Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1920-02-21

ilO anu tilIt AAN NIlG uldlBbHuS duN
meant to take them to the president.
welfare you going down to see
how she isl" demanded Billy. wheel
| ing and planking himself in front OF
| me.
Dear auntie-sweet auntie"
| jibed please put on your camel's
| hair shawl and bunnit and haste away
| TO Beauty-in-Distress that l may in
| Stantly know how she bore up under
| the strain of meeting the hero and
| how She liked his pink. round cheeks"
Billy gave me vicious grunt and
| STROBE across the room--he wanted to
say something ugly to me bur he didn't
| dare, seeing how l held his fate in my
| hands.
"Oh, Billy" l cried. suddenly re
| membering the latest news, "she
brought back the diamonds last
night :"
claire came back? Good heavens !"
/ he sank into the chair
Claire? OF course not. Mrs. Della.
rio" And | told him how shed
whipped in and out like spook While
he and Claire were going down in the
elevator. Then for the first time /
/ showed him the diamonds.
Love and pumpkins" he eiaCu-
lated overcome by the sight "Wen,
/ if this doesn't boat the arabian
NightsH Are they real-real? Not
paste? Why, if they're real they're
worth about a million dollarsr
and haven't been telling you that
all along?' l asked testify. Bnly's
words and tone gave it pretty well
away that he hadn't believed it an
along, no matter what Ia said ana
he'd pretended.
'Y-yes. think you have" he admit.
ted. rather stammeringly. But ct
/ course-you realize that Il million dol.
lars is a-er-a pretty big order for "a
chap in New York to eat at IA sitting"
He spread them out on his hand. NUT
tering to himself, Finally he brought
out: And you've got lhese-here -
all alone in the fiat with you Wen,
save my shoestrings! l don't wonder
your nerves are on edge!'
let this pass about my nerves and
gave him the story she'd told rae sun
I day morning - about the mahatma
sending her these diamonds through
the air and putting them in her slip
per; and how she claimed them. alb
solutely, religiously, as hers.
THE woman's crazy" was the curt
way he disposed of her. aud added,
to mitigate this harsh judgment, cor
else she's a thief"
shes neither one thing nor the
other" l defended sharply. shes
merely deluded-the same as tens of
thousands of other people have been
deluded about things they believed
in"
Crazy" he repeated with convic-
ton.
l could only shrug-on I've ever
been able to do; that was her incor-
rigible belief! / wasted no more time
on it then, for our question was Nha;
TO do next, and l went on to tell him
how I'd decided to take his advice and
lay the matter before the president.
To my aStOnishment. instead Of the
warm commcndation I'd expected from
Billy at taking the advice he'd urged
on both my duty and my common
sense not forty-eight hours before
and remember. Ia barely restrained
him from rushing off on the midnight
uain-he popped out of his chair and
began excitedly pacing the floor. His
first words were, ''Why, you can't do
ihatw
"Oh, I see all the risks I'm running
of getting there alive"
"Risks?' he echoed, as if he hadn't
given them a thought. "But how
much are YOU going to tell about this
AFFAIR.""
Everything, Of course-T mean ey-
erythng l know. The government win
have to undertake to find OUT the
rest"
lie plunked himself in froat of me
and demanded, you aren't going to
let Miss de 6ayenol get dragged into
a mess like this. are your
l didn't answer Immediately, and he
ramped on. Il ask you-are you going
to do it? Are you going to be party
to such a--such an outrags?"
"If don't nut the case to the presl-
dent what am I to do? Here 1 am
saddled with the diamonds"
"WclI, just keep them yourself" he
bluntly offered, as his solution Of the
difficulty. Keep Aem-put them in
the safe deposlt-and let things take
! their course"
For q minute I was really angry
and raped out. "If / thought you
were serious, Billy, I'd ask you to
leave the house. Your suggestion Is
that 1 frankly become a thief and
your solution is not only criminal
but-idiotic What would it accom-
plish1 with so many people know
ingY'
''Well-say-pro me one thing"
be pleaded "You'H wait-you won't
/ try 10 see the president today-you
won't rush off without telling me
yo777yo GOING "