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GRADY COUNTY PROGRESS-PAGE 3
1^. I
White Cat
By MARY ROBERTS
RINEHART
Copyright. I9IO, by Bobbj-Mer-
rill Co.
It wns a very commonplace note. 1
i toad had one like It after every board
meeting of tho orphans' home, Miss
Maitland being on principle an aggres
sive minority; also, having considera
ble mind, chnnging It became almost
as ponderous an operation as moving
a barn.
1 came across Miss Jnne’s letter the
other day when 1 wns gathering the
material for this narrative, and 1 sat
for a time with It in my hnnd think
Ing over again the chain ot events in
which It had been the first link, a se
rles of strange happenings tbnt began
with my acceptance of tbo Invitation,
.and that led through ways ns dark
and tricks ns vain as Bret Unrte's
Heathen Chinee ever drenmed ot to
the final scene at the White Cat.
With the letter 1 had filed away a
half dozen articles, and 1 ranged
them all on the desk In front ot mo
tile letter, the bit of paper with elev
en twenty-two on It that Margery .gave
me tho first time I saw her. a note
book filled with jerky characters that
looked like Arabic and were newspa
per shorthand, a railroad schedule, a
bullet, tho latter slightly flattened; a
cube shaped piece of chalk, which 1
put back In Its bos with a shudder
and labeled “Poison.” and a small gold,
buckle from u slipper, which l—at
which I did not shudder.
I, did not need to make the climaxes
of my story. They lay before me.
At 11 o’clock Hunter called np. He
said he vVns going nfter the affair him
self, but that it' wns hard to stick a
dip net Into the political puddle with
out pulling out a lot more than yon
went' after or than It was bpnltby to
get... He wanted to know If I had
■Come ncross any more K.„V’s. SVhere-
upon 1 put awny the .notes I had made
about Delia and Mamie Brennan,
l" CHAPTER III.
' ^. Ninety-eight Pearls.
WENT to Bellwood that evening.
It was a suburban town a dozen
miles from the city. Street cars
i had so far failed to spoil its
tree bordered streets, and it was ex
clusive to the polut of stagnation. 'The
Maitland place was at the head of the
main street. Miss Letitia. who was
seventy, had bad sufficient commercial'
- Instinct some years before to eu.t her
ancestral acres—their ancestral acres,
though. Miss Jane hardly couuted—into
• 'building lots, except perhaps an acre
which surrounded the house. Thus the
Maitland Indies were reputed *to be-ex
tremely wealthy. /And as they never'
• spent any money, no doubt they . were.
I had taken dinner at Bellwood be
fore. and. tbo memory Was not hilari
ous. Miss Letitia was deaf, but chose
to ignore the fact. With superb indif
ference she would break into the con
versation with some wholly* alien re
mark that- necessitated a reassembling
■of one's ideas, making the meal a se
ries of'mental gymnastics. Miss Jane,
through long practice nnd because she
only skimmed the surface of conversa
tion, took her cerebral flights easily,
bat I am more unwieldy .of mind.
Nor wns Miss I.etitin's dominance
wholly conversational. Her sister Jane
wns her creature, alternately smjbbed
and bullied. To Miss Letitia. Jane, in
spite of her sixty-five years, was still a
child, and sometimes a bad oue. Miss
Letitia gave her expurgated books to
read and forbade her to read divorce
court proceedings in the newspapers.
Poor Miss Jane! She met me with
fluttering cordiality in the hall that
night, safe in being herself for once,
with the knowledge that Miss Letitia
always received me from a throuellke
horsehair sofa in tho buck parlor. She
wore a new lace cup nnd was twitter-
ingly excited. \ , > -
"Our niece is here." she explained,
as I took off my coat—everything was
-ours” wilh Jane: •’mine" with Letitia
-“and we are having an ice at dinner.
' flease say that ices are not injurious,
Mr. Knox. My sister is so oppn-ed to
them, and I had to beg for this,"
i “On the contrary, tile'doctors have
ordered ices for my youug nephews,”
1 said gravely, “and 1 dote on them
ui.vself.”
Miss Jane beamed. Indeed, there
was something almost unnaturally
■ 'gay about the little old lady all that
evening.
; Miss Letitin received me. as usunl, in
the back parlor. Miss Fleming was
.there also, sewing by a window, and
in her straight white dress, with her
[hair drawn back nnd braided around
her 11end. slie looked "even younger
th’nii before. There was no time for
conversation.,. Miss I.etitht launched
at. once iiiio the extravagance of both
molasses and flutter on Hie colored
orphans'- bread.
