, 1913-02-13


thing bearing on Miss James depar
lture was when Heppie came into tn,
room.
She abruptly dropped the corners o.
her apron. There rolled out a hetero
geneous collection of things-a whit
muslin garment which proved to be 4
nightgown, with long sleeves and higi
collar; a half dozen hair curriers'
knew those. Edith had been seen ir
midnight emergencies with her hail
twisted around just such instruments
Of tortura-a shoe b%uttoner. a railroad
map and one new and unworn black
kid glove.
"Where did you get emf" said Mis-,
Letitia. fixing Heppie with an awful
eye.
~ found EN- stuffed under the blank
cts in the chest of drawers in the at.
tic" Heppie shouted at her. IF we'd
washed blankets last week as ! want
ed to-
"Shut upr' Miss Letitia said shortly
and. Heppie's thin lips closed with a
snap. Nov then. Knox. what do you
make Of thatf"
"If that's the nightgown she was
wearing the night she disappeared.
think 1t shows n thing very clearly,
Miss Maitland. She was not abduct-
ed, and she knew perfectly well what
she was about. None Of her clothes
was missing. and that threw us or the
track. But look at this new glove!
She may have had new things to put
on and left the old The MAXWELL,
she was going somewhere with a def,
mite purpose"
81 don't believe a word Of it." the
old lady burst out. "She didn't have a
secret: she vas the kind that couldn't
keep a secret. She wasn't responsible,
] tell you, she was e~xtravagant. Look
at that glove! And she had three pairs
half worn in her bureau"
Miss Maitland" 1 asked suddenly,
did You ever hear Of eleven twenty
twoT"
"Eleven twenty-five whatf'
Just the number eleven twenty.
two" | repeated. HAS It any signif.
cancer"
81 should say it has. 'she retorted. "In
the last ten years the Colored Orphans
home has cared for, fed. clothed and
pampered exactly 1,122 colored chill
dren Of every condition of shape and
Eaisshape. brains and no brains"
1T has no other connecticut
Il loaned Allan Fleming a thousand
dollars once. guess my mind was
falling. 1t would. be about eleven
twenty-five by this time"
Neither Of which explanations sui.
feed for the little scrap found in Miss
James room. What connection, II any,
had 1t with her flight? Where was she
now. What was eleven twenty-twoi
And why did Miss Letitia deny that
she had lost the pearls, when I already
knew that nine of the ten had been
sold, who had bought them and ap
~proximately how much he had paid?
1 ate a light lunch at Bellwood alone,
with Bella to look after me.
Oh Bella I called as she was 60
ing out, II want to ask you something.
The night at the Fleming home when
yoI and l watched the house didn't
you hear some person running along
the hall outside your door? About 2
o'clock. l thinkY'
She looked at me stolidly.
mo, sir; 1 slept all night"
'"That's strange. And you didn't heal
me when l fell down the dumb wait.
er shaftT
"Holy saintsr' she calculated. "Was
that where you fell?"
She stopped herself abruptly.
"You heard thatT" l asked gently.
land yet you slept all night2 Bella,
there's a hitch somewhere. You didn't
sleep that night at all. You told MISE
Fleming l had been up all night. How
did you know that? II i didn't know
that You couldn't possibly get around
as fast as the person in the house that
night / would say you had been in Mr..
Flerning's desk looking forfeit us say,
postage stamps. May l have another
cup Of coffeef'
She turned n sickly yellow white
and gathered up my cup and saucer
with trembling hands. I put another
line In my notebook, What does Bella
known
j got back to the city and found
wardrop waiting for me at the office.
He seemed to have shrunk In his
clothes, his eyeballs were bloodshot
from drinking and his fair hair had
dropped. neglected. over his forehead.
He looked at me with dull eyes
when I went in. He was sitting on
my desk.
"He says he's crazy-lost his think
works." said Burton.
~ didn't know you knew each 9th.
err" l put In.
"He says we do" Wardrop said
YEARLY; says he used to knock me
around at college. He wants me to
go to a doctor. I'm not sick. It's
only