The Tupelo journal., 1909-05-14

you are sure you don't object to
my detectives staying?" questioned
the colonel.
mo, sub; prefer to have him. You
haul the house?"
Il did. warned you / should have
to. You promise there shall be no
racket? But II think I'll take
Haley"
THANK you. That's right kind of
you, sub. Good-by, subj"
This had been the manner of their
enthusiastically a singular one, aft
er the sinister suspicious and the vio-
lent promises which the soldier had
made himself in regard to this very
man. After leaving, he had motored
into town, down to the police courts,
to discover no records of the arrest
and no trace of Archie. Thence, dis
~couraged, perplexed and more worried
than he liked to admit, he had re-
paired to the hotel. His aunt was
gone, Miss Smith was gone, and Ran
| dali could only relate how Mrs. Winter
had fewed like a bird, sir, into a big
| red motor car and gone off, and then
Miss Smith and a lady and gentleman
had got into a white a and gone off
in the same direction"
He was meditating on his next step,
when Birdsall was announced below.
The detective looked as warm and as
tired as the colonel had felt an hour
before. Rupert was not eager to see
him. but neither was he anxious for
the t~ete-a-tete with Millicent which
awaited him in the parlor. Between
the two he chose Birdsall.
WELL" he greeted him, did you find
| any trace Of the boy?"
"Of course I did," growled Birdsall.
They didn't try to hide i'm. They
had him lodged in a dandy room with
his own bath. OF course, he left his
toothbrush. They'd got him some au.
tomobile toys, too, and he'd left some
leggings when he packed, and a letter
begun on a pad to Miss Smith-'Dear
Miss Janet it begins, / am having
a bully time. l can steer the machine,
only / can't back'-that's all. Say,
the young dog has been having it fat
| while we were in the frying pan, for
fear somebody was bothering him"
But he is not in the house now?"
mo, nor nothing else"
Nobody hidden away? Where did
the groans you heard come from?'
| queried the colonel, politely.
Birdsall flushed. Il do believe that
slick deceiver you call Mercer put up
a game on us out Of meanness-just to
get me guessing"
That sort of thing looks more like
the college boys"
Say, it might have been. This
thing is giving me nervous prostration.
| Say, why didn't you see the thing out
with me?"
The colonel ~shamelessly told the
truth to deceive. Il was called here.
l was told that Mrs. Winter, my aunt,
had seen Archie in the street"
"She was just getting out Of a ma
chine as / came up. Miss Smith was
| WIN n0r, anu they udu tHclT udHuS
full OF candy boxes They were
laughing. 4 made sure the boy had
been found"
Not to my knowledge" said the
colonel. But in some excitement he
walked into the parlor. The ladies
had arrived; they stood in the center
| Of the room while Randall took away
the boxes.
Candy for Archie" explained Aunt
Rebecca, and these were the first
words to reach Rupert Winters ears.
4 expect him to dinner"
Aunt Rebecca," proclaimed Mill
cent, Il never have been one to com
plain, but there are limits to human
endurance. ! am q modern person, q
civilized Episcopalian, accustomed to
4 regular and w~ell-ordered life. and
| for the last few days I 3 to have
been wing 81 4 kind ofmedieval mys-
terry, with ki&napers, and blood
stains. ana. for anythfrx I know. some