"You have liad.t’.o.,iiev.s at all V Miss
Fl-;iliigp»a!d cii.utfiiiislj. her liejj <! bout
ov -if her' work.
>o:; I relumed, under cover of
tin able linen i.,.ul!i|;|v Ml-- Lotitia’s
mi had vrerc 1. "1 nn.vo c nod man
woi. tig. on K.” As she i.lanced , at
me ciiesiimi! ;t.v, “Ir need' I a detec-^
tlvf*. Mtns 1-leiulrg." >Vnli every
move ni of ilie girl I ■ mid s'ee the
glean of a diamond t.a Her engage
ment ii i-ger.
"If 1 didn't wateh her. .laue would
ruin the i." said Miss Letitia. "She
gives ’em apples when they keep their
faces clean, and the hills for soap have
gouo up double. Sonp once a day’s
enough for a colored child. Do you
smell anything burning. Knox?”
1 sniffed, and lied, whereupon Miss
Letitia, swept her black silk, her color
ed orphans and her majestic presence
out of the room. As the door closed,
Miss Fleming put down her sewing.
“I do not dare to tell them, Mr.
Knox," she sold. "They are old, and
they hate him anyhow. I couldn’t
sleep last night. I have hemmed tea
towels for Aunt Letitia today until I
am frantic, und all day I have been
wondering over something you said
yesterday. You said, you remember,
that you were not a detective, that
some men. could take nineteen from
thirty-five nnd, leuve nothing. What
did you mean?"
I was speechless for n moment.
■ "The fact Is—I—you see," I blun
dered, "it was a—merely a figure of
speech, a—speech of figures, is more
accurate." And then dinner was an
nounced.
Miss Letitia presided Jn garrulous
majesty. Tl;e two old ladies picked at
tlielr food, and Miss Jane had* a spot
of pink in each withered cheek. Mar
gery Fleming made a brave pretense,
but loft her plate almost uutouchod.
As for mo, I ate a substantial mascu
line meal and half apologized for my
appetite, but Letitia did not bear. 'She
tore tile board of managers to shreds
with the roast and denounced them
with the salad.
"Flense do eat your dinner,” Jane
whispered. “I made the salad myself.
And I know wliat it fakes to keep a
big man going. Harry, cuts more than
Letitia arid I together. Doesn’t be,
Margery?" '
“Harry?" I asked.
Miss Jane leaned forward to me aft
er a smiling glaiice at her niece across.
•‘Harry Wardrop. a cousin’s sou.
and"—she patted Margery’s hand with
'its ring—“soon to be something closer."
The girl’s face colored, but she re
turned Miss Jane’s gentle pressure.
"They.put up an iron fence." Miss
Letitia reverted somberly to her griev
ance, "when a wooden one would have
done' It was eYtravagande, ruinous
extravagance."
“Harry stays with ns when *he Is in
Manchester.” Miss Jane went on. nod
ding brightly across at. Letitia,. as if
she. tpo, wore damning the executive
board. “Lately lie has.been almost all
the time in Plnttsburg. He is secre
tary to Margbry's father. It is a posi
tion of considerable responsibility, and
wo are very proud of him.”
. I bad expected something of the sort,
but the remainder of the. meal bad
somehow lost its savor. There was a
lull in tlie conversation while dessert
was being brought In. Miss Fleming
sat, one iiand on the table, staring ab
sently at her engagement ring.
“You look like a fcol in that cap.
Jane," volunteered Letitia. while the
plates were being brought in. “What’s
for dessert?"
“lee cream," called Miss Jane over
'the table.
“Well, you needn’t.” snapped Letitin.
"I can hear you well enough. You
to’ld me it wns junket."
"I said ice cream, nnd you said it
would be nil right," poor Jane shriek
ed. “If you drink a cup of hot water
after it. it won’t hurt you."
“Fiddle,” Letitia snapped unpleas
antly. “I’m not going to freeze my
stomach nnd then thaw it out like n
drain pipe. Tell Hepplo to put my ice
cream on the stove."
So we waited until Miss Letitia’s had
been heated nnd wns brought in. sick
bed over with pale hues, not of
thought, but of confectioner’s dyes.
Miss Letitia nte it reslgnpdly. “Like
ns not I'll break out, 1 did the last
time,” she said gloomily. “1 only hope
I don’t break out in colors."
