Evening star., 1922-04-13

at the straps of his grip and re-
monstrating with it under his breath.
when the door opened and messen-
ger boy stuck his head in.
! Does Mr.. Kennedy live here? ne
asked
| Craig impatiently seized the pencil.
! signed his name in the book. and tore
open a night letter. From the pro-
| longed silence that followed felt a
| sense of 'misgiVing. /. at least, had
| set my heart on the Atlantic City
| outing, but with the appearance OF
the messenger boy 1 intuitively feit
| that the Boardwalk would not see us
that week.
I'm afraid the Atlantic City trip
| is off, Walter" remarked Craig. seri-
! ously. You remember Tom Langley
in our class at the university? Well
read that
! laid down my safety razor and
took the message. Tom had not
spared words. and I coVd see at
| glance at the mere length of the
thing 1t must be important. 1t was
from Camp Hang-out in the Adiron-
dacks.
| Dear old X" it began, regardless
, of expense. can you arrange to come
up here by next train after you re-
| ceive this? Uncle Lewis is dead. Most
| mysterious. Last night after we re-
tired noticed peculiar odor about
This morning found him lying on
floor of living room. head and chest
literally burned to ashes, but lower
part of body and arms untouched.
Room shows no evidence of fire. but
full of sort of oily SCOT. Otherwise
nothing unusual. On table near body
siphon of seltzer. bottle of imported
gin. lines, and glass of rickeys. Have
removed body, but am keeping room
exactly as found until you arrive
TD.,, ~
come. but make every effort and
spare no expense. Anxiously, Tom
Langley"
! Craig was impatiently looking at
his watch as 1 hastily ran through
the letter.
Hurry. Walter" he exclaimed.
we can just catch the Empire State.
| Never mind shaving-we'l have a
stop-over at Utica to wait for the
| Montreal express. Here. put the
! rest of your things in your grip and
| jam it shut. Wen get something to
eat on the train-I hope. I'll wire
| we're coming. Don't forget to latch
the door"
Kennedy was half way to the ele.
vatOr. and l followed ruefully, still
thinking of the ocean and the piers.
the bands and the roller chairs.
1t was a good ten-hour journey UP
to the little station nearest Camp
| Hang-out and at least two-hour
ride after that. We had plenty OF
time to reflect over what this death
and to speculate on the manner OF
it. Tom and Grace Langley were
relatives by marriage of Lewis
Langley. who. after the death of his
wife. had made them his proteges.
Lewis Langley was principally noted
as far as could recall of being mem
Der of some Of the fastest clubs Of New
York and London. Neither Kennedy
nor myself had shared in the world S
opinion Of him. for we knew how
and from Tom. how good he had
been to Grace. In fact. he had made
Tom assume the Langley name. and
| in every way had treated the brother
and sister as il they had been his
own children.
Tom met us with a smart trap at
the station. a sufficient indication. If
We had not already known, of the
| "roughing 1T" at such luxurious
Adirondack camp" as Camp Hang
out. He was unaffectedly glad to
! see US. and it was not difficult to
| read in his face the worry which
! the affair had already given him.
! Tom, I'm awfully sorry to be-
! gan Craig when, warned by Lang
! Iey's look at the curious crowd that
! always gathers at the railroad sta
ton at train time, he cut it short.
We stood silently moment while
Tom was arranging the trap for u.s.
| AS we swung around the bend in
| the road that cut Off the little sta
| tion and its crowd of lookers-on
| Kennedy was the first to speak.
| Tom" he said, first Of all. let me
ask that when we get to the camp
we are to be simply two old class
| mates whom you had asked to spend
Cured Anything will do. There
may be nothing at all to your evil
dent suspicious, and then again
there may At any rate, play the
! game safely-don't arouse any feel
! ing which might cause unpleasant, ;,
II quite agree with you,", answered
| Tom. You wired, from Albany, I
think. to keep the facts out' of the
papers as much as possible: I'm
course, the thing became vaguely
known in Saranac. although the
! county officers have been very con-
siderate of US. and this morning q
, New York Record correspondent was
over and talked with us. couldn't
refuse: that would have put a very
bad face on it"
hoped. al least. to be able to keep
the report down to few lines In the
Star. But the Record will have such
a yellow story about it that I'll
|
yes" assented Craig. But
wait Let's see the Record story
first. The Office doesn't know you're
up here. You can hold UP the Star
and give US time to look things over
perhaps get in a beat on the real
story and set things right. Anyhow
the news is out. That's certain. We
must work quickly. Tell me, Tom
who are at camp-any one except
relatives?'
No" he replied, guardedly. meas;
uring his words. 'Uncle Lewis had
invited his brother James and his
ir.-we call him Junior. There are
Grace and myself and a distant rela-
tive. Harrington Brown, and-oh, OF
course, uncle's physician, DR.. Put
Who is Harrington Brown" asked
Craig.
mothers side. I think, or at least
Grace thinks. that he is quite in love
with Isabelle Harrington Brown
would be quite a catch. OF course
he isn't wealthy, but his family is
mighty we'll connected: Oh, Craig.
sighed Langley. II wish he hadn't
done it-Uncle Lewis, mean. Why
now when he needed to recover from
the swift pace of last winter in New
York; You know-or you don't
know, 7 suppose, but you'll know II
now-when he and Uncle Jim got to-
cether there was nothing to it but
Lone drink after another. DR.. Put
nam was quite disguised. at least he
professed to be. but. Craig" he low
cred his voice to a whisper. as II the
| very forest had ears, they're all