The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-07
CHAPTER Vl-continued.
10

There were two rather striking sim
gularities about this message. and she
paused to make sure she understood
the implication in it before carrying
out its explicit instructions. 1t was
queer that Joe, with so little time at
his disposal, should propose wasting
any of it driving clear out to her fiat
when the office. which would be right
In his way, would be the natural place
for a talk with her especially on Sun
day afternoon, when it was always
quiet. 1t was not sure to be complete
ly deserted. of course; there was al
ways the chance of an odd craftsman
cleaning up some job or other. And
If, for some reason, Joe didn't want
any one in the organization, outside
herself, to know he'd even been in
town She supposed that must be it.
1t was also worth remark that he'd
instructed her to telephone direct to
his chauffeur instead of transmitting
the message through his apartment,
the natural way to do 1t unless he
wanted to take Beatrice by surprise.
This was familiar form Of pleasantly
with him, and She attributed to him no
Interior intention now. He ran the
obvious risk of missing his daughter
altogether-just for the pleasure of
seeing her start and gasp at the sight
of him-for she might easily be out,
somewhere, and not recoverable at the
last minute.
However, there was nothing to do
but follow out Joe's Instructions Her
telephone to the place where George
Burns lived got him on the wire al
mostly instantly. She would have pre-
ferred to find him away from his
clearinghouse so she could call An
son.
The moment she told him who she
was and what she wanted he said /:
well, Miss Macarthur, that settles It,
I've got to see you at once. Can't
tell you over the telephone Wait for
me at your fiat"
A few minutes later he came bound
Ing up the stairs.
Miss Greer isn't at home" he told
her at once. "She was out all last
night. Went out to a dinner last night
and then to beach swimming party"
At Jennie's Mortified stare he impa-
tiently shook his head.
'.No, she isn't drowned, or there's
no reason for thinking so. They got
some sort of message from her late
last night. Couldn't make anything
of 1t except that she'd be home the
first thing this morning. asked An
son why he hadn't got more than that
If the party that gaze the message
was drunk. He seemed to think that
was disrespectful and none of my busi-
ness, so he wouldn't say. 1 guess that
was 1t, though.
HE told me to keep my hands off,
but your message that Mr. Greer was
coming in has put us tight up against
1T, and | wanted to ask your advice"
Jennie told him there was only one
thing to do, to hunt for her at all the
places where she was used TO go and
try and get her home before she
reached there with Mr.. Greer. Mean
while she would delay their own ar
rival at the apartment as long as pos
sible.
Joe's train was an hour late and
when he slipped in alongside of Jennie
In her own car he upbraided her for
not letting George come down and get
him. He said the long wait served her
right. Then they swung In to a long
chummy talk about business, Trix,
Henry Craven and the other personal
tiles in which she knew Joe to be in
terested. while she fought for time.
Jennie drove as slowly as she dared
until restless movement of Joe's be-
trayed his suspicion that this was what
she was doing; after that she bored
into the dense Sunday traffic like q
taxi-driver. Four or five minutes one
way or the other weren't likely to
make much difference. whereas the
arousing Of Joe's jungle sense of some
thing amiss would be almost certainly
disastrous.
The exact minute.of their arrival did
make difference. as things turned
out. but whether for the better or the
worse Jennie was unable to decide
AS she slipped her car into the south
bound stream of traffic in the Sheri
dan road, a block north of Joe's apart
ment-building. he remarked. There
she is. We're right on time That's
tie roadster. three cars ahead Of us
Funny she's letting Burns drive: get
ting bored with ii already. i suppose.