The San Francisco call., 1904-07-17


''Oh, you know the name?
"Oh, yes, I know it"
1T was printed, you know in gold
lettering on the inside flap and
II don't know"
.eWeu. it was, and it contained three
hundred dollars. Mrs. Ramsay says.
She had slipped it under the fold OF
the spread at the top of the bed in
the room where you took Cf your
things in Mrs. Gates presence, and put
them on again when no one else was
there"
And you mean to tell me that this
is aIl?" ragged at him; that every bit
of evidence you have to warrant your
treating an innocent girl like
You didn't behave like very innc-
cent girl, if you'll remember he said
dryly when 1 first came into the box
In fact, if that fellow hadn't just come
in then L believe you'd "a confessed
the whole job. " 'Taint too late, he
added.
didn't answer. put my head back
against the cushions and closed my
eyes. l could feel the scrutiny Of his
blue eyes on my naked face-yOur face
is SO unprotected with the eyes closed;
like a fort whose battery is Withdrawn
But | was tiTed-it tires you when you
care a year ago. Mag, this sort Of
thing-the risk, the nearness to dan
ger, the chance one way or the other
would have intoxicated me. I used to
feel as though I was dancing on a
volcano and daring it to explode. The
more twistings and turnings there were
to the labyrinth. the greater glory it
was to get out Maggie darlin'. you
have before you a mOurnfuI spectacle
the degeneration of Nancy OIden. 1t
isn't that she's lost courage. It's only
that she used to be able to think Cf
only one thing. and now What do
you suppose it is, Mag? If you know,
don't you dare to tell me.
When we got to the flat Obermuller
was already there. At the door I pull
ed out my key and opened it with a
flourish
Wont you come in. gentlemen, and
spend the evening"" I asked.
They followed me in. First to the
parlor The two fellows threw off
their coats and searched that through
and Throughout a drawer did they
miss, not a bit of furniture did they
fail to move. ObermuIIer and / sat
there guying them as they pried about
in their shirt-sleeves. That Trust bus
mess has taken the life out Of him Of
late. All their tricks, all their squeez-
ings, their cheatings. their bossing and
Dragging and bullying have got on to
his nerves till he looks like a chained
bear getting a drUbbing. And he
swears that they're in con-
spiracy to freeze him and few others
like him out; ne believes there's act
ualIy a paper in existence that would
prove it. But this affair of the purse
seemed to excite him till he behaved
like a bad schOOlbOy.
And 1? Well, Nance Olden was never
far behind at the Cruelty when there
was anything doing on. We trailed
after them, and when they'd finished
with the bedrOOms-yCur and mine-I
asked the big fellow to come into the
kitchen with Mr.. o. and me, while the
blue-eyed detective tackled the dining
room, and I'd get up a lunch for US all.
Mag, you should have seen Fred
Obermuller with a big apron on him.
dressing the salad while 1 was making
sandwiches. The Cruelty taught me
other things. You wouldn't have be-
Heved that the Trust had got him by
the throat and was choking the last
breath out of him. You wouldn't have
believed that our salaries hadn't been
paid for three weeks, that our houses
were dwindling every night, that
1 was thinking about it all there in
the back of my head, trying to see 9
Of =
such an agreement as Obermullel
swears there is it's against the law
while we ratified on, the two of US. like
a couple of children on a picnic, whe1
I heard a crash behind me.
The salad bowl had slipped from
Obermuller's fingers. He stood will
his back turned to me. his eyes fxet
uron that searching detective.
But he wasn't searching any more
: Mag He was standing still as
pointer that's scented game. He haC
moved the lounge out from the wall
and there on the floor, spread opeI
where it had fallen, lay a handsome
elephant-szin purse, with gold corners
From where stood, Mag, could read
the plain gold lettering on the darl
leather. 1 didn't have to move. 1t wa
plain enOugh-Quite plain.
MRS. EDWARD RAMSAY.
= Hush, hush, Mag; il you take on S,
I how can tell you the rest?
Obermuller got in front Of me as
? started to walk into the dining-room
I 1 don't know what his idea was.
5 don't suppose he does exactly-if i
4 wasn't to spare me the sight OF tha
5 damned thing.
e oh, how 1 hated it, that pursel
t hated it as if il had been somethin
Y alive that could be glad OF what it ha,
( done. 1 wished it was alive that I coul
= tear and rend it and stamp on it an
( throw it in a fire and drag it ou
again with burned and bleeding nails
!. to tear it again and again. L wante
to fall on it and hide it; to push it fal
far away out of sight; to stamp
? downtown into the very bottom 0
il the earth. where it could feel the he
v-o- I~fv,o- for