N HiddenWavi aJ
M , By FREDERIC F. VAN DE WATLR •
CHAPTER XVll— Continued 1
—lk i
Annie returned and announced
Senator Groesbeck.
"Alone?” Miss Agatha asked and ;
the wistfulness in her voice hurt ]
me. "Then I'll see him in the liv- j
ling room, Annie."
The maid pushed the wheel chair <
down the hall. I sat at the desk and
strove to set down on paper, after (
Miss Agatha’s prescription, my own t
outline of the Morello mystery. I j
found it hard, for each item bore in- £
numerable streamers of surmise ,
and suspicion. I do not know how £
long Allegra had been standing in
the doorway when I looked up.
I rose clumsily. She was still
pale but she seemed more tired now .
than angry. There was a droop to
her shoulders and I cursed myself
for feeling pitiful. She said at last:
"You make it Just as hard as pos
sible, don’t yo*> 7 ” ,
A few hours earlier she had point- .
ed out the abyss that lay between r
her and me. I had sworn then nev- (
er to strive to rebridge it. Sense {
still assured me that it was best for
her to remain on her side and I on ,
mine. Hunger for her, desire to j
aid her were checked by memory of
my recent, adolescent idiocy. It £
hurts to have even a silly dream j
kicked apart. I said:
*T beg your pardon.”
"You heard me.” j
I made no reply. She went on, j
iike a child reciting a lesson:
"If I’ve misjudged you, I’m sor
ry.”
“Miss Paget,” I told her, T mis
judged you—and am even sorrier.”
"I came in here,” she told me, “to
apologize because Agatha thought I
aho'dd.”
She might have been talking to
the butler. There was no call for
her to put me in my place. I was
there already and hod sworn not to
leave it again. I said;
"That seems to me about the
worst reason in the world.”
Again she apparently hoped for
Bomething in my face that was not
there. She muttered:
"You make it very hard.”
She was just a kid after all. Which
was still another reason why things
should stay as they were. So I
said;
"You said that before which
leaves us just where we started.”
"Do you want to leave it there?”
she asked directly, and I forced my
self to answer:
"Why not?”
There was a sttr in the hall and
the sound of voices. I did not know
whether I was relieved or desolate
when she left. Senator Groesbeck,
now sleek and pompous, passed the
doorway. Miss Agatha trundled her
self into the room.
"What was Allegra doing in here
she asked.
"Apologizing,” I said.
She gave me one of the looks that
made me feel she was counting my
vertebrae and then said, "Hah!” in
an odd tone. Thereafter, her mind
dwelt on other matters.
"I wish,” she complained, "that
I hadn’t so respectable an attorney.
I need a scoundrel who’ll help an
idiot who won’t help himself.”
"As bad as that?" I asked.
She nodded and lighted a ciga
rette.
"Grove,” she said, "is being held
ns a material witness. He still won’t
talk, so they're going to take him
before the grand jury presently. If
he doesn’t talk then, he’ll be in
dicted.”
Her brisk voice was armor that,
1 know, hid great distress. She
brooded a minute, while I groped for
words and then asked:
"Where’s tVe typewriter?”
“You said,” 1 told her, "that it
was in the storeroom.”
"Why didn't you get it?”
"Miss Agatha,” I asked, “can you
imagine Higgins letting me rum
mage through a basement storeroom
without a writ of mandamus, a ha
beas corpus and a strong-arm
«quad?”
The lines of worry in her face
slackened and she chuckled.
"No,” she admitted. "I’m an old
fool, David, but just the least bit
bedeviled today. We'll go down to
gether.”
I trundled her into the hall and
rang for the elevator. She said noth
ing till the car appeared, but the
grim lines had deepened again on
her face and I knew she was eating
her heart out for her nephew. Hoyt
took us down. I could see his ears
pricked for tidings, but we did not
speak. I had propelled Miss Agatha
into the basement hall. A wan light
burned there and the air was heavy
with the familiar smell of lime and
coal gas and cabbage for the Hig
gins’ dinners, past and present.
Miss Agatha dug in her handbag
and chose a key from a ring.
Along one side of the basement
hall was a series of iron doors, with
gaps at lintel and threshold for ven
tilation. They guarded the cubbies
that served as attics for tenants of
the Morello. It was against one of
these that I had reeled during my
dark struggle with the intruder. I
thought, as 1 fumbled with the lock,
how brief a space by actual meas
urement, yet how long ago, that had
been. Perhaps if I had been less
clumsy that night, I might have end
ed the mystery. I might have saved
Innocent folk much danger and dis
tress. The smell and gloom of the
basement allied themselves with
memory to tighten my nerves so that
I flinched when Miss Agatha said
impatiently:
"Can’t you do it?”
