
on: “You see, the gir-l had a key to
the back door. Inspector Irons came
Sunday morning to ask Arthur
where she could have got it, and Ar
thur suggested that Miss Randall
might have given it to her; but Irons
found that Miss Randall didn’t have
a key to the back door herself.
There was a new lock put on two
or three years ago. Ike Tory, the
janitor down there, put it on, and
gave Arthur and Gus Loran keys.
“The Inspector took Arthur’s key,
and he went out to get Gus Lor
an’s. Gus was in New York, went
over Thursday and didn’t get back
till late last night; but Mrs. Loran
found his key book and Irons picked
out the key. He found that the key
Gus had was different from Ar
thur’s, and from the one in Miss
Wines’ bag. But hers was a dupli
cate of Arthur’s; and her key
seemed pretty new, but Arthur’s
was older than the other two, more
worn.
“The Inspector went back to try
the keys. They all worked in the
lock. He asked Ike Tory why they
were different. It turned out that
when Ike put the new lock on, a
year or so ago, only two keys came
with it; so he took an old key that
was something like these, and filed
j it down himself till it fitted the lock.
I Ike takes pride in saving money
for the firm; did it to save having
a new key made, to save 75 cents
or whatever it was. And he gave
| Arthur the key he made, kept one
of the originals himself, gave the
other to Gus Loran.”
He hesitated, and Mrs. Sentry said
automatically, “I don’t see anything
i in that.”
Hare was uncomfortable. “Well,
! Irons believed,” he told her, “that
the dead girl’s key must have been
made from Arthur’s, because they
matched perfectly, while her key
I didn’t match Loran’s; so he had all
I the locksmiths canvassed, and late
yesterday afternoon they found a
man who remembered making the
key. He remembered it, because he
noticed on the key that was given
him for a pattern that parts of it
i had been filed off later than other
parts; so he knew it had been made
out of a key originally meant for
\ another lock. He asked the customer
whether he wanted an exact dupli
cate; and the customer said Yes.”
He hesitated; but no one spoke,
and he concluded: “They brought
this chap to Headquarters last night.
He picked your father out of a line
up as the man who had the key
< made.”
Mrs. Sentry said nothing; but Phil
cried, “Probably the police tipped
him who to pick!” Mrs. Sentry
thought: Phil is so young. Mr. Fish
er told us all this. Phil must re
member.
Hare said regretfully: “Well, Ar
thur admitted last night at Head
quarters that he did have the dupli
cate key made. He said he kept
it in his desk in case he lost the
other. He thinks Miss Wines must
have stolen it.”
“Arthur was always losing keys,”
Mrs. Sentry assented, and realized
with a faint shock of terror that
she had spoken of her husband in
the past tense, and then, with a
deeper tremor, that Hare seemed
not to have noticed, as though it
were natural for her to speak of
him so.
She said hurriedly: “I hear the
girls coming downstairs. Let’s not
talk about details, Dean!” Her eyes
met his for a moment, held his;
and his after a moment were low
ered, as though some word had
passed between them.
Phil argued, “But just the
same—” Then he stopped as Bar
bara and Mary appeared in the
doorway.
“ ’Morning, children,” Mrs. Sen
try said lightly. “Sleepy-heads!”
Barbara saw Dean Hare; she
cried: “Oh, have you seen father,
Mr. Hare? When will they let him
come home?”
“I’m afraid not right away, Bar
bara,” he confessed. “You know,
these things take time.”
“But they know he didn’t do it!”
Barbara insisted.
“Well, of course we know—”
“They know it, too!” the girl
urged. “I told Mr. Flood—”
Mrs. Sentry spoke quickly, almost
desperately. She knew what Bar
bara was about to say; that Mr.
Sentry had come home on the night
of the murder at a quarter of one.
But if Barbara said that, Dean Hare
would know Arthur had lied to him.
She fought instinctively to protect
Arthur from that discovery.
“Sit down, Barbara, Mary,” she
said. “After all, there’s breakfast
to be eaten, our routine to go on.”
Barbara insisted: “But mother,
I—”
“Barbara!”
Barbara sat down, puzzled by her
mother’s manner; and Mrs. Sentry
thought, amazed at herself: I’m like
an ostrich, hiding my head in the
sand, trying to pretend, to blind
myself— She said: “We’ve got to
keep our heads, our sense of pro
portion. We must go on eating, for
instance!”
Mary said in a low tone: “Must
we? Pretend nothing has happened?
We won’t fool anyone but our
selves.”
Mrs. Sentry ignored her. She
asked the lawyer, in polite and emp
ty tones, as one makes conversation
with a strange dinner partner,
“How’s Olive, Dean?” Olive was
Mrs. Hare.
