The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-03-28

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. II
was a pretty thorough job of spying
she noted; not many of their NEE. ngs
had been missed.
The thing was loathsome-thisw 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. its Implications
even It's very English, though here an
attempt had been made to give 1t q
businesslike, impersonal cast.
That detectives report had put her
out of conceit with love-made IL
seem dirty to her. 1t was hard to
realize that it 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
1t 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.
"Goodw he said, crisply, at sight of
her in the doorway. at was you i
wanted to see"
you look better since your nap"
she remarked.
81 feel like the DEVIL" he told her
but my minds cleared up all right.
That's why / want to talk to you,
without waiting any longer. Sit
down.
She obeyed him without word. He
waited moment longer before he
spoke again. Then. 1--WE got the goods
on you, Trix. / know what you've
been up to with this man Burns"
"Yes, and / know what you've been
up to. too" she countered. "Pve been
reading this" She tossed the docu-
ment contemporary upon the bed.
His good hand CROPPED for It, but
couldn't quite reach it. 'Tt'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
l was at dinner" she told him. "He
wanted a reward for 1t, and Arson
paid him. The envelop was torn open
and all muddy. 1t fell out of your
pocket. I 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. 1 spent
an hour reading 1t myself. It's pretty
good. Gave you what you wanted,
anyhow. And it'll save a lot of sob
stuff between you and me, 1 mean"
She was elated by the knowledge
that she was hurting him sayagely.
He writhed and then, at the pain this
movement cost him, groaned out, ooh,
Godi"
you'd better lie STILL" she went on,
quietly. "Tm going to tell you what
l meant about the soh-stuff We had
quite lot of it the other time, when
George brought me home drunk. All
about how you loved me and were go
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 a clean slate,
you said. / 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. Il didn't
l didn't put detectives on lou. l put
'em on that dog of a chauffeur I'd
fired for getting too familiar with you
And God knows 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, oil
loved me one little bit-you wouldn't
have thought so. That's why l say
we can cut out the sob-stuff."
you stop talking minute an6
listen" he commanded. Il happen tc
want you to get this straight. Burns
gave me as reference when he ap
piled for this job in the air mail.
was fool enough to write them a good
strong letter about him. Said he hat
left me voluntarily to improve his pc
sition and / thought he deserved to
l put in everything / could think OF
to help him. So when / came home
after he'd got the job, / wanted tC
see how he was getting on. Asked the
superintendent about him. / stopped
at the field one morning, thinking Pd
see him take the mail out; wish him
luck and so on. 1t happened l was
too late. He was still in sight, headed
south along the lake when got there
But stopped and talked with his me
chanic. The man had quite lot to
say about him and his luck. One
thing he said was that Burns was q
hit with the women. There was one
swell Jane, he said, used to meet him
quite often. Came out sometimes in
big car.