The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-11-25

10 pear the DEuUI OI IUe service. "Ol,
yes-and then there's Dale's gardener
If she gets one" thought Miss Cor
nelia. ST wish he could cook-but !
don't suppose gardeners can-and
Billy's a treasure. Still, it's incon-
venient-now, stop-Cornelia Van
Gorder-you were asking for an adj
venture only this morning and the mo-
ment the littlest sort of one comes
along. you want to crawl out of it,
She had reached the bottom of her
pile of letters-these TO be thrown
away-these to be answered-ah, here
was one she had overlooked somehow.
She took it up. 1t must be the one
Lizzie had wanted to throw away
she smiled at Lizzie's fears. The ad-
dress was badly typed, on cheap pa
per-she tore the envelope open and
drew out a single unsigned sheet.
IF you stay in this house any longer
DEATH. Go back to the city at
once and save your life
Her fingers trembled a little as she
turned the missive over, but her face
velope-at the postmark-while her
heart thudded intentionally for
moment and then resumed its normal
beat. 1t had come at last-the adven-
ture-and she was not afraid
She knew who it was, of course. The
Bat! No doubt of it. And yet-did
the Bat ever threaten before he
struck? She could not remember. But
it didn't matter. The Bat was IN
recedented-uniQue. At any rate,
Bat or no Bat, she must think out
course Of action. The detection Of
cook and housemaid left her alone in
the house with Lizzie and Billy-and
Dale, of course, if Dale returned. 1.-TWO
old women, a young girl and a Japa-
nese butler to face the most danger
Gus criminal in America" she thought,
grimly. And yet-ona couldn't be sure.
The threatening letter might be only
jOke-a letter from crank-after all.
Still, she must take precautions-look
for aid somewhere. But where could
she look for aid?
She ran over in her mind the new
acquaintance she had made since she
moved TO the country. There was
Doctor Wells, the local physician, who
had joked with her about moving into
the Bats home territory-he seemed
an intelligent man-but she knew him
only slightly-she couldn't call
busy doctor away from his patients TO
;n- SaI irf
only prove to be a mare's-nest. The
boys Dale had met at the Country
club-''Humph ?" she shifted. I'D rath-
er trust my gumption than any OF
theirs" The logical person TO call on,
Of course, was Richard Fleming,
Courtleigh Fleming's nephew and
heir, who had rented her the house.
He lived at the Country club-she
could probably reach him now. She
was just on the point Of doing so,
when she decided against it-pary
from delicacy, partly from an indie n
able feeling that he would not be Of
much help. Besides" she thought
sturdiIy, "it's my house now, not his
he didn't guarantee burglar protec-
ton in the lease"
For a moment she felt very helpless,
very much alone. Then her courage
returned.
"Pshaw, Cornelia, if you have got
TO get help-get the help you want
and hang the consequences ~ she ad-
jured herself. You've always ham
kered TO see a frst-class detective do
his detecting-weIl, get one-or decide
to do the job yourself-TTl bet you
could, at that"
She tiptoed TO the main door of the
living room and closed it cautiously,
smiling as she did so. Lizzie might
be about-and Lizzie would promptly
90 into Mysteries if she got an inkling
of her mistress present intentions.
Then she went TO the telephone, and
asked for long distance.
When she had finished her telephon-
ing, she looked at once relieved and
little naughty-like a demure child
who has carried out some piece Of in
nocent mischief unobserved MY
stars !" she muttered TO herself You
never can tell what you can do till
you try" Then she sat down again
and tried TO think Of other measures
Of defense.
snow, if 1 were the Bat, or any
criminal she mused, how would I
get into this house? Well, that's it
l might get in most any way-it's SO
big and rambling. All the grounds
you want TO Turk in, too-ft'd take a
company Of police to shut them OF.
Then there's the house itself-let's
see-third flOor-trunk room, servants
rooms-couldn't get in there very well
except with a pretty long ladder
that's all right. Second fioor-well,
suppose a man could get into my bed
room from the porch if he were an
acrobat-but he'd need TO be a very
good acrobat and there's no use Dor
rowing trouble. Downstairs is the
problem, Cornelia-downstairs is the
problem.
Take this room. now She rose
and examined il carefully. There's
the door over there on the right that
leads into the billiard room There's
this door over here, that leads into
the hall Then there's the other door
by the alcove-and all those French
window-whew She shook her
head.
(To BE CONTLNUED)