She rolled forward to take the
key. It turned as she moved and
I pulled the door open before her
advancing chair.
"There it is,” Miss Agatha said,
“over—”
Her voice died. The harsh sound
of her indrawn breath set my neck
to prickling. The light of the ceil
ing bulb poured into the maw of the
storeroom. It shone upon something
at Miss Agatha’s feet at which she
stared, at which I gaped, first stu
pidly, then in frantic disbelief. I
bent forward.
"Careful,” Miss Agatha warned in
a dry whisper. "Don’t touch it.”
CHAPTER XVIII
Wind boomed in the elevator shaft
and I heard the whine and catch of
a car shifting gears in the street.
The rest of my mind had stalled un
der its sudden load. Close to my
ear Miss Agatha’s breath came and
went quickly. So we remained for
a palsied instant, watching the ob
ject on the storeroom floor.
It lay just within the ventilation
space at the iron door’s base—a bi
zarre item for a spinster’s store
room, yet, in itself, nothing to wake
dread. It was a knife with a black
leather handle and a worn gray
blade, sfreaked with what might
"I came in here,” she told me,
"to apologize.”
have been rust. We both knew
whence it had come.
It was the knife that had hung in
the sheath they had found on Black
beard’s murdered body. It had been
driven into its owner’s heart. It
had uttered the flat sound of smit
ten metal when it had fallen dur
ing my struggle in the basement, to
lodge inside the door of the Paget
storeroom.
I bent over it again. Miss Aga
tha made no further protest as I
picked it up by its point, swathed it
loosely in my handkerchief, and
rose. Her eyes met mine and asked
a question. I feared to answer. I
heard myself say;
"We had better go upstairs.”
She nodded. I placed the hand
kerchief-wrapped knife in her lap
and trundled her to the elevator
shaft. We were silent on our up
ward journey. In the work-room, I
picked up the muffled weapon care
fully and laid it on the desk. Then
I faced Miss Agatha.
It was hard to ask the question.
The knife had killed; it might kill
again. It was the link between the
murdered and the murderer. My
voice was hoarse:
"What shall we do, now?”
She blinked. Her speech was calm
as her face:
"I think we had better telephone
Captain Shannon.”
1 said:
"There may be no one’s finger
prints on that knife. There may be
—anybody’s.”
1 could not speak her nephew’s
name, but she understood.
"Call Captain Shannon,” she said,
and there was a lump in my throat
as I obeyed. I spoke only briefly,
asking the Homicide Bureau chief
to come at once with a fingerprint
man; then hung up on his further
questioning. The receiver clattered
as my shaking hand restored it.
Miss Agatha said:
"We both need a drink,” and rang
for Annie.
I nursed the liquor I would willing
ly have gulped. Miss Agatha sipped
hers and at last spoke part of her
thought aloud:
"This was what you heard fall,
that night in the basement, but how
—why—l don’t see—”
Her voice ran down. I said fee
bly:
"Unless it is a maniac—”
Uncertainty left her. She gave a
crooked smile.
"Who had designs on Higgins?”
she scoffed. “David, Lyon Ferri
ter is no maniac. He is amazingly
clever. 1 told you that this morn
ing.”
"But Lyon," I pointed out, "was
in your fiat when —”
She did not let me finish.
"I know, I know,” she said. "But
he did it. He killed the visitor to his
»lO*T«TOV tto'Tl? TOTTPN M n^r *r>yr r ' T '° Tl
flat. I object Jess to that, David,
than to the knowledge that he is
laughing at us now. I never have
liked to be laughed at. It’s been my
legs, I suppose. Heavens, our as
sembled brains should be as good as
his. It only we could find a flaw,
a weakness.”
She drank again and then went
on:
‘‘Everything radiates from Lyon
Ferriter, but none of it reaches back
to him.”
A thought pricked me and some
of the jumble of fact fell into co
herent pattern.
‘‘That’s why,” I blurted, ‘‘Lyon
tried to kill me; that’s why my
room was searched. He thought I
had found that knife. His own fin
gerprints must be on it.”
‘‘They won’t be,” Miss Agatha
promised grimly. We were still for
a moment. Then she said:
‘‘Day after tomorrow is Grove’s
birthday.”
