The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-02-06
HOW COUSIN AGATHA CUNNING
LY BLOCKED mADGE'S PLAN.


Mrs Allis! AS 1 sat staring at the
mysterious newspaper clippings anon
! ymously sent with the evident pur-
pose of frightening me- and decided
| they must have come from her shiv-
cred with the dread the though of her
always brings me.
! Mrs. Allis. the woman who had
! driven Robert Savarin, the distin-
! guished artist, into exile and mental
| darkness for Is years; the woman
whose plot to steal the valuable paint
ings the artist had given to his sister,
| Mrs. Cosgrove, I had thwarted while
on an outing with Dicky at the Cos
| grove farmhouse in the Catskill noun
| tains: the woman who had tried to
| shater my nerves by a relentless track
| ing of my movements and a mad at
| tempt to disf1gure me with acid-clip-
| pings such as these accounts Of a spy's
execution and a hideous Black Hand
murder would be just the sort Of thing
she would enjoy.
But only a few weeks before, when
| Katherine Sonnet, my brother-cou
| little fiancee, had providentially saved
me from hideous Disagreement at her
! hands. Katherine's trained eyes-she
was accounted one of the best nurses
| in the city-had discovered that the
woman was a drug addict. She had
| used the knowledge, together with the
dread of punishment for the attempted
crime, to force Mrs. Allis to consent to
enter a private sanitorium for unfor-
Inmates where Katherine had the dis
posal of. one of the rooms. Katherine
and had taken her there ourselves.
If she had been dismissed or had
| escaped, surely Katherine would have
been notified and would have at once
gotten into communication with me.
The First Obstacle.
There was but one thing to be done.
must see Katherine at once. didn't
dare trust to the telephone with my
mother-in-law and Cousin Agatha in
the house, and the booth in the local
drug store was about as bad. ! was
certain that one of the local operators,
girl living not far from US, listened
in Systematically, and could imagine
the tidbit OF scandal she would have
if I told my story over the telephone
to Katherine.
looked at my watch. If hurried I
could catch the noon train. I had AM
unusually large hand bag, and a sud-
den impulse made me put one of my
crepe night dresses. which I could fold
into q very small space. and "a few
necessary toilet articles into it. 1 did
not foresee any emergency that would
keep me in the city. But might not
be able TO see Katherine until late,
and I could easily telephone out home
was staying with her so no one would
be alarmed.
went down stairs with as casual
an air as I could manage. I dreaded
Cousin Agatha's cat-like scrutiny. the
inference I knew she would draw FRONT
my trip to town following so closely .
upon my receipt of the two mysterious
letters.
us there anything you want in the
city. mother?" 1 asked Mother Ora
ham, who sat toasting her feet before
the coal CRATE in the dining room, the !
only fireplace we yet had been able
to make draw in the house we had
bought.
why? Are you going in?" She
looked up astonished and with a hint
of disapproval / have learned that
anything unexpected annoys Mother
Craham-I think it does most old peo-
pie. isn't this something sudden? /
Dicky didn't know you were going this
morning. did he?"
/ wanted to smile at her early Vic
torian attitude, but 1 knew better than
to let any hint of amusement appear
even in my eyes. II only 1 could get
away without any comment from
Cousin Agatha!
yes, think ne does" I returned
with a half-truth II told him the
other day / though 1 would go in either I
today or tomorrow. I want to look
at some draperies"
Mother Graham Decides.
My mother in law drew her feet