The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-12-20
bp KAu CLEANER
J STRAHAN
g by Doubleday Doran Co.. Ino.
wNU Service
q by Doubleday poran Co.

quest, of his innocence Mary" her
voice went ell tense again. docs II
seem to you that the jury was very
readily satistied?"
spoke sharply, too sharply to her
In answer to what l had imagined ]
saw in her attitude "Never mind
about the jury being easily satisfied
Sam is not going to be. He told me
this morning that he wonlo find the
had in the world 10 do it, Sam is
going to get TO the bottom of this.
Be sure of that"
| "l-wOnder," she said
"What do you wOnder%
"Maryr she exclaimed, close to a
reprOach. 81 merely wonder whether
or not Uncle Sam will succeed"
| looked at her brown eyes, all red
and swollen from tears, and at the
deep. dark circles under them. and ]
was ashamed.
put my arm around her shoulders
and drew her close to me. Honey"
said. forgive your old Mary. We
are all overStrung, overweight
didn't mean to speak so sharply"
81 know Were you looking for
something else, on the table? There
was nothing else In her bag"
81 was wondering" | said. "about
that toreign-loOking letter she got
on the second of July. Did she burn
1t, with the other thingsw
oddly, she didn't | found It in
typewriter. Either she forgot about
It; or knew that none of us could
read it. II was written In code. Here
1t is"
Code, indeed! When | took 1t from
it's envelope. this is what met my
| eyes:
"PaexZazIytpl fly nyx ogrgrago
IN fgaO aft jan j-asn, ahZgO zkg c.
ahhaIO, vkgt nyx clplzgf re zkg
kypulZae, zkaz nyx palf. vlzk nyxo
lrlzazgf r-yta e-lpa prleg, "p-yoon
yef fgaO, l-rafg-"
have copied only the first lines
on the first page. There were four
sleazy pages, all closely typewriter.
Not scratch of handwriting on 1t.
What judged to be the signature.
was, "Slrsl"
$40 you know who wrote this2"
asked.
81 am sure, If 1 dare be sure of
| anything, that 1t was written by
man named Lewis Bauermont"
counted the letters of Lewis"
on my fingers. Five. The number
of letters in the signature. "Slrsl."
"If he signed his name Lewis"
said, then IS would be. g. and a
would he e. and so on. Get o pencil,
dear. Let's see If we can work II
out"
| "No," she said, "you see, the letter
s. comes twice in the last word, and
there are no duplicate letters in
Lewis. She didn't read the signature,
when she read the letter to me. At
| least | don't remember"
"She read it to your | exclaimed.
81 thought that she did Now
don't know. can't be sure of any.
thing. She read to me what she said
was COPY Of the letter; that Is, the
worked-out code She may have left
out entire paragraphs. She may have
| changed it, in any way. in order to
keep her terrible secret from me-"
ayes, but what did she tell you
the letter cohtained?"
at is too long even to begin to tell,
now. And-I don't. want to tell II
again; not today. have told John
| all about 1t, you see Later of course
- Or you may ask John to tell you.
lit was an insult from beginning to
end. An insult TO her. | can't bear
thinking of it, any more; not today.
"Mary." her voice changed suddenly
as did her manner, "do you know
why Uncle Sam asked me-almOst
commanded me to be In the living
room at three O'Clock today?"
J mo, Danny, don't But he told
Mrs. Kicker and me to be there, too.
guess he just wants to talk to all
of US, together" -
''Oh-ta;ki What coed Is talk 60
ing to do? Talk, In Il place like this
now, where there is not one true
certain thing to get hold of. any.
where where not one of Us can be-
lieve in another"
She put quick hand to her lips !;
her eyes widened; she turned, and
hastily pushing aside the heavy cur.
tain. went through the clothes closet
| into her own room.
| sat still, at the desk. The paper
before me. ant the sharp pencil In
my hand, tempted me to make list,
as they always do fl books, of the
clews, to date. / wrote:
| Locked door.
"Key in my pocket.
"T. A. Il put only the initials of
tobacco ashes)
"Chad's suicide.
"Chad's note. What person was he
trying to shield?
"What did Hubert Hand think that
had overheard I'm the cabin?
"Mrs. Ricker's threat.
| Contents of the headed bag.
empty matchbox.
Empty purse. Missing bill-fold.
tRObbery.)
"Crumpled handkerchief tTearsl
Pleading?)
Broken Gig. holder.
"Hubert Hands note.
"The code letter.
| "Gabrielle's note to Danny"
My face burns, even yet, when l
realize that, at half-past two O'Clock
on the afternoon Of the fifth of July,
II had been possessed Of just one
lick of sense, | could, instead of writ