The Jasper news., 1919-10-23

never left her bedroom unlocked H.
q single minute; that all the upstnir
rooms were locked; that she mad,
her--C -C1nlre-keep her door locked
"because," she said. "you never can
tell" that people, most Of whom were
strangers. were coming to the house
| all day from nine till five. Mrs. Della
rio called them "sitters" and gave
them readings In an awfuliy queer
| room where the shutters weren't ever
opened; and she - Claire-beiieved
that Mrs. Delario took money fos
these readings, though she never would
| say what she read; and II she took
money how could she be lady :
Though she was very nice and kind
aud pnpa wanted her to keep her
Claire-tlll her mother arrived. and
Mrs. Delario wouldn't on account Of
1t possibly be7
i saw by that that Mrs. Delario
hadn't taken Claire much into her con-
fidence-Claire snid even, her father
couldn't guess what Mrs. Delario did.
exactly. though he thought he knew
little, only he. didn't know that la
| dies did 1t In America.
While l was considering what I'd
better say the clock struck and !
bounced out of my chair IN hurry
It was the hour Of an appointment,
Ind here I wns Ave miles away, gos.
slping.
l told Claire had to run, and she
followed me to my bedroom while
| got my coat, and It was she who ex-
claimed, "Why. there's Mrs. Delario's
slipperl She's hunted everywhere for
It, You picked 1t up Mt the customs
house and put It In your suitcase"
'Im the thief" / laughed, slipping
on my coat.
Claire took couple of steps toward
the slippers and said, an take 1t back
| to her."
mo, my dear-just leave 1t. don't
know which is hers---I see Mrs. Jimm-
son has mixed them all up-and I
haven't time to find out now."'
"Oh, can soon tell" and Claire was
about to pounce on them. but headed
her off.
"That's matter for me to attend
to, Claire, and entirely between Mrs.
Delario and myself"
BY this time I had on my veil and
| gloves, and hearing the elevator stop
ping at the floor. shooed Claire and
bolted for It.
Now I'd looked at the slippers as
Claire spoke, and they were standing
HEEL TO THE WALL, between a
pair of oxford ties and pair Of
bath slippers that were toe to the
wall. as were all the rest but these
three slippers; and noticed this par-
tlcularly and remembered II later COM
ing home in the cars when the incident
recurred to me, and wondered why
since Claire was no longer with Mrs.
Delarlo-she had been so anxious to
take the slipper back. and II she need
ed an eXcuse-posslbly--t her father
for going to the house to see her
friend, and how II 1t hadh't been for
Mrs. Jimmson I could have let her
take the slipper and been glad to have
her do 1t {; and how Mrs. Jimmson must
have pleased herself in placing the
slippers just that way, backs to the
wall. so they'd show Off to best advan-
tage as works of art and decorate the
room at large with their beauty; and
how 1t must have puzzled her to find
three slippers all alike in my room
not two, not four. but three; and why
three1 And what would the good
creature say II told her I'd stolen the
odd one?
These thoughts may seem too trivial
to mention. but the point is that I
thought them and they were so obvl-
ously suggested by the way Jlmmson
placed the slippers. heel to the wall.
But here's the uncanny thing that hap
pened: When l got home one hour
after seeing them that way and turned
on the light my eyes fell upon the
slippers--THEY WE'RE ALL TOEING
THE WALL.
1t gave me such shock that sat
flop down on the bed. So far as j
knew not human soul had entered
during my absence of one hour and
some minutes, nor was there any evil
dence that anything else In the place
had been touched-the other shoes
stood toe to the wall just as I'd seen
them when ! went out with Claire.