Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1915-09-18

then TO the custodian You needn't
stay: I'll ring when we want to be let
out"
Griswold followed In mild bewilder-
ment when she turned aside to one of
the little mahogany-lined cells set
apart for the use of the stockholders.
saw her press the button which
cally obeyed her signal to close the
door When their complete privacy
was assured. she put the japanned box
on the tiny table and motioned him to
one of the two chairs
DO you know why I have brought
you here?" she asked, when he was
sitting within arm's-reach of the small
black box
How should II" he said. You take
me where you please, and when you
please. and ask no questions. 1 am
too well content to be with you to
care very much about the why's and
wherefores."
"Oh, how nicely you say it," she
commended. with the frank little
laugh which he had come to know and
to seek to provoke. She was standing
against the opposite cell wall with her
shoulders squared and her hands be-
hind her: the pose. whether intention
al or natural, was dramatically perfect
and altogether bewitching. Il was
born to be your fairy godmother.
think" she went on joyously. Tell
me; when you bought your ticket to
Wahaska that night in ST. Louis, were
you meaning to come here to find
work."
NO" he admitted; ct had money.
then"
What became of it?"
81 don't know. 1 suppose it was
stolen from me on the train. 1t was in
a package in one of my suitcases; and
Doctor Farnham said"
Il know; also he told you that we
didn't find any money!"
Yes; he told me that. too. We
agreed that somebody must have gone
through the grips on the train
so you just let the money go?"
$50 just let it co.
She was laughing again and the be-
dazzling eyes were dancing with de-
light.
81 told you 1 was going to prove that
you are a philosopher" she exulted.
"Sour old Diogenes himself couldn't
have been more superbly Indifferent to
the goods the gods provide Open that
box on the table, please
He did it half-absently; at the first
sight of the brown-paper packet with
in. the electric bulb suspended over
the table seemed to grow black and
the mahogany walls of the tiny room
to spin dizzily. Then, with a click
that he fancied he could hear, the buzz
zing mental machinery stopped and
reversed itself. A cold sweat, clammy
and sickening, started out on him
when he realized that the reversal had
made him once again the crafty, cor
nered criminal, ready to fight or fly
or to Stay, if life stood in the way of
escape. Without knowing what he did,
he closed the box and got upon his
feet, cycling her with a growing feroc-
ity that he could neither Danish nor
control
81 see: you were a little beforehand
with the DOCTOR" he said, and he
strove to say it naturally; to keep the
malignant devil that was whispering
in his ear from debating the tone as
well as the words.
II was, indeed; several days before
hand" she boosted, still joyously ex-
ultant-
"You-you opened the package?" he
went on, once more pushing the i'm
Fortunate devil aside.
Naturally. How else would / have
known that it was worth locking up?"
Her GOODNESS astounded him. If she
knew the whole truth-and the demon
at his ear was assuring him that she
must know it-she must also know
that she was confronting a great
peril; the peril of one who voluntarily
shuts himself into a trap with the fear
maddened wild thing for which the
trap was baited and set He was
steadying himself with a hand on the
table when he said: We'll. you opened
the package; what did you find out?'
What did I find out?" He heard her
half-hesitant repetition of his query,
and for one fitting instant he made
sure that he saw the fear of death in
the wide-open eyes that were lifted to
his. But the next instant the eyes
were laughing at him. and she was
going on confidently. "Of course, as
soon as / united the string 1 saw it
was money! lot of money; and you
can imagine that 1 tied it up again,
quickly, and didn't lose any more time
than could help in putting it away
in the safest place I could think of.
Every day since you began to get well,
I've been expecting you to say some
thing about it; but as long as you
wouldn't, / wouldn't"
Slowly the blood came back into the
saner channels, and the whispering
demon at his ear grew less articulate.
He took the necessary forward step