Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-02-04


know it!'''
My mind snapped back to Wal
+, ter's well-known tenderness so far
as animals were concerned. He
was the only boy in his group who
would not hunt.
.'Mr. Treadway said, said he,
You'd be surprised what I could
kill to save her from you. And
I'll do it if it's necessary! Then
they went past me down the road
and / couldn't hear single word
more, but those words seemed to
burn into me. Yes, they burned in.
I've never been able to forget them.
When Doctor Blake was found
murdered, of course I thought of
| them at once. I didn't want to
tell anybody. / was afraid it would
get Mr.. Treadway into trouble. But
I had to tell. I couldn't go through
what I was going through any long
| err
Patrick's first comment was an
oblique one. 'Now you feel bet
ter, Bessie" he said, "don't your"
'I sure do, Mr.. O'Brien," Bessie
agreed; and indeed her whole tense
figure had begun to relax; the tight
ness was flowing out of her look.
Patrick asked Bessie many ques-
tons, but he approached them by
circuitous routes. He threw in COM
ments by the way. He even told
stories. By the time he had fin
ished, one of Bessie's dinples had
actually reappeared. But he man
aged to make Bessie tell her story
three times and he had not man
aged to shake her in any detail.
That brief conversation between
Ace and Walter had indeed
burned" into her.
''Well, now I guess you can go
back to the Kitchen" Patrick con-
Guided. eff you think of anything
further, please tell it to me. Other
wise, put it out of your mind. I
think you'll sleep all right tonight"
"And now, Mary Patrick
turned to me, GIVE got to get Wal
ter and Molly over here"
Patrick and I sat in complete ST
lence the few minutes that, after
Patrick's telephone call, it took
Walter and Molly to get. to my
house. Brief as the distance was,
they came in their car. Automat-
ically wondered, as I had so often
wondered before, if the younger
generation would ultimately lose the
use of it's legs. But that wonder
merely filled the surface of my
mind. Underneath / was thinking
so many things that virtually !
thought of no one thing. My
thoughts cut and slashed and jagged
each other in their maniacal way
of the last few days. Over them
all too, like the poison gas over a
modern battlefield, hung cloud of
sick foreboding. The effect of my
sweet nights sleep seemed to dis
appear. Again I felt myself trem-
bling on huge abyss.
What Patrick thought, don't
know. He sat with his head back,
i gazing at the ceiling of the room,
his face BANKED with his grimmest
expression.
Presently Molly's roadster curved
up to the door. "There they are!"
Patrick exclaimed. Sarah ushered
the Treadways in.
1t seemed to me that day that,
every time saw holly Eames-
Molly Treadway I mean-she was
more beautiful than the last time
I saw her. Something splendid
had flowed into her psychology. Of
course I know now that it was the
certainty that she and Walter be-
longed to each other forever. AL
most as definitely but not quite
so obviously, Walter too had be-
come another person. Happiness
seemed to have cleared all kinds
of mists from his mind. He walked
with a different step. He met
ones eye with a different look.
Authority-that was it. Authority
as definite as a golden aura exuded
from him.
est down, children" I said.
"Patrick wants to talk with YOU"
I myself did not sit down. II
think perhaps I'd better leave you
| alone"
Involuntarily, Patrick made re-
straining gesture. He started to
speak and then apparently thought
better of it. He looked inquiringly
at the Treadways.
ooh no, Aunt Mary" Molly re-
nonstrated. "Oh mol" There was
unfeigned emphasis in that second
no. And Walter reinforced her with,
"Please stand by, Aunt Mary! We
need you.'
"Of course I'll stay then" I sat
down making myself and that huge
uproar in my psychology as quiet
as possible.
Patrick began, walter, when
was the last time you csme to
Satuit, previous to your coming this
time?"
Walter answered without hesita-
ton, "Not quite three months ago,
I should say. Oh, can tell you
exactly. 1t was Memorial day."
1