The Key West citizen., 1939-10-11

dizzy. She was hungry but she
could get something 70 eat a5te,
she had seen Laura.
| Hunger and lack If sleep made
her teei cold. Tie late September
| ai: had sharp wintry taIg. I.
bit - her eyes, making .henn smar;-
Size frightened the belt OF her coat,
pulles the collar up around ner
throat and plunged her hands deep
in the pockets.
Like the answer to some wire
less message tapping at her mind,
she slowed her steps, and her
right hand In the pocket OF her
coat felt around in the depths.
finding something unfamiliar.
She knew what it was before
she drew her handkerchief oct.
Knew instantly what that cold.
hard substance was.
Mrs. Goodale'S necklace lay
there punched in her hand. The
sun striking the emerald flashed
a cold green fire.
AS though it were fire, Cecily
thrust it back in her pocket.
Solution
! EFT foot. Right foot. Mrs.
Gooddle didn't lose her neck
lace. Left foot, right foot. Hard
little marching steps increasing
their pace. The necklace was q
leaden weight in her pocket. On
her mind. In her heart. Don't walk
so fast. When you come to the end
of your journey. you'll have to do
something. There, Cecily struck a
snag. She didn't know what to do
about it. Take it back to Mrs.
Goodale and try to explain how it
got in her pocket?
Cecily opened the door to her
shop, fumbling the key in the lock
because her fingers were stiff.
She took her hat off and ran her
fingers through her hair. There
was fire laid in the hearth. She
touched a match to it and tried to
warm herself befo4e the blaze,
hoping with the heat to melt the
bands that bound her brain.
She sat there for twenty min
utes +. an hour she didn't
know how long, and hen a solu-
ton came to her. The situation
was now beyond her control. She
could no longer accept RESPONSE
bility for what had happened. She
would have to take it to someone
else.
That someone was Donald Hem
ingWay. 1t might seem strange
that it was Donald Hemingway
who came to her mind. It wasn't,
when you followed her thinking
processes.
Donald Hemingway was ball
anced person. man who was ac-
customed to weighing the prob
lens of others. to finding solutions
from an objective point of view.
And Donald Hemingway cared
for Laura Atwill. Cecily's intui-
ton told her that. She dismissed
Donald's attitude toward Laura
in the. past week, knowing that it =
was a misunderstanding that
prompted it.
She must still have had faith
in Locke, she thought, or she
wouldn't be going to see Donald
Hemingway
In Donald's old-fashioned pri-
vate office at the rear of the bank
where they would not be dis
turbed. she laid the necklace in
his hand and told him the story.
She told him all she could. She
told him low she had first found
Locke. She told him other things
that revealed more than she knew
but she did not tell him in words
that she loved Locke. She was as
honest as she could be. She told
him about the incident Of Lady
Rathbone's loss, took the respon-
sibility for Laura's going TO
Locke's cabin. She told him every
thing that she knew about the
night before.
When she finished, Donald was
silent for few minutes. drawing
thoughtfully on his pipe.
why did you come to me with
this?" he asked finally.
Because because l want
your help. want you to tell me
the right thing to do. And
and / want you to find some way
out of it without calling in the
police. You see II. / don't
seem to know the right thing to
do. / know that on the face of it
all, he appears ir a very bad light.
and yet yet / don't believe hes
guilty; l don't believe he is a
theft"
Don't you, my dear?" He smiled
slowly.
"Now
81 don't know him." he said.
but I'm inclined to trust your
judgment of people. Also, I'm
grateful to you for making me see
myself in an unpleasant light"
His remark SURPRISED Cecily. II
don't understand -"
He got up and took lis hat from
a peg near the door. He held the
door open for her.
"About Mrs. Atwill," he said.
I'm going to apologize to her."
AT that moment Cecily's con-
cern was not for Laura's more
personal predicament. "But what
about the -"
''The handkerchief you found?"
he asked blandly. 'T'il drop in at
the Yacht Club on my way out
to Mrs. Atwill's and leave it in the
owners locker"
"Oh, thank you" Cecily couldn't
say more. The weight dropping
away from her shoulders left her
weak.
"And my dear, / suggest that
you have luncheon with us if Mrs.
Atwill can join us" In a lower
voice he said, u think we should
ask her advice"
Continued tomorrow.