Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1932-06-29
Chapter n
SECRET MARRIAGE
A sHWOOD rose abruptly.

SECRET MRrHlNOE
A sHwoOD rose abruptly.
IA UNLESS / am too optimistic"
he chuckled, another guest Is ar
irving, one who will be glad to give
spiritual comfort to those who de-
sire it,"
He looked point blank at Lucci.
who cursed him.
Ten minutes later, the affable host
presented the Rev. Or. Llewellin
Titherington to his guests. The min
lister was a short thin man with a
bass voice which, being out of pro-
portion to his stature, startled those
who heard 1t for the first time.
Ashwood regarded him with Ill
restrained delight. II was evident that
DR.. Titherington mad read the fulsome
accounts of the spectacular kidnap-
ings ana recognized the victims as
they were introduced. By the time
the smiling cripple presented"One-
shot Lucci, Flower of Chicago Gang
dom," the minister trembled. natur-
ally.
suavely, II must insist that you rest.
Your journey has, no doubt, been ia
%tiguing. Alfred, show DR.. Titherington
to his room"
The minister turned and followed
the steward.
SORT or TOO Ddu, Aentured the
detective mildly, ito make sport Of
the little Teller like that. I'm going
in to see If | can make him feel a
little easier in his mind. He's prob
| ably all upset"
Ashwood bowed sard0nically.
Peace be with you, brother" he
pronounced bland1y, the drawn down
gravity of his mouth belied by the
soothing twinkle in his eyes.
.-KI
room. Walking thru the long hall of
the guests wing. he knocked at the
door which he guessed would be the
minister's. There was no answer, so
he entered without invitation. DIR.
Titherington was seated on a straight
backed chair, anxiously looking out
of the window into the fast darkening
! twilight. His face was pale, his yves
large n round, but he vas in full
control of his emotions.
well, Reverend, how goes ito"
Stevens seated himself on the edge of
the bed and studied the other for a
moment before b%roaching his subject.
"See here, Reverend, you may have
forgotten who | am, amongst all the
introductions of a few minutes ago.
I'm Stevens, an operative of the
United States Treasury department"
The little man looked at him duly.
What are you doing in this den Of
thieves, them" he inquired.
Trying TO get away ana put the
leader of the crooks in prison. There
hasn't been a break / could take ad-
vantage of yet, so I've had to bide my
time He stopped to marshall his
marry Ashwood to Miss Wentworth,
didn't your"
DR.. Titherington's long fingers
wound and unwound the long black
ribbon which hung from his nose
glasses.
Yes" he replied at length. but
! am not sure that | shall conduct the
ceremony, now"
II know you WON'T
The minister stared c~uriously at
the detective. He was gradually en-
crying from the fog Of depression
which had engulfed him.
What do you mean by that?" he
demanded.
Just that. The cripple is going to
abduct that girl against her will. In
a moment of whole hearted generos-
ity, he offered to marry her, the way
a Teller losses a bone to a dog. But
whether you marry them or not, he's
going to take her away unless we can
find some way to stop it."
Perhaps, them" decided the other,
"it would be better to marry them"
1T would, If the whole affair
couldn't be stopped. But 1t can. There
Is a fine young Teller here who got
into this jam just to rescue her. He
has offered to marry her before Linn
by. gets around to 1t, hoping that
will stop him from carrying her off. :"
II shall have nothing to do with 1t.
The whole thing is entirely too fan
~tastic." The black ribbon was hope
lessly snarled.
well" observed the old man,
quietly, from where l sit, a live lay
man, if you'd have to give up your
! church, would look better to me than
a dead minister"
"Dead?" Or. Ti%therington gasped
audibly.
"Deader'n hell, begging your par
don. You don't meet guys like Ash
wood at Wednesday afternoon guild
meetings, you know. He'd worry him
self over killing you as much as he
did over humping off those two goril-
las of One-shots. Maybe less. | take
1t he doesn't care much about minis
ters. l might mention, in passing,
that two men got their threats cut
last night. One Of them is just the
other side of that partition. If you
are alive tomorrow you will probably
read a burial service or two"
And you a-government detective
stand for these outragesg'
The minister blinked rapidly in his
Indignation and rolled his eyes to-
ward the partition.
Just now, yes admitted Steve
patiently. mo use committing suicide,
like you're going to do, because |
don't like what ! can't help. Now
listen, you can do the girl a good
turn by marrying her to the nice
young Teller who'll be running much
more risk of getting knocked off than
you will. If your conscience will allow
you, tho, to hitch her up to Ashwood,
go to II! Me, I'd hate to live to old
age remembering it, If | was to dc
a thing Ike that
He rose YEARLY and turned toward
the door. A sudden gesture from the
Debated little clergyman stopped him,
What about the license?" ventured
the clergyman weakly.
I'm take the responsibility for
that" the other assured him. IF
you're going to swallow the whole
thing, don't gag at the details"
MI. Titherington WINGED.
Bring the couple to me-" he agreed
finally. Il prefer to meet the wrath
of a criminal rather than the sorrow
Of my Maker"
Stevens, in his delight, smote the
other on the back with so lusty 9
Whack that the little man coughed