The meal wns over finally, but if 1
had hoped for another word alone with
Margery Fleming that evening. I was
foredoomed to disappointment. Letitia
sent the' girl, not ungently. to bed nnd
ordered Jane out ol' tbe room with a
single curt gesture toward the door.
"You’d better wash I hose cups your
self, Jane," she said. "1 don’t see any
sense anyhow in getting out the best
chinn unless there's real company. Be
sides, I’m going to talk business.”
When tbe door had closed behind
her, Miss Letitin listened for a mo
ment, got up suddenly nnd, crossing
the room with amazing swiftness for
her years, pounced on the knob nnd
threw it open again.. But the passage
was empty; Miss lie's slim llttle_ fig
ure was uisiipptiiiring lmo the kitchen.*
"I didn’t want to see you about'the
will, Mr. Knox." the older sister begun.
"The will ran wait. I oiln't going to
die Just yet—not If 1 know anything.
But although I think you'd look .ft
heap heller and more responsible If
you wore some hitlr on your face, sill!
in most things 1 if alt you’re a man'of
souse. Anil yon>o not • tod young.
That's why -I ffidn't send for Harry
Wardrop. He's .no young."
1 winced ni m .t. Miss Letitin leaned
forward arid put her bony band on my
knee.
“I've. been robbed," she announced in
a half whisper.
"Indeed!" I said, properly thunder
struck. i Imd always believed tbutonly
thc use of the fourth dimension in
space v. .aid enable any one not do-
sired to gain access to the Maitland
house.
"Not tho pearls?" I naked.
She answered my question with an
other.
"When you bnd those penrls ap
praised for me nt the jeweler’s lust
year, how many were there?”
"Not quite a hundred. 1 think—yes.
ninety-eight."
‘•Exactly." she corroborated, In tri
umph. "They belonged to m.v mother.
Margery's mother got some of them.
Thnt’s n good many years ago, young
man. They are worth more than they
were theu—a great deal more."
"Twenty-two thousand dollars.” 1 re
peated. “You remember. Miss Letitin.
that I protested vigorously nt the time
against your keeping them in tho
lion so."
Miss Letitin Ignored this, but before
she wont on she repeated again her
cntlike pouncing nt the door, ouly to
find tho hall empty ns before.
“Yesterday morning," she said grave
ly. “I got down the box—they have al
ways been kept in the small safo lu the
top of ray closet. When J.-ne found a
picture of m.v niece, Margery Fleming,
in Harry’s room I thought it likely
there was some truth in the gossip
Jnue hoard about the two; nnd, if
there was going to be a wedding, why,
tile penrls were to go to Margery any
how. But I found the door of tlie safe
unlocked nnd a little bit open, and ten
of tbo pearls were gone!"
“Gone!" 1 echoed. “If ten, wby not
the whole ninety-eight?”
“How do 1 know?.’’ she replied, with
asperity. “That’s what I keep a law
yer lor."
"But you need a detective,” I cried.
“I will not liavo the police.” she per
sisted inflexibly. “They will come
around asking impertinent questions
nud tqlling the newspapers that a fool
ish old woman had got what she de
served.”
"Then you nro going to send them to
a bank?"
“You ha ve less sense than I thought,”
she snapped. "I am going to leave
them where they are and watch. Who
ever took tlie ten will be back for
more, mark my words.”
“I don’t advise it.” I said decidedly.
“Stuff nnd nonsense!" the old lady
said, with spirit..
“Then—what do you want me to do?"
I asked. “Have Bella arrested and her
trunk searched?"
“Her trunk!” she said scornfully. "1
turned it. inside out this morning. 1
wnut yon to stay here, for three or four,
nights. When I catch the thief I want
my lawyers right by.”
It ended by my consenting, of course.
Miss Letitia was seldom refused.’ Lit
tle Miss Jaue lighted mo to the door of.
the guest room. • Her thin gray curls
bobbed as she examined the water
pitcher, saw to tho towels and felt the
bed linen for dampness. At the door
she turned around timidly.
"Has—anything happened to disturb
m.v Rioter?” she asked. “She—has been
almost irritable all day.”
"She is worried about her colored
orphans,” I‘evaded. “She does not ap
prove of fireworks for them on the
Fourth of July."
. I put out the light and sat down
near tho window, with my cigar and
my thoughts. 1 had finished my sec
ond cigar. There wns a sound of fum
bling at one of the shutters below.
With Miss Letitia’s story of the pearls
fresh in my mind I felt at once tbut
tho thief, finding his ten a prize, hud
come back for more.
