The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-02-12

Mrs. Pickett. Tie wasn't heye from
after supper
The doctor looked round the room,
frowning.
Il don't like it. i can't understand
ii. If this had happened in India
should have said the man had died
from some form of ~%snake-bite. ] was
out there two years, and I've seen a
hundred cases of it. They all looked
just like this. The things ridiculous.
How could a MAI be bitten by a snake
in a waterfront boarding house. The
whole things mad. Was the door
locked when you found him, Mrs.
Pickett?"
Mrs. Pickett nodded.
81 opened it with my own key. !
had been calling to him, and he didn't
answer, so / guessed something was
wrong"
The policeman spoke:
"You amt touched anything, ma'am?
They're always mighty particular
about that. If docs right, and there's
been any funny work here, that's the
first thing they'll ask"
Everything is just as I found it,"
"What's that on the floor beside
him?'
THAT'S his harmonica. He liked to
play it of an evening in'his room. I've
had complaints about it from some of
the gentlemen; bat I never saw any
harm, so as he didn't play too late"
Seems as if he was playing it when
it happened. That don't look much
like suicide, doc"
81 didn't say it was suicide"
Officer Grogan whistled.
"You don't think"
II don't think anything-till after
the inquest. All L say is that it's
queer"
Another aspect of the matter
seemed to strike the policeman.
81 guess this amt going to help
the Excelsior any, ma'am," he said
sympathetically.
Mrs. Pickett shrugged her shoulders.
Silence fell upon the room.
II suppose 1 had better telephone to
the coroner" said the doctor. +,
He went out, and after a mOmentary
pause the policeman followed him. !
officer Grogan was not greatly trou-
bled with nerves. but he felt a decided =
desire to be somewhere where he !
could not see those staring eyes. {
Mrs. Pickett remained where she
was, looking down at the dead man S
Her face was still expressionless, but 4
inwardly she was in a ferment. This s
was the first time such a thing as this /
had happened at the Excelsior, and, t
as Officer Grogan had limited, it was
not likely to increase the attractive
ness of the house in the eyes of pos s
sible boarders.
However well established the repu- o
tation of a house may be for comfort Fl
and the excellence of its cuisine, if ii Il
S a house of tragedy, people, for a a
line at any rate, will look askance
It it. a
1t was not the possible pecuniary Y,
oss which was troubling Mrs. Pickett. Ell
As far as money was concerned, she 81
could have retired from business years
before and lived comfortably on her is
She was richer than those In
Who knew her supposed. ii
1t was the blot on the escutcheon ST
# the Excelsior-the stain on the Elk. m
reputation-which was tor
her.
The Excelsior was her life. Start fiji
ny many years before, beyond the dc
of the oldest boarder, she de
ad built up this model establishment, co
he fame of which had been carried
o every corner of the world.
In saloons and places where sailor re
len gathered together from Liverpool VIZ
0 Yokohama, from Cape Town to re
larseilles. the reputation of Pickett's WI
as of pure gold. Men spoke of it as co
place where you were well fed
Ieanly housed, and where petty rob tel
cry was unknown.
Such was the chorus of praise from :
nd to end Of the world that it is moi
kelly that much harm could come to
from a single mysterious hes
but Mother Pickett was not
,nsoling herself with such reflections.
She was wounded sore. Pickett's eA'
i'd had a clean slate; now it had not. na'
hat was the sum of her thoughts. Oe
She looked at the dead man with as
lie, grim eyes. From down the pas Dos
-ge came the doctors voice as he ioc
'oke on the telephone. Als
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CHAPTER u. r..