The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-02-20
CHAPTER NINE

AT HER fathers piteous utter
ance, Il am afraid your sister is
demented." Mrs. Gould cried out a
hasty:
"Oh. no, Father"
Then why does she act as
though she were ?" impatiently
"She knows she has no right to her
brothers papers, no right to raise
fuss about Cary's writing. Tomor-
row I'm going to have DR.. Barnett
see her. He'll soon tell us what
wrong with her. / can't go on this
way, Beulah. She's wearing me out,
and-I want to live to read the
Essex Book" He smiled affection
ately up into Cary's face, then
turned to Mark:
And as for you, young fellow,
you're true Essex. a credit to the
name! Now pile those papers to-
gether. Wen take them back to the
little room, get the others and carry
them all to the library"
THE Rands" exclaimed Mrs.
Gould. II forgot all about them"
They're all right" declared the
captain. Quite old enough to take
care of themselves for a time. I'm
surprised that they haven't ap-
peared in here before this"
Mr.. Rand did look in the door
while you were talking to Aunt AL
thea" Mark explained. He couldn't
help but hear some of what you
were saying. I presume when he
found it was purely family mat
ter, he decided the best place for
him was in the other room"
i didn't agree with Mark. I, too,
had caught that surreptitious
thrusting in and immediate with
drawal Of Horace Rand's head. His
meaning glance had conveyed some
message to Miss Althea. was sure.
1t was just after that that she
seemed so completely to regain her
control.
l wondered il while we were In
her room Rand. his son and daugh-
ter, were peering and prying into
the other chests and the desk. But
| was Understanding the cap
-tain's intelligence.
Old Jabez was placed on guard
while the family was absent. Cap
tain Essex's last words, before he
followed us to Miss Althea's room.
were for him not to leave the room
for anything. After that command,
Jabez would not BE- ousted by a cy-
clone.
Sorry to leave you so long alone,
Rand" began the captain when ne
was again comfortably seated.
mot at all. not at ALL" muir.
INJURED Horace Rand in a voice as
smooth as boiled mustard. I'VE
were very comfortable here. hope
you recovered the missing articles"
Every last one OF them"
laughed the captain. His strength
was amazing. Only a few moments
ago he was dropping with fatigue.
Now he seemed as bright and alert
as ever.
"Althea had a rash idea Of puri-
fication by fire or some such thing"
he continued, in a facetious voice.
"but we arrived in time to rescue
the sacrifice"
l caught a peculiar flicker of
Rand's eyelashes and a momentary
drawing in Of his lips The captains
news was certainly unwelcome to
him.
We'll, as long as II has all ended
In your favor. I think well run
along home. We didn't intend TO
stay so long when we dropped in.
but this mix-up rather compelled II.
Before leaving. / wanted to know
how things turned out with YOU"
The captain nodded. He did not
seem inclined to say more, and
Rand appeared eager to get away.
Irene and Proctor exchanged a few
words with the others. but I felt
that the goodbys on both sides
we're strained and not too cordial.
They had scarcely left us when the
captain began 10 issue orders.
"Beulah, you and Janet 20 into |
the library, clear the things off the |
big table, and when these papers