The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-02-03

car line and took the first car that
came along, which. the conductor in
| formed her, crossed the street she
sought.
Arriving ut her street. she got off
and found herself in a neighborhond
inhabited by very poor people. She
looked with disgust ut the tumbledOwn
shanties and dirty shacks that differed
the rubbish heaped yards. Two blocks
up from the car line she found her
number. a house slightly better kept
than most. But she noticed in the
yard an uptilted ash mans CART. In the
rear was rickety stable. She entered
the gate and rang the bell.
a very large. i'll dressed Italian wo-
man opened the door, letting out a
tremendous odor of garlic and cheese.
She surveyed her caller with suspicion
and then beamed.
"Oh. you come loolsa de papes?" she
demanded,
Estelle merely showed copy Of the
advertisement.
Eyes. my husband he put that in de
pape." the woman said. losing her
smile.
For some moments Estelle tried to
get n glimpse of the documents. The
Italian himself came on the scene and
demanded II full description. When
Estelle said that they had been lost
from the Manx hotel he nodded and
explained that he had been removing
the ashes thcrefrom when his eye had
been caught by the folded papers. but
he still insisted on an accurate de-
scription, which the maid could not
give. at last she said quietly, The
papers are OF no value to you. and
an. authorized to pay Il good reward
for them"
At the word reward there was a
change, and the woman demanded to
know how much it would be.
Estelle thought rapidly. 1t had been
impressed OH her that haste WAS nee
essary. She decided OH Offering Il good
| ~ sum, yet not enough to make the
ash man and his wife think they were
in possession OF papers OF extraordi-
nary value. She pulled out her purse
and held out So The man was taking
1t. His wife interviewed.
Twenty dolla," she said cunningly.
| Estelle bargained for some moments
cisive. IF You show ME the papers
and they are the ones want I'll give
you SIS and no more"
The deeds were produced. and a
glance told her that they belonged to
Ruth. She paid the money and hur-
ried away.
Everett aud Dorr had gone over the
situation thoroughly together. and the
broker agreed that he would help out
! in putting the Master Key" mine on
its feet again.
81 think l can do it tomorrow" he
said. lust let me nave all the pa-
pers. and I'll so over them tonight"
Ruth has them." John replied
Wed best go up and get them now"
Ruth received them cheerfully and
promptly went to her trunk for the
deeds. Her first search was not re-
warded, and she lifted puzzled face
| to John. Then she once more went
through all her belongings. 1t was
| fruitless. She then remembered the
desk and searched it with the same
result.
They're gone"' she stammered.
"lmpossibIe!" said Dorr. 'They must
be somewhere here"
No" she mourned. i've looked
everywhere"
Everett was the first to suggest that
no time should be lost in locating the
missing property. He sent for the
evening papers and delved into the
Lost and Found columns. with the
result that he very soon handed pa
per to Dorr and pointed out the adver-
| tisement which had attracted W1ker.
sons attention.
Half an hour later John Dorr turned
away from the ash mans door aud
said to Everett: "lll bet that was one
of Wilkerson's crowd. We must no
tify the police before he can get
away"
They had soon told their difficulties
to the sympathetic ear at headquar-
tiers and started back for the hotel.
John was in the dumps.
ut seems as il everything goes
wrong when l try to do something for
that little woman" he growled.
81 begin to think myself that you
are playing in hard luck" was the re.
ply. But always did like u good
fight. and this promises to be one. III
stick. John"
They shook hands.
They found Ruth and Tom KhNe
anxiously awaiting them. John sim
ply stated the case and then turned
to comfort Ruth. He was startled to
see how white she was.
Ruth. Ruth" he cried in alarm.
what is the matter?"
There was no answer. She had faint
ed away.
All else was forgotten for the time
being. A maid and doctor were
quickly summoned, and presently
Ruth revived. Old Tom Kane was
seated beside her patting her hand.
1.-The papers" she moaned.
Don't you worry about the papers,
he said promptly. We'll look after
them" %S