New Britain herald., 1923-02-14
The Ness the Telegram Held Tor
nckK's friend

This Is a pretty pickle hlehA
said, still with the fF0wn which had
greeted Claire Fosters announcement
0f the telegram on the mantel, i'u
heih frnwR ana words were now ~
Feeled toward me, and I kneW that \
possible he would rAnirlle "a saddle
me with some variety Of blame con-
eerning the wire,
lie took the yellow envelope from
the mantel, turned II over IN the abs
surd way people have Of handling
kilograms or letters which they do
net wish 10 open, hut whose contents
they ought 10 know then looked al
me witheringly,
Il suppose il was beneath your
dignity "a make any inquiries eonr
corning old IlOh's address, 81 that
this telegram could ho sent on 10
him
Dicky j. WorrieI
looked al him with the cool,
poised. secretly amused gaze which
every wife knows Is an exceptionally
efficient weapon.
"Do you know his address," I coun'
tered smoothly,
whats that got to do with ~"
he snapped.
Nothing. save that n you possess
II. and had given IL to me when We
came here, would have been able 10
forward the telegram, As il was.
returned so near the time OF your own
arrival that | knew II would be use.
less for mo 10 do anything about II"
always there with tho ready alibi,
Dicky sneercd, and the familiar
phrase brought memories Of time
when had shed bitter tears at hear
ing il from his lips. But II rebound
cd from my mental armor now. leav-
ing no more scar than baby's rub
Der ball might have, and ! smiled
proyokingly at him.
Its an cver-present help IN time
OF trouble" murmurcd,
Dicky muttered something under
his breath, and stared down at the
telegram. evidently worried.
When did this Gomez" he querieo
sharply.
II left at ten. and | imagine from
what Claire said that il arrived short
~ afterward, L replied.
"Pretty Nifty, Eh?"
Seven hours he calculated. We'll,
there's no other way out I've got
TO open IT. 1t may be something that
ought to have an answer right away,
and | can't get Bob on the wire for
hours. They're miles from A railroad
and while | know the address from
which message can be sent to them,
/ couldn't get a reply before morn
ing So here goes. ! guess l know
old Bob well enough to open tele
gram for him"
He tore open the envelope, I'M
folded its enclosure, and read the
contents. the while | watched him
with subconscious eagerness. Was
the telegram?
II. needed but seconds scrutiny Of
Dicky's features. always expressive. to
relieve my anxiety on that score. He
was too warm hearted, l knew, too
found of his friends, to read unmoved |
any tidings bad for them. And on
his face when he had finished read |
ing there was intense surprise and |
genuine pleasure, emotions evidently |
so strong that they banished all recol- !
lection of the bad temper he had just
toward me. And he tossed |
the telegram over to me with the
patent expectation that l, too, should |
read it and rejoice.
Just look at that !" he said jubi-
lantly. "Od Bobs certainly struck |
twelve this time. And l never knew |
exactly what he was UP to. I've al |
ways known he had ambitions to get !
on the writer's end instead of the
editors, but l didn't know he'd ac-
complished this much"
My pique prompted me to hand the
telegram back with the remark that
was not interested in it, but my Curl
osity triumphed over my rancor and
| took up the telegram and read its
brief contents with interest: