| Show THE I 1 K OF F T H E H 0 KATHLEEN DY NORRIS RE SO 50 fallt an orphan to cherry knows know at al 1 ath ing of tier her early ii lili tory ory when as 11 ll to uie the wishes of her guardians Judi ta marshbanks and emma hj h she ibe becomes the he secretary ecret ary of orte oai ons porter wealthy san fran busy as the he Is I 1 cherry sees age eftim time line to time and meets meet dimbirs of his household his die dic old rn otherl amy marshbank Marih bank ite S daughter of his bli dead brother tand and airan his gay ay young se second cond shortly afterward cherry learns learn tells her that her mother nev tried had been emmas sister te ie that her father had been the brotte fred amys amy father and y after cherry and amy were mother mothe r had switched the lesiC berry Is really amy marsh judge confirms the story but ilet pet amy his bis mother burns certain thal th atwould would have proved it true bile coperry ha has become engaged J V coatti coates a young artist who tor for ald ahad ben been infatuated with fran ian anasi lf and amy Is determined to Count Marlo gogo constantino rha he lit in twenty one in a few days elly tillas to see sec cherry after re where he had li portrait r cherry Is jealous and c had interred inferred from a jie e conversation of frans s she a rt ird that Fran had been to tunch lunch studio cherry Is lappy happy 40 says ahe i he seen fran la in noia 4 MT mrs 1 tells cher relent its fi ber presence in the house hill amy that cherry Is a false amy pretends to think her grand jo ts in tier bar dotage but talks jo thi th judge ladge in his big library alter after its the judge I 1 Is killed with a but bul big U heart and everybody la in ise ir li is under suspicion V the story 7 CHAPTER it XV t W had decided not to tell any nl e news immediately amy ir ai gogo had flown down to reno g had been married in er noon and it was the count taio francisco marlon marion alex stanislaus constantino who herself upon cherrys chernys Cher rys bed the thrilling tale ada daya yi i ad ventures 74 a wa iii a balance at the bank wal am ly e confided and it ta M wh e n we went there lay ingald Il I 1 i gald of course halt half s sy yours ours how flow do you mean az y generous t gen crous b baby aby he said ia I 1 tha of everything I 1 ir yours your gogo I 1 told him aboney y that at had been pit a y grandfather died e porter money most course arse they invested as it fand id half of be his taut athla was just a few thou ipaty went on carelessly 3 thousand and some hun edged so he got his half and til he was touched I 1 CAI say much but when EC back in the car he told me L because he say f ts is araj att I 1 hope it all goes 31 When en cheh when are you going 11 li eople 7 cherry asked d golah to tell my ht it ia JI it f I 1 have ten thousand fits C I 1 m J 11 only oily be one more thing to about amy said 0 11 aw 1 Z ct gouig off with gogo to ii I 1 aay anuj not sure where but bea calling for me at hall half denind rit d I 1 have to see fran tycene scene before that lt t so pretty so inso lad d a four days sent cherry erry but cherry felt that many years find any will of your s he e asked almost indol 01 ol f thought for amy had long sessions with aggedy ed indifferently no ISe urse ourse there was my will she said what t so much fe in oh maybe three fand nd a year so that his fa will or not ants later er amy went to hers room and when cherry saw that her led ed and her eyes wet I 1 she whispered con angry jerks the pack had commenced ear th e ening she and her n al 14 she he thinks theres a p aej ih 1 wretched tamilyn tami famil lyl it if aa 1 I 1 it t gloves and my 01 rtin will come up for ly y murmured in rapid then with a sudden argood goodby good by cherry dart of yourself and bradu p of the classi write lews but ill see you I 1 anyway this rotten 4 0 may imay continue on for va sand ad cherry you tell out ut 11 acte said cherry 1 I just biome t ri 1 ome in J youell lell her anyway I 1 G lood good anysas as gone in a trail of T ii laughter ahter cherry heard ri e ehlow low voice tn in the lower n t front door closed and d back alone ft 0 excitement fran irose her halt half opened door wi lowly in 1 1 wash matred married today ln in basou wa soU fran exclaimed ahe ks the morning pa apte e it it if the evening ay iy bere iere eres no hiding a tl ti 6 1 I rd A 4 1 h k I 1 f ab well so we leavo I 1 bave a countess in III the family airs said bald grimly pitiful little foell fran said in a whisper of course hes a complete jud would have killed him old lady know she sha asked with a jerk of her head in the direction of mrs marshbanks room amy just told her wild 1 I imagine so I 1 believe she said that there was a curse on the family 1 I 1 believe there fran sold said gloomily staring into space never find out who murdered jud but she added you can be pretty sure that the police are keeping an eye on that precious gogo gogo had a motive cherry said not only was the judge violently opposed to amys marrying him but what whal he was discussing that very night with her and with his mother and with me was you knew something about that fran 1 I be in this house without knowing something about it it was some claim that your aunt made sor something she said about fred marshbanks will of course that was all long before I 1 came into the family but jud did tell me did tell me about hh brother fred and that you dont mind my mentioning it that fred marshbanks was my father oh no I 1 seem to have known that for a long long time but there was more to it than that there was a will drawn up by judge thomas comstock nobody knew what was in that but mrs marshbanks burned it she risk amys being hurt or any of her money taken away so fran said musingly amy and gogo