The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-02-25
SECTION

could be added to the sum total Of the
 haired he was capable of treasuring.e
 alone and unaided. It couldn't grow
 to any worse proportions by having
 Q few more people know of my part
 in his arrest.
 T know" I said quietly 'rbecause
 l lodged the information which led to
 his arrest
 | I ou got Slim arrested % sriarled
 Dad Lee. Then leaning forward and
 fixing me intently with his beady it-@
 tie eyes he asked: What would !
 you want to do that for? Don't play 2
 jokes on your father. Surely you <
 wouldn't do such a thing to one Of
 the few old friends I've got in this
 town. It's lonesome here for mo
 without any men-foIks I counted on :
 yoor husband-and since he ain't
 here. I count on my old paals. s So I
 guess you wouldn't hurt an old run
 ning-mate of mine. even if you was in <
 a position to-get anything on him.
 Which you aint. Are you. now, my
 dear ?''
 His voice frightened and snapped as \
 he flung the question at me. He
 moistened his lips over and over.
 'I am, I replied quietly.
 Dad Lee sat back and looked at me $ | in astonishment. I was sure that | there was also on his face a dawning 1 look of respect and one of specula-
 tion, as if he were wondering of what
 I'd be capable next. I decided to x
 warn him.
 I'm a business woman, you know.
 I have plenty of sources of informa- | tion and I don't hesitate to use l them. So when managed to get the < tip that showed Slim Darrow was s trying to double-cross people near and : I dear to me and the other tip that hes | had time to serve for a bank robbery q you'd scarcely expected me to sit still ! | and do nothing" | "You ain't a good enemy, are you,
 daughter?" asked Dad Lee.
 T am not I replied, with curt er-
 phasis ''Of course ordinarily I'm N | satisfied to avoid the people I've req < son to hate-but when there are big l things at stake''--
 l I hesitated moment. Then, sud- | denly, the words Mabel Storrs had
 spoken of Dick West leaped into my l mind.
 You don't warn a rattlesnake that
 you're planning to shoot him. said, 2 | adding careless1y, "I wonder if you'd 1 mind letting me see your letter from l Slim Darrow?'' 1 Dad Lee pondered, drumming on s l the table with his fingers. Then, to | my amaZement, he opened his wallet l and fumbled in 1t for 8 moment. CHAPTER 4s5
 I Copyright, 1920, King Feature Syndi- | cate, Inc.
 l One glance at Slim Darrow's let i | Ter showed that 1t was not he who E | had written the anonymous letter to 1 Neal.
 The fact that Dad Lee gave in k l and showed me the letter, made one thing clear however. He has to be dealt with firmly What I'd just done
 amounted almost to bulldozing and instead of resenting it. he meek1y
 yielded to the firm hand on the reins.
 I filed this piece of information for
 future reference. and returned to the Dick West subject. $- ] We were now at the 6emf-tasse < | stage of our meal with the glow of Z
 seIf-confidence and well-being which
 come from a welI-ch osen repast. I < l took a bracing sip of black coffee and | I leaned across the table to give a { i confid ential air to my words.
 ''It must be lonely for you with two 1 1 of your best friends - missing. I s | suppose it upset you fr1ghtfully to A | hear from Slim Darrow under cir s | cumstances like these. It can't help , | being-ghastIy to discover that one N | of your intimataes ds in jail--and on | his way to prison. Jails and prisons 1 always seem mere myths-like the Z | ugly boug-a-boos some people used | to fr1ghten children. But when any a 1 one you know goes to jail, it housS | of come home to you that there really | Is such place waiting for evil ; | doers.'' -+fss | I laughed lightly asssI tossed my $ | barbed words about careless of where | they struck. Oddly enough the only | sign of agitation Dad Lee showed E | was to start twirling his thin little i moustache if it were one of those | ''barber's delight affairs, with the | Dundreary droop of thes.olden days. | At that moment, out of 1he meT1or- S | ies of my childhood came the picture l of my father with smooth-saven lips. But I had to drag myself back from | re1niniscence to listen to what Dad | Lee was saying. Kinda makes you feel that you | got to tread the straight and narrow, z 1 don't it. mdear?" he asked with | heavy facetiousness. Then, leaning l forward with the effect of underlin- 1 ing each word. he added, And T s 1 lay my bets it drives you to writing to that young man of yours to be z l careful to stay inside the law no < | matter what temptations come his way down in the oil country there" 2. 1 The oil country?" I flung out in i astonishment.
 | ''Sure-didn't you tell me that's : where he's gone?" % ''No, didn't,'' I replied slowly and < emphatically. "I didn't see much 1 reason for you to be interested in my | husband his present place of abode"
 That's right unsociabie of you, m'dear. But I guess it wasn't you l that told me. ''TWere your friend, Andrew Hyland. And I think at that he just agreed to some information my friend Dick West had given me. Great boy for information. Dickiei" I couldn't tell whether that were naive or daring, but I caught Dad Lee up quickly.
 How you must miss your Dickie and his information! To have Slim s. Darrow, one of your intimates, in jail is bad enough-but to have Dick 7 West-rnissing, must be a real worry "a real trouble"