Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-09-27
CHAPTER FIVE

THERE SEEMED a subtle men
ace in the words: 1T has to be done
and the sooner the BETTER" though
why they should impress me that
way l could not understand. Quiet
ly I waited, hoping the figures
would reappear and l would hear
more. But no sound broke the still
ness; there was no movement in
the shadow of the Shrubbery
banked spite fence.
Curiosity triumphed. l made up
my mind I was going to find out
where those figures had gone. |
walked across the terrace and
stepped down to the lawn. The
closely clipped grass had just been
watered. My thin shoes were
soaked before I reached the high
rhodOdendrOns.
At the front of the house the
picket fence was attached to an
iron post driven deep into the
ground within an inch of the
twenty-foot wooden post which was
the beginning of the spite fence.
There wasn't room for a mouse to
squeeze between the two.
1 knew the figures had not
crossed the lawn to the gateway.
The open stretch of lawn was ull-
der my eyes every moment of the
time. They must have gone down
the length of the fence and around
the back out to the road on the
other side of the house or-into the
house itself
I was convinced that they had
done the last. But why stink back
out of sight when the light was
snapped on It was riddle could
not solve.
Ny feet were wet and I was be-
ginning to shiver with the damp
and cold. I walked the length Of
the spite fence and back, crossed
again to the terrace and entered
the lounge. Josie was sitting there
alone.
Il was wondering if you had
gone to bed" she greeted me.
mo, [ was too tired to go mo-
toring. I've had my share of that
today, yet I don't feel at all
sleepy. I suppose the answer to
that is that had a grand nap be-
fore dinner" I replied.
Then come and sit down here
for a while" she invited. "I'll start
the fire. It's coming in foggy and
when it does it is always chilly,
no matter how warm the day has
been" "a
She knelt before the fireplace as
she spoke and, striking a match,
she applied it to the fire lighter
which she then thrust between the
logs lying across the andirons.
'Foggy." echoed. why, it's
bright moonlight"
"Yes, right now, but it won't be
for long. The fog is coming in from
the sound. Listen, can't you hear
the foghorn ?"
Family to my ears came a long
melancholy note. 1t was the first
time l had ever heard it. It was an
eerie sound, seeming to fit in with
the other strange incidents of the
night
Josie, still crouching on ~e
hearth, laughed up at my intent
face.
Il never heard a foghorn be-
fore" l confessed, smiling back at
her. Then, as my glance travelled
from her bright face down her
pretty dress to her slippers, no.
ticed that slippers and dress hem
were as wet and bedraggled as
mine
Could she have been the woman I
had heard speak outside? The voice
in the night had heard before
of that I was positive but lack
of familiarity with it's tones pre-
vented mO then and later from
naming the speaker.
: Then, another thought came to
me. couldn't distinguish the forms
OF the speakers. 1t might have been
two men, one Of them Neal Peake.
His voice was so like Josie's I
might easily have mistaken it for
a Woman's. Listening to her now,
l tried my best to be positive that
1t was or was not she or Neal I