Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-09-01
CHAPTER XI.
AN OLD A~CQUAINTANcE.

spite the fact that | had been UP most
OF the night, for / was determined
to gain entrance to h Kingdom cot
tage and force an interview with
Marcia Lawrence before / went to my
appointment with her mother. Day had
aiken from my dream nothing of its
vividness, but my nerves were normal
again, and / could approach the task
with a GOODNESS which had not been
possible the night before. That Marcia
Lawrence had taken refuge with the
Kingdoms. / did not for an instant
doubt; it was my business to prove it.
TO gain entrance to her presence and
persuade her to grant Burr Curtiss a
final interview.
There was another mystery about the
cottage which piqued and puzzled me.
What vas the meaning Of that light In
the cellar? What work had been going
forward there, hour after u Whose
was that shrill and violent voice which
had threatened me through the door?
And how had 1t been possible for the
other inmates of the house to sleep
on undlsturbed through all h q COM
motion? If Miss Lawrence were really
! there, would she not have heard me2
I descended to the dining room, re-
,volving this problem in my mind, so
intent upon 1t that i brushed into a
man at the door. l turned to apologize
and saw his face light up at sight or
me.
why, hello, Lester he cried, hold
ing out his hand. This is luck!"
"Hello, Godfrey" I answered, return
ing his clasp with interest. Glad to
see you"
mot half so glad as I am to see you.
Come over here to this side table where
we can talk IN peace. Quite like the
Studio, isn't tt?"
l laughed responsibility at the mem
Dry Of that night when Jim Godfrey,
Of the Record, for purposes of
his own, had kidnapped me and
entertained me with q superb dinner at
the famous Sixth avenue resort. l had
met him occasionally since, and had
found him always the same genial, gen.
erous, astute fellow he had proved him
self then. Trained on the detective
force, he had been for some years the
Records star reporter and was m
ployed only on what the newspapers
love to call causes celebres. OF course,
I knew instantly what cause" 1t was
had brought him to Elizabeth.
Here on business?" he asked, as we
sat down.
Yes. And your"
"Oh, I came down last night to write
up this Lawrence-Curtiss affair. You've
heard about it2"
He was looking at me keenly.
Yes" I answered steadily, deter
mined to keep him from guessing my
the papers last night. Queer affair,
wasn't it?"
Mighty queer. You haven't hap
pened to form a theory about 1t, have
your"
I laughed outright. He had come to
me for a theory once before, and here
he was at his old trick.
"I haven't enough data to form a
theory" I said.
well, maybe I can furnish you with
more. / did some pretty lively work
last night, and covered all the details
could think Of"
II haven't seen this mornings Rec
Not quite all. / don't want to give
the other fellows too much rope.
They're all tied up In a knot, now, and
! want them to stay that way"
"The other fellows / suppose, are
your esteemed contemporaries"
an plain English, my hated rivals.
But 1 don't mind telling you. You
treated me square In the Holiday case.
The boys told me afterwards how you
refused to give me away"
"All right; fire ahead" I said, and
cut my steak.
Well" he began, IT saw at once,
after I'd looked over the field and found
out that it was impossible to see either
Curtiss or Mrs. Lawrence, that the per-
sons who could probably tell me most
about the inside workings of this affair
were the servants in the Lawrence
house. Evidently there must have been
trouble Of some sort there; and it prob
ably would not escape the servants no.
tice. So I went after them"
/ nodded, but kept my eyes on my
plate. Here was luck, indeed!
There are FIVE of them" he went
on; al outside man, who takes care of
the grounds and horses; a cook, two
house girls, and a maid. The outside
and the hous girls stay at the place,
and the maid lives with her sister In a
cottage just off the grounds"
And could they tell you anything?'
I asked.
Neither the man, the cook, nor the
house girls could tell me a thing.
They'd all been busy preparing for the
wedding, and didn't know anything was
wrong until the maid, whose name is
Lucy Kingdom, told them Miss Law
renee had disappeared. The house
girls a been passing back n forth
all the time, and had caught a glimpse
of Miss Lawrence now and then, but
had noticed absolutely nothing unusual,
had seen no stranger about the place,
L nor IcdTu duy OutCTy. One OF them
passed Miss Lawrence in the hall as
she was talking with the decorator. and
says that she was radiant with happi-
hess"
but the maid?" I asked, anxious TO
hear what he a got from her.
"Ah, she was different. She's been
with the family a long time. She seems
to be a lind of privileged characters
trusted confldante; though why any one
should wish to trust her Is beyond me
she's not an attractive woman rather
| the reverse"
And what did she tell your"
"She didn't tell me anything" an
swered Godfrey, with some heat. "She
beat about the bush and finally got
angry. But I'm sure of one thing, and
that is that she knows where Miss
| Lawrence is. Indeed" he added, 'Tm
| pretty certain that Miss Lawrence
passed the night In the Kingdom cot
tags.
"why?" / asked, with lively interest
at this confirmation Of my own belief.
IT don't know-tust q sort Of intui-
tion. And then-they wouldn't let me
In to see."
"Oh-you tried to get In. did Won pr