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Show the r 'XTp fit : VW;- - CLEAVER. V .' STRAJ1AN ' J VjV C0PYHI6WT y POOBltCftY DOBAN CO. INC WN. USER VICE SYNOPSIS Sara Stanley, wealthy owner of the Desert Moon ranch. Inform bla housekeeper, Mary Magln, who tells the story, that bis former for-mer wife's twin daughters, Danielle Dan-ielle and Gnbr telle, are coming to the ranch to live, their mother being- dead and their father. Daniel Canneti&no, who bad been the ause of Sam's divorcing divorc-ing his wife. In the penitentiary I Sara has adopted a boy, John. j now grown to manhood, and a !glrl, Martha, twenty-one, physically physi-cally healthy but weak-minded. Mrs. ' Ollle Richer. Martha's nurse, lives with tbem. Hubert Eland, a wanderer, and Chadwlcb CauBeld, John's wartime budd 1 who Is an expert ventriloquist. I are the other members of the ' household. The girls arrive, Mtb. j Magln has an uneasy reeling ! that there is a sinister motive In I the twins' presence at the ranch. I and her suspicions are etrenglh- end by , the girls' mysterious prowling around the place. John ' becomes engaged to Danielle ' Caufleld shows a pronounced Hk- Ing for Gabrielle. Gabriel! eeee to win John from her sister, sis-ter, and John, disgusted, tells ' Mrs. Magln the girl Is a trouble i maker and he would like to . choke her. Gabrlelle's actions when she receives a letter from France arouse and mystify Mrs Magln. CHAPTER V An Insight That evening, the second of July, the two girls came down, late, together. to-gether. Danny was paler than usual, and ber face bad a drawn, hurt look, which she explained by saying that she bad a severe headache. Gaby was gayer than gay. I kepi watching her, trying to catch her face in repose, to see If any trace remained of that dreadful expression ex-pression 1 bad seen to the afternoon Ber face, nor one bit of her, was In repose for a minute from the time be came downstairs until she went upstairs again, after twelve o'clock that night She put "La Palomn" on the phon graph, and did a Spanish dance, clicking her heels and snapping tier fingers until they sounded like firecrackers. fire-crackers. She did an Egyptlon dance slinking about, and contortion! ng. It wasn't decent. Mrs. flicker was doing some tatting. As 1 watched ber, 1 decided that, ears or oo ears, she was not the woman I had heard talking, that afternoon, up in the cabin. Hubert Hand bad said to that woman that she had attempted attempt-ed murder. She could not have been Mrs. Ricker; not our Mra Kicker, the thin, silent woman who bad lived so decently with us for so long. Those tight, wrinkled lips bad never said. would kill her, and you too." John had never said 1 shivered. Wicked thoughts and wicked words breed wicked actions, and t knew It then aa now. Martha came crying to Mrs Ricker. "Gaby hurt Chad," she said. "1 wish she would die. We could make her a nice funeral." Mra. Ricker's fingers darted fastei. back and forth. Danny spoke, from the davenport "You shouldn't talk like that, Martha, dear. It Is wrong." Her voice sounded as 11 it ached She looked, lying In a huddle over there, as miserable as I felt 1 was drawn to her. I went and sat he9lde Iter. "Could 1 do anything for your head ache?" I asked. "Get you some asplr In, maybe. "No, think you. Mary." There was so much gratitude in ber big dark eyes for nothing but common decency on my part, that I fell downright ashamed of myself. "Danuy," I said, straight out, nevei caring much about mincing words, "1 know that something b troubling you. Why don't you tell John, or Sum. or even me ahout It? Just tell us the truth. We'd all go far to help you. If we could." Her eyes tilled with teara "Bless your heart Mary." she said. "Bless all of your hearts. You are all so good, here " 1 wus enough annoyed with John for coming up right then, to have sluppea him. 1 answered his question for Danny. 'There Is plenty you could do for her." I said. "You could shut off that screeching radio, for one tiling. Danny wouldn't hear to John's stop .plug the racket Every one was hav Ing such a good time. Bed wus the place for her. She couldn't near any noise In her room, wljli the door shut. And off she went. I know now that she would not have told me anything that could have uclped matters. Bui i aid ut;: know It then, and 1 was surely d'sup jpolnted. For those sudden tears In her eyes, and her voice when she had said, "bless your htart" had convinced con-vinced me that there was sincerity behind them, and honesty, and good. In the black days that followed, when all ol us were living In the dark shadows of doubts, and confu-. confu-. slons, and fears and suspicions. I was thankful, time and again, for those certainties, for. that one fleeting but sure Insight Into Danny's souL. The morning of the third was biting bit-ing hot, with that stinging, piercing heat that we have, when we have heaf at all, In this high altitude. The sixty-mile trip ncro$9 the deserts to Telko, on a day like this, would be exactly the same as a sixty-mile trip through un oven at the right heat for a roast