Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-12-26
CHAPTER CCCLXXXIv.

Copyright, 1919, King Features
Syndicate, lnc.)
VIII Lacy and Dana lie to protect
VA?
Is Aunt Mollie making up such a
careful alibi for Val because she
, thinks her guilty.. or innocent?
These questions came to me while
Phoebe WAS speaking. And then
strangely ene.gn. something else
flashed into my mind. Maybe what
put it there was the sudden focus,
ing of my eyes on Jeanles Wool
sweater-coat which still lay across
the chair where I'd flung it on com
ing in from my interview with Lane
the night before.
[ had slipped the sweater OIL ana
had hurried to my room III pas
sion of pity for the~big brown pear 4
and a. passion of revolt. Suddenly l
realized that the fugitive memory L
had been struggling to capture was
of the old lucky piece Lane hau
given me. ;,
ITS in pocket of Jeanie's coat,
I told myself. II put the handker-
chief in which 1 tied the coin into
one os the pockets when shppeu
into the coat. l must get it."
Jeanie and Phoebe were stlll dls-
cussing the tragedy of Sheldon
Rlake's death. With a careless air
I picked up the sweater and began
rummaging it's pockets. Jeanne IN
terrupted herself to ask If there was
anything special I wanted.
''Yes. A pretty hankie I've loSt,
I replied. wondering why haun
told the whole truth as | heard my =
self expressing half OF IT,. ;. 80.
Did you think I'd picked 1t up
and hidden it in the family sweater
laughed Jeanie.
"T thought put it in one OF tne
pockets. l wore the sweater the
other evening when l ran out TOT "
breath of air"
Not there, though?" asked Jeanne,
adding politely. isn't it queer lhe
way we always lose our prettleS.
and most valuable handkerchlels ,
Was it marked in any speclal way
If YOU don't find it I'll tell them to
he on the lookout for it in the wash
this week.
"It had lucky piece in it. A bat
tered octagon strung on a little gold
wire. | don't like to lose it,"
"Superstitious, eh?" chuckled Nir-
ginia, tolerantly.
flushed. but offered no eXplana
ton. Only to Jim could I relate the
queer method of communication
Lane Cosby had offered to me. The
incident was interviewer with the
ugly breach between Val and me. and
the queer, strangled kiss Lane had
pressed on my lips.
Virginia didn't press the point of
my being superstitious. She didn't
seem to thing it one worth discus
sing. She had something important
on her mind. and she made it eEi-
dent now that the talk about Shell
don and his tragedy hadn't diverted
her interests.
We've gossiped about other folks
long enough" she said with a touch
of her old arrogance. Now, I want
to get down to the matter in hand.
Phoebe. your coming down here
while Anne and Jim are with me
seems almost providential. I think
we ought to arrange a quiet we'd
. ding at once. AS / was about to say
n while ago when you interrupted
me, Pat and I are going to make
this our year-round home. And
there's ten months to run yet on the
lease of my apartment in town. If
we want to go in now and then for
the theater or the opera, we have
Pats bachelor diggings to shelter us.
SO there you are"
80 there you AREN'T" replied
Phoebe uneasily. I'm going to have
a big wedding in June. And you
must railroad me into little family