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Show KT-INEZ-HAYNES-IRWIN W.N.U. SERVICE ays says he. -You haven't the guts know it" " " WaUer' y My mind snapped back to Walter Wal-ter s well-known tenderness so far as animals were concerned. He was the only boy in his group who would not hunt. "Mr. Treadway said, said he. Joud be surprised what I could kill to save ner from yoa And 1'U do it if it's necessary!' Then they went past me down the road and I couldn't hear single word more, but those words seemed to burn Into me. Yes. they burned in. I've never been able to forget them. When Doctor Blaikie was found murdered, of course I thought of them at once. I didn't want to tell anybody. I was afraid it would get Mr. Treadway into trouble. But I had to telL I couldn't ga through what I was going through any longer." long-er." Patrick's first comment was an oblique one. "Now you feel better, bet-ter, Bessie," he said, "don't you?" "I sure do, Mr. O'Brien," Bessie agreed; and indeed her whole tense figure had begun to relax; the tightness tight-ness was flowing out of her look. Patrick asked Bessie many questions, ques-tions, but he approached them by circuitous routes. He threw in com-ments com-ments by the way. He even told stories. By the time he had fin-ished. fin-ished. one of Bessie's dimples had actually reappeared. But he man-aged man-aged to make Bessie tell hsr story three times and he had not man-aged man-aged to shake her In any detail. That brief conversation between Ace and Walter had indeed "burned" into her. "Well, now I guess you can go back to the kitchen." Patrick concluded. con-cluded. "If you think of anything further, please tell it to me. Otherwise, Other-wise, put it out of your mind. I think you'll sleep all right tonight." "And now, Mary," Patrick turned to me, "I've got to get Walter Wal-ter and Molly over here." Patrick and I sat in complete silence si-lence the few minutes that, after Patrick's telephone call, it took Walter and Molly to get to my house. Brief as the distance was, they came in their car. Automatically Automat-ically I wondered, as I had so often wondered before, if the younger generation would ultimately lose the "Of course m stay then." 1 nt down making myself and that huge uproar In my psychology as quiet as possible. Patrick began, "Walter, when was the last time you came to Satuit previous to your coming this time?" Walter answered without hesitation, hesita-tion, "Not quite three months ago, I should say. Oh, -I can tell you exactly. It was Memorial day." "How long did you stay that time?" "Just day!" "Did you spend the night?" "No. I came in my car by night and I returned to New York by night" "Did your people know you were here " "No." "You didn't see them at all?" "I saw them, but they didn't see me." "Where?" "I came up to the house at night and peeked in the windows. I wanted want-ed to see if mother looked all right" I wondered why Patrick was asking ask-ing questions so far from the mark. But I knew he had his own circuitous way of approaching the thing he wanted most to know. I waited. "Did you see Molly?" "Yes. I had two reasons for coming. One was to see Molly and I did see her." "When did you see Molly?" "She met me at the Marshland station. She came over on the nine o'clock train. We drove the whole morning long and had lunch together. Then she went back on the 2:20 train." "She came back to Satuit alone?" "I wasn't with her." "Where did you go then?" "Well, I told you that I had two objects in coming to Satuit The first was to see Molly and the second sec-ond was to see Ace Blaikie. When I put Molly on the train for Satuit, I went back there myself in my car." "Did you see Ace?" "Yes, I had an appointment with him." "How had you made that appointment?" ap-pointment?" "By mail." . i i a WEDNESDAY ,D Tuesday" night was io ; ,weet- was the rock am ure which produced t-that when Sarah Darbe ny tray into my room, I ious first of self-reproach, at once of Bess'e. "Oh exclaimed, "I feel more If today than I have since j How did Bessie sleep?" , t all well. Mrs. Avery," lared. "Whatever it was i'tor Geary gave her, it rong enough. She sort of the first part of the night vaked up before midnight ink she walked the floor rest of the night something seemed to 1 from my psychology and " in the depths of my s though that mind-slide a writing on a wall, con-jok con-jok hold of me, held me Something will be done, !all up Doctor Geary at 'i tell him that Bessie better last night than the ' fore. Tell him to come lopestill had departed for th Caro and after Sylvia cy Burton had withdrawn i favorite playground, I self sitting idly in a chair, It was no use to start In my old garden. It wag smiles. I have never known a man to be so beguilingly winsome. I could see Bessie relax a little. "Yes. Mr. O'Brien," she faltered. "Well, now," Patrick said In a wheedling tone, "tell me your story In your own way. Take all the time you want Don't be frightened. fright-ened. I feel quite certain nothing's going to happen to you, Bessie. I see you