Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-04-26
Is M y 6: /! ! p e;
APRS QORE
CHAPTER 81


which Miss Harringay had re-
placed on his desk after copying
and, unfolding it, began to read
He read word for word until he
came to a clause on the second
page:
I'm the event of my aforesaid
niece, Jacqueline Mary Smith.
at the time of my death being
herself deceased and without
issue the whole of my estate
shall revert to my only other
surviving relative, Millicent
Agnes Maud Smith.
Charles realized instinctively
that this was the clause which had
supplied Lutman with his third
alternative. He pondered for sew
eral moments, wondering exactly
what could have been in the other
mans mind.
And then, in a flash, the answer
came. It was so obvious that he
wondered why it had not occurred
to him in the first place. The bare
horror of the idea sent a chill
down his spine and set every nerve
in his body quivering. If Jacque-
line were dead, the money would
go to her mother. Jacqueline was
the obstacle in the way of the sue
cess of Lutman's scheme. She had
created an awkward situation by
refusing to marry Jimmy. If she
were dead. -.
Who could doubt that her
mother, a woman of that drab I'M
interesting age when most women
lose their sex attraction but refuse
to admit it, even to themselves,
would welcome with Outstretched
arms the specious advances of any
smooth-tongued rogue? And Lut-
man was cleverer and more plausi-
BILE than most of his kind; for him
it would be easy.
Charles rose and began to pace
the floor of his Office. Here was a
situation which he had not ex-
pected to arise. Up till now he
had managed at least to postpone
the evil day; he had had no very
clear conception of how things
were ultimately going to work out,
but he had hoped for the best.
But now here was a new and terri
flying vista of possibilities. He
must do something, and quickly.
Lutman never wasted time.
His tortured musings were inter-
rupted by a knock at the door and
the entrance of Bells.
! Captain Albright is on the
telephone, Mr.. Stuckey."
"Allwright? I don't want to
speak to him. Tell him to go to
the devil"
eyes, sir" Bells was moving
from the room when Charles said:
mo, put him through, Bells; I'll
speak to him."
+ Every good, sir" said Bells.
!
| Mrs. Smith, finding that argu-
ment and appeals to reason were
powerless to alter the determined
set of Jacqueline's chin, did not
abandon her efforts to shift it to a
more attractive angle. For the
rest of the day she remained
plunged in a gloomy silence which
was broken only by an occasional
long-drawn sigh; her face wore an
expression Of patient resignation,
and her eyes, when she glanced at
her daughter, were filled with gen.
tie reproach. Several times she
opened her handbag, counted her
money, and sighed as she replaced
it, and once or twice, when she was
fairly certain that her subdued
shifts had attracted Jacqueline's
attention, she furtively wiped her
eyes with a wisp of handkerchief.
But it was heartbreaking work.
Either Jacqueline was dreadfully
unobservant and was unaware of
the patient resignation, the gentle
the signing and the shifts
which were being lavished on her,
or she had none of the natural
feelings Of q daughter toward her
mother. After lunch she suddenly
left her parent in the middle of a
sigh, went into her bedroom, and
locked the door.
There she tried to take a calm
survey of the situation, to get
away from it and look at it as a
detached spectator and see if she