New Britain herald., 1917-07-31
How Madgc Championed Lillian
Against Mrs. Durkee.


At the crash of the glass from the
impact of the bullet fired by some un-
known marauder, Dicky reached up
quickly, switched off the electric light
which had betrayed our position to
the person outside. and with his other
arm swept me into the living room,
where the curtains were so heavy that
it was impossible for any one outside
to locate the position Of those within
the room.
Are you hurt, Madge," he demand
ed anxiously, looking me over careful
ly, while Robert Savarin and the
Durkees rushed anxiously over to us.
From the stairs came the sound Of
footsteps. Lillian's cropping her way
hurriedly down, guided only by the
dim light from the hall above. And
Katie's shrill scream, mingled with
Jims deeper exclamation from the
kitchen signalled their excited rush
into the living room.
MOT a bit!' 1 gasped. Are you .
I had hard work getting the words
out, for my lips were stiff. My knees
were trembling also, so that I sat down
as quickly as I could in the nearest
chair But fortunately I was able to
disguise my nervousness so that in
the confusion no one noticed it.
me! oh, sure! I'm MORALLY wound
ed Dicky returned, trying to laugh.
but making rather a. dismal failure of
it.
"Dicky! stop that, and tell me exact
ly what happened,' demanded Lillian,
who had come into the room. | saw
with a little thrill of pleasure that it
was the old Lillian back again, the
imperious brainy woman, who, when
ever there was need for her, domin-
ated the situation
Don't know exactly returned
Dicky, who, I have learned, generally
masks intense nervousness or appre-
hension with flippancy. Here is the
scenario. Wife and I talking peace
fully in hall. Shadows silhouetted on
glass, pistol shot, bullet goes behind
Madge into wall. Person outside prob
ably bad shot,.
elbow Do You Know"
II wouldn't be too sure of that re-
turned Lillian quietly. It's rather a
difficult matter to fire at shadows.
But don't you think, you men would
better slip out the back door and
make sure that the woman isn't still
lurking somewhere about? I'm pretty
sure she ISL |, SIG pIOOdOly UedI IL
as soon as she fired the pistol, but 1t
won't do any harm to satisfy your
Selves
The four men Robert Savarin,
Alfred Durkee, my husband and Jim,
looked rather sheepishly at each other
and then fastened out to search the
grounds. I knew that they were all
a bit chagrined that they had waited
to have the way to action pointed out
by woman, and I suspected that
Dicky was at least a bit irritated also.
and wondered secretly if Lillian, force
full and brilliant as she was, might
not at times carry her propensity for
managing things bit too far. 1t was
a certainty that one of the men would
have thought of the necessity Of
searching the grounds before very
long, and it appeared to me for the
moment that it would have been better
if Lillian had waited for their sug-
gestion.
T think Mrs. Durkee shared my feel
ing to an even greater degree, for
there was a touch of asperity in her
manner as she turned to Lillian.
How do you know it was a woman
who fired the shot?" she demanded.
A wave of compunction for my criti-
cal thought of my friend rolled over
me as saw Lillian start and flush in
embarrassment at Mrs. Durkee's tone.
With her quick perception she saw at
once the reason for the other woman's
disapproval, and I knew her we'll
enough to recognize the humiliation
that came to her with the suspicion