had their motives tor for getting rid of jud and certainly old mrs marshbanks had if you be lieve aeve what some old dodo of an english judge once said I 1 had ile he said that between married couples there might always be motive I 1 dont see that you had there was a pause then fran said suddenly kelly might have had a motive Ke kelly llyl I 1 cherry echoed her voice suddenly tailing failing well if youre searching tor for motives and that quits quite what I 1 meant anyway fran said what I 1 meant was that kelly have an alibi but fran you certainly dont think you certainly cant think that kelly no I 1 dont fran interrupted promptly prompt ay the police hold him lust just took his statement and let it go at that you can tell by the way he acts that kelly know anything about it and at the same time bothering me she added bothering you cherry asked apprehensively oh its making me I 1 dont know whether to tell you or not tell me what cherry managed to ask with a sinking heart you might as well know after you went out this morning the man named mullins asked me to step into the library he had a flat lit little tle packet of letters in his hand he asked m me e it if I 1 recognized theo them I 1 said yes certainly T they were the letters kelly coates wrote me last year about a dozen of them love letters cherry cherr y felt taint faint I howd lowd they get them I 1 1 11 I the slightest idea fran said 1 I hid them two weeks ago the day after jud was killed I 1 slipped them into the lining of 0 my dressing case it had come loose and that morning I 1 complained to molly about it and while she w was as right here in the room I 1 posted pasted it with glue fue what sort of letters are they cherry asked with the world gone suddenly black love letters letters that v will ill look bad it if given to tn the new newspapers s I 1 can tell you that what he and I 1 could do it if we were free frantic sort of letters lie he said mullins said that they were vex very y incriminating but they suspect Kell kelly I 1 these letters won wont t help kelly fran said dryly she had finished the slow business ot of oils pastes powders rouge for her face eyelashes brows the ballooning of a n negligee als traded her the door of frans big closet was open and within the closet the window must be open too tor for the row of garments neatly aligned upon hangers was in great agitation cherry went in and shut the window and coming back picked up the negligee that had fallen and restored it to its hanger she hated the sight of it that was what fran had worn on the night of the tragedy she had had on this negligee as a she ran downstairs ahead of them all cherry stopped short stood with a suddenly arrested breath with ley icy fear touching her spine the negligee was slightly rumpled in one of its folds it had been squeezed together loosened again it had wiped something oily and dark something metallic something thick and liquid that was stained with black A trifling discoloration the size of a womans comans finger possibly not noticeable at all unless one happened to look straight at it as cherry was looking now A crumpled tiny circle as it if the cloth had been forced into a small tube a tube as small as a pistol barrel a finger sized zed smudge that might have been made by the oil from that barrel by the blackness of gunpowder when cherry went downstairs old mrs marshbanks had had breakfast and was sitting by the alre reading the papers that announced the marriage of amy marshbanks to count constantino the day before greg was reading the sports news well so we have a countess in the family mrs marshbanks said grimly she had said she would cherry said and I 1 suppose that under the circumstances she have wanted a big wedding ile he have wanted a big wedding the old woman said darkly the less publicity the better tor for halml he may really bo be in love with amy cherry offered feeling that now the mischief was done there was no particular object in malign ing him cost amy just about a hundred grand said greg from behind the paper fran says hes asked her tor for money already no he ask her real really ay she made him take it she told me so she had a balance at the bank and she split it with him the most generous little heart in the world mourned amys grandmother unbelievable as it might appear cherry and old mrs marshbanks were amicably conversing only yesterday cherry had learned of tence of those love letters from kell kelly to fran cherry was heartsick lie he had told her that he loved her but only a few months ago he had loved fran too how could matters ever be straightened out now so that her trust in him could be restored yesterdays second shock had bad been the discovery that the gown fran had h ad been wearing upon the fatal night of the murder had been stained with unmistakable marks of gunpowder and gun oil fran must have been living in terror of its discovery lying awake in the night cherry had seen that fatal little stain in her minds eyes had remembered detail by detail the tha horrors of that dark night when the judges shout had rung through the house had fran had on that negligee then cherry asked herself yes she thought she had certainly she had not had it on a short while afterward when the police arrived this morning fran came downstairs while cherry was finishing her breakfast like the rest of the household fran was showing the strain she sat down and looked at her grapefruit pushed it restfully away those letters worry me she said what letters asked mrs marshbanks eyeing the younger woman n over her glasses some letters kelly coates wrote me silly perfectly harmless letters but wait until you see what the papers make of fran answered ampa impatiently tient ly TO BE CONTINUED |
