South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-02-26
Revelations oPAWifo 6qoAa54SSss5ou

always was snooper: why you
haven't cured her OF 80 IN all these
Years is a mystery 20 me. But now
she's worse than ever. find her
in the most curious places. where
she has 70 business 10 be and early
in the morning before anyone is up.
and at night after everyone has gone
to bed. heard her travelling over
the house. She acts as IN she were
hunting something all the time.
Come Home"
cit was bad enough before your
father went away last week ] guess
he wrote YOU that he had a tele-
gram from that fool Allen Drake
and started for Washington within
an hours time but since your
fathers departure. Katie has fairly
haunted the vicinity OF his room
She cleaned IL from top 20 bottom
without waiting for me 20 tell her
to- and that in itself Is suspicious
for she usually itsn't hunting extra
work And when she got through
she just sat down and cried and
howled like an animal. regular hys-
tericsl 1T
Elizabeth and 7 thought we'd
have TO send for DR. Petit. But
after we threw some cold water I'm
her face she sort Of came TO and
said she was taken with a sudden
pain but I know better. She didn't
have any physical pain. She was
just crazy about not finding some
q l. Oh. In ~
fathers room. Shes always been
honest. I know. but she's the queer
est acting thing now I ever saw and
has been for the last week or two
MY private opinion IS that she
got all wrought up over Richard
Seconds disappearance and has been
expecting somebody to kdinap her
ever since. She's been terribly nerv-
Gus ever since you left. Why, one
night about two weeks ago she came
running into the kitchen from out
doors. white as death and half faint
ing, and all we could get out OF her
was that she'd seen that man across
the road As he's safe in a prison
cell, Of course she was mistaken, and
we finally proved 10 10 her and she
quoted down. But I'm almost
afraid it has unhinged her brain
it isn't any too strong, anyway.
Il do wish you could come home
and straighten Katie out. She's too
much for Elizabeth and me-"
With suddenly impatient fingers I
crushed my mother-in-law's letter
into it's envelope. thrust ii into my
work basket on the little veranda
table. and with "A WEAKNESS Of spirit
that her request TO come home and
"straighten out Katie" had engen-
dered. ran down the precipitous
little path to the tumbling EsOpus
swishing over the huge stones at the
foot OF the Cosgrove place.
From the time 1 had glimpsed the
stream on my mountain holiday with
/ Dicky In the first year OF our mar
riage this had been a beloved spot TO
me. and through this summer l have
carried 10 1t, as to a frind, all my ad
verse moods. An unusually able vii
lage stone-mason had constructed a
comfortable wide seat Of rock Just
above the bank of the stream-be-
hind it was the steep ascent OF the
little bluff below IL the restless
river, before and above il, towering
from the opposite bank, were the
restful eternal mountains.
There l threw myself down. and
gradually banished from my heart
the irritation which Bess Deans ar
rival had caused me. the foolish.
1 nameless. little premoniticn of some
shadowy menace impending which
! Mother Graham's news concerning
Katie's behavior had brought me. It
was here that Dicky found me a good
/ half hour afterward, and, TO my
great relief, Bess Dean was not with
/ him l felt in no mood for listen
! ing 10 her merry. malicious chatter
! clever and amusing as it sometimes
was
"Unravel me the mystery, old
/ dear" Dicky gibed, as he came
I lightly down the path. and 1 saw
Z that he held his mothers crumpled
+ letter 10 me in his hand. L don't
need 10 be named Poe or Doyle to
/ deduce that my beloved mater is at
| the bottom Of your sudden flight to
I the bosom OF nature and all the rest
I of H." he ratified on. Il just found
/ a letter from her in which she raves
/ about Katie, blessed If 1 can tell
what she's getting at, and then see
+ this crushed epistle in your work
I basket, and II percolates through my
alleged brain that you must be a
bit peeved. So, like a well-trained
husband, I trot In search of wife,
bringing the offending thing with
me. What's It all about dear
/ hearth"
Dicky Is Emphatic.
F-f-
prompted me TO answer demurely:
/ Il have 10 go home, that's all"
Have 70 go hOmei The devil you
( do, I guess you have two or three
! thinks coming about that. Where
/ do you get that home-flitting stun ?"
Better read your mothers letter"
] suggested listlessly.
Well, since you're so enthusiastic
about Il, guess 1 will" he retoTted,
i offended, and the next minute he
I had smoothed out the crushed letter
7 ~ 4