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Show Mkz Drums I GIVE you my word, I was never , more flabbergasted in my life than the afternoon I found Jennie . Muldrow looking through Bill's clos- j et. Bill is my husband. I must have made a sound gasped, maybe . for she turned around with a jerk. , If I ever saw guilt on a human countenance coun-tenance it was on hers. Then sud- ; denly I had an inspiration. I laughed weakly. "You gave me a start, Jen- 1 nie," I .said. "I didn't know anyone ; was in here. Were you looking for ; your coat?" ' "Yes. I I was," she stammered. 1 Perhaps it would be better if I be- gan at the beginning. You see, the 1 bridge club was meeting at my 1 house. Just the usual' crowd, two tables. Jennie Muldrow, only a few minutes earlier, had invited us all to j a dinner party at her home the week before Christmas. ' That night Mildred Carr phoned ! me. "Mary," she said, "did you see ; a pair of brown pigskin gloves any- ' where? I thought they were in my ' purse but I can't find them." The next day I told Mildred I couldn't find the gloves. "Just at I thought," she answered. "What did you say?" "Mary, I hate to say this, but I'm terribly afraid we have a thief in our midst." Immediately I recalled Jennie Muldrow in Bill's closet, but I didn't mention it. "Why, Mildred!" I exclaimed, ex-claimed, "What makes you sav that?" "Well, Betty Hicks lost a compact yesterday. I don't mean she dropped BWiiiimiiiiiiiiiini"- If I ever saw guilt on a hnman countenance it was on hers. It somewhere. She had it at your house. But when she got home it was gone." "And that isn't al. Kitty put a . lovely Appenzell .handkerchief in her bag when she left home, but this morning it wasn't there." I started to speak but Mildred said quickly, "Now don't say she was just mistaken, Mary Ellsworth, because be-cause that isn't all. Guess what Mar- 1 tha Fox told me!" This was just rhetorical, so I didn't answer. Evidently Evi-dently Mildred had had a busy morning. "Jennie was visiting Martha Mar-tha last night and, when Martha was called to the phone and her back was turned, Jennie pocketed a tie of Raymond's! Martha was facing a mirror but Jennie didn't notice." Well! I felt weak. "What do you think? Could Jennie be a a kleptomaniac?" "I don't know," I answered. I said nothing about seeing Jennie in Bill's closet I never did tell anyone but Bill He was inclined to pooh-pooh pooh-pooh the wh.ole business. (Continued on page 8) ' (Continued from page 1) ' I ITrEe burning question was: 'SHduia we go to the Christmas party or I not? There was a difference of opin-! opin-! ion about what to do. Martha want- ed each one to make up a water- tight excuse and stay at home. Mil- dred Carr said ruthlessly, "No, that ! won't solve anything. Jennie must j resign from the club. We can't have a criminal in it SL must under- . stand she isn't wanted." The more j I determined Mildred became, the less ' j I wanted to humiliate Jennie. So ' j finally I said, "Girls, you can all ! ' do what you like, but I'm going." ' I The upshot was that all of us ap- ! peared except Mildred and her bus- band. ! Jennie gave us the surprise of our lives. She had a small, beautifully v trimmed tree, with attractive look- j ing packages nestling in the '( branches. We simply gasped. "Jen- ' nie! You shouldn't have done this!" ; She laughed. "Really, it wasn't much trouble. In fact, I had a lot of !; fun." After dinner the presents were dis- !; tributed. One by one the missing ar- 4 tides came to light. Kitty's face. as she lifted her Appenzell hand- kerchief out of a dainty velvet case, J was the funniest thing I've ever seen! Raymond Fox unwrapped a 3 tie holder from which a tie was hanging, and Bill did the same. Ev- 3 erybody was laughing uproariously j by this time, yet looking decidedly 3 sheepish, too. I was gazing in fasci- nation at my present pictures of 3 my children. .j Just to make It unanimous, she 3 said, there was a gift for John Mul- .j drow. "I've been looking high and i low forthat thingt" I heard him say. j - |
