Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1916-12-22

"Why DID o Come Here
was no answer. She became quite ex-
cited about it-and persisted. Sud-
denly a bored voice broke in:
Number, ~please?"
you cut me Off" June answered
sharply.
What number we're you talking
to-"
Il don't know. They called me-"
III | can locate the party, I'll call
you again. Hang up, please"
"Oh bother!"
Juno put the received back on the
hook and turned to Gordon.
The reason I'm so put out and irrt
tated about It." she explained, lis be-
cause | thought 1t sounded like my
nurses voice. 1t was so like hers
as though she were terribly fright
ened! 1t couldn't have been, though"
she added meditatively. She didn't
know l was coming here--l didn't want
her to. And she hadn't any reason to
call up Mr.. Lamar. In fact ! know
she'd avoid him. I suppose it was
only my imagination"
At the Travis house Mary shrank
away from the telephone and covered
her face with her hands, in terror.
June at Lamar's office! Why? And
secretly, too. Horrors were piling up.
1t had been a wild. unreasoning fear
that drew her to the telephone to
communicate with Lamar. A sense OF
desperation and complete helpless
ness. She knew, as % as the cen
trail repeated. the number after her,
that she had done a foolish thing. And
then June had answered!
Mary crept to the foot OF the stair
way leading up to the attic and lis
tened. She thought she heard a slow.
measured breathing. Then the sound
Of something heavy being dragged over
the floor made her fly to her own room
in instant terror.
There, sitting erect and tense in the
comfortable old chair where she was
accustomed to take her afternoon nap,
she went over the happenings of the
past hour.
Hour! Had 1t been only an hour?
1t was incredible to suppose that 30
much disaster could accumulate in
sixty short minutes. She looked at the
HffIn oilunr hnrp1ntr OlncE NM nf
June's gifts. Just an hour since, she
had looked from the window to see
Yama coming up the walk, carrying
his suitcase.
Only an hour since he had put the
grip on the front porch and handed
her the key TO June's big trunk. Mary
licked off the dreadful events in a sort
of morbid tabulation-the events that
had followed:
When she had gone into June's room A.,
to get the rest of the unpacking fin
ished Yama had followed her closely.
His face must have been unnaturally
CHASTITY at the time. She had not no.
ticed until afterward, when its pallor
was hideous.
Then the trunk! A slight difficulty
in opening 1t, on account Of tho key
sticking-the lid flying up suddenly.
and a squat, ugly, grinning face, with
cracked lips parted over ugly snags
Of teeth, showed close to her own!
Mary 10 caught her reflection in,
the mirror over ttne bureau Of her
room. There were blue hollows around
her eyes ard a pifched, sta wed look
chung about her ncstrils.
Smiling Sans" threat rang In her
ears.
Thought you'd shake ma Ell? Well,
you've got to, hide me now, or by ~
I'll"
She had hidden him aided, by
Yama-the coward who aad made this
fearscma situation poss sble. Together
they had urged Sam w the stsps into
the attic. He had game, snarling At
them, mounting gutter oaths and dire
threats. Just before. he had closed the
attic door he had hourished a knife
| with a menacing gesture. 1t was an
iGdelihle warning to MarY, Is she sat
alone, recalling tae scene
Suddenly, vita a smolhered scream,
the old woman jumped 10 her feet and
caught at tho edge Of the bureau to
keep from falling. Upstairs from the
attic there was a crash that shook the
walls of the room, then a stited
moan,
(ENI OF TENTH LNSrALLMENTA