The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1923-06-22

II get aboard the cars. He was goin,
II to sleuth the other crook" Julius
II paused. II thought for sure you't
II know all this"
II Julius" said Tuppence firmly, sIt
II down in that armchair and tell me the
II whole story with as few fancy turns
II Of speech as possible"
II We'll" began Julius, II got into
II one Of your dear old-fashloned first.
| was just off. 1 did bit OF prospect
| ing along the corridor to the next
coach. Wilmington was there right
| enough. When / saw the skunk, with
his big sleek fat face, and thought of
poor little Jane In his clutches, 1 felt
real mad that l hadn't got gun with
me. I'd have tickled him up some.
"We got to Bournemouth all right.
Wilmington took cab and gave the
name of an hotel. 1 did likewise, and
we drove up within three minutes of
each other. He hired a room, and l
hired one too. So far 1t was all plain
sailing. Well, he just sat around In
the hotel lounge, reading the papers
and so on, till 1t was time for dinner.
II began to think that there was
nothing doing, that he'd just come on
the trip for his health, but I remem-
bered that he hadn't changed for din
ner, though it was by way of being
slap-up hotel. so 1t seemed likely
enough that he'd be going out on his
real business afterward.
"Sure enough, about nine o'clock, so
he did. Took a car across the town
mighty pretty place by the way, l
guess I'll take Jane there for a spell
when / find her-and then paid 1t off
and struck off along those pine-woods
on the top of the cliff l was there,
too, you understand. We walked,
maybe, for half an hour. There's
lot of villas all the way along, but by
degrees they seemed to get more and
more thinned out, and in the end we
got to one that seemed the last of the
bunch.
ut was a pretty black night. and
the carriage drive up to the house was
dark as pitch. l could hear him
ahead, though / couldn't see him. / |
turned curve and l was just In time
to see him ring the bell and get ad- |
mltted to the house. l just stopped |
where l was.
Wilmington didn't come out again,
and by and by / got kind of FESTIVE,
and began to mouch around. All the
ground floor windows were shattered
tight. but upstairs. on the first floor
n r%o tod 4 4 ]
a window with a light burning and
the curtains not drawn.
Nov, just opposite to that win
dow, there was tree growing. 1t
was about thirty foot away from the
house, maybe, and 1 sort of got 1t
into my head that, If climbed up that
tree, I'd very likely be able to see
into that room. So started up.
SIT wasn't so easy by a long chalk
The rain had made the boughs mighty
slippery, and 1t was all l could do ;,
to keep a foothold, but bit by bit |
managed it, until at last there l was :
level with the window.
but then l was disappointed.
could only see sideways into the room.
Just as / was going to give 1t up, and
climb down ANONYMOUSLY, someone
inside moved and threw his shadow c
on my little bit of wall--and, by gum. D
t was Wilmington
after that, my blood was up. I'd o
lust got to get look into that room. N
L was up to me to figure out how. I Il
noticed that there was a long branch al
out from the tree in the right Il
Erection. If l could only swarm OF
bout halfway along It, the PROPOSE tC
ion would be solved. Very cautiously. dl
nch by inch, 1 crawled along. At &C
asst I got safely to where / wanted hi
o be. dc
'There was a table with a lamp on at
In the middle of the room, and sit Il
Ing at that table, facing toward me. he
as Wilmington right enough. He hi
'as talking to woman dressed as a
ospital nurse. She was sitting with do
err back to me, so / couldn't see her FL
ice. l couldn't catch word of what IA
icy said. Wilmington seemed to be he
Ding all the talking, and the nurse all
lst listened. He seemed very en-
or twice he beat with sp
S fist on the table. 70
Presently, he seemed to get to the
Id of what he was saying. He got III
}, and so did she. He looked NJ
wards the window and asked some mis-
ing-I guess II was whether It was luc
lining. Anyway. she came right WI
ross and looked out. Just then the gut
Don came out from behind the get
buds. / was scared the woman | {
)uld catch sight OF me, for was VOL
u in the moonlight. tried to wb
i've back bit. The jerk / gave hin
Is too much for that rotten old "
anch. With an almighty crash, the
wn 1t came, and Julius p. Hers wa.
INNER with It'll" mis-
'Oh, julius breathed Tuppence. traI
,u axcfffnQf 90 on g..