New Britain herald., 1916-09-18
What They Found at Home.

do not reme ember much of the trip from our house in Marvin to Lillians apartment in New York, which Grace Draper's sister, Mrs. German, Katie, Lillian Underwood and I took, follow ing the telephone message from Harry Underwood.
 Lillian had told us all she knew, that Grace Draper was seriously hurt, Dicky slightly so, and that they were at the Underwood apartment This news, coming upon the heels of the letter Grace Draper had writ ten her sister, which Mrs. German had brought us, stating the girls intention to kill Dicky and herself, gave us fairly good idea of what had happened.
 TWO thoughts clashed in my brain constantly in the hurried flight of the taxi to the Crest Haven station, the interminable slOWness of the accom- modatiOn train from Crest Haven to 1he city, and the swift rush of the taxi Lillian communicated at the terminal to bear us to her apartment. One was the terrible gripping query, which throbbed ceaselessly in my mind: Will Dicky live, or is Lillian deceiv- ing me as O the extent of his injuries :? The other was an emotion of which 1 was ashamed. I felt that no hint of it should have entered my soul while Dicky was in such danger
 It was a first fierce throb Of iOv in answer to the question which had so tOrmented me concerning the reality Of Dicky's final emancipation from the thraldom of Grace Draper's fascina- ton. She had said in her letter to her sister: By the time you read this I shall have gone on a long jour- ney, the longest of all. There is but enc possibility that will make me de- fer this journey until later. That pos sibility l shall find out about tonight. But if the answer to a question I shall ask is the one that will make me de- fer my journey it is also an answer that will always separate me from you, anyway. If the answer is such as to make me take my journey, rest as- s'lred I will not go alone"
 If her letter meant anything at all; it meant that she had made one final mad effort to enslave Dicky, and fail ing had attempted to carry out the vengeance she had threatened that she would have "Oh! such rare com- pany, on her longest journey of all.''
 "Dicky, Where Is Dicky?"
 Dicky must have refused her last wild appeal. He was all my own, even in death. Only a wife who has been through the living hell of jealousy that had endured during the summer can understand the paean of wild joy that went through my heart. I would father have Dicky dead. and know that his last heart beats were mine and mine alone, than to know that he lived and had yielded to the Wiles of he beautiful siren I so hated.
 Betty, Lillian's colored cook, who was devoted to her mistress, opened 1 the door for us as soon as she heard l the taxi stop.
 "F'o de Lawd' sake, Miss Lillian!' l she exclaimed, lifting her hands and 1 swaying her whole ponderous form in 1 indignation. What eber am goin' on l in dis house, I jes tell yo' it's scandal lous,. dat's what it is. I'se got a good i name, l has, and I nebber was mixed ! up wit no shOOtins an stabbins and ! mysterious women in all my life l befo.. I'se got my reppertation-'
 Never mind your reputation, I@etty,' Lillian advised grimly. 'I'll l see that it remains spotless. You get up stairs now at once, and tell MT. Underwood I've come.''
 She motioned us into the living l com of the old-fashioned mansion, of which she had taken two floors and made a wonderful, artistic home In lieu of the ordinary modern apart n ent
 'Take off your things" she said, kindly stepping up to me and remov- ing my hat for me. "I don't want to ta T exact state of things"
 l felt as if I were suffocating as savnk into the nearest chair, to be so rear Dicky and yet not to be able to sec him. The suspense was madden ing