The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-12-20
IA Woman
Again
80

By JEAN ELoINBRoD


The rush Of the days work was
nearly over In the telephone office
Jeanette Whipple. trunk operator. fac
Ing the clock, saw that In little less
than two hours her time would be up
She wondered If Richard was watch.
ing the clock as impatiently as she
Such long. long time to six o'clock
and the happy walk home.
She glanced over. the local board
The local girls were always busy
Their hands flew as they connected
line after line. The drops fell quick
er than they could answer them. The
chief operator (No. % offlcially) was
working back of the board on the
Hayes.
The monitor walked up and down,
up and down, back of the girls, who
hated her nearly as much as they did
their chief. She had been Is years in
the business-and showed 1t. She was
reported to have soft spot in her
heart for the young, curly-headed as
sistant chief operator at the desk.
The messenger boys called him the
fellow with the pretty. blue hair" The
girls called him "121s." being assist
ant to No. 25.
jeanette laughed to herself as she
thought of 1t. Then she turned down
a Jack to see If No. 270 was still talk
ing to Ridgeton. Captain Henry's big
voice doomed in her ear, and she
caught the sentence:
stall and dark, about thirty years
old, been foreman Of the Electric COM
pany six years."
Mechanically she turned up the
Jack. Then as she realized what she
had heard she listened again. Why,
Richard was foreman Of the Electric
company. What could have hap
pened?
"Oh, Lathrop'll die. There Is no
chance. Don't know just how 1t hap
pened yet. Nash has always borne a
good name, though there has been bad
blood between him and Lathrop long
time, hear. Have your men watch
sharp. If he did go on that four o'clock
I'll head It or at Saturne. It gets there
about four-thirty. If he got of at
Ridgeton. which I doubt. he can't have
gone far yet. / think he will keep on
toward the west. Got 1t all?-five
feet eleven, dark, smooth face, well
built, brown suit, black derby-all
right. Good-by."
go rang off.
Jeanette took the connection down
and leaned back in her chair. The
bulletins on the board swayed up and
down with horrible, sickening action.
The noise of falling plugs grew faint.
The hum of voices died into silence.
The board seemed an Unreasonable
distance away.
Then slowly her brain cleared. She
had no trouble In realizing now what
1t all meant. Richard Nash, her Rich
and Nash, had killed Lathrop.
His face came up before her. clear
cut as a cameo, the wise, tender face,
the frank. steady eyes. Why, every
one had hated Lathrop but Richard.
He had only laughed at him. 1t could
not be true. Some one was playing
joke on her.
She looked swiftly down the long
line Of girls. All were working, still
and sober. The monitor paced slowly,
back and forth. No. 12h was writing
out trouble reports.
A drop fell. 1t was 270. She took 1t
before the recording operator could
reach It, and plugged In on the line.
Her voice sounded strange to her as.
she spoke.
''Toll line."
s'Give me police station. Saturne,
Captain Briggs to the telephone. And
right away quick, to central"
She made out the ticket slowly. Her
fingers were stiff and cold. She felt
numbed all over except her brain. That
seemed on. fire. She looked down at
The small diamond on her left hand.
Whether 1t were true or not, he was
Richard-yes-and she loved him.
If Ridgeton had not been able to get
a man down to the train In time to
search 1t, after getting Captain Henry's
message, there was small chance for
his escape perhaps she could make 1t
a bigger one, If he were really on that
train. as she thought. Could she keep
270 from getting Saturne before the
train passed there, whole half hour
yeti
New York was probably his goal. If
she could keep the train from being
searched before 1t reached New York,
he might escape West, or across the
Water.
Was he thinking Of their walk home
at the end of the day, now, she won
dered, remorse and fear fighting
within him. Or had he had no time
to think OF her yet?
30 was calling again.
"Can't you get Saturne, Central?
What Is the matterf'
"Wire Is busy. viii call you," she 4
answered clearly. 1t was only qnarter
Of five now.
She cast furtive look at the mon
itor, who was coming toward her. She
answered two other calls, and made
quick connections. The monitor
glanced at her board, then walked
slowly away ngain. Time seemed to
stand still, 4:57--4 :5S--.
Il