Evening star., 1926-11-11
BY DOROTHY DIX.


their mistress husband that she did
not know and tittering over his affair
| with the pretty choir Singer--and on
the day after DIR. Hall failed to come
| home, Mrs. Hall wandering restlessly
about the house. asking futile ques-
tions Of her maid about why he had
not come back, where he was, and
tacitly bidding for her sympathy.
Barbara Misses Nothing.
Barbara Tough is a bonny Scotch
! lasSie, twin sister to Barrie'S Leedy,
I who went to see the minister's wife
and sat dumb, and apparently over.
awed the entire time, without once
lifting her eyes to look about her. Yet
when she went home she knew how
! many cracks there were in the walls
how often the table cover had been
/ darned, and that a chair had been
! placed over spot in the carpet and
"a tidy covered a hole in the chair.
! Barbara is also one of the all-seeing
and all-knowing. You may be sure
that nothing escapes the eyes behind
her big, round glasses, and If she
doesn't tell everything she knows 1t
| is because 1t is in her blood to be
canny and leal.
| She is the kind of maid that every
| housewife dreams about-young. but
old enough not to be fiighty: quick
and alert in her movements, efficient
and reliable. Seif-respect radiated
from her suitable black hat and plain
| good coat-the kind of maid who
would keep her own place and keep
| her mistress in hers.
! Senator Simpson began by asking
her what she knew about the rela-
| tionship between DR.. Hall and Mrs.
,.L. ;JArl a.,
Of joyous anticipation that every wom-
ans face wears when she sits herself
down to feast Of scandal.
| But just as she got into her stride
and the audience was sitting on the
edge of it's chairs tapping it up, rs
| she told how once she went down to
! the church on some errand and, not
| finding DIR. Hall in his study, went
| into the guild room. where she found
Mrs. Mills sitting on his lap, Senator
Case interrupted the narrative with q
thousand objections.
! Gossip Kept Secret.
: Nor was Barbara permitted to re-
late the gossip that was current in
! the church about the rector and the
choir singer, nor even to tell what
people said about DR.. Hall and Mrs.
Mills staying together alone down at
/ the Boy Scout camp while Mrs. Hall
stayed in town. Nor was she per-
/ mitted to give her opinion whether
| Mrs. Hall knew Of these goings on or
not. though she said she and the other
| servants often talked them over.
The Thursday on which DR.. Hall
and Mrs. Mills disappeared, Barbara
said she went to the Parker Home for
Incurables. (She was sent there to
watch if DR.. Hall and Mrs. Mills
passed by, Mrs. Mills sister whispered
darkly behind me) She did not get
back home until 10 o'clock at night,
when she went straight to her room,
and knew nothing more until about 2
o'clock. when she heard Mrs. Hall
moving about downstairs.
The next morning Mrs. Hall said to
her: barbara. Mr.. Hall did not come
back home last night" And she asked,
such foolish or insane thing as one
says under such circumstances.
Later in the day Mrs. Hall said to
her: Barbara, where do you think he
can be?" And she said, Il wish l
could tell you"
And so the dreadful day of uncer-
tainty wore on, Mrs. Hall looking sad
like and worried, but keeping calm
and quiet.
Tells of Phone Call.
Once she telephoned to some one
connected with the church that Mr..
Hall wouldn't be at the choir practice
that night; that he wasn't at home.
And she sent for Mr.. Halls sister,
who came and took back home with
her her little daughter, who had come
out to spend a week with the Halls.
And Mrs. Hall gave her DIR. Halls
white socks to wash, as she always
did.
But concerning the climax Of the
tragedy, when the bodies were found,
she knew nothing. except that some
body called Mrs. Hall up on the tele.
phone and she heard her say, "No,
DR.. Hall hasn't come" Then, Don't
tell me anything about it; don't tell
ME anything about 1t.
| Barbara Is not gifted-or cursed
with imagination, and apparently 1t
did not occur to her that she was look
! ing on at a drama more thrilling,
more poignant. more terrible, than
! any over which she ever wept and
| shuddered in her beloved movies. For
! she was watching woman with a
| breaking heart trying to carry on and
keep up appearances and to hide from
! the world as long as possible that her
husband was missing; ashamed to
call up the police and tell them that
| she feared that he had run off with
another woman: making pitiful ex-
| cuseS to his church people: having his
clothes set in order. as if. by providing
| for his needs, she could make him
come back-tloing anything to keep
| from thinking. to keep from facing the
| truth. Or else she was watching a
woman who carried the secret of q
ghastly murder in her heart. and who
waited through endless, desperate
| hours for the messenger to come to
! tell her 1t had been discovered.
Stood Great Ordeal.
| Either way, you can picture nothing
worse this side of purgatory than
those two nights and that day of sor.
row that Mrs. Hall went through be-
/ tween the disappearance of her hus
band and the finding of the dead
/ lovers beneath the crabapple tree
/ The balance of the day was mainly
/ taken up with the testimony Of Totten
officer on the scene of the tragedy
and who told over again for the thou
! sandth time about his search for clues
and his finding OF the letters and the
cards, the handkerchiefS, and SO on
the ghastly bits of evidence that are
dragged forth from their paper box
half a dozen times during every ses
sion. Also he told about going and
! getting Willie Stevens and about his
having been subjected to hours oi
cross-exam mining at the HANDS Of the
police. But nothing came of it. Willie