New Britain herald., 1922-06-08
The Hint of the Menace Madgc's
 Father Disclosed.


 Step carefully" Lillian admonished ir a whisper as we neared the littlf jog in the old corridor behind which lay the library door, Let me guide you"
 She grasned me firmly by the arm and stopped me Just before we reached the door
 Lift each foot before you set it down ns if you were stepping over an oh- struction about a foot high and six inches wide" she directed There, all right. Allen." as MT. Drake noise lessly swung open the library door, Were here, and the mine is laid. Now we'll get down to business, and wait until our little submarine strikes 1t"
 Allen Drake and my father were standing with grave faces just inside the door of the library In my fathers hand was book one of cherished set of his favorite essayists which had been privately bound for him. He evidently had just finished turning the leaves and his voice was grave, as he looked toward me and spoke pityingly.
 There can be no mistake. Daugh- ter. I fastened a memorandum care fully between these two pages, SO that only design. not carelossness, could re- move it And it is gone 7"
 You mean" I said slowly. that Katie must have taken it
 Unless some person rom outside the house has had access to this room" he returned, Besides, it was nothing any person would have taken unless he-or she---' there was asniAcant rause---"had been directed just where to look"
 q Had Forgotten--''
 felt suddenly chilly, as If some evil not fully known, were threatening me. I knew katie's mon key-like curiosity. but I would have staked my soul upon her absolute loyalty to me and mine. But the three faces around me were stern and set
 Indeed. I fancied that there was look of something very akin to hor- TOT in both Lilian's face and that of Allen Drake, as they gazed at my father, an expression so foreign to their usual inscrutable faces, that feard something vague, terrifying Of unusual importance, was attached to this memorandum.
 Chief" Allen Drake began hesi- tantly, pardon me if I'm wrong, but it can't be that-the missing paper concerns the thing we were talking about"
 "Yes, my boy" my father replied gravely. Tt did concern that. h. deed"
 He stopped as he saw my puzzled, stricken eyes. and came toward me, slipping his arm arcund me.
 T had forgotten, Daughter he said, that all this must be Greek to you, and partly to Mrs. Underwood also. although I think she knows something about what 1v been trying to do But I shall not keep you in ignorance longer, although I have not yet completed the thing on which l have been working"
 What siadge Feared.
 He drew nc @ 8 chair near the fire and motioned tie others to seats, and I held my breath as one upon the brink of q tremendous revelation.
 Just a minute, Mir. Spencer Lil- lian interrupted. T want to be very sure of sorethi1tg first"
 She went to the door, opened it| cautiously, went down the corridor to the stairway, returned and closed the door. AS she did so, l again heard just that faintest suspicion of a tinkle and caught in Allen Drahe's eyes a glance of amusement at my bewilderment.
 In a second I was hotly resentf,h The air was full of some sinister men, ace, and yet he, in his cooksure alooft- ness, could spare time for a smile.
 "Al right" Lillian reported laconi- cally, and my father began speaking
 I cannot. of course, reveal ali that he, told us in his low monotonous voice, but long before he had finished, felt as if I had been held below water for long time and was grasp ing for breath, so momentous was the secret which he was revealing to me. That parts of his story were as new even to Allen Drake as they were to me I saw clearly. And when he had done. realized that my father, whom we all had thought had seenl