of beef. Nevertheless, before seven o'clock that morning, every ninn-Jack of a puncher on the place, with till of his trimmings and trapping?, Including wives, squaws, papooses, children and firearms, had set off In CI were or on horseback, bound for the celebration, leaving the place hole-empty, as Sam said, when he came Into my kitchen with a gallon of cream from the dairy. He pulled the stool out from under the table, perched on It, und remarked, re-marked, "I'm not going to be surprised sur-prised If we have another visitor, one of these days. The warden of the penitentiary told me that Daniel Can-nezlano Can-nezlano was to he released on the morning of the fourth of July." I dropped Into a chair, feeling sort of weakened from the news. "You mark my words." I said, "all these queer actions around here have something to do with that man's release. re-lease. I know what I'd do about Can nezlano, If he shows up here." "Yes. 1 know But he Is Danny's father, and Danny is going to mnrry John. After all. money Is not much good unless you take It to market. If I could come to a decent agreement with the fellow And If he'd take that Gaby with him. I'm dead certain that her hanging around nere isn't, going to contribute any to John's and Danny's married life "What do you mean by that. Sam?' Gaby asked the question, walking right into the kitchen. I whs hII taken aback; but Sara didn't seeiu to be. "Eavesdroppers, my girl," he said, 'hear no good of themselves. I mean that I don't think any girl who want ed to act right would treat her sis ter8 betrothed ns you treat John." "You," she said, very slowly, to make insult baste each word, "are a d d old fool, Sam Stanley." 1 shook In my shoes. I had not dreamed that there was a living hu man being who would dare say that, in that tone of voice, to Sntu. He stood up. He put his nands on her shoulders, gently, though, and turned ber around. "You are a bad, wayward girl," be said. "March out of here, now, and get your manners mended .before see you again." He sobered even her, for a minute. She walked to the dcor. without an other word. There, she whirled around like a crazy thing, und 1 declare de-clare to goodness, I don't know what she sold. It was be sort of talking I bad never heard In my life; my ears were not enough accustomed to the wort's to take In their meanings But one thing that she kept scream ing, screaming so loudly that she could be heard nil over the place, was that Sam bad threatened her once too often. Sam stood there, paralyzed. I think, as I was. for perhaps a couple of minutes, before he turned and walked off, Into the backyard, Hubert Uand came rushing la (Jaby threw her arms around his neck, nnd kept on with the screaming and sob blng. Chad came In through the pan try.' Hubert Hand led Gaby Into the dining room, and through it Into the living room. "What In God's name happened' Chad so id lo me. "Chad," I said, "Gabrielle Cnnnezi ano has lost her mind. She Is Insane." His face went white as lard. "1 don't believe It" "Either that." I said, "or else she is the wickedest the " "Stop It" he shouted at me. "You. nor anyone, can talk to mo like that about the girl I love None of you understands her. nor tries to. She If In some sort of trouble terrible trou ble. Anyone can see that I'd give my soul to help her To serve her" "If yon are so crazy about serving her," I said, "you might go Into the dining room and set the tnbje. and Help me serve her, and the rest of you, some breakfast." He went into the yard. Like a lot of men, I thought who went to give their souls and so on to women, he dldn"t care to be bothered with smaller details, sucb as feeding tbem. I wronged him. Whether or not a man uas the giving of. bis soul, in his own hands, I do not know. A man can five hit life. That Is what Chad gave. After dinner John surprised us all by saying that he wait going to take the sedan and drive down to Itattall for the mall. I eusplcloned, right then, that he was up to something. He could not fool me into tl. inking that be would take a fifty-mile trip twenty-five tulles each way through the desert heat for no other reason than to get the mail. When Danny seemed hurt - and troubled about him going, and when he went riding right off, anyway, any-way, I decided that Sam roust huve sent him, expecting some word concerning con-cerning Cannezlano, I was wrong. It was loo tarnation hot to do anything any-thing hut try to keep cooL I stacked the dinner dishes, to wash In. the evening, eve-ning, und joined the others, sitting around In the living room with the electric fans going full blast 1 was expecting, evcrj minute, to see Gaby break out nguln. She didn't She yawned around, nnd fussed about, and then went and sat beside Dntiny, who was looking ut the pictures In a magazine, and put her una around her, and petted her up a little a most unusual performance for her. When ('had. who had been monkeying monkey-ing with the radio, got a rlp-roarlng patriotic program from Salt Lake, the two girls wont upstairs together. A few minutes Inter 1 had an errand er-rand