Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-08-14
CHAPTER VII.
Two Disappearance.


alone so long in the mansion where
here father and sister lay dying, per-
haps dead, with the black shadowy
mystery still hanging over her and
| them! What must she think of me?
Filled with self-reproach I sprang up
without word Of apology or explana-
| ton to the others and fastened to the
! telephone booth l had observed in the
ball.
"Give me O141 Madison" demand
| ed of central
whats the matter?" she repeated,
with surprise in her tone, which struck
me peculiarly until l considered that
| lOng-distance calls from Ardway must
be such rarity as to surprise even
the operator.
81 want long-distance-New York."
| explained, enunciating distinctly,
| "O141 Madison"
Again" central replied, 1ippantly,
it appeared to me.
| repeated the number more than
annoyed by her response. "Oh, I've
got your number all right by this
time"
1t was good thing for her that she
| tried no more POPULARITY with me, or
the rules of the company against pro-
| family would have been shattered
| There was wait of several minutes,
| filed with the usual false alarms Of
lOng-distance telephoning, during
| which / stood and fumed At last /
| heard my dear Louises voice and has
| tened eagerly to ask after her well
fare. Her voice seemed strong and
| cheerful, though she admitted that she
had slept little the night before. /
| apologized for not having called up be-
! fore. She told me that while her IA
theirs conditisn was unchanged, the
doctor thought he was in no immedi-
ate danger, and that Katharine was
much improved. The doctor believed
now that she could live. Sac was con-
| scious, but very weak, and Louise had
| been forbidden to speak to her and
was allowed in the room only for
minute at a time. I hastily sketched
for her the events Of the morning.
"Oh, Mr.. Kent" said Louise's voice
how l wished she would call me by
my first name-"who do you suppose
called up?"
'Who?"
Hugh Crandall"
whats that?" 1 exclaimed, hardly
| believing my ears.
Hugh Crandall," she repeated a lit
tie louder and more distinctly. "He
l. ocI% [0t1 Il
called me to the telephone told him
my sister was i'll and could not come
to the telephone. He seemed greatly
| agitated and insisted on knowing what
the matter was. He was so agitated
| and persistent / finally told him she
had met with an accident. He was
silent for so long / thought he had
| left the telephone, but all of a sudden
! he asked, Did she shoot herself? and
before / thought / answered Yes
Then he cried out, oh, my God!' or
something like that and asked if she
was fatally injured. I told him that
SIZE was alive but unconscious, and
| then, Harding, he asked if I had seen
anything of a yellow letter. I thought
that, so I answered No. and then he
| rang off,"
''That was right" said. "Where
did he call up from?"
81 have no idea"
When was it? How long ago?"
mot very long-within the hour"
Hastily / explained to Louise that q
| T hn1 HoH
here in the hotel with me and that /
would find him at once and make him
explain the mystery. Before left the
booth got the Ardway central again
and from her learned what I had be-
gun to suspect-that "O144 Madison"
had been called from the very booth
in which stood, not over an hour be-
fore. There was no longer any doubt
about it in my mind-Cook was Gran
dali. He evidently had gone straight
to the telephone booth after slipping
out of the room as I had asked the
| question about the yellow letter. From
the questions he put to Louise, he
! must have been suspecting that Kath-
| arine would try suicide. Why else
had he asked if she had shot herself ?
He must have known her motive. He
surely could explain the dark mystery
that burdened her father and herself.
I resolved to seek him at once and,
even If had to have him arrested on
some pretext, or if had to use physi-
cal force, to make him disgorge all he
knew. I felt in my pocket to make
| Surn that the rovo1vor DoVyic 10 n oiu-
en- me was there, and hurried back to
| the Office.
"Have you seen anything of Cook?"
l asked, trying to mask the eagerness
with which I sought him.
mot since this morning." the land
lord volunteered. 81 guess you saw
i him after I did. The coroner told me