think you can tell me something that will help me in this matter. I hope you can assist me, for Bessie. I need help. It is strange" he went on. Patrick was rambling, but deliberately rambling. I saw that he was trying try-ing to put Bessie at her ease, "how Important little things are sometimes In matters of this kind how unimportant big things. Your story as a whole may not mean anything. And yet there may be one liny fact that will point to others oth-ers and they will point to still others, oth-ers, and before- we know it bingo the whole mystery is solved. So Bessie, as I said, tell your story In your own way, but don't leave out anything. Don't leave out things that you think are unimportant" By the time Patrick had finished this address, Bessie was, I could see, a little reassured. She was ready to talk. "Yes, Mr. O'Brien," she agreed In a faint voice. "You see, Mr. O'Brien, what I have to tell you and Mrs. Avery happ?ned a long (start working in my new or I knew that the instant tarted, Patrick O'Brien jfrive. I did not mind his pj after day like this. I fl it And so, all I said jtric came into the room, Sood morning, comradel I waiting for you." pie first time, Patrick ligns of inward stress. His j as fresh as ever, but his ed a little hollow, ire anything new today?" living my whole thought i nding out who it was, if hiding in the bushes when Fairweather left the II I can lay my hands on I think I've got the thing You see, it's getting pret-o pret-o midnight now. I've been jttie Stow's list backwards, I lidewards and every (It. I've been over the list who live on the Head, I've talked with every )i the force until they've e to lay off them. They fiy's car come over, the j M law it go back. They ' fter Treadway and Molly eher Car. Then AiA r lime ago on in the spring. It was Decoration day. I didn't say any-thing any-thing about it because, happening happen-ing so far back, it didn't seem to me that it had anything to do with what happened to Doctor Blaikie. But I got to thinking about it nights and it worried me and worried me and worried me. I couldn't sleep. Doctor Geary gave me some medicine, medi-cine, but it didn't help any. I've got to tell somebodyl I've got to! I've got to!" her voice ended on a wail, but it had grown shriller. Sarah reached out and took her hand; she held it the rest of this session. Patrick spoke at once, "There! There! There!" He soothed Bessie Bes-sie exactly as though she were a teithing baby. "That's all right It's all gone now. You're going to tell us what's on your mind and tonight to-night you'll sleep like a top. Doctor Doc-tor Joe won't have to give you anything tonight" As though this inspirited her, Bessie started her narrative, fairly fair-ly composed too. "On Decoration day I went with Big riattie in her car to the cemetery In Marsh-bank. Marsh-bank. She had some flowers to put on her mother's grave. About four. ft Iff ff-f ft wn jruu rememuer wnai you said in the letter?" "Not exactly. It was brief only a few sentences. In effect I wrote that there were some things I must discuss with him and that I would meet him in some quiet place where we could talk privately. I asked him not to tell my people that I was coming. That was all, I think." "Where did you meet Ace?" "In Locust Lane." . "And what time?" "Half past three in the afternoon." after-noon." "You two men were alone?" "As far as I know." "Molly did not Join you?" Walter gave a swift dissenting nod of his head. "Was your talk with Ace amicable?" amica-ble?" A sardonic smile brought strange havoc to Walter's pleasant look. "Quite the contrary." "How would you yourself describe your interview?" Walter considered the matter with an appearance of great conscientiousness. con-scientiousness. "I would say that in psychology it was characterized by all the emotions and in diction by all the phrases of two men who were ready to beat each other's faces off." "I get you perfectly," Patrick commented. "In other words, you had an argument" "Yes." Patrick let silence seep into the room for a considerable interval. Then he said, "I've got to do something some-thing now, that I don't any more enjoy doing than you'll enjoy having hav-ing me da I hate -o ask the questions ques-tions I've got to ask. Of course, you know as well as I do, what my first question is going to be. I want to ask you what you and Ace were quarreling over." Something apparently leaped suddenly sud-denly Into his mind for he turned like a shot to Molly. "Molly." he said, "I must remind you mat as Walter's wife, you would not be compelled by any court of law to give testimony that concerned him." 1 v.4 uvt dcc fne back. And there you fbody has mentioned see-, see-, garet-except Tony. But I easy enough. The force itend down to her house all in black and the moon I cloud, could easily enough Y tt road into the path j Into your Spinney. I'm lound in circles, Mary. think of makes sense." I1 greed, "nothing has J P make sense so far and 'j V day something occurs f ej the whole situation a 1 farer." J I think of that a lot And P