Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-08-18

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Of what was going on In the street.
Kitty was made to feel hat she was
practically quite alone with the
friendly detective, whose OF" :ial char
acter was, of course, unknown to her.
He reopened the conversation:
$50 the letter Ia from your grand
father?" he asked.
ayes, sir. And he'll be wanting to
beat the life out of me Ii I don't take
him an answer back. He was tearing
mad last night with waiting up until
12 o'clock expecting Mr.. Willmarth,
who never came, and he's like a divil
let loose this morning, sir"
ooh, that's the way with these big
bugs. They never care how much they
make other people wait. But take
notice they don't like it when they
are kept waiting themselves. 1t was
no doubt a matter of important bust
ness for your grandfather to see him
last night, | suppose"
"Oh, yes. He was 10 pay grand
father a lot Of money"
"Sol What do YOU call "a LOTT"
swell, I don't rightly know how
much 1t was, but it was thousands l
heard them talking about"
HSAl1 NHOs iouh Siuio
and Mr.. Willmarth?" !.
my father, sir. Mr.. Willmarth didn't
come"
At this juncture the captain
stepped out OF the parlor again, n
addressing her pleasantly, said:
mfr. Willmarth in not able TO see
you, but you can give Inc the letter
and / will take 1t in"
She did not even think OF hesitating
about compliance with an order from
the captain and promptly handed
over the letter, with which he again
retired. Inside the parlor door he
tore il open and read:
"Dick Willmarth-You have broken
your word to me. Maybe you think
you can defy me, but you can't. I'll
make it cost you dearcr yet. It's not
$4,000 you'll pay me today, but $4,000,
and tomorrow 1t will be $1,000. You
know well that l can get as good from
the other side for what l am able to
tell, and il will be well for you not
to push too far the patience of
Michael Mccartney.
A verbal reply was given to Kitty.
conveying the impression to her mind
that the matter upon which her
grandfather had written would be at
tended to by Mr.. Willmarth immedi-
ately, and she was sent home, an OFF,
GER seeing her through the crowd and
well on the way to prevent her being
spoken to by any one in the mob who
might have impaired an inkling OF
what had happened. When she
thought she was left to go alone, after
the officer had turned back, she was
much mistaken. She was "shadowed'
aSl the way, and her father and grand
! father were, without their knowing
anything about 1t as yet, put under
strict police surveillance at once
Kitty's appearance upon the scene
explained what had previously been a
puzzle for the police-viz, why
should Banker Willmarth have been
at so late an hour in that remote part
of the city where he met his fate|''
The reporters, too, had been puzzled
over that question, and offered vari-
Gus suggestions, more or less prepos-
ferrous, to answer it. One sensational
paper exploited, very cautiously, but
effectively, a pretense Of exclusive in
formation concerning the mystery in
which q married woman and a Jeal-
Gus husband played important parts
The customary endeavor by the po-
lice to keep correct information from
the reporters was of course made,
with the usual measure of success. As
in all such cases, there was n leak
somewhere, through which trickled
just enough that was true to serve as
a substantial foundation for hypothe-
ses which were all false. Thus it was
that somehow the name of Michael
Mccartney got into print, as in a mys-
terious and indefinable way, linked
with the nocturnal wanderings of the
banker, and the paper originating the
married woman and jealous hus-
band" rumor even went so far as to
promise IAN interview with Mrs. Nc
Caffrey" in n later edition. To the
general public that name had no par
ticular significance, but It was as an
electric light flashing out upon a dark
night to a young man on a railroad
train, homeward bound toward New
York, when it met his eye.