upstairs a renl one, I wouldn't have taken myself up In that heat to satisfy my curiosity so. out of habit. She Whirled Around Like a Crazy Thing. I stopped at Gaby's door to listen. I heard the girls giggling In there; and. knowing no great harm Is afoot when girls giggle. I went on. got my scrap of pongee silk to mend Sam's shirt, and came downstairs again. Sam and Hubert Himd were deep In a chess game. Mrs. Ricker was tatting. tat-ting. Chad and Martha were playing dots nnd crosses. The radio program had Just that minute stopped. Martha, who when she didn't forget It usually fed her rabbits nbout that time of day, had gone out to do It Gaby camr downstairs, down-stairs, humming a tune She had on the tomato soup colored col-ored wrap that she had worn on the train, and the hat co match the wrap She was carrying a beaded bag. She never dressed up like that, to go wulk Ing around the place; a wrap, even sucb a light one. In the heaf of that day. was downright ridiculous. Chad said, "All dressed up and no place to go?" She tossed her bead at htm, and hurried straight down the room nnd out through the glass doors. Chad followed tier. They stopped together on the porch. She stood with ber hack to me Chad faced me In a minute. I saw his mouth bend up Into a grin of bliss. Nothing would have surprised me more. For this reason. As that girl had walked through the room, I had seen that she walked in mortal fear. In spite ot her humming In spite of her attempted swagger, fear was In her widened eyes, In her drawn-ln chin. In the contraction of her shoulders. Wherever It wa9 that she was going, she wn afraid to go. Hut where could she go? John had the sedan. Except for the trucks, which she couldn't drive, and her pony she surely would not be dresser) like Hint to ride horseback there was no way for her to get off the place. It must be then, that someone was coming to the place, and that she wus going out alone to meet them Who? Canneziano? Not unless Sam had been mistaken about the time when he was to be released from prison Usually, when people think at all. they think qulckl All this had gone through my mind while she had walked I he forty feet to the door. Unity und Chad stood on the porch talking for two -or three nilti'ires o very short time, at tiny rate. Thrn she went down the steps, and ('had. still smiling, came buck into the room As he came In. Dunny called down from the top of the stairway. "Gaby oh. Gaby?" She knows where Guby Is going, und whom she is going to meet, and she, too. is nfrald, I decided, because of the queer, strained quality of her voice. "Gaby has gone out," . 1 called, in answer. And then, since I could still see Gaby walking down the path. "Do you wnnt her, Danny? We could fetch her back." "No, Danny answered "Dou'f bother. I'll come down," I bad to reverse my first decision about Danny's being frightened. At least, her voice was natural enough, now; 1 fancied, perhaps, a note of relief In It. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes after that, when Martha came running Into the house, laughing and dancing, and wearing the gold bracelet brace-let with the monkey clasp. Gaby, Ehe said, hud given it to her, Just now. out by the rabbit hutch. While we were all still exclaiming over the monkey, nnd praising It up, to please Martha, Danny came downstairs. down-stairs. She said ber headache was worse again, and ehe drew the curtains cur-tains at the windows beside the big davenport, to ease tr.e glare of the light, before she curled up on It "Do yon know where Gaby was going go-ing t his uflernoon?" 1 asked her, "For a little walk." "Why did she wear her wrap, and carry her beaded bag, Just to go out for a little walk?" Danny sat up straight, pressing her hands to her aching head. "Her wrap today? Her beaded bag? Surely not" "That's Just what she did. Didn't you see" her before she left?" "I was lying down. She came to my door and- said that she was going for a walk, and asked me It I cared to go with her. I said that my headache was too severe She went Into her room, and from there downstairs. I felt guilty about refusing to go with her, after our talk. thought that 1 should; so I called after her. But, when you said she had gone. 1 was afraid si e would be unnoyed at being called hack. 1 had gotten up; so, since John will surely be home befofce long, now, I came down. I can't understand ber wearing a wrap. It Is so silly, on a day like this." It sounded all right, but 1 was not quite satisfied. "Gaby was frightened," 1 said. "Something "Some-thing was the matter with her when she walked through thl room. I'll go bond that, wherever it was she was going, she was afraid to go." "Mary, It must be that you are Imagining this. Unless Oh, It couldn't he that Gaby has not told me the truth ab-'if about anything I am sure she was honest with me this afternoon. I am sure And yet Dear me, I wonder where she went for her walk?" "Gahy told me," Martha piped up. from where she was sitting on the arm of Sam's chair, "that she was going go-ing to the cabin. She was In a big hurry. She