The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1913-07-15
CHAPTER XIV.
An Odd Alliance

The sound Of a step In the hall oct
side brought Grace to the door she
opened it stealthily, as though bent
on some mission of dire peril And
as stealthiiy. Wanda slipped into the
room, closing the door behind her
The two women faced each other in
silence. 1t was Grace who spoke first
II sent for you. Miss Kelly" she
began uncertainty, "because-because
oh, I'm hemmed in everywhere'
don't know which way to turn"
Il see, said Wanda quietly stand
ish is going to throw you over to save
himself? | was afraid so"
II said some cruel abominable
things to you a little while ago, Miss
Kelly" stammered Grace, Wont
YOU forgive me? You see, / was fight.
ing for my very life. I'm sorry"
I'm sorry / was cranky" said Wan.
da impulsively, and l guess I under.
stand all about it, | thought first
that Fate had let me in on this so that
/ could show you up But | think
now il was so I could be of some use
10 you You see, there's only we two
women. And we've got TO fight that
whole crowd"
You'll help? You'll stand by me-"
That's what I've been trying to
tell you Mrs Robertson. You've pai6
for all you did And | don't want you
to pay any more. You're a ten times
better woman this minute than a lot
who have the law on their side So
forget all that and let's see what we
can do"
Grace. to Wanda's dismay, broke
down and sobbed in hopeless wretch
edness.
Don't! Don't" pleaded the girl
"We'll-oh, dear!" sob choking her
Now you've got me going! We must
brace up and do something. There
plenty of spare hours for crying. But
this isn't one of them. We've a bunch
of trouble ahead of US. But we're GO
ing to win out So let's get busy"
BY this time, most likely, they've
applied to central for all the mum
bers called up from this hotel since
s@ven o'clock tonight. We have to
turn In our calls to central, you
know. And one of those numbers will
be the one they want But it'll be
hard for them to find which one
Yours would be the very one they
wouldn't think of"
Cant we stop them from gettinl
the list?'
No Their pun Is too strong But
it'll take time TO run all the numbers
down. And times the one thing they
haven't got Tine! That's our onc
card They want to use this story
tonight If we can keep them from
doing that"
III worst comes to worst" exclaim-
ed Grace, Il can 90 to my father and
tell him. He loves me enough to
keep 1t from every one. Even from
Mark. tn break his heart. But 1t
will stop the story"
NO" decided Wanda, after a mo-
ment's thought, its too late for that
The things gone too far. Van Dyke
and your husband and the rest are as
keen for the name as he is. If he pre-
tended to weaken or tried to stop
them now, they'd push on in spite of
him"
"Then we've got to work alone. |
We've got to keep them from finding
out. We've got to! We've got to-"
'Td give seven dollars to know /
what they're doing now" mused Wan
de-. ITS tough to work in the dark
like this"
Suppose" suggested Grace, in sud
den dread. suppose they try to force
you to tell? They're clever-and
they're merciless. And"
They'll have a sweet time. I'd like
a colored photograph of the bunch of
nen who can make me talk IL | don't
want to. No, MOI Don't you worry
about that, Mrs. Robertson"
1T wouldn't be as easy as you think,
m afraid. They are so determined
So"
Yes, suppose 1t would be liable
to spoil the evening for them and