think of if I Precise moment Sarah , fnetoom. There was a f" her face. For the luelsaw Sarah very." Sarah said. "Bes- 1 IS asked me t0 as you f f hat seemed a long 1te. Sarah had got her-( her-( .control. Never has that met mine with " expression, fisjr tar patrick the doorway. I had been 1 N t Vrance the , j 0W H face had gone 8i0artohieavethe . I.JJ0' s"ah!" Bessie we stopped at the wutter nouse. Big Hattie wanted to see Jennie Snow for a moment that's Mrs. Cutter's maid. When she got there she found that her cousin was calling call-ing on Jennie. She stopped to talk with her. I couldn't stay, because be-cause Sarah and I were going to the early movies, so I started to walk home. Instead of going by the road I cut across lots because it saved time. Well, as I came through Mr. Day's woods towards Locust Lane I heard voices loud voices. I listened and I recognized the voices right off. They were Doctor Blaikie and Walter Treadway. Tread-way. Well, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to listen to white folks fighting and I didn't want to step out onto the road so's they'd know I was there and I didn't want to go back. So I stopped Jess where I was and waited for them to go by." "They were walking then," Patrick Pat-rick put in. "Had they stopped?" "Yes. walking and talking at first" Bessie answered. "Then they stopped where they was. But they kept right on talking. Their voices was pretty loud. I couldn't help hearing every word they said." "One moment Bessie," Patrick Interrupted again, "you say it was Doctor Blaikie and Walter Treadway. Tread-way. Are you sure?" "I saw them," Bessie said with finality. "They passed right by me. They didn;t see me. They was looking at each other. But I saw them plain as could be." "You're sure?" Patrick said quietly. qui-etly. I'm iip " Bessie renlied. They Saw Tony's Car Come Over the Head and Saw It Go Back. use of its legs. But that wonder merely filled the surface of my mind. Underneath I was thinking so many things that virtually I thought of no one thing. My thoughts cut and slashed and jagged each other in their maniacal way of the last few days. Over them all too, like the poison gas over a modern battlefield, hung a cloud of sick foreboding. The effect of my sweet night's sleep seemed to disappear. dis-appear. Again I felt myself trembling trem-bling on a huge abyss. What Patrick thought I don't know. He sat with his head back, gazing at the ceiling of the room, his face blanked with his grimmest expression. Presently Molly's roadster curved up to the door. "There they are!" Patrick exclaimed. Sarah ushered the Treadways in. It seemed to me that day that every time I saw Molly Eames-Molly Eames-Molly Treadway I mean she was more beautiful than the last time I saw her. Something splendid had flowed into her psychology. Of course I know now that it was the certainty that she and Walter belonged be-longed to each other forever. Almost Al-most as definitely but not quite so obviously. Walter too had become be-come another person. Happiness seemed tc have cleared all kinds of mists from his mind. He walked with a different step. He met one's eye with a different look. Authority-that was it Authority as definite as a golden aura exuded "But I want to tell everything." Molly replied with her splendid candid can-did fearlessness. "If there's any detail which Walter can't remember remem-ber and I can, I shall be very glad to supply it to you." "Ace and I," Walter said, "were talking about Molly." "You had quarreled and were quarreling about Molly?" Patrick suggested. "Yes, we had! We were!" Walter stopped short and looked at Molly. She looked at him. For a perceptible interval the glances from those two pairs of young eyes interlocked. Never in any human gaze had I seen such a passion of adoration and assurance as was in Walter's look: never such a worship and faith as was in Molly's. (TO BE CONTINUED) SaDrarhma ft-voiced with me, sor rnWel!,. make i 'u. I don 1 hve . i ,ou.- llT' O'Brien He !t! ,ldiW, kind! 1 "Go on!" Patrick ordered. "Well. I think they was talking about Miss Molly." Bessie went on. "They didn't mention Miss Molly's Mol-ly's name but it couldn't have been anybody else from what they said. As I stopped. Mr. Treadway was speaking. He said, 'You'll never marry her. By God, you'll never marry her!' Doctor Blaikie says, says he, 'And how are you going to prevent it? You know what I can do.' And Mr. Treadway says, says he, I don't know how I'm going to prevent it All I know is that I am going to prevent it if I have to kill you, Aco Blaikie!' Doctor Blaikie from him. ' "Sit down, children." I said. "Patrick wants to talk with you. I myself did no sit down. 1 think perhaps I'd better leave you Involuntarily. Patrick made a restraining re-straining gesture. He started to speak and then apparentl: thought better of it He looked Inquiringly at the Treadways. "Oh no, Aunt Mary." Molly re monstrated "Oh no!" There was Tie "d emphasis in that second To And Walter reinforcec . her with. i?iease stand by, Aunt Mary! We need you." |