The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-12-07
The White Feather


back over the events Of the day. She
thought Of how Miriam had prevents. i
her running out,to Chris when he Yves
on the lawn with his air gun. and how
f.. it had turned out afterwards that Il
had been Mrs. Lee who had leased
him into shooting the pigeon. which
! showed she had some amount Of in
! f.uence over him.
Molly remembered, too. n little Incl
dent that had occurred that evening as
she was going up to dress for dinner.
She was passing Mrs. Lees room. the
door OF which had: swung slightly
open. and she had seen her standing
! by the dressing table in the act Of
taking something from the front Of
| her gown. For no other reason than
that everything Mrs. Lee did was n
source of unwilling interest to Molly.
the girl stopped for n second and
| looked at her. 1t had been a folded
paper which Mrs. Lee took from her!
gown ana which she had slipped in
side n handkerchief sachct lying on
the dressing table. Molly had watched
her idly. and then suddenly aware
! that she was doing rather an odd thing
in gazing through some ones bed
room door. had fled on to her own
room. Now the little incident as
sumed potcntialities unthought OF be-
/ fore. Molly jumped un.
"Fathcr. | have AN idea. have
! thought of something. Wait, III see
what | can do. III be back in a min
ute" She ran toward the door. and,
as i, happened. straight into Brent
who entered at the moment. He had
caught hold Of her arms Just above the
elbow before he saw Mr.. Pollock, who
was glowering at him from the hearth
rug. Ills fingers give a swift, reas
surfing pressure before. he dropped his
hands. He looked from Pollock to
Molly.
lawfully sorry II I'm disturbing
YOU" he said. We've run out OF chalk
IN the billiard room and Mrs. Sander
son said should find some in the
drawer here"
Don't run away" said Molly in a
low. urgent voice. Il want to talk to
you. III be back in n minute" and
she ran out Of the room. Molly went
swiftly through the deserted hali, past
the silent piano. and up the stairs.
When she reached Mrs. Lees door
her courage slackened somewhat.
Never in all her life had Molly done
any of the petty. dishonorable actions
many schoolgirls indulge In. Now.
Just because Mrs. Lee was suspected
Of being Il spy, she in her turn was CO.
ing to spy on her. Molly went
through, in a far lesser degree, what
Brent had been feeling alone in his
room that evening before dinner.
Then the thought OF Chris same surg
ing back at her and she gently turned
the handle of the door
The room was in darkness; she
switched on the light and entered,
shutting the door behind her. Her
heart was beating violently. Sh,,
knew that Mrs. Lee had been playing
smoker since dinner with Chris: and
now that he was in the sitting room
with her> f. tt.sN, Mrs. Ice might .Gome
upstairs for any woman's reason. just
such 4 little thing as wishing to pow
der her nose. And then what could
Molly say IT being caught in her
room" Nevertheless Molly could not
resist a quick survey. an attempt TO
try to see something which would be
q clcw TO Mrs. Lees personality.
AS a matter of fact, remarkably few
personal touches had been impaired to
the conventional white painted, chintz
hung apartment. over the cleaning
brass rail at the foot of the bed a
wonderful dressing gown had been
thrown. a barbaric thing of strons