The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1927-02-18
her hearty voice dwindling to a
do you know anything"

"They have two. dearie, az we al
have" They had reached The dool
and she opened it warily. And one
moment I'm thinking it's the Other
and the third moment I'm thinking
it's neither OF them"
They passed through the door
way and went down The hall, stop
/ ping al the foot Of the stairs. Mrs.
Cornell offered a last c~onsoling
word:
"You can be thankful for one
thing, Anne. Joc's not being here"
"JoeW
ooh, I'm not saying he had any
thing to do with #. But these
cases-you read about them in the
papers. Every little thing traced
UP. And she and Joe having been
at loggerheads they'd be bouncing
on that-not telling you anything,
sending up your blood pressure
with their questions. You're spared
that. and It's worth keeping your
mind on. Nothing is bad but what
1t might be worse
She went on down The hall. Anne,
on the stairs, waited till she heard
the sound of the opening door and
Miss Pinkney's welcoming voice,
then she stole upward very softly.
She did not 90 TO her room, as
Mrs. Cornell had advised, but tip
toed to the end Of the hall where
the staircase led TO the top story.
She assembled with delicate care
fulness, letting her weight come
gradually on each step. Despite
her precautions the boards creaked.
The sounds seemed portentiously
loud in the deep quiet and she
stopped for the silence to absorb
them, and then, with chary foot,
went IL. At the top she stood,
subduing her deep-drawn breaths,
looking, listening.
The middle Of the floor was oc-
cupied by a spacious central hall
furnished as a parlor and lit by a
skylight. Giving on il were line
II small bedrooms, the doors open.
The STRINGS of the curtains, bill
lowing out and dropping, We're the
only movements in the place. She
moved to the middle of the room
and sent her voice out in a whis-
per:
Joe, Joe-are you here? It's
Anne"
Her ears we're strained for an
answering whisper, her eyes swept
about for q shape creeping into
view. but the silence was unbroken,
the emptiness undisturbed. She en-
tered the rooms, peered about,
opened cupboards, looked for signs
of occupation. Again nothing-va-
cancy, dust in film on the bu-
eau tops, beds untouched in
metlculOus smoothness.
One door was closed, near the
stairhead. Opening this, she looked
into a storeroom, q large, dark in
terror lit by two small windows.
They were dust-grlnied, and the
light came In dimly, showing up
turned trunks and boxes, pieces OF
furniture, lines of clothes hanging
on the walls.
Here" she thought, and with
her heart leaping in her throat,
crossed the threshold:
"Joe. it's Anne. I've come TO
help YOU"
Nothing stirred in the encum-
bered space, no stealthy body de-
tached itself from the shadows.
"Oh, answer me if you're there y
Her voice rose the shade of a tone.
II came back from the raftered
roof in smothered duplication: the
it had severed closed again,
ieep and secretive.
She feared to stay longer and
wraithlike. down the stairs.
N her she sat down and con-
;idered. He must have been there.
Where else could lie be unless III
one of the unoccupied apartments
the lower floors. But he hardly
would have dared that with people
and going. He had been
doubted her, as he had al
ways done, OF possibly found q
liding place too shut away for her
TO penetrate. Tonight she
you'd have to get food to him, take
t up when the men were in the
and the others safe In their
'Ooms.
She could do nothing more and
vent downstairs in the hope Of see
ng Bassett. Since morning she had
onged for q word with him. Not
hat she had any idea of telling
I'm, the direful secret was hers
lone to be confessed later on some
wful day of reckoning and retribu
ion. But she wanted to see him,
eft courage from his presence. feel
he solace of his arms about her.
he was lonely with her %intolerable
urden.
The living Don was empty, but
.stening at the han door she heard ,
be murmur of mems voices in the
They were In conference
gain and might be long. She :
assed out into the garden and :
ank down ON one of the benches.
he breeze moved among the flow :
RS and sent Shivers down the
reat wisteria vine trained up the !
Ouse wall and ascending the chin +,
eys. She looked ut 1t, its droop- }
lg foliage. stirred by a %quivering Z.
nrest. showing the fibrOus branches !
ltertwined like ropes-an old vine :
lch as city dwellers seldom see.
There were clouds in the sky, :,
white masses driving in :
nd and carrying the breath of Z
og. They had blotted out the i
III and were sweeping their torn
iges over the blue. If they kept n
4 1t would be dark tonight-no z
there was the man at =