“She wants to come over this aft
ernoon—if you’d like.”
“Os course!”
Mary said grimly: “I’m surprised
she’s willing to. I expect most peo
ple—”
Barbara cried, furiously: “Mary!
You talk as though you thought fa
ther really did it!” And she said:
“We must all go see him, right
away! We’ll all go together.”
Mary said, “I want to see Neil!”
She added, “This—he and I must
decide what to do.”
The doorbell rang, and Oscar went
to answer it, and Phil followed him
into the hall. Mrs. Sentry suggest
ed: “Ask Neil to dinner, if you—
like, Mary. Or to tea?”
Mary hesitated, nodded; then Lin
da Dane came in with Phil. “Moth
er said it was too early for me to
come,” she confessed quietly.
“She’s coming a little later, Mrs.
Sentry. But I didn’t want to wait.
I knew you’d be up.”
“There’s nothing to see!” Mary
told her coldly. “We’re not a side
show!”
Mrs. Sentry protested, “Mary!”
But Linda said: “It’s all right,
Mrs. Sentry. I know how you all
must feel; but—l didn’t come to
be curious, Mary. Please don’t feel
I’m prying. We’ve always—at least,
Barbara and Phil and I have al
ways been such good friends.”
Barbara said, “Darling!” And
Phil said, “Good kid, Lin!”
Dean Hare rose to go, and he
nodded to Phil so that the boy went
with him to the car.
“Phil,” he suggested then, “don’t
let your sisters or your mother go
to see your father yet. Not today.
I shouldn’t even go myself, if I
were you. In a day or two, yes;
but just now he’s terribly shocked.
It would distress any of you to see
him; and I think it would be harder
for him to —keep his self control.”
“Gosh! I suppose so,” Phil
agreed, shakily. He urged, “I want
him to know we’re with him,
though!”
“I’ll tell him,” the attorney prom
ised.
But then Mrs. Sentry came to the
open door. “Oh, Dean,” she called,
“will you arrange for me to see
Arthur, let me know -when I’m to
come?”
Hare looked to Phil for support;
but Phil said, “I know it will do him
good to see mother, Mr. Hare.” And
the lawyer surrendered.
“Very well,” he agreed. “If
you—”
Oscar came to summon Mrs. Sen
try to the telephone. “Mr. Loran
calling,” he explained. She depart
ed, and Hare said doubtfully:
“I still think it’s a mistake, Phil,
Call Us for the Best in
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We carry at all times a complete line of
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purpose to keep what the public wants.
Our market carries at all times the very
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very choicest cuts of Roast, Steak, Chops
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meats are the very best brands.
Our Phone No. is 180
FRYER’S MARKET
BLAKELY, GEORGIA
for her to go. Mr. Loran 'came
last night while I was there. He
was just back from New York. Your
father almost br«pke down, just talk
ing to him. Mr. Loran was sympa
thetic, of course, and loyal, and in
dignant at the police; but—it does
no good to take that attitude. The
police aren’t to blame.” He hesi
tated, said then, “We have to face
the fact that there’s a lot of circum
stantial evidence against your fa
ther.”
Phil said explosively, “You know
darned well my father wouldn’t kill
anyone!”
“It’s not a question of knowing.
It’s a question of proving.”
Then he turned, for a police car
came up the drive. Reporters on
duty like guards at the entrance
trotted after it; and Dan Fisher was
among them. The police car stopped
behind Dean Hare’s; but Dan came
along to where Phil and the lawyer
stood, and he said in a low tone:
“Sentry, if you and Mr. Hare are
interested, Flood waited outside last
night till Professor Brace came out,
questioned him.”
Phil nodded, only half hearing,
staring at the police car, from which
officers alighted. Fisher asked soft
ly, “Who was the young lady who
came in a few minutes ago?”
“One of my sister’s friends.”
“What’s her name?”
Phil hesitated, but Dean Hare
said, “Phil, the best rule with re
porters is, if they’re going to find
out anyway, tell them.”
Phil nodded ruefully. “I suppose
so. She’s Linda Dane.”
Fisher said, “Oh! I know her
brother, Joe.” Someone else de
manded, “Not engaged to her, are
you?” Phil shook his head, coloring
with anger, and Inspector Irons
alighted from the police car and
said to the reporters:
“All right, boys, outside. Give
these folks a break. I’ll see that
you get anything that you ought to
have.”
They obeyed him, moved away,
and Dean Hare asked: “Anything
new, Inspector?”
“I want to have a look around in
side,” the Inspector explained. “If
that’s all right?”
“Os course.”
“And I might ask some questions.
I suppose you’ll want to be in on
that.” He added, as though apolo
gizing for his own forbearance, “It’s
not the way I usually handle things,
but the D. A. says to keep you in
touch as we go along.”
