The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1936-12-03
Murder Masquerade
Inc. G nyashh BY IneZ Haynes Irwin vnus-ae
BY Illez Haynes Irwin

been caught at the right moment
by the discipline of an army, would
have spent most of their lives in
Jail. On the other hand, war fire.
quently ruins able men-its rigid
discipline, its inherent immortality"
War must have been bad medi-
cine for Ace. 1t must have un-
loosed something in him that he
had always held in allegiance be-
FORE
At any rate, from the time he
came back, he seemed to me to
disintegrate. Not physically! To
the very end, he kept his magnifi-
cent body in condition. He was al
ways inheriting money. Yet no
matter how much company filed
the huge Blake house, Ace was
always leaving on sudden calls.
How often when have been there,
he has returned with a wearied
but triumphant, "a big eleven
pound boy!" or ga nice little grill"
Once-and this was the apex of
his medical pride-"Girl twinsl"
The countryside always surged
with gossip about Ace. He was, had
always been, would always be a
terrific use the word of my gen.
eration-firt. I will not say that
he desired all women, but I will
say that any pretty woman seemed
to serve as challenge to him.
Why, when Mark first began regu-
larly to specialize on me, Ace
looked upon that as a challenged!
I laughed his tentative wooing out
of existence Along with this ire
mendous susceptibility, let me call
it-although it wasn't exactly that
came an equally tremendous
fickleness. As I have limited, to
see a pretty woman meant, at
once, on Aces part, a desire to
conquer her; and to conquer her
was, at once, to begin to tire of
her. Rumors of his conquests, both
at home and abroad, choked our
tea-talk. For the last few years,
other rumors had spread-reports
all his patrimony and his various
inheritances; that each year in
creasingly, he spent more than he
earned.
And then occurred the strange
complication to which I have al
ready twice referred. Molly Eames
came back from a year in Europe
the most beautiful girl that Satuit
had ever produced. In three
months she was engaged to Wal
ter Treadway, Aces secretary. It
seemed to everybody that they
were passionately in love and yet
after six months Molly broke her
engagement to Walter. Six months
later, she became engaged to Ace.
No one of us who had known
Ace, no one of us who loved Molly,
felt happy over this turn of events.
But one thing Ace brought to us
from the war which meant more to
Satuit as a whole than all his dec
orations-and that was his friend,
Bruce Hexson.
Bruce HeXson was a lawyer. He
was in Paris when the war broke
and volunteered Immediately to
drive an ambulance for the French
army. He met Ace in the hospital.
When we entered the war he vol
unteered for aviation. The two
men served in the same squadron.
Long before the Armistice, they
had become inseparable pals.
Bruce, too, was man of private
fortune. He lived in Pennsylvania.
He came regularly every summer
to Satuit and visited Ace for two
months at time.
And then suddenly an unexpected
thing happened to him.
To use the old pat phrase-Bruce
"got'' religion, but not somehow
in the usual sense. Ace always
avoided talking about his friends
spiritual seizure, but he told me
once that he attributed Bruce's fren-
zy to the long strain of the war.
eff he had been wounded once"
he said to me, sit would have been
better for him. Aviators often went
haywire. The officers watched us
like doctors. The instant any one
VI 10 ollOWCo LllC SlSl pSy-
Geological strain, they gave him
a long leave in Paris. If a man
were slightly wounded, the change
to the hospital helped. Bruce nev-
er got pip; he never showed any
signs of nerve breakage. That's
my explanation"
Whatever the reason, the result
was definite and permanent. Bruce
Hexson's whole life changed. He
came to Satuit every year, but now
for the whole summer He did not,
as formerly, live with Ace. Ace
owned a little camp on the Indian
river. Like everything Ace touched,
it was charming and convenient.
Bruce rented the camp from Ace
lived there with his two colored
servants, Adah Silverston and Ber-
ry Vale.
Bruce Hexson had become a So
cial fixture in summer Satuit.
he never came to our
parties, but always, broodingly ten
del, we felt him there.
ITO BE CONTINUEDJ
The Judgment of Paris