Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-07-15
MY MARRIAGE
Adele GarrisOn's
New Phase off,.
EVELATION
OF WIFE
THE "CREST" BY WHICH MAOGE
RECOGNIZED THE HAND
KERCHIEE

KEHChIEf
With hands that could not keep
from shaking, l picked up the filmy
handkerchief which the mysterious Don
Almirez had dropped at my feet, and
later had pressed into my hand on the
p%retense that it was mine.
From its folds l extricated a tiny
folded note. unsealed, and bearing no
address. This l laid aside for delivery
to my father. as the man calling him
self Don Ramon had asked, and gave
a curious, fleeing thought to the trust
which the man had put in me. Evl-
IDENTITY he had been sure that would
not open the note. l wondered also If
he had decided not to address it be-
cause he feared I might recognize the
handwriting. But the next instant |
had put all other conjectures away
from me and was staring as II at
a basiiisk at a bit Of dainty embroid-
ery in the corner of the 'kerchlef,
a handiwOrk ! knew only too well.
Ten Times as Luck"
Swiftly I travelled back the road of
memory to the days when Grace
Draper had been Dicky's art protege,
and had acted as his model and secre-
tarv. the days before her infatuation
for him had led her to make my life
for awhile a hideous nightmare. She
had been often at our home in those
DAYS, and | had much admired am
afraid somewhat enyied-the undenl-
able skill which was hers in needle
work. .
| had observed that every article OF
clothing she possessed. from her ker-
chiefs TO her own bore somewhere
upon it a tiny, delicately embroidered
four-leaved clover in olive-green SILKS
1t was oddly designed. most cleverly
executed, and once she had commented
upon it laughingly.
"It is nv crest she had laughed a
trifle BITTERLY guessed that she was
ashamed of her origin-"every bit as
distinctive and ten times as lucky as
the four uuarterings, don't you Z!
had made her a ~perfunctory an
swer, and had thought no more about
the matter. although ] remembered
now that when she had reappeared IN
our lives in the awful time which hao
ended with the kidnapping of. Junior
there had been no mark of any klno
upon any Of her belongings.
Yet here in my hand lay one OF hei
, handkerchiefs with the familiar EN-
! broidery upon it, | was as sure or II
as 7 would have been had she sudden
" materialized before me with 1t II
her hand. What did it mean!
| I found myself shaking as with 6
chill. | forced myself to lay the hand
kerchief back upon the bed, and to ST
down in the nearest chair.
Madqe Is Terrified
Ever since the moment when trace
. Draper had rushed out into the night,
after her melodramatic defiance OF
Hugh Grantland. who had rescued my
hoy never had been without the
secret fear that somewhere. somehow
she would creep ~poisonously back into
nv life again. And this in spite OF
the knowledge that Hugh Grantiand
with all the resources at his command
was unobtrusively yet effectively
: guarding me against this very posi-
hility. The fact that. spite of him
she had vanished that night as though
: the darkness had absorbed her bodily
= had always filled me with terror. fof
knew that if she were alive the OBJ
~sessing hatred she bore me was SUI
aflame.
With every bit of will power | pos
sessed / brought myself back to calm.
= ness and the questiOn-what should
Z do?
I Instinctively | felt that Hugh Grant
= land ought to know about this odd hap
D pening with it's sinister meaning to me
But the last postal card I had received
. from him-the never-failing notiflca'
[ ton of his whereabouts. bearing only
his address and his nitials-had beer
D postmarked from the Pacific coast
WAS | to summon him across n CONT
y ! nent. asked myself sardonlcally. pc
i cause had seen a handkerchief whlci
| fancied had belonged to Grace Ora
per-
? Nv father, Of course. | have be
q come so used to thinking of him as |
: man broken by illness that l find J.
! hard to realize the regeneration which
7 has come to him. I could pour out t.
=. him all the unreasoning terror whlci
= the sisNt of the handkerchief hat
=. aroused in me without the fear OF benz
: considered hysterical. which would b.
: mine should Allen Drake chance t.
hear my story.
This possibility ! meant to guar
against by asking my father to sa'
nothing Of the handkerchief to him
The rest of the story of my meeting
with the mysterious Don Ramon, m,
father would in all probability think i
necessary to tell Allen Drake. Bn
. surely the matter of the ~handkerchle
could be kept between ourselves.
n, A knock on the dOOr-Lililan s.
n startled me.
v With a sudden unreasoning instinct
) swept handkerchief and folded not
4 and my personal belongings back int
: my shopping bag before l opened tn
door. I could not tell why l felt tina
| must keep from her all knowledge o
2 the message or handkerchief, as ha
d refrained from telling her anythIn
It about the mysterious foreigner when
e had first met him upon the stalled trai
ii in the tunnel under the river.