The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-01-23
CUT DIAMOND
r. Jane Bunker

more, i bet he was waiting Tor you.
"He was" said I with conviction,
catching at the foot Of the bed fol-
support.
Billy gathered up and counted the
money. It was all there, FIVE hundred
dollars.
"Now what-do you make-of
thatY" he meditated.
/ knew what l made of ii. but for
Mrs. Delario's sake ! did not tell Billy.
He handed the bills to me.
There's more to this" he observed.
"SOme mystery. / must search the
other rooms"
Listen" I said.
We listened but heard nothing.
Then he opened the bathroom door
nobody there. And with that he
marched straight to the kitchen door
and back to me In a fash.
You open the front door and get
ready to yell bloody murder II any
thing happens" he commanded.
mo, Billy" l returned. coming to
my senses and pulling out my hatpin,
that had already u ce done duty that
day. III get ready to do bloody muir
der"
IL. flung open the kitchen door and
we went In together.
Our mysterious burglar had van
tshed.
FLEW the COOP" said Billy sadly.
"And ] might have caught him if I'd
been a minute sooner. Just my luck"
He pointed to the open window as he
spoke.
To me that open window meant ]
had missed death because Of Billy.
I swayed. He grabbed my arm and
steered me to the dining room and
berthed me in the chair I'd just left.
Get me Il glass of water, Billy"
Say, tl,is is NEWS!" he chuckled.
while I drank. Mysterious robbery Of
well-known authOress--oh, ] say. this
is NEWSw
He took the glass to the kitchen and
came back with a notebook in his
hand. / stumbled to my feet and got
him by the shoulders.
BILLY Rivers, this is not news! It's
Life and death. Not a living soul must
know Of this till l tell it. Do you IN
derstand?"
"WelI but" be began, "a robbery
like this-and of you"
ut wasn't a robbery"
bXUncnf sChhnnpTr III oncf
glance over rhe wreckage strewn all
over what was it, them"
"A search"
Gee whiz! l believe you're right"
he cried. looking about again, with a
new light in his eyes.
II say-the plot thlekens! This is q
real mystery"
Don't you see why 1t mustn't be
known?"
"And dc you know who searched
and what he searched forw
II think So"
Billy stared AT me for some seconds
before he brought out, 81 believe you
know more about this than you're tell
ing me. You're concealing something.
WeIl-tell me thiS-did he get itT'
Il don't know"
Billy whistled and stared. "Say-
this begins to be romantic"
Romantic" l snOrted. "YOu don't
know what romantic is !"
/ managed TO stop there. However
much ! respected Billy in general, 1
hadn't much confidence in his diScre-
ton.
"Billy, do you remember the time
your mother put on your brand-new
FauntIeroy suit and told you not to
go to the swimming hole and you
went?" l asked desperately, trying to
get at him somehow and bind him to
a promise to keep this to himself.
"And you went-and the boys threw
you in, sash and curls and all? And
I found you and took you home and
ironed you and. curled you up fresh
and saved you from"
"a lickM'-and a good one" he fin
ished for me. ''Those were the ma
ter's lickin' d~ays-befOe she lost the
girls. And lit wasn't the only lickin'
you saved me FROM he added, in the
grateful way I'd always loved him for,
ven when I just couldn't love him,
he was so bad.
"Billy, dear" I said, pressing my
hands Din his shoulders, 'it's your turn
now. Do you understand2-and you've
got to forget that you're a reporter
ana remember only that you're my
friend and that I need one; for I'm
in q lot Of trouble and / simply can't
explain"
Don't a any MORE" said Billy
with q fine air, taking up his hat. I
then that he had come
Tor papers-George would be looking
for some evidence Of my t%ruthfulness
land I snatched up the first stable
book I saw-my German dictionary,
I didn't notice what it was
and q bunch of odd papers and thrust
into Billy's hand md got him out