The Pensacola journal., 1922-12-27
New Revelations of
a Wife
By ADELE GARRISON

4
| needed no explanation of the golC
coin purporting to come from repre-.
sentatives of my father and the i'm.
perative summons for my presence a
| the house of mystery. But she studied
| them long and carefully.
| II believe you said you thought thai
| you recognized this handwriting
| Madge." she said at last, looking up
| II don't recognize it" | explained
| carefully, although / have been upon
/ the piont of it several times. / have
seen it somewhere, certainly, but
where is beyond me. However, 1 am
sure it will come to me soon, per-
| haps suddenly"
''It would be of help to me Just
! now," Lillian said regretfuIly: But
there's no use crying over spilled
| miss
dress, put involuntary smoothing
! hands to her hair, and, taking from
her knitting bag the small pistol
she CARRIED when on dangerous mis-
sions, she thrust it into the loose
folds of her gown.
You're surely not going over
her preparations crept through my
brain.
II most certainly am" she retorted
81 want to see that outfit for my
self, and there never was a better op-
portunity in the world than this"
81 am going with you" l said
spiritedly. rising.
you'll do nothing Of the kind" she
back into my chair, and I saw she
was in deadly earnest. eff 1 satisfy
myself that these men are in reality
representatives Of our father it will
then be plenty Of time for you to go
over there. But if, on the contrary,
they belong to Grace Draper's gang,
on no account should you go near
them. And the appearance Of that
Jap certainly bears out your theory"
she inclined her head toward my
mother in -law-'of their evil charac-
ter. That fellow is a bad actor if
ever there was one"
My mother-in- n-law smiled complac-
emily. But I was distressed indeed.
"They'II Not Harm Me-"
But don't you see, Lillian" eX-
postulated. "that cannot let You go
"Middlesticks, my dear" Lillian re-
turned lightly. They'll not harm me.
If they're the enemy camp, they're
not particularly anxious to monkey
with quite so prominent a buzz saw
forgive the seeming conceit-as I
am. But remember, Grace Draper
and that SCARED hand henchman of
hers have a personal interest in your
injury. fat grudge they would go
far to feed, and I'm not going to risk
you anywhere again unless 1 know
just where you're going.
mo child. you stay right here. I'm
going now to send William for those
guards. I'll give them instructions in
case of an emergency, so You needn't
have the slightest worry. I'll just take
this trinket with me-"
She picked up the tiny gold coin,
but left the penciled left-handed
scrawl behind her. AS she hurried
out of the room my mother-in law
spoke irascibly:
II should think you could remember
where you'd seen that handwriting,
Margaret. I've seen you do lots more
difficult tricks than that"
II only wish I could, mother" I re-
turned humbly, for + was nonplussed
indeed at the failure of my usually
remarkable trained memory in this
instance when Lillian. so sorcly need
ed it. And my heart was chilled
with dread for my friend. I wasn't
deceived by her careless manner.
The precautions she was taking in the
matter of the pistol and the guSrds
for the emergency of which she so
lightly spoke proved that she recog-
nized a very real danger in her err
rand.
Madge Remembers.
took the paper, and, seating my
self before a small table, smoothed
it out and placed it in front of me.
Then for a long time 1 gazed at it.
trying to exclude everything else
from my mind save the thought of
it, that I might remember where I
had seen similar characters.
And then, bit by bit, it came back
to me. I seemed again to be sitting
at a restaurant table. opposite a
man, who, under the stress Of a great
emotion, was feverishly forming let
ters upon the back of the menu card
in unconsciousness of what he was
doing. 1 had wondered then at his
facility in writing with either hand,
and had been especially fascinated
in watching the characters he formed
with his left hand. The same char |
acters were before me now!
1 glanced furtively at my mother i'm !
aw, relieved to find her standing at |
he window, watching the grounds of !
he house next door. I didn't wish |
ler to know of my discovery just !
-et. 1 couldn't understand it, but I
vas sure that if my memory had not
played me false, Lillian would soon
'e back.
She came swiftly, few momentsJ
ater, and I had never seen her so
ense with suppressed excitement.
"They are representatives Of your
ather, Madge," she said. land l wish
ou to come back with me at once"
/ hurried through the grounds.
glow with glad excitement, for 1 was
eginning to guess what manner of
nen I should find in the house of
nystery."
1 wasn't disappointed. AS Lillian
shered me into Mrs. Durkee's we'll
library. shutting the door
imost in the face of the ubiquitous
ap,, my father drew me joYfully into
is arms. while over the elder mans
houlder smiled the earnest, kindly
ace of Or Petit