The Key West citizen., 1940-12-14

8
And there on my bureau, where
l had found the green note the
day before. was another scrap Of
green paper. l would have
thought it was the same scrap, ex-
cept that the message was differ
ent.
This time it said. Beware of
the secret room. Danger"
II was all too absurdly melo-
dramatic, and yet it was happen
ing. One had to take the situation
seriously. And that awful feeling
Of being watched. | -aised my
eyes fearfully to the mirror. taxi
ing in as much as possible of the
room. after the manner of the
Lady of Shalott.
Over there by the dressing
room door. was the wall moving?
No. of course. not. 1t was only my
own hand on the mirror frame.
pushing it backward Spinning
around on MY heel. went to the
door and flung 1t open. looking I'D
and down the hall. But the ..all
was empty.
Carefully searched the room,
banging on the walls, measuring
space to see that closes and
dressing room took UP their full
quota. The space on each side of
the fireplace vas blank. except
for the windows, and the wall
paper covering it without a break.
gave up and. taking The two
notes and folding them together,
rut them in my sweater pocket
along with the packet of matches
and the scrap of silk. AS | thought
II over. 1t seemed to me that 4cnly
two people were above suspicion
so far as the notes were con-
cerned. Andrew and T e. Even
Eve could hav. placed this second
note on the bureau in my room.
For. after all. there was no
reason why she could not have
walked the few steps from her
room to mine in negligee, timing
her visit to coincidn with BeSSie's
trip to the third floor. If she nap
pened to meet anyone, she natur-
ally could explain that she was
looking for me.
This was all right, except for
one thing. So far as ! knew. Eve
had been unaware of the secret
room until our conversation of a
few minutes ago.
stepped out into the hall
again and took a look toward
Ewes room. The door was opening
and Bob was disappearing inside.
Turning back toward the stair
way, | saw Claire standing in the
door of her room. Il had Just
started out" she explained. "5ut
| waited because i did not want
to embarrass Bob. l was to meet
him downstairs.
"She probably sent for him as
she did for me-" said. This is
evidently her morning to give au-
diences."
Il wish she was in hell" said
Claire between her teeth. startl-
ing me nalf out of my already
6efuddled wits. had often Won
dered at, Claire's equable disposi-
ton. Somehow it didn't seem D
go with the red in her hair. Now
| could see the tiger come to LIE
underneath the beauty and charm
which. along with her money, mad
made it unnecessary for Claire
ever to hight for anything.
The Telephone
IN THE downstairs hall we found
Bill and an electrician busy at
the telephone. Or rather a mild
looking young man in his Sunday
best was. at work, while Bill
locked on.
Whoever it was did a good
job" observed the young man. l.;
Claire and | also stopped to take
a look. Didn't cut it Just on.e, for
fear you might be able to fix it,
/ reckon. but cut it in two places
and threw a piece of the wire
away. Well, it's all right now.
guess. Wait a minute. That you,
Operator? o. K. Ring us back.
VIII your"
He replaced the receiver and.
like magic restored. there was
the whir of the telephone hele
"Oh." / said. show wonderful"
The young man gave me a grin,
thinking no doubt l referred to
his prowess with the wires, when,
in fact, was concerned only with
the bleSSin1 OF restored COM
munication facilities. 1t was Like
getting back ones world.
by the way. Sally" said Bill.
when the electrician had gone
and Claire had wandered into the
drawing room, "there was Moth
ing wrong with the lights in the
house Somebody simply pulled
the master switch. We found it
Just now when l went with the
electrician to investigate"
"Heavens!" ! said, thinking of
my case of filters. of Bills COL
liSion and various other things
which couldn't have happened If
we had known the lights we're
IN working order. what what
about the cars?"
Andrew came back with the
wrecker and they are out here
now working on the tires. They
got the station wagon out Of the
mud and back in shape"
"And now that she telephone Is
in order again." l said, you'd
better phone your mother. She
will be frantic if she hears about
all this by radio or from some
body who may have happened to
pick it up. But wait a minute" ]
added. crowding into the tele-
phone closet with Bill and shut
ting the door. %Look at this" And
I handed him the second note.
'Whew." said Bill. "Another
one?"
. To be continued
fcetsrie1t. 1889. EsEors Field Psrks,sasl