The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1919-11-28


and, reading as / munched. tried to
make up for lost time; and 1t was not
till had finished eating that I remem-
bered to put away my coat and hat
that | had thrown off on the divan.
carried them to my bedroom and
pulled open the wardrobe door. In
the bottom of 1t lay the three tur-
quoise-beaded slippersl
My coat and hat fell out OF my |
hands on the floor and sank down on |
the bed. / was not merely mystifed--
/ was frightened How had they come |
there 2--and when2 They were not
there when / took out the coat in the
morning to go to Mrs. Delario's--to
that / knew / could swear, for In my
hurry to be rid of her diamonds had
snatched the coat out and dropped 1t,
and / couldn't have missed seeing the
| slippers then, any more than / had
missed seeing them now.
Now, under ordinary circumstances,
finding the three slippers in my ward
robe wouldn't have upset mel should
very likely have thought it a lapse
| of memory and let 1t go at that; but
/ was by way of keeping tab on them
and / knew couldn't have put them
in the wardrobe, because the last thing
knew of them they were gone out of
the fiat entirely. | could only stare
and feel horribly creepy.
If this were not a manifestation,
then somebody had access to my fiat.
But who? And why slippers?
jumped up at this thought and began
digging into my bureau drawer had
FIVE hundred dollars cash buried there
that had been paid over to me in the
settlement of an estate and I'd not
had minute to take it to the bank.
The cash was safe. Everything else
was safe, as far as could see; not a
chair was out of place; nothing had
been moved or touched since ! left the
fIat--only three slippers. And why
slippers? The more / thought the
more disturbed / became, it was all
so uncanny. One thing was clear to
me, though--whoeve came in to mon
key with the slippers came while
was out.
"Pll get new lock as my next
move in the game" said / and this
a prepared to do Immediately, not by go
2 ing out and leaving the diamonds-oh
9 no III was too really scared by the
slippers to leave the diamonds now
$ alone in the fiat-but by finding lock
a smith In the telephone book and invit
: ing him to call; and was diligently
pursuing him thus when my telephone
! rang and / threw down the book t.
q answer 1t. And in response to m!
8 hello" / recognized the voice of Mon
y sieur de Ravenol.
y why, how do you do, monsieurf
exclaimed. thinking instantly he hat
e some scheme on for getting me to TAX
II charge of Claire for him, since Mrs
: Delario wouldn't keep her.
2, II am as always, sank you, but 1t !
u our friend, Madame Delario, wish t
Is speak wis you about"
"Mrs. Delariol' l cried, thrown Of
er my guard by this unexpected name
er ''What about h@?"
II, "She meets wis an accident an
! wishes to see you immediately"
rs "An accidents" l was dismayed an
1t thought, "Poor woman, what next fc
ly herT' but / called back. "What sol
d of an accidentT' and before he coul
ct tell me / added, when did it hal
penn"
M my daughter and / are just no
M calling on her to pay our respects an
VIZ madame faints and falls, striking $
III verely her head. call at once re phi.
VIA stefan and he says zere may be nece
III sary an operation. She refuses-unt
W she can speak wis you about some pr
vate matters. shall tell her you wi
Hg Gomez"
lEl For d moment I wondered If she ha
III given him hint of the private ma
Hill ters." and / asked him point blan
lIN do you know what she wishes to 81
HIB me forp
lN "She asks only Eat send for W
I'LL Immediately. and / obey her instru
iii tons. l tell you only what re doct
HI have told me--and ask me to send f
HI her best friend. She say it is you
III self and she must see you. You W
/ come immediatelyY
/ Yes--immediately I'll be there
! about twenty minutes"
I rushed to her. buttoning my co
as i ran downstairs, and 1t was n
until l had taken my seat in the su
way that remembered had left h
diamonds in my fiat