Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-04-16
BY Lillian Gill

All, he understood her so well! So
much better than any one else ever
could. On this gratifying thought he
fell asleep. {TT
But dreams of quarreling with Brad
pursued him and while it was still dark
he awoke oppressed by the heat and
by the failure Of the evening. Not
to kiss her good night when she had
asked himl What q stupid, boorish
way of ~aptingl He would go IN neR
for just a moment. kiss her IS she
slept and come away again. He opeuAG
the door softly and went In. SheSXAe
not there Her gold evening sat4Ae4n
were on the floor, the rest a. her
clothes were gone.
Less than>a quarter Of an hour be-
fore, Brad Maitland had gotten up,
dressed. and very quietly had ope1ed
the door into the hall and made hGr
way down the stairs in her stocking
feet. The big hail below and all the
parlors and writing rooms were empty:
the porter. was asleep In his little once
by the front door. Slowly and eau
tiously in the almost alarming STILL
ness, she Unmatched the glass doors
that led on to a side porch. A. HI
opened them the scent of orange b}oo-
SONS were poured around her. 0yer
the grass she ran lightly-her koA,
springy legs were we'll adapted for
running-and stopped beside q French
window, fourth on the right wing OF
the hotel. 1t would not be locked, she
hoped. A fifty franc note to Natalie
had made this almost sure. The obhg-
ing girl would have gone into the room
just before monsieur and madame were
ready for bed, with the excuse of hav-
ing forgotten earlier to bring q bottle
of Perrier and would have contrived
with Gallo aptitude to leave ajar the
glass door opening on the lawn. OF
course Tom or his wife might have
closed it again, but that would not be
like Tom. He never worried about
burglars-in fact, he worried very little
about anything in life.
Natalie had done her part and luck
had done its part. The door was not
latched and without any difficulty Brad
pushed it softly open and stood within
the room. Her heart was beating
rather fast. There was Tom asleer
and in another bed beside him "his
damn wife," as Brad raShly muttereC
to herself. Good looking certainly a.
she had stood on the terrace (the light
was too dim to see her plainly now
better looking than she had been re-
ported to the first Mrs. Van Hoke by
considerable friends. Tom, Brad didn'
have to see-she knew everything abou'
him, including the happy fact that HI
was an extraordinarily sound sleeper
Going over to the dressing table sh'
fumbled around and found his hal
brushes, his studs, his collar, but nj
feminine accessories Of any kind. She
very neat" thought Brad, who wa
not. "She keeps all her things sep
arate. But where?" There was al
open door into an adjoining room
communicating" is the French wore
much richer in c~onnotation OF 70
mance) and in this other bedroom Brat
found the damn wife's" clothes neatl,
piled together and on the dressin
table powder, rouge and lipstick, a lac
handkerchief, and a faded bunch o
violets. With great p~recaution she be
gan to open the top drawer; it stucl
a little and squeaked as she pulle'
it out. Oh, Joy; oh, victory. A greer
leather jewel case was in her hands
What are you doing?"
A revolver shot could not have mad
, her jump more violently than the loy