The Springdale news., 1912-08-23

ne would ask and could not Anxious IS Louise and I were to learn what it was that was troubling him, the [@ctor forbade our making any effort 70 do where he had put a second nurse in charge
 While the hustle of caring for the two stricken ones lasted there was little time for thought, and 1 was glad for the activity that kept Louise's mind distracted Just at the moment when it seemed that everything had been done and there was nothing left but the anxious waiting-waiting for the Worst-the butler had tiptoed in to summon us 10 dinner. Bravely. at first, Louise and made pretense of eating. each trying to encourage the other. but the unforgetable events of the afternoon. the missing faces at the table and the sorrow that filled us both made food impossible Drawing our chairs together, We discussed in whis- pars the baftfing mystery of Kath- ariae's attempted suicide and her fa- ther's strange terror
 On the table before us lay the scrap of yellow paper, the sight of which had so agitated General Parrish As soon as he had been carried into his own rooms I had hastened to rescue it from the floor felt that insignificant as it appeared. it must have some i'm. portant connection with the events of the afternoon Yet as Louise and puzzled over it. there seemed nothing sinister in Fhe fragments ef sentences that the flames had Jeff all bu; inde cipheiahla
 Tie paper, Of a peculiarly xe'lowish tim Ms aarHIz nafe fEan tWo sqna re inches, The torn corner of a folded let fer. On t We could make out these a o3zs
 ba
 Used se
 sister
 seemed snevifa
 aHa disgrace ah
 b9 aceldeutIe.
 T. ke good
 A We studied the bit Of type-writ- ing. word by word, We tried To trace in 1t some hidden meaning, some sin ister warning. something or anything that would connect it with poor kath- arine,s mental distress and her ia. therss poignant tefF That the let ter of which this was a part had been in Katharine's possession was evident from the place where l had picked up I. that it had been her purpose 10 de- stroy it. On the other hand. General Parrish, too must have known of the existence of this letter. else why did he show such terror al the mere sight ef scrap of it? | must have been part of some document that had made a vivid impression on his mind More than likely. We feff. whatever the let. ter was. it had played some part in the quarrel between Katharine and her father the afternoon before she dismissed Hugh Crandan.
 We Tan over all the words We could think of that begin 4.b-a. trying 10 fit one 10 the phrases following back. bar. ban bank. bankruptcy, basin. bar ItIs BdiIEut udttit-lusI% were LOO many of them. We gave it up and passed on to the next phrase. used SC" Il proved equally puzzling We could make nothing out of it. but the third line at least vas definite enough for discussion
 "A sister" said Louise That makes 1t certain that this letter did not apply in any way to father. for he never had sister He was an only child"
 was not 80 positive as she that the letter did not apply to the general The thought came to me that perhaps even in the proud Parrish family there might have been some girl child of unblessed birth whose existence had been kept secret from Louise Per haps some knowledge of this sort had come 10 Katharine and the letter re- ferred to it. refrained from suggest
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