The lawyer nodded. “Thanks.”
He said: “Mrs. Sentry wants to see
Mr. Sentry this morning. I’ll be
with her. Could you hold off on the
questions till this afternoon?”
Irons reflected: “Well, the Grand
Jury’s sitting, and the D. A.’s idea
was to give them the evidence we’ve
got, tomorrow.” He looked at Hare.
“I understand you and Mr. Flood
agreed not to arraign him before?”
“Yes.”
Irons looked at Phil apologetical
ly. “It was hunch, as much as any
thing, when I booked him,” he con
fessed. “But the D. A. got some
stuff last night, and—l’ll want to
have all the dope I can get, for
the Grand Jury.”
“Os course,” the lawyer agreed.
“But this afternoon will do, to—ask
your questions. Suppose I meet you
here at two.”
Phil, listening, felt himself shiv
er; his teeth pressed hard together
to keep them quiet. There was
something in their tones deeply ter
rifying. He was almost relieved
when Dean Hare drove away, and
he himself was left with Inspector
Irons.
(Continued next week)
BLAKELY CHAPTER 44 R. A. M.
Blakely Chapter 44
W Royal Arch Masont
meeta on the second
and fourth Monday
nights of each montl
at 8 o’clock. Visiting
companions invited.
Shelly Simmons,
High Pries!
J. G. Standifer,
>e<’retar\
APPLICATION FOR CHARTER
GEORGIA, Early County:
To the Superior Court of Said
County, and Hon. C. W. Worrill,
Judge of said Court:
The petition of A. H. Gray, W. R.
Pullen and J. E. Houtson, all being
residents of Early County, Georgia,
the post office address of A. H. Gray
and J. E. Houston being Blakely,
Ga., and that of W. R. Pullen being
Damascus, Ga., respectfully shows:
1.
That they desire for themselves,
their associates, successors and as
signs, to be incorporated and made a
body politic under the corporate
name of “Damascus Lumber Com
pany,” for a period of thirty five
years, with the privilege of renewal
at the expiration of said period.
2.
The object of said corporation is
to conduct the business of manufac
turing all kinds of timber into lum
ber and timber products, and to
sell the same at both wholesale and
retail, to own and operate saw mills,
planing mills, dry kilns, and all types
of machinery usual and customary in
the manufacture of lumber and
timber products.
3.
The capital stock of said corpora
tion will be Five Thousand Dollars,
divided into shares of the par value
of SIOO each.
4.
The principal office and place of
business of said corporation will be
at Damascus, Early County, Georgia.
Wherefore: Petitioners pray to be
made a body politic and corporate,
under the name and style as afore
said.
A. H. GRAY,
Petitioner’s Attorney.
The within and foregoing applica
tion of A. H. Gray, W. R. Pullen
and J. E. Houston, to be incorporated
under the name of the DAMASCUS
LUMBER COMPANY for a period of
thirty five years, read and consid
ered :
It appearing that the name under
which petitioners desire to be incor
porated is not the name of any other
existing corporation now registered
in the office of the Secretary of
State, and it further appearing that
the application is legitimately within
the purview and intent of the laws
of the State of Georgia, and that
the laws of this state have been
otherwise complied with in reference
to incorporations;
It is therefore ordered and ad
judged by the Court, during the reg
ular October Term, 1938, of the Su
perior Court so Early County, that
the prayers of petitioners be grant
ed, and that the said Damascus Lum
ber Company is hereby incorporated
and made a body politic, with all of
the rights and privileges prayed for,
and with all of the rights and privi
leges conferred by the laws of
Georgia upon corporations of like
nature.
In Open Court this October 4th,
1938.
C. W. WORRILL,
Judge Superior Court of
Early County, Georgia.
>
CITATION
GEORGIA, Early County:
To Whom It May Concern:
J. L. Houston, Tax Commissioner
of said county, having applied for
permanent letters of administration
on the estate of J. N. Evans, late of
said county, deceased, this is to cite
the creditors and next of kin of said
deceased to appear at the November
Term, 1938, of the Court of Ordi
nary of said county to show cause
why letters of administration should
not be granted as prayed.
This October 3rd, 1938.
D. C. MORGAN, Ordinary.
MASONIC NOTICE
Magnolia Loage No.
86 Free and Accept
ed Masons holds reg
ular con nnun cation.
/\V"'/\ on first and third
• ’ Monday nights in
each month. The
time is 8 p. m. in the summer, 7:30
p. m. in the fall and spring and 7 p.
m. during the winter. Visiting breth
ren are cordially invited to attend
W. C. COOK, W. M.
J. G. STANDIFER, Sec’y.