The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1920-01-15

1t was the lady in the adjoining fiat.
She said: "How these keys do stick,
sometimes! / wonder if anybody has
been tampering with my lock-"
Tampering with the lockl closed
my door without thanking her for the
rer,inder-I had been in the act of get
ting new lock when monsieur called
me to Mrs. Delario's supposed death
bed. Oh, if / only had had it put on /!
Then remembered that other key on
Friday night-the key working in my
own door and that assumed belonged
to Mr.. Man-down-stairs.
No wonder he didn't swear at me
when called out to him he had the
wrong fiat: Mr.. Man was-monsieur!
flung on my wraps, telling Mrs.
Jimmson / had an errand out, and IN
less than fifteen minutes had lock-
smith putting ON new Yale lock and
exchanging the small chain-bolt for
the heaviest in the market.
had rung when / returned with the
man to give color to my tale of lost
key. Mrs. Jimmson let me in and
seemed greatly astonished to see a
man begin at once taking out screws.
$50 you lost your key?" she observed
placidly-just her way of taking every
thing / happen to be doing as per-
sonal matter of her own. She was
now prepared to superintend the op-
GRAFTON. well, that's too bad to have
to go to the expense of new lock.
Couldn't the man find key that would
| fit? The key would cost only quar-
ter and you wouldn't have to buy a
whole lock-"
Her arms were folded and she
showed she meant to see the new lock
on to the last screw. gazed at her in
sheer wonder that a person could be
so stupid, so obtuse as not to know she
wasn't wanted and from her, my eyes
travelled along the hall, to the dining
room, to the table-my heart jumped,
and stopped: the hyacinths were not
| there!
"What have you done with those
hyacinths?" demanded, as soon as
could control my voice.
'You mean those faded things in a
glass on the table?"
"Yes-what did you do with themY
IF you'd mentioned them before you
went out"
WHAT DID YOU DO WITH
THEM?"
"Why, they were so faded never
thought you-wanted them"
She was beginning to quail and slide
away. caught her wrist-my fingers
left marks-she showed them to me
later.
"What-did-you- with-ihem?
Answer me instantly"
81 threw them out"
AS Mrs Jimmson said those words
that she had thrown the hyacinths
away-the locksmith handed me the
two keys, saying that the lock and the
bolt were all right and that was all.
had paid him at the shop in order to
hasten matters at the house, for /
hoped, if possible, to get the job done
so quickly that even George wouldn't
find out what had brought the man
in for. I was still digging my fingers
| into her wrist while he gathered up
his tools and he gave the two of us a
curious look, half amusement, half
wonder at my vehemence, before he
closed himself out.
AS for Mrs. Jimmson, she had been
| too paralyzed with fright to move. The
| instant the door was shut, dropped
her wrist and made a dash for the
kitchen, hoping the garbage hadn't yet
gone down. AS did it, let out one
short unpleasant word. That word
was "Damn!" and into it crowded all
the pent-up feelings of the last twenty
| four hours.
4 saw her look of horror as closed
| the door-she thought I had gone in
sane! Now, I'm not given to profanity,
but I am willing to admit that it may
have it's uses on occasion.-as for in
stance when your scrubber-lady has
| just thrown away your million-dollar
bunch of hyacinths and "didn't know
you wanted those faded things" My
one bad word, however, let off enough
steam for me to realize that / didn't
even know if the diamonds were there
| or not
Hastily I pulled out the papers and
rubbish and dumped them on the floor
and had just bounced OF the hyacinths,
when the front bell rang.
Were the diamonds safe? I didn't
dare at the minute to investigated
didn't dare even to be caught with
them in my hands. Suppose it were
monsieur, coming now in broad day
| light!
The ring was repeated. I grabbed
up bit of newspaper and rolled up
the bunch, examining it into the
kitchen saucepan on the shelf-an OPP
GRAFTON / hadn't more than finished,
setting the lid en- as softly as I could,
when heard mans voice shout my
name, followed by the words special
delivery"
Without waiting for Mrs. Jimmson
! to decide if 1t were safe to call me,
stepped out and signed for it. AS I
closed the messenger out looked at
the address-the writing was unknown
to me; and was in the act of tearing
open the envelope, when Mrs. Jimmson
sank on hall chair and began to
weep.
''To think-oh, to think-to think"
she sobbed. "It's hard"