The Holly chieftain., 1924-04-10

| tents. She had NO sense of prying.
She had assumed all along that the
| papers related to some matter Of busi-
ness. and business was something In
! which she took the most tepid interest.
But her. attention was caught by the
first line her eye fell upon.
party Yves met at corner of Broad
| way and :" Why, that was the
drugstore corner where she used to
meet George! "by young lady driving
1918 model Archer roadster. license
| number"
1t was the report of a detective
agency upon her and George. from the
twentieth Of October, the week of her
fathers return from the Northwest.
| to the fifteenth of November, when
she'd gone North with him again. 1t
was pretty thorough Job of spying
she noted, not many Of their meetings
had been missed.
The thing was loathsome-this was
what she felt first, before any thought
of the consequences Of its revelations
had time to form in her mind; loath-
some in the chop-licking, leering nasti-
ness of Its attitude, itstimplications-
even Its very English, though here an
attempt had been made to give it @
businesshke. impersonal cast.
That detectives report had put her
out of conceit with love-made 1t
seem dirty to her. 1t was hard to
realize that 1t was only this afternoon
she had been looking at Mrs. Hender-
sons rooms, pretending to be Georges
wife. But he was her friend, anyhow
| He and Jennie Macarthur were the
two squarest people she knew. So
she couldn't kill herself. She couldn't
even run away without seeing him
| first.
AT half-past eight or thereabout she
| heard her father ring, and on impulse
she forestalled Arson and answered
| it herself. She carried the detectives
| report along with her, rolled up tight
| in one hand. She had forgotten Doc
tor Benefits orders as well as reso-
| luton Of her own not to see her father
| again nor speak to him until he was
| well. nor until her own mind was
made up as to what she was going
| to do.
"Good!" he said. crisply, at sight of
| her in the doorway. at was you
wanted to see"
You look better since your nap,"
she remarked.
II feel like the devil" he told her;
"but my minds cleared up all right.
That's why I want to talk to you,
without waiting any longer. Sit
down"
She obeyed him without word. He
| waited a moment longer before he
spoke again. Then. i've got the goods
on you, Trix. know what you've
been up to with this man Burns"
ayes, and I know what you've been
up to, too" she countered. "Tve been
reading this" She tossed the docu-
ment contemptuously upon the bed.
His good hand CROPPED for 1t, but
couldn't quite reach it. "It's the re-
port of your detectives" she added.
"Where in HI did you get hold of
that?" he asked.
"a man brought 1t to the door while
was At chC tolu lllIl. T16
wanted reward for 1t, and Anson
paid him. The envelop was torn open
and all muddy. 1t fell out Of your
pocket. suppose, when you were hit
by that car. The man had read it, of
course-and goodness knows how
many other people. Not that that
matters much-to anybody. spent
an hour reading it myself. It's pretty
good. Gave you what you wanted,
anyhow. And it'll save lot of sob
stuff ff!-between you and me, I mean.".
She was elated by the knowledge
that she was hurting him savagely.
He wrlthed and then, at the pain this
movement cost him. groaned out. "Oh.
God"
You'd better lie STILL" she went on,
quietly. am going to tell you what
I meant about the soh-stuff. We had
quite lot of 1t the other time, when
George brought me home drunk. All
about how you loved me and were 60
ing to trust me just the same Jennie
was going to stay here to take care
Of me and be my friend while you
were away. But the past was going
to be forgotten. 1t was clean slate,
you said. l suppose you thought she'd
spy on me, anyway. Maybe you told
her to. But she didn't. Jennie was
square-with me and with you, too.
But when you came back she hadn't
anything bad to tell you about me.
So, before you'd been home week
you hired detectives-to get the goods
on me like you said"
He contradicted her here. II didn't.
didn't put detectives on lou. I put
'em on that dog Of chauffeur I'd
fred for getting too familiar with you.
And God knows 1 was right to do it."
"Oh. yes, you were right" she ad-
mitted. you thought you'd get me
that way. and you did. But If you'd
trusted me like you pretended to, or
loved mo ono LITTLE bft--vou wouldn't