Her voice was so bare of senti
ment that it was piteous. The day
when Grove attained his inheritance,
the day toward which, all his life,
she had steered her foster son,
would find him in disgrace and dan
ger, unless—
I jumped at the telephone’s ring.
Could Shannon have arrived so
soon?
‘‘Answer it,” Miss Agatha bade
and her voice quavered a little.
I obeyed and was ashamed of my
own agitation.
Jerry Cochrane drawled:
‘‘Dave, I want to see you. I’ve
got hold of something a bit interest
ing, my laddie. Where can you meet
me?”
He slipped away from further
questions. It was too important to
discuss over the house telephone,
he said, and for like reason I fore
bore to tell what we had found. At
last I clapped my hand over the
mouthpiece and said to Miss Aga
tha:
‘‘lt’s Cochrane. He sounds so
sleepy, I know he’s excited. May
he come here?”
At once she refused and then, to
my amazement, gave way before
my arguments. I pleaded that it
might be important before Shannon
came, to learn what Cochrane had
discovered. I said we needed the
alliance of Jerry’s quick mind. Miss
Agatha consented at last:
‘‘Have him come, David. You’re
very stubborn and I—l imagine I’m
getting old.”
I bade Cochrane hasten and hung
up as Miss Agatha said:
“Allegra, my dear, will you tell
the hall force that Mr. Cochrane is
to be admitted?”
The fur collar of the girl’s cloak
softened her face and the February
wind had lent it color. Her aunt
told her dryly and briefly of our
discovery. Allegra glanced past me
at the swathed weaport on the desk.
Then a thought startled her.
‘‘Agatha. You’ve sent for the po
lice. And no one knows whose fin
gerprints may be on that knife.
Even—”
“Even Grove’s,” her aunt com
pleted in a level voice. “Yes, my
dear. I’m not a Roman matron, but
I have a respect for law. If they
are there—”
Allegra had stepped quickly to
ward the desk. I knew her pur
pose and moved between her and
the knife.
“They aren’t your brother’s,” I
told her. “He was here when that
knife was lost.”
Anger lighted her eyes but her
face went white.
“If you think,” she said in a taut
voice, “I’m going to let my brother’s
life be juggled about because a spy
has hoodwinked an old woman—”
Miss Agatha’s quiet speech stilled
her.
“I’m not too old, Allegra,” she
said, “to be obeyed in my own
house. Will you tell the hall force
to admit Mr. Cochrane, or shall I?” |
I saw what was coming. The girl’s
face seemed to break apart into
quivering fragments. Her voice
shook with ghastly mirth.
“I won’t. It can’t be happening.
It’s a funny, hideous—”
I said sharply.
“Get hold of yourself. You aren't
lone Paget.”
She looked at me like someone
just waked. Then she drew a deep
unsteady breath and went to the
telephone to do her aunt’s bidding.
Thereafter, she turned and looked
at me again.
“Thank you,” she said. “That’s
the first time—"
“Forget it,” I told her.
She drew up a chair beside Miss
Agatha. Their hands joined. The
girl bent over and kissed the still
old face. So we waited for Shannon
while the crumpled mound of hand
kerchief on the desk kept us still.
It was Cochrane who arrived first.
His chubby face, his mild prosaio
air loosened the atmosphere. H«
bowed and acknowledged Miss Aga
tha’s introduction to her niece so
easily that I think the girl was partly
reassured. Then he beamed at me
“This is in confidence,” he said,
including the whole room in hi*
smile. “This, my lad, is banner-line
stuff, if we can get to use it. Did
you see the Sphere this morning,
any of you?”
I shook my head. I felt the sting
in Allegra’s voice as she answered'
“We read the Press.”
(TO BE COST MV UU
oHouseholdNeius
■k. ,V it -*■ -
WON’T YOU COME FOR TEA?
(See Recipes Below)
TIDBITS FOR TEA TABLES
A visiting celebrity comes to town,
there is a new bride to be enter
tained. For these and many other
occasions, an afternoon tea provides
just the right touch of sociability.
You can be on the committee in
charge and still have as much fun
as the guest of
» honor if you make
your plans care
fully. Plan to
make only enough
tea for 12 teacup
servings at one
time, and repeat
the process as
fresh tea is needed. A large sauce
pan works like a charm for such
teamaking. Tie 6 tablespoons of tea
loosely in 2 thicknesses of cheese
cloth. Place the bag in the sauce
pan and pour 2 quarts of vigorously
boiling water over it. Cover and let
stand for just 5 minutes over a very
low heat. Then pour the tea im
mediately into a teapot which has
been rinsed with scalding water.
