New Britain herald., 1923-05-08
TIE Danhie Disclosure MFs, Marks
Candidly Made 90 Maiige

Al the sound 81 PeisY AlaTks's 'olee
arTagantlY Kidding his wife not II
talk 20 as until he found out who Ne
were or so | interpreted his peculiar
aTgoi disiiRCitselY sRnhg ms
Kitchen daar almost shut, but 50 Slow
Ia ana noiselessly that ! vas sure the
couple in The next room could not
hear any movement OF mine,
Then / stood hTeathless hehind u
waiting for the exit from his home Of
my trueulent neighber There hail
been something about his voice which
hsd indicated Imminent departure "a
me, although how ! knew II ] could
not tell, and something warned me
that he must not know had over
heard him,
I barely had accomplished the clos
ing OF the kitchen door, though not
It's iatehing, when tho door of the
Marks apartment opened and shut
and ! felt rather than heard. the
quiet progress OF some one down the
hall. Then the Marks door opened
again, and the voice OF Mrs Marks
called cautiously.
"Petey Wait You forgot some
thing"
she ran past my door and ] heard
q muttered exclamation from her
husband. then an insisten'. laughing
demand.
kiss me. Petey. or III knock your
block on
Then thu noisy closing OF the hall
door came 10 my ears and ] heard
the quick pattsr OF her feet back.
but. TO my surprise. she stopped Just
outside my door, and heard not
only her quick breathing, but fainter
sound. the click OF latch which. If
I had been N feet further away
would have been inaudible.
Mrs. Marks Is Confidential
What could she he doing? The
answer came almost before had
asked the question of myself ! re-
memhered the sensation OF being
watched by unseen eyes. which ] had
experienced the night before. and my
discoyery a few seconds later of the
tiny aperture In the frosted glass
windows which formed the rear of the
great staircase upon every story or
the apartment house. had had no
time to hunt for the location of that
aperture. but ] was sure that Mrs
Marks was standing behind II now
watching.
The sound Of the closing street door
came TO my ears. and the next In
stsnt there came light tap upon my
kitchen door.
,f,-4
It's only me. so don't get frightened
I swung the door wide open and
found that she was not standing OUT
side it. but three or four feet away
with her eyes peering through a tiny
opening in the big windows overlook
ing the staircase. /.
'.come here" she whispered, and
I'll put you on to something.
had meant 10 tell her frigidly
that I saw no reason viii / should
be frightened, but something insis-
tent In her manner pushed the words
back from my lips, and brought me
to her side. She moved slightly 10
the left, and ! saw that her hand
held the tiny knob of a sliding bolt
It was an absurdly simple thing.
On each side of the stairway the
great windows held two narrow panels
with inside bolts. They could be
opened with practically no noise. and
from thief one commanded view OF
the staircase directly in front Of the
window, the landing by the apart
ment door and the big lower street
doors.
"You Know How Men Are
With her eyes still fixed on the
lower street door, Mrs. Marks spoke
RAPIDLY beneath her breath.
ANY time you want to lamp any
body coming in. here's the place to
do It," she said. then added signf1-
cantly: 1T comes in mighty handy
sometimes
I drew back instinctively, upon my
lips a frigid comment that | should
not need the device. But ! pressed
the words back, and murmured In
stead a perfunctory:
Thank you, 1t is very interest
ing"
She glanced obliquely at me.
YES. but ! guess you won't never
need IT, the way ] will she said.
"But let me tell you. If you hear a
ring on that door down the hall, and
we amt in, you'd better look through
A II. H..