I found on the mantel a heavy brass
/andlcstlck, and with it in my hand 1
stepped into the gloom of the hallway
and felt my way to the stairs. I had
kicked off my shoes, a fact I regretted
later. 1 went into the library, which
was beneath my room, but the sounds
at thevwlndow had ceased. I thought
I heard steps on the walk going to
ward the front of the house. I wheel
ed quickly and started for the door
whim something struck me a terrific
blow on the nose. 1 reeled back and
sat down, dizzy nnd shocked. It was
only when no second blow followed the
first that I realized what had occurred.
With my.two hands out before me in
the blackness 1 hud groped, one bund
on either side of the open door, which,
of cour-e. 4 had struck violently with
my nose. My candlestick had rolled
under tlie table, and after crawling
around on my hands und knees 1 found
it. For nil her bonsted watchfulness
Miss Letitia must have been asleep. '
1 put buck into the dining room,
Some one wns fumbling at the shutters
there, and as 1 looked they swung
open. It was so dur|t uulsldo wltii tin*
trees and the distance from the sired
that ouly ilit) creaking of the shutter
told It'bnd opened. I stood in the mid
dle of the .room, with one hand firmly
clutching my candlestick.
But the Window refused te move.
The burglar seemed*to. have no proper
tools. He .pot something under the
stirili, but It snapped, and through the
heavy plate glass i could hear him
swearing. Then ho. abruptly left the 1
window nnd made for tho frout of the
house. '
1 blundered iu the snme direction,
m.v unshod feet striking on projecting
furniture and enusing mo agonies,
even through my excitement. When 1
reached tbo front door, however. 1
was amazed to find it unlocked, und
standing open perhaps an inch. 1
stopped uncertainly. 1 wns in a pe
culiar position. Not even tbo most ar
dent admirers of antique brass candle
sticks indorse them ns weapons of of
fense or defense. But, there seeming
to be nothing else to do. Ippened tho
door quietly nud stepped^out into the
darkness.
The next instnut I wns flung heavily
to the porch floor. I am uot a small
man by any menns. but under the fury
of tbnt onslaught I wns a child. It
wns a porch chair, I tblujc, that knock
ed me senseless. I know I folded up
like a jackknife, nnd tbnt was all 1
did know for n few minutes.
When I came to I wns lying where
I bnd fnlleu. and a candle was burning
beside me on the porch floor. It took
me a minute to remember.-and another
minute to realize tbnt I wns looking
Into the- barrel of a revolver, it oc
curred to me that 1 had never seen a
more villainous face than that of tbe
man who held It—which shows m.v
stnte of mind—and that my position
was tho reverse of comfortable.
CHAPTER IV.
Little Miss Jane.
HAT did you do with tbnt
bag?"' demanded tbe man
With the gun, and 1 felt bln
knee on my chest..
"What bag?" I inquired feebly.
’“Don’t be a fool.” he persisted. “If 1
don’t get that bag within live minutes
i’ll fill you as full of holes nsn cheese."
“1 haven’t seen any. bag," \ said
stupidly. “Whnt sort of bag?" i heard
“What did you do with that bag?"
my own voice, drunk from the shock.
“Paper hug, laundry bag”—
"Yqu’ve hidden it in the house," he
said, bringing the revolver a little
closer with every word.
"Go In nnd look,” I responded. “1
•don’t know anything about n bag, but
If you will give me your word there
wns nothing in It belonging to this
house I will take you in und let you
look for it” \
Tho next moment he had lowered the
revolver and clutched my arm.
“Who In the .devil’s name are you?"
he asked wildly.
1 think the thing dawned on U3 both
at the same moment.
"My nnme is Knox,” I said coolly—
"John Knox."
“Knox!” Ho snatched the candle
from mo nnd. holding it up, searched
my face. "Then—good God—where is
my traveling hag? I am Harry War-
drop.nnd I have been robbed. Mr. Knox.
I wus trying to get in the house with
out waking the family, and when 1
fame back here to the front door, where
1 had left- my -valise, it was gone. I
thought you were the thief when you
ramu out. und—we’ve lost nil this time,
kimebody has followed me and robbed
me!"
"What was in the bag?" I asked.
“Valuable papers.” be said shortly.
“You are certain you left It here?"
"Where you are standing.”
Something glistened beside the step,
and I diseovered'a small brown leather
traveling bag. apparently quite new.
“Here it is.” I said, not so gracious as
I might have been. 1 bad suffered con
siderably for that traveling bag. The
sight of it restored Wardrop’s poise. _
pqlogize to you
I mhst have nearly brained you."
