The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1936-06-01

let acceptance was HUI easy uo
told himself, as he rode toward
home. He had made himself respon-
sible for this girl. for what she
might be, for what she might do.
If he had not vouched for her. plead
ed and schemed and lied for her. she
would not have remained in the
house.
Now that he had intrenched her
there, he must protect the house and
Rupert. Again, the man might not
be her lover. or even-as had natu-
rally suggested itself to Dirk-her
confederate in crime. She might her.
self be a victim. going to her death.
He put the thought from him. She
had moved with a sureness. a con.
fidence born of familiarity with the
thing she did. To put out a drag-net
for the taxi, to track her down,
would expose and compromise her.
The escapade might be innocent
enough. The time might come when
she would tell him all about it.
He had made a note of the taxi's
number, and of the hour it disap-
peared. Its destination would not be
difficult to trace. A Manhattan taxi
driver would certainly remember
Westchester pickup.
Reaching home. he instructed old
David. the head gardener. who slept
in the lodge. not to lock the gates.
and in his Cwn room. near the stair
he waited. still dressed in his eve.
ming clothes. his door ajar. listen
ing for Hopes return.
Waiting. he knew that it was
neither the house nor Rupert he de
sired to protect. 1t was Hope. What
ever she had done. he wished to
shield her from its consequences.
even from discovery.
once it occurred to him that
~ Hope might already have re-
turned. and he crossed the hall.
knocking on her Oor-lightly. that
Rupert in the next room might not
hear. There was no sound. and he
turned the knob. 1t yielded. and he
went inside.
The room was in order for the
night. a lamp burning beside the
smoothly turned bed Something else
had occurred to Dirk. There was a
chance that Hope had left the gems
behind when she slipped out. If so,
much of his anxiety as to her safety
on her motives would be relieved
The door leading to Ruperts room
was closed. but the bolt was 10
longer drawn. Dirk moved softly to
the stand beneath the long gilt
framed mirror 1t was set now in
orderly fashion with pearl and silver
toilet accessories. all very new. He
opened the single drawer below the
mirror. Handkerchiefs neatly folded.
wells. gloves. =. He turned through
them without conjunction. There
was nothing else.
Perhaps Rupert had acquainted
her with the safe in the paneled
wall of this room. a small cache
where their grandfather had been
accustomed to keep a bottle of old
Bourbon and a few sacred memen.
toes. Its door was invisible amid
the wainscoting. and one had to
know where to feel along the ridges
for the hidden spring.
Dirk found and pressed 1t. The
panel slid back. revealing the small
dark aperture. Something was In.
side. a parcel wrapped in tissue
paper. He flashed on a nearby sconce
and unwrapped the package. 1t was
no more than brush and comb. a
nailbuffer. hat-brush. They were
mounted in imitation ivory and
marked with single red initial. 1t
looked like the set that had been
spilled from Hopes bag the day
before.
Dirk rewrapped them wondering.
They were certainly the set he had
seen on the mirTor-shelf when Hope
had opened her door to say she
would dress and go for a~ride with
him. Yet they were not marked with
an H." but with an al" Perhaps
they had belonged to Senorita Leon.
or, the bareback whose substi.
tute Hope had been. Hope had no
doubt fallen heir to them, intended
TO return them.
Yet why hide them? They were not
OF sufficient value for that.
There was nothing else in the
cache. He touched the spring and
the panel closed. No use looking
further. Ii she had left the jewels.
they would have been there.
AT twenty minutes of five he heard
what was the almost noiseless clos
ing OF the front door. and presently
the faint stir of some one on the
stair. He looked. and saw Hope, a
shadowy figure in the dim hall. open
and close her door without a sound.
She was safe. at least. and she
must never know. He must have
either her voluntary explanation of
this night. or else the opportunity
to watch her unobserved and un-
suspected.
(Cc9y'ISR. 1885. Margaret Bs2 ReEs.esl
InFe- n~rn.R DIRK frias cIiIr,n efIr