The Ely miner., 1936-12-10

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once, Sarah," I asked, ''and tell
her that I'm dressing now and to
come over here as soon as she
wants."
eyes, Mrs. Avery"
81 suppose everybody's been on
the telephone"
Everybody. Every Boston pa
per's tried to get you, but said
you were still sleeping"
That's right, Sarah. Don't let
anybody get to me today-except
long distance of course"
There's stack of kilograms,
Mrs. Avery"
| "I'll look at them later"
| I bathed and dressed swiftly,
went downstairs.
Almost instantly Matte Stow
came into the living-room from the
hall. We kissed, then stood off and
stared appraisingly at each other.
"You look as washed-out as I do,
Mary!" Matte commented.
eff I look as I feel" I said.
'You look all of that, Mary. It's
the most horrible experience of my
lifetime. Sometimes I feel as
though I'd never get over it,"
'Horrible!" I could only-help-
lessly-echo.
'What time did you go home.
Mary? I can remember so little,
clearly"
I described our movements
Sylvia's and mine-in detail.
"Peter and I dressed at the Bray
house." Matte said. ''We left our
place at about half-past eight and
got back at about ten. Naturally,
we never left the house again. No.
body left the house but" She
stopped suddenly. 1t was her own
thought, dogging her words, that
had caught her up.
"Of course Ace left before the
unmasking because we never saw
him again." Matte glided swiftly
| on.
eyes, ! saw him 60"
"It puts an end to our masquer-
ades," Matte ended lifelessly. 81
could never give another one"
The telephone buzzed. Instructive
ly l arose. But before l could get
the extension on the piazza, I heard
Sarah at the hall telephone. 1 took
up the receiver. Patrick O'Brien's
voice said, ''This is the chief of
police speaking. Can I talk with
Mrs. Avery?"
''This is Mary, Patrick" broke
in.
"Oh, how are you this morning,
Mary?" Patrick asked.
'Well, slept-after a WHILE" I
answered.
'It was tough break, Mary
happening on your place! I called
up to ask if could come to see you
for few minutes. I'm at Joe
Geary's."
81 know you'll have to be here
all the time, Patrick. Don't even
bother to telephone. Come when
ever you must. If I'm not at home,
Sarah will take care of you. Mat
tie is here"
"I'm glad of that. I want to see
her too"
Matte and I continued to ira
verse the vicious circle of our
memories of the masquerade until
Patrick arrived.
1--WE put in quite a night" he
said. Checking up on a crowd of
over a hundred people, all of them
in masks, is no small chore. And
I couldn't get at Matte until they
came home from their drive. But
fortunately I had a good detail on
Second Head"
''Peter and I were so tired yes
terday," Matte explained to me,
''that we wanted to get away from
everything-even from the serv-
ants. Peter wouldn't eat at ho-
tel; he said if he heard another
strain of jazz So I put up bas-
ket supper and we picnicked by |
the roadside. We drove about un-
til long after dark. l think it was
about ten before we got home."
''Who told your I asked.
''The maids! Peter called up Pat
rick at once and we got together
lmmedlately.
''How did you check up, Pat
rick?" I asked.
'tWeI, first with Mattie's list. |
Then there were six coppers on
duty here that night. had told |
them to keep a sharp lookout. I
was afraid somebody might try to
crash the party. Between them I
got a pretty definite idea of who
came and when they left. First of
all though, last night, I went
from house to house on the Head
and sewed up everybody here. That
was easy. Everybody but the Fair
weather girls went to the masquer-
ade and they didn't leave their
house. Flora couldn't, of course,
and Margaret wouldn't. But as
matter of routine, I had to get
a statement from all of them-even
Margaret Fairweather. Their ali
bis look waterproof. Doctor Mar
den says that he left fairly early
about one-because he was tired.
He went home and went to bed. His
granddaughter, Miss Prentiss, says
she looked into his room when she
got home at dawn and he was
asleep. The Geary-Bray crowd
went home together. The Eamses
oh by the way, that reminds me,
Mary, I haven't taken your story
yet / must do that now"
''Did you go to every house on
my list, Patrick" Matte ques-
.ioned, rising.
Every one," Patrick answered
tersely. 81 detailed man to sit
lown at the telephone and call
them up. He told them that I'd get.
there sometime during the night.
1t was four o'clock in the morning
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