The tea bag can be removed and
the remainder of the tea kept over
low heat until it is needed.
If it is part of your job to buy the
tea accompaniments the sugar,
lemon and cream—remember that
there are about 80 tablets of sugar
in a 1-pound box and that you should
count on 2 per serving. Allow 2
tablespoons of coffee cream per
serving—a pint and a half of cream
will be more than sufficient for 25
persons. Allow also 1 slice of lem
on per serving. A large lemon
makes about 10 slices, Vs inch thick.
Then, should you be asked to bring
two or three kinds of cookies or
several dozen midget tea cakes,
here are recipes that will make your
tea contribution outstanding. There
are fruit cake fingers rolled in
chopped almonds and toasted in the
oven, a simple-to-make tidbit that
has a special affinity for hot, clear
tea served with lemon. The small
almond finger biscuits have pale
beige frosting and are fragile
enough even for a bride’s tea.
Amusing as can be are the Swedish
nut wafers, which are baked on the
bottom of bread pans, cut into strips
and molded over a rolling pin into
crisp semi-circles.
Fruit Tea Fingers.
(Makes 16 fingers)
Fruit cake
V* cup condensed milk
% cup almonds (finely chopped)
Cut fruit cake into 16 fingers about
2 Vt inches long, % inch wide and Vs
inch thick, or cut into 1-inch
squares. Spread each finger with
condensed milk on all sides and roll
in chopped almonds. Place in a 2-
quart heat-resistant glass utility
dish and bake in a moderately hot
I oven (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for
about 30 minutes or until lightly
browned.
Swedish Nut Wafers.
(Makes 6 dozen wafers)
V* cup shortening
Vi cup sugar
1 egg (well-beaten)
IVa cups flour (all-purpose)
Vi teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Vs cup chopped nut meats
Cream shortening until soft, then
add sugar gradually, creaming until
light and fluffy.
Add egg and com- == —t—^nTvS
bine thoroughly.
Sift flour once be
fore measuring,
then add salt and
baking powder ==■.
and sift again. = r yWfjy S=
Add milk to the
creamed ingredi
ents, then flour and vanilla. Spread
a part of the batter in a very thin,
even layer over the bottom of a
bread pan, using a small spatula.
Sprinkle with nut meats and mark
into strips % inches wide by 4%
inches long. Bake, one pan at a
time, in a moderately slow oven
(325 degrees Fahrenheit) for about
12 minutes. Cut into strips, loosen
strips from bottom of pan with spat
ula, and shape each one over the
rolling pin. If strips become too
brittle to shape, return them to ovei)
to reheat and soften.
Almond Finger Biscuits.
(Makes 5 dozen)
1% cups cake flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
% teaspoon soda
Vs teaspoon salt
Vz cup butter
Vi cup sugar
1 egg (separated)
1 tablespoon warm water
% cup almonds (finely chopped)
V\ teaspoon vanilla
% cup confectioners’ sugar
Sift flour once before measuring.
Add soda, salt, and cream of tar
tar and sift together. Cream but
ter until soft, add sugar gradually,
then add egg yolk beaten with warm
water. Add flour to creamed in
gredients and combine well. Chill
dough in refrigerator for about 1
hour. Roll stiff dough out Vs inch
thick on lightly floured board or
pastry canvas. Add vanilla to egg
white, then beat in confectioners'
sugar (use rotary beater) gradual
ly until the icing is smooth and the
proper consistency to spread.
Spread frosting over dough and
sprinkle surface with almonds. Cut
dough into strips Vz inch wide and
3 inches long, then place carefully
on lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake in a moderate oven (375 de
grees Fahrenheit) until they are a
light brown color, about 10 minutes,
Tiny Tea Cakes.
(88 2-inch cakes)
4% cups cake flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or other shortening
2Vz cups sugar
5 eggs (separated)
1% cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
Sift flour once before measuring.
Add baking powder and salt and
sift 3 times. Cream butter until
soft, add sugar gradually, cream
ing until the mixture is light and
fluffy. Add the dry ingredients to
creamed mixture in thirds, alter
nately with milk, beating until
smooth after each addition. Add
vanilla. Beat egg whites until they
are stiff but will still flow from an
inverted bowl, and fold them lightly
into the cake batter. Drop the bat
ter from a dessert spoon into oiled
muffin tins about 2 inches in diame
ter. Bake in a moderate oven (350
degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes.
Cool and ice with your favorite k>
ing.
Pecan Crescents.
