New Britain herald., 1922-04-11
How the Garage Man Set Dicky
 Right


 Dicky glanced at me quickly with so much concern in his face that l had hard work to keep from showing my consciousness of the ruse l had played. For l knew that I was not nervous, and that only my fear for his safety which l could not display had urged my request to wait for him to come home with me.
 Poor girl :" he said softly, 'l sup pose you must be done up, Well " with q sudden drop into playfulness, If she wants great, big strong man to take care of her she shall have him. But t strikes me youye changed your tune lately"-with q quizzical look. You waren't so anxious for my com pany little while back"
 Don't Dicky :" said with a little shiver, creeping closer 10 him, glad that he could not guess the shiver to be as much from fear for him of the man smith as 1t was from the recol- lection of the ugly quarrel we had just had.
 All right l won't say another word. Just rest here" and he pulled me down beside him on the grass bank and adjusted my head to the comfortable hollow of his shoulder And as he kept his VOW of silence l had time to pull myself together and arrange the facts l had learned in or derly fashion for presentation to Lll- Han, and to plan my course in regard to Dicky and the new complication which had arisen in the unexpected advent upon our neighborhood horizon of the man Smith,
 One thing stood out peremptorily Under no circumstances must let Dicky know of Smiths proximity. l knew that he was still smarting under the sting of having let smith escape after tying the man up in the woods near the reservoir. If he should guess that Smith was in the neighbor- hood, nothing could keep him from going after the man again and turn ing him over to the authorities.
 Waiting For Repairs
 Aside from the danger there would be for Dicky in an encounter with so dangerous and desperate a man--tor I knew Dicky too well to think that he would do anything save rush for Smith single -handed-I was far from sure that Lillian wanted Smith appre- handed as yet.
 Although my friend d-charaCteristl cally close -mouthed as to the real na- ture of the problem she was working out---had said little to justify my be- lief, yet I was sure that Smith and the man who had so frightened Kate were but cogs in machine so in fernal. so deadly. so menacinE as to tax the utmost powers of Lillian and her associates in the destruction of it.. And from long association with her l had learned that of all things she feared most the premature seizure or even alarming of the men or women whom the government agents were tracking.
 Give them plenty of rope" Let the smaller fry lead us 10 the big fellows" I had heard these words from her lips so often il was impos sible for me to forget them or fail to act upon them. I was fairly certain that Smith had recognized me, but was counting upon his own disguise to fool my eyes Still told myself, one never could be absolutely sure of any thing with so cunning a criminal, and I chafed with inpatience at the delay that was keeping me from Lillian, even though it were of my own mak ing.
 'IIet's Go Homc.'
 Well, here comes the bride ~ Dicky yawned as the garage repair car came noisily down the road. "lf they start that blasted car without any trouble, I'll kick them for 1t, I don't particularly care which,
 One of the garage men, a stocky chap with a humorous twist to his mouth, got out of the repair car, went over to Dicky's, climbed in, and pressed the starter, tried it again, got out and went to the rear of the car
 How about your gas?" he said,
 Indicator says there's some" Dicky replied.
 Did you turn on your emergency"
 Dicky looked at him bankly
 Never thought of that, as long as the indicator registered as much as that" he answered.
 The stocky man did not snort aloud, but his face expressed the utmost con tempt for amateur motorists in gen