The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-11-23

AACAC D 4xAAsEA WAAAh Ah<SA AA<W %OA1A y Tom nodded. "He's wanted down. stairs but he can come right back.
 Meanwhile drink this and stay where you are until he comes. I'll
 just step along with you. Averill." At the door Tom turned uncer- tainly. The doctor had dissipated his fear lest Linda be completely out of her head but he wished des- perately he could finger a moment for a word of explanation. She saw his indecision and spoke with ordi- nary cheerful affection.
 .'All right, Tom. Come back as quickly as you can" But behind pr Parsons back she put her fin- ger on her mouth in urgent pan- tomine for silence and he saw her lips form the words, Hurry hurry!" Perplexed, he shut the door behind him and followed the broad, comfortable back of the lit- |<le doctor down the hall.
 They had trusted her not to cry or collapse - and that, thinking it only an accident. What would they have expected of her if they had known it. was-murder? Unconsciously Linda had whis- pered the word and in the quiet room 1t seemed fairly to thunder about her ears. She gulped, shut her eyes and resolutely opened them again. Murder - murder!
 There. she had said it and faced It. Murder-in her house and she the only one who knew it. It was up to her, therefore, before Tom came | back to decide several things. She
 must tell him, of course.
 But should she tell anyone else? :? Dr Parsons? The police? As Tom had talked, she had seen the whole affair through their eyes. And she knew not one of them except Tom could be trusted to see 1t through hers. To Dr Parsons--and the po- lice, too--she would be hysterical, ! imaginative, perhaps even a little delirious from shock. Murder murder simply didn't happen i'll a house like this among well-bred people. She had been attacked true! But how could she prove 1t? What trace did an attempted strangulation leave? A cloth of some sort had gone around her neck so there would be no finger marks,
 And was she sure her own head was clear? Yes, that she knew. Everything had happened as she remembered and she alone held the key to the accident" But If she were to tell the police-the incred- ulous. heavy handed village po- lice-one of two things would hap pen. They would laugh her state- ments to scorn and think her sim ply off her head. Or they would be- lieve her-at least to the extent Of detaining the men, questioning them blunderingly and fruitlessly. trampling through her house, mak- ing her repeat her own storly end- lessly and uhavailingly = and find no possible support of her theory that she had been attacked, on which also hung the proof that Cousin Amos had been murdered. Then, the instant surveillance was removed, off would go those four men.
 Just as they were going now-in a few brief hours! On her dresser tho gay little clock ticked away in the hot, silent room. Almost half- past 9! Voices came up through the open window from the breakfast room below. Someone was politely chatting there and wondering how soon she would come to conscious ness and how much she knew. Soon that person-all the four, any one of whom 4as capable or mur- der--would be packing, would leave the house, unchallenged - would leave her life forever-but not as Cousin Amos had gone. This man would go confidently, safely
 yAk oh nnfl1d nrAVAnt ivI Those men must not leave the house-until she knew!
 Whatever she did, she could not stay in bed another moment. Swinging her feet to the floor, Linda stood up, 8 little shaky. at first. and drank the contents of the glass on the table. It prickled through her veins and made her for the moment intolerably hot but as the warmth waned she felt better and stronger. She was fiinging on her clothes with quick, nervous fin- gers when her husband came back.
 "Linda!"
 T couldn't help 1t. had to be doing something" But she sank rather gratefully on the chaise tongue. .'Oh, Tom, I'm awfully glad you hurried back. I'm sorry l had to be so mysterious but you didn't speak to. anyone of what l said, did you"
 .'The undertakers' men are here. I had to see about them. l only saw the others as I went through the hall"
 'Do they know I'm all right now?''
 T didn't speak of you. Parsons said you were doing nicely That might mean anything"
 "Good! There's time then"
 "But Linda. I'm sorry. there isn't. Not this moment. anyhow. The undertakers' men are ready and I've got to go over to Port to mako final arrangements. We're taking the body to the parlors there. We can't well. frankly. Binks. Parsons said--in this wea- ther--"
 Linda shivered in spite of the brooding heat of the new day.
 "I see. Must you so with the