Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-04-01

largess on my part. Be that as It may.
Katie Is smiling and personaDle
young woman, and I am convinced
that had she picked up the alligator
on the back stairs and lost part OF the
end OF her thumb, she would have told
Edith that she cut 1t OF with the bread
knife, and thus have saved to US Bees
sic the Beloved and her fascinating
trick OF taking the end Of her tail IN
her mouth and spinning.
On that particular morning, Katie
also brought me letter, and recog.
mixed the cramped and rather uncer'
tain writing of Miss Jane Maitland.
Dear Mr.. Knox:
IS Sister Letitia wishes me to ask you
II you can dine with us tonight, In
formally. She has changed her mind In
regard to the Colored Orphans Home,
and would like to consult, you about 1t,
Very truly yours, /.
Susan Jane Maitland.
1t was q very commonplace note:
had had one like it after every board
meeting Of the orphans home, Miss
Maitland being on principle an aggres-
sive minority. Also, having consider
able mind, changing 1t became almost
q barn, although not nearly so stable.
Erred accuses me here Of very bad
pun, and reminds me, quite undeserv-
eddy, that the pun is the lowest form
of humor.)
I came across Miss JAMES letter the
other day, when was gathering the
material for this narrative, and sat
for time with 1t in my hand thinking
over again the chain of events in which
1t had been the first link, series Of
strange happenings that began with
my acceptance of the invitation, and
that led through ways as dark and
tricks as vain as Bret Harte's Heather
Chinee ever dreamed of, to the final
scene at the White Cat. With the LETT
ter had filed away a half dozen ar
ticles and /. ranged them all on the
desk in front Of me: the letter, the bit
of paper with eleven twenty-five on It,
that Margery gave me the first time |
saw her; q notebook filled with jerky
characters that looked like Arabic and
were newspaper shorthand; railroad
schedule; bullet, the latter slightly
flattened a cube-shaped piece Of chalk
which I put back in It's box with q
shudder, and labeled poison and q
small gold buckle from slipper, which
lat which do not shudder.
did not need to make the climaxes
of my story. They lay before me.
I walked to the office that morning,
and on the way found and inter-
viewed the corner-man at Chestnut and
Union. But he was Of small assistance.
He remembered the incident, but the
gentleman in the taxicab had not been
hurt and refused to give his name, say
ing he was merely passing through
the city from one railroad station to
another, and did not wish any motor
iety.
At eleven o'clock Hunter called me
up; he said he was going after the af-
fair himself, but that it was hard to
stick dip net into the political pud-
die without pulling out a lot more than
you went after, or than it was healthy
to get, He was inclined to be face
tious, and wanted to know II had
come across any more k. VS.. Where
upon put away the notes l had made
about Della and Mamie Brennan and
heard him ,chuckle as rang of.
went to Bellwood that evening. It
was q suburban town a dozen miles
from the city, with picturesque sta
ton, surrounded by lawns and cement
walks. Street cars had SO far failed
to spoil Its tree-bordered streets, and
it was exclusive to the point of stagna-
ton. The Maitland place was at the
head OF the main street, which had at
one time been its drive. Miss Letitia,
who was seventy, had had sufticie
commercial instinct, some years be-
fore, to cut her ancestral acres-their
ancestral acres, although Miss Jane
hardly counted-into building lots, ex-
'cept perhaps an acre which surround
ed the house. Thus, the Maitland Ia
dies were reputed to be extremely
wealthy. And. as they never spent any
money, no doubt they were.
The homestead as l knew it, was
one of impeccable housekeeping and
unmitigated gloom There was chill
that rushed from the old-fashioned
center hall to greet the newcomer on
the porch, and that seemed to freeze
up whatever in him was spontaneous
and cheerful.
had taken dinner at Bellwood be-
fore, and the memory was not hilar-
ious. Miss Letitia was deaf, but chose
to ignore 1t. With supreme Indifference
she would break into the conversation
with some wholly alien remark that
necessitated a reassembling of ones
ideas, making the meal q series Of men-
tai gymnastics. Miss Jane, through
long practice, and because she only
SKINNED the surface of conversation,
took her cerebral fights easily, but l
am more unwieldy Of mind
Nor was Miss Letitia's dominance
wholly conversational. Her sister Jane
was her creature. alternately snubbed
and bullied. To Miss Letitia, Jane, in
spite of her sixty five years, was still
child, and sometimes a bad one. In
deed many child of ten is more So
phisticated. Miss Letitia gave her ex-
purgated books to read, and forbade
her to read divorce court proceedings
in the newspapers. Once, a recreant
housemaid presenting the household
with healthy male infant, Jane was
sent to the country for month, and
was only brought back when the house