ran." "Up toward the cabin 7" Danny questioned, though we all knew we could not put u mite of trust in any thing Martha said. - "Yes. Chad loves me better'n he loves her. Don't you, Chad?" "You are positive." Dunny Insisted, and I couldn't see why. for a minute, "that she went to the cabin, or toward It? Are you sure that she didn't go u round the house toward the road?" When she asked about the road, her meaning was clear to me. Dunny was afraid that Gahy hart gone to meet John, who should have been back from Rattall before this. "She told me she was going to the cabin." Martha answered. "She ran. She was In a hurry." Dunny stood up. "1 think 1 shall walk up to the cabin and see whether I can tlnd her. You'll come with me. Mary?" I said not In the beat She asked Mra Ricker to go with her. Mrs. Ricker refused. I wondered why. when neither of as would go. Dunny did not go by herself. She did not. Had she. perhaps, guessed 'ut the cause of Gaby's fear? Did she share It? Was she afraid to go to the cabin alone? CHAPTER VI Murder and Suicide At five o'clock the men put up the chessboard. Chad stopped playing the piano, and the three of them went to the barns together. I went Into the kitchen to get sup per. Danny, in spite ol her headache. Insisted upon helping me. At six o'clock, though neither John nor Gahy had returned, we wit down 1 8MSaseg38SK to supper. Danny won too nervous to touch a bit of food. She kept looking out of the windows, and at ber watch, and out of the windows again, "Don't worry, Danny," ' Sam said. "John has had tire trouble, on ao count of the beat They'll come riding up the road any minute now." "They?" she questioned. "Gaby togged up and went down the rood to meet John, didn't she?" "No. Danny's voice curled Into a wall. "No, Uncle Sam, she didn't Martha saw her going to the cabin. Didn't you, Martha?" "Martha," Mrs. Ricker astonished us all by saying, "doesn't know where Gaby went She knows only where Gaby told her she was going." "But why should Gaby tell ber a fib about It?" Danny asked. "And why," I questioned, "should Gaby go around the house to get to the road. Instead of going right out the front way?" Again Mrs Rucker shocked us by speaking. "She would not go out the front way,' If she wanted to keep her trip to the road a secret" "Mrs. Ricker," Danny's voice trembled, trem-bled, "What ore you hinting? What is It that you know?" "I know," said Mrs. Ricker, "that there Is not n man living who is not as false as sin." Sam growled, "Come down to facts, Mrs. Ricker, if you have any." t "I have no facts," she said, "except, I that right after dinner today John nnd Gaby hnd a private conversation, und he decided, very suddenly, to go for the mall." At that minute we heard a sound ' for sore ears the car coming up the ' driveway Danny Jumped up and ran to look out of the living room window. win-dow. "He has gone all the way around to the kitchen," she said, when she came buck. She ran Into the kitchen. She and John came to the door of the butler's pantry. John was gray with dust His brows were knitted, as they are whenever when-ever he Is troubled ahout anything. "He hasn't seen Gaby," Danny announced, an-nounced, with an exultation that showed plainly what she had been most anxious about "He brought up the rock salt Thut's why he drove to the kitchen. Come and see, Mary?" "I'd rather see you two come and eat your suppers," 1 said. "Good night I" John answered. "I've got to go and get rid of a few tons of dirt before I can come to the table." "No," Danny insisted. "Never mind the dirt, dear. Supper Is all cold now Please come and eat " John patted her on the shoulder, and smiled at her,, and, manlike, did as he pleased. He went through the kitchen nnd upstairs the back way. Danny called after him, asking him to hurry. He didn't When he finally did come, all slicked up. and bathed and shaved, he said It was too hot to ent, und would have nothing but some ice cream. Sam asked him what had kept him so long, on the trip. John said tire trouble; and that he had met Leo Saule. two. miles this side of Rattall. with his flivver broken down. John had stopped to help him. and, at last, had been forced to tow him the six miles north to his place. John has a way, when he Is worried, wor-ried, of shutting and opening bis eyes, and of tossing his iitad back and to the side with a quick little Jerk, as U he were trying to ge shed of something some-thing that was In It All the while he was eating and talking, he kept doing this I asked him whether bis' bead ached. "No," he said. "But'l think I'm sort of locc from being out In the sun." "Gaby kept you waiting quite a while?" Hubert Hand stated and asked. "What do you mean?" John questioned. ques-tioned. "Waited foi her tlown the road, didn't you, and took her to Rattall In time to catch the train for Reno, or 'Frisco?" I thought John would fly into a temper. He has a handy temper. But he only looked around at all of us. wltb a bewildered expression, and, "Say, are you fellows trying to put something over on me. or what?" be asked, (TO BB CONTINUED) |