(Makes 30 crescents)
Vz cup butter
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 cup flour (all-purpose)
1 cup pecans (finely chopped)
Vi teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter, add sugar and
blend well. Add flour gradually and
mix thoroughly.
I Stir in nut meats.
Shape into small
n rolls, about the
__ „ size of a finger,
/ then form into
crescents. Place
lilt on a greased bak
ing sheet and bake in a moderate
oven (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for
approximately 20 minutes. Roll in
powdered sugar while warm.
Meringue Bars.
(Makes 40 IV-i-inch squares)
Vz cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks (well-beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla
IVz cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Vz teaspoon salt
% cup jam
Cream shortening and add sugar
gradually. Beat in egg yolks and
vanilla. Sift flour once before meas
uring, then add baking powder and
salt and sift again. Add flour to
shortening and sugar mixture, mix
ing thoroughly. Spread Vi inch thick
on well-greased baking sheet. Spread
lightly with jam. Top with the fol
lowing meringue and bake in a mod
erate oven (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
for about 25 minutes.
Meringue
2 egg whites
1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 cup nut meats (finely cut)
Beat egg whites until stiff, and
gradually beat in the sugar. Fold
in nut meats.
(Released by Western Newspaper UnlonJ
HOLSEHOLD~7J^
questions
Kerosene is a good cleansing
agent for porcelain.
♦ • *
Baked potatoes, if broken as
soon as taken from the oven to let
out the steam, will not be soggy,
when served.
* * *
Should the lock in your car door
freeze, heat the key over a match
and insert.
* ♦ •
Boiled frosting will not crack
when put on cake if a few drops
of vinegar are added to it when
putting in flavoring.
FLOWERS
California Improved Shasta Daisies, flow
ers large, stems long; $3 per 100, cash
Townsend’s Nursery, Lem Turner, Fla!
Paradoxical Bed
Bed is a bundle of paradoxes;
we go to it with reluctance, yet we
quit it with regret; and we make
up our minds every night to leave
it, early, but we make up our
bodies every morning to keep it
late.—C. C. Colton.
I:happed\
xskml/
(U TP your skin is chapped, you I
B X will be delighted with the ■
gj effect of Mentholatum applied to ■
B the stinging, red. swollen parts. ■
B Mentholatum quickly cools ar.d ■
B soothes the Irritation and assist! ■
U Nature to more quickly heal the I
B injury. Mentholatum Is a pleas- ■
n ant, effective application lor B
B minor skin irritations. Jars or H
P tubes only 30c.
Instinct and Intelligence
Instinct perfected is a faculty of
using and even constructing or
ganized instruments; intelligence
perfected is the faculty of making
and using unorganized instru
ments.—Henri Bergson.
How To Relieve
Bronchitis
Creomuision relieves promptly be
cause it goes right to the seat of the
• trouble to help loosen and expel
germ laden phlegm, and aid nature
to soothe and heal raw, tender, in
flamed bronchial mucous mem
branes. Tell your druggist to sell you
a bottle of Creomuision with the un
derstanding you must like the way it
quickly allays the cough or you are
to have your money back.
CREOMUISION
for Coughs, Chest Co!ds, Bronchitis
Wisdom in Life
Wisdom does not show itself so
much in precept as in life —a firm
ness of mind and mastery of appe
tite. —Seneca.
EWSoS
| at w/^ASPIW
Worth the Try
For all may have, if they dare
try, a glorious life or grave.—
Herbert.
CONSTIPATION
and acid indigestion, headaches, belching
bloating, dizzy spells, sour stomach, bad bream,
when due to constipation, should be correcteo
immediately with B - LAX. These conditio™
often cause lack of appetite, energy and P £ P;
If you don’t feel relieved after the first dose o
B-LAX—your druggist will refund your money.
WNU—7
BiPil
May Warn of Disordered
Kidney Action
Modern life wi‘h its hurry and worm
Irregular habits, improper eatl 5 g , <...
drinking—its risk of exposure and 1
I tion—throws heavy strain on the
of the kidneys. They are apt to be ° o
over-taxed and fail to filter
and other impurities from the hfe-g
bl °You may suffer nagging backset
headache, dizziness, getting UP ° g .u
leg pains, swelling—feel con,
j tired, nervous, all worn out. Oth • „
of kidney or bladder disorder a , ueD t
times burning, scanty or too ireq
urination. . . the
Try Doan', Pills. Doan', be Ip * B y
kidneys to pass off harmful exce ,j a
waste. They have had more than ■ & ffl ,
century of public approval, Ar ber9 ,
mended by grateful users every* w