"You did." I said grimly, and gave
him the bag. The moment he took It I
know there was something wrong. lie
hurried Into tlie house and lighted tho
library lamp. Then In* opened flm trav
eling bag with shaking Hugei-s. It was
empty!
“it's a trick!" he said furiously.
"You’ve hidden it somewhere. Tills Is
not my bag. You've •substituted one
Just like It." ■
"Don’t be a fool," I retorted. “How
eowlU | substitnie nn empty satchel for
yours when up to fifteen minutes ago to,
laid never seep, you or your grip uP
tber?"
He dropped Into a chair,-nnd after a
pause: "1 was followed in Plnttsburg.
Two mou watched mo from tlie min
ute 1 got there on Tuesday.- I changed
my hotel, nnd for all of yesterday—
Wednesday, that is—,1 felt secure
enough. But on the way to tho train 1
felt tbut I wns under surveillance
again, nnd by turning quickly I came
face to face with one of tho men. 1
thought he was a detective. You know
I’ve had a lot of that sort of thing
lately, with election coming on. He
didn't get oil the traiu, bowover."
"But the other ono may huvo done
"When wo drew in nt Bellwood sta
tion I distinctly remember opening the
hag nnd putting my uewspnpori and
railroad schedule inside. It wns the
right hag then. My clothing wus iu it
nud niy brushes."- ,
I had been examining the empty bag
as he tnlkeil.'
‘‘Where did you put your railroiid
schedule?" 1 asked.
“la tlie leather pocket nt the side.”
"It is here," I said, drawlug out the
yellow folder, For a moment my com
panion looked almost haunted.
"The whole thing is Impossible. That
valise'was heavy wliori I walked up
from the station. ■ 1 changed It from
olio, bund to the other because ol' the
weight. When 1 got here 1 set it down
on tlie edge of tlie porch and tried tlie
door. Wlieu I found it locked"—
"But it wasn't locked." I broke in.
"When l came downstairs to look for a
burglar 1 found -it open nt least urn
inch."
He stopped in his ■ pacing up and
down and looked at me curiously.
"We’re both crazy, then,” he asserted
gravely. "I tell you I tried every way
1 knew to unlock that door and could
hear the "chain rattling. Uu'.ockcd!
• You don't know tho way this house is
fastened up at night.”
“Nevertheless it was unlocked whoa
I came down."
The sound of n smothered exclama
tion from the doorway caused us both
to turn suddenly. Standing there In a
loose gowu of some sort, very much
surprised and startled, was Margery
Fleming.
“What, is the matter?” she asked un
certainly. ”1 heard such queer noises.”
“Mr. Wardrop wns .frying to break
In.” I explained, "uud I came down.
On tho way 1 hud a bloody encounter
with nn open door." •
1 don't tiillik she quite believed’ me.
She looked from my swollen bqnd to
•tiio open bag aud then to Wnrdrop’s
palo face. Then. I think, womanlike,
she remembered the two great braids
that hung over her shoulders nnd the
dressing gowu she wore, for she back
ed precipitately into the hall.
“It is. only half past two,” I said,
glancing nt ray w fitch. "Wo might
look around outside.”
Reticent ns he was, his* feverish ex
citement made' me think that some
thing vital hung on the recovery of tbi
contents of flint Russia leather bug
But we fquud nothing.
As l look-heck on that night tlie key
to whnt had passed and to much that
was coming was so simple, so dlrect-
uml yet we- missed it entirely. It was
sonic time before we learned the true
inwardness of the events of that night.
I was almost unrecognizable when I
looked at myself in the mirror the next
morning, preparatory to dressing for
breakfast My nose boasted a new
arch like the back of an angry cat.
mnklng my profile Roman and fero
clous, nnd the lump on my forehead
from the chair was swollen, glassy and
purple. I turned my hack to the mir
ror and dressed in wrathful irritation
and my yesterday’s linen.
Miss Fleming wns in the breakfast
room. I have carried with me during nil
the months since that time a mental pic
ture of her ns she stood there in n pink
morning frock of some sort But only
the other day, having mentlorie'd this to
her, 3.';e assured me that the frock wns
blue. So I amend this. Miss Fleming
In a blue frock was facing the door
when I went into the brenkfnst room.
Of one thing I am certain, she held out
her hand.
(To Be Continued)
.
Legalpdanks of'all kinds,
timber^ leases,' realty con
tracts, bill of sale, at the
Progress office. Lowest
prices.
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