The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1914-12-10

,no to enter into the spirit of the thing
and. God knows, seeing no humor III ~
"Then you'll like your soda from Tue
iceboxY'
soda? For whatf"
"For your whisky and soda peiore
you go to bed, SIR"
ooh. certainly, yes. Bring the soua'
And-just a moment, Mrs. fithan.
Mr. Holcombe is a total abstainer ana
has always been SO. 1t is Ladley, not
Holcombe, who takes this abominao'e
stuff" 49,.
/ said l quite understood, but that
Mr. Ladley could skip night II he 30
wished. But the little gentleman
would not hear to 1t, and when l
brought the soda poured himself dou-
BILE portion. He stood looking at IT,
with his face screwed up, as II the
very odor revOlted him.
1.-THE chances are" he said, that
Ladley-that I-having a nasty piece
of work to do during the night. woula
will take larger drink than usual.
He raised the glass, only to put IL
down. Don't forget" he said. 10
put a large knife where you left the
one last night. I'm sorry the water
has gone down, but shall imagine II
still at the seventh step. Good night
Mrs. Pitman."
Good night, Mr.. Ladley,' l SAID
smiling, land remember, you are three
weeks in arrears with your board
His eyes twinkled through his spec
tacles. 81 shall imagine 1t paid, ne
said.
4 went out, and heard him close the
door behind me. Then. through the
door, | heard great sputtering ana
coughing. and knew he had got the
whisky down somehow. l put the
knife out, as he had asked me to, ana
went to bed. was ready to drop
Not even the knowledge that an
imaginary Mr.. Ladley was about to
commit an imaginary crime In the
house that night could keep me awake.
Mr.. Reynolds came In at II O'CLOCK
| was reused when he banged bis door
That was all knew until morning
The sun on my face ,wakened me.
Peter, in his basket. lifted his head
as moved and thumped his tall
against his pillow In greeting. | put
on a wrapper and called Mr. Reynolds
by knocking at his door. ThenI went
on to the front room. The door was
closed, and some one beyond was
grooming. My heart stood still. and
then raced on. l opened the door and
looked in.
Mr.. Holcombe was on the bed, fully
dressed. He had wet towel tied
around his head. and his face looked
swollen and puffy. He opened one
eye and looked at me.
= "What a night" he groaned.
"What happened! What did YOU
fnd"
He groaned again. "Find!" he said
Nothing. except that there was some
thing wrong with that whisky. 1t
poisoned me. l haven't been out OF
the house,"
So for that day at least Mr.. Ladfey
became Mr.. Holcombe again. and as
such accepted ice in quantities. mus
tard plaster over his stomach and con
siderable nursing BY evening he was
better. but although he clearly In.
tended to stay on. he said nothing
about changing his identity again, and
I was glad enough. The very name Of
Ladley was horrible to me.
The river went down almost entirely
that day, although there was consider
able water In the cellars. 1t takes
time to get rid of that. The lower
floors showed nothing suspicious. The
papers were ruined. of course, the
doors warped and sprung and the
floors coated with mud and debris.
Terry came in the afternoon, and to-
gether we hung the dining room rug
out to dry in the sun.
AS l was coming in I looked over
at the Mcguire yard. Molly Mcguire
was there and all her children around
her, gaping. Molly was hanging out to
dry sodden fur coat that had once
been striped brown and gray.
l went over after breakfast and
claimed the coat as belonging to Mrs
Ladley. But she refused to give it up
There is sort Of unwritten law re-
garding the salvage of food articles,
and l had to leave the coat, as ! had
my kitchen chair But it was Mrs
Ladley's beyond a doubt.
l shuddered when thought how 1t
had probably got into the water. And
yet it was curious. too. for If she had
had it on, how did 1t get loose to go
floating around Molly Maguire's yard?
And IL she had not worn 1t, how did
1t get in the water?