Arizona republican., 1921-03-13
cHAprER XIX


 Following dinner. I was in my hotel lobby. waiting for Brewster to blow in from the flying field. when I was sum moned to the telephone.
 Can I see you right away. MT. Me Cuff? This is Lois Chandler speaking, and l am at the Montressa. It is very, very important"
 Why, sure thing" I buzz, consider ably surprised. 'tI'll hurry right over"
 Thank you so much. MT. McGuffl' She hung up.
 So, a few minutes later, was sitting opposite the charming Miss Chandler in a secluded corner of the Montressa ready for her to shoot. The girl was as lovely as ever. but appeared worried.
 T feel that I can trust you, and that you are a friend to yal-to Mr. Brew ster,'' she begins. q know that Judge Curtis-'
 Please get me right on this Judge Curtis stuff, Miss Chandler" I butt in. T thought I was doing him and the boy favor when I agreed to allow Brewster to join my team. hut I'll be hanged if I know what to think now. There's a pile of mystery here. and it grabs my nanny-I mean, 1t fusses me, Miss Chandler.
 T understand, MT. McGuff." She smiles little. T may be able to clear up a few things. although I am in the dark yet in some particulars. l think am on the trail of something that Mir. Brewster should know. I am afraid he is not-not friendly with me any longer, and perhaps I can't blame him. So anl> trying to enlist your aid in getting it to his attention. It's about those queer Raspberry messages"
 "Good!" I gargle. That guy has set the bunch by the ears too long already, Do you know who he is, Miss Chand- Ier?"
 NO, I do not. MT. McGuff. But I think I will, before very long. But l guess some explanations are in order first
 "All right, Miss Chandler"
 Well" she says, T presume you know that Val Brewster and I were on the verge of an engagement last spring. but-but I couldn't quite make up my mind. I was afraid he had some traits of character to which I couldn't become reconciled. much as I liked him. And still like him-though I'm afraid we've drifted long distance apart this summer.
 "These Raspberry messages started coming to him. At first they made him wild. But mean and insulting as they were, they had some truth in them, and think Val realized then how grave some of his faults were He began to change slowly. although he was furi- ously angry at the messages.
 The night of the graduation ball we quarreled. George Grain, the junior member of the firm of Curtis and Grain, who handle the Brewster estate, had been paying some attention to me, and Val was angry. He said Curtis and Grain were crooks, and were secretly plotting to defraud him of his estate. He said his father on his dying bed had warned him against them, and that | he had been investigatin Angry and unbelieving. because | believed I knew the reputation Of Curtis and Grain, I rebuked him, and our disagreement followed. He swore 1 he would prove what he said, and left me, quite furious.
 l After my first bitterness passed. I | began to wonder if there could be any 1 truth in his mad statements. I resolved | to do little detective work. l found out that Judge Curtis had been anxious to send Brewster away on this trip, and some of the reasons advanced by George Grain didn't sound just right to me. l began to suspect. i Then I played a game myself MT McGuff, Though l had never re-