Henderson daily dispatch., 1936-06-05
CHAPTER II

JOAN PICKED up that slender
blonde hairpin from within her type
writer and dropped it as though it
were alive. There was no question
in her mind as to who its owner was
or how it came to be there. 1t was
Sheila True's and Joan knew that to
be sure.
Joan herself wore no pins in her
hair. Nor did the short haired maid.
There was only one woman in that
house who might own that pin. But
what would it be doing in Joan's
typewriter? The answer came to her
but she refused to believe it could
be true. It made her a little sick
to think Of a woman like Sheila
STOPPING to anything so small, so dis
honest. so destructive to another girl.
She forced herself to calmness and
once more searched in every place
that the neatly typed pages could be.
Wherever they might be. they GER
tainly were in no place that she could
think Of. They had disappeared and
she knew that they had not disap-
peared Of themselves nor had she
carelessly left them any place but in
their proper folder.
Then someone had taken them and
that someone was not Julian. It
must be Sheila! Joan's first dislike
Of the other woman came back O
her. Size should have known better
than to believe that Sheila would
have given in SO gracefully had she
not intended to carry on in her own
way. Sheila did not want Joan to
be Julian's secretary and had said so.
And she had not given upi
Joan washed her face and brushed
her hair. calming her thoughts as
she cooled her brow and went down
to the garden to face Julian.
you're quite right" she said and
watched Shela as she spoke 1.-THE
stuff is not on my desk. yet I'm sure
! left it all there"
Julian was upset. very much upset.
Good heavens. Joan, if it doesn't
turn up. that means hours Of extra
work. I can't, 1 simply can't get in
the mood Of the thing at all second
time. don't understand your care
lesSness."
Joan didn't answer Her eyes trav-
eled from Julian's face to Sheila.
Her slim body relaxed and lissom,
she stretched languidly in her
steamer chair with her face utterly
expressionless. Yet Joan was sure
that she saw a CLEAN Of triumph in
the woman'S eyes,
II think 1t will turn up" Joan said
comfortably and with her hands in
her pockets strolled off leaving them,
but her ears were attuned to the
tone Of their voices.
Sheila's clear tones came to her:
Darling. how frightfully careless.
All that work to do over! The per-
feet secretary indeed. I've always
insisted that you should have a man
with some sense Of responsibility"
Joan didn't hear any more. She
made a little moue in the general
direction Of Sheila and smiled. Not
sweetly at all but the same way the
proverbial cat swallowing the
proverbial canary must have looked.
She dubbed Sheila a dumb-bell and
Julian "a poor stupid. They'd both
forgotten that she had her steno-
graphic notes.
Her fingers flew over the keys as
she Transcribed them neatly for the
second time. Only stenographer
would know that this was not the
original.
"You won't have to do that over,
Mr.. Sloane" she said casually at din
ner. Here's your copy" She hoped
he wouldn't ask her where she had
found them. He didn't; he was much
too glad to have them found.
Not the slightest sign betrayed