Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-23

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have him come with US. Crandall
would not hear of it. katharine put
you in my charge he said, and it is
her wish as we'll as my own that we
take every precaution for secrecy. 1t
is better that only you and 60 on this
mission. We want no servant gossip
ing about this matter But where are
we going, and why?' 4 asked him.
Surely. l have right to know that
We are going to try to recover from
the hands of the wickedest black
guard on earth certain document
\ that has come into his possession. 1t
is question whether or not we shall
succeed. If we do, shall put this docu-
ment in your hands and you must
promise that it shall not go out Of your
possession until you have placed 1t IN
your sisters hands. You must promise
me, too, that you will ask no ques-
tions about it and that you will not
read it. When Katharine has seen 1t,
do with it whatever she tells you, She
will probably will say that you are
to burn it without reading
| Cant you see, Harding, what d.
}emma I was in? felt that what Mr..
| Crandall asked me to do was Kathar-
] ines wish. They had talked together
for nearly half an hour just before you
came to the house. / had to promise
what he asked, though protested
first. 1t seemed to me that carrying
g., back the document to Katharine would
excite her and retard her recovery
and ! told him So"
."'The sight Of that document safe
in her own hands will do more to cure
! her speedily than all the doctors in
the world he answered"
did he mean the yellow letter." |
queried. .a
II don't know. I asked him if that
| was what he meant and he would not
answer me- The only thing he did tell
me was that there had been strange
developments in the case since he had
undertaken to get this paper for kath-
arine They seemed to puzzle him
, greatly. He said that something with
which he had nothing to do had
alarmed the man we were going to see
and that he had disappeared, gone into
hiding"
GLOW will we find him. asked.
"'He is as anxious to see me as he
is not to see some one else,' Crandall
told me. He wrote me plain directions
how to reach place he calls the de-
serted cottage, and made an appoint
ment there for o'clock tonight"
|. AS / listened to Louise's story did
not know what to think about Gran;
dalps part in the affair. It seemed,
now that he had been acting in Kath.
arine's behalf, though this did not ex-
plain his acquaintance and relations
with the, man he had called Aleck
Young. I could account for his deter
mination that Louise should not read
the document by the hypothesis that it
was something reflecting on the honor
Of her father Indeed, felt it must be
that. I could conceive nothing that
would have driven Katharine Parrish
to attempt her own life except the ap-
preaching disgrace of some member Of
the family. Pride of name was one OF
her strongest characteristics. could
we'll conceive that even on bed of
ILLNESS she would try to shield Louise
from all knowledge of any family
shame. For many years her relation
toward her younger sister had been al
most that of mother. One thing. that
puzzled me was why she and Crandall
should have thought it necessary for
Louise to accompany him, and, even
with this explained, there was still
greater mystery Of the chain of sui
cides that ,centered at Ardway, bound
together by fragmentary bits Of vel
low letters. n'" .-F * ~.
why" I asked Louise "do you sup
pose that he and Katharine insisted on
you coming out here? Why could not
Crandall himself have recovered the
document and restored it to Kathar-
ine?' @ -.... u.a1sr .
II asked him that He told me that
the man who held it had made the
condition that it should be received
by either my father or. Katharine.
They did not wish it known that my
ia what had happened. and as they
were certain this man knew neither
Katharine nor me, was to go with
him and impersonate my sister,"
did you get the document"
mo, we failed" said Louise, "apd L
do not know what in the world am
to tell Katharine. We came out here
in the afternoon. Crandall thought it
advisable to find the place by daylight.
We ran the automobile up the lane
that leads to this place and crept
through the thicket until we came in
sight of the cottage. There were two
men moving about in the cottage,
Young and another man whom Mr..
Crandall told me was the postmaster
at Ardway. He seemed surprised at
the presence of the postmaster. We
watched for half an hour and then
took the automobile back to little
hotel about three miles away from
Ardway. For some reason. Mr.. Gran
dali did not want to stop in Ardway."
IT guess ! was the reason" replied.
"But when did you return here?"
eve had dinner at the little hotel
and as soon as it was dark started
back for the cottage. When we arrived
we found light in the window and
saw Young there in a stupor just as
you see him. The other man was no.
where around. After trying to awaken
Young, without success, Mr.. Crandall
searched his clothes, but there was
nothing in any of his pockets. He even
felt all the seams. and took off his
shoes in search of the paper we
wanted hut II was nowhere IN him