The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-01-02
Is
CHAPTER XVn-Ccntinued

-lN
Annie returned and announced
Senator Groesbeck.
"Alone?" Miss Agatha asked and
the usefulness in her voice hurt
me. Then III see him in the liv-
ing room, Annie"
The maid pushed the wheel chair
down the hall. I sat at the desk and
strove to set down on paper, after
Miss Agatha's prescription, my own
outline of the Morello mystery. I
found il hard, for each item bore in
Vulnerable streamers of surmise
and suspicion. I do not know how
long allegro had been standing IN
the doorway when looked up.
I rose clumsily. She was still
pale but she seemed more tired now
than angry. There was a droop to
her shoulders and cursed myself
for feeling pitiful. She said at last:
You make it just as hard as pos
sible, don't your"
A few hours earlier she had point
ed out the abyss that lay between
her and me. I had sworn then new
er TO strive to rebridge it. Sense
still assured me that If was best for
her to remain on her side and on
mine. Hunger for her, desire to
aid her were checked by memory Of
my recent, adolescent idiocy. It
hurts to have even a silly dream
kicked apart. I said:
Il beg your pardon"
You heard me-"
made no reply. She went on,
like child reciting a lesson:
IF I've misiudged you, I'm sor-
~"
Miss Paget," I told her, = mis-
judged you-and am even sorrier."
Il came in here" she told me, Ito
apologize because Agatha thought I
should"
She might have been talking to
the butler. There was no call for
her TO put me in my place. 1 was
there already and had sworn not to
leave II again. I said:
That seems to me about the
worst reason In the world"
Again she apparently hoped for
something IN my face that was not
there. She muttered:
You make it very hard"
She was just q kid after all. Which
was still another reason why things
should stay as they were. So I
said:
YOU said that before - which
leaves US just where we started"
DO you want to leave it there?"
she asked directly, and I forced my
self to answer:
Why not?"
There was a stir in the hall and
the sound of voices. I did not know
whether I was relieved or desolate
when she left. Senator Groesbeck,
now sleek and pompous, passed the
doorway. Miss Agatha trundled her
self into the room.
What was allegro doing in here
she asked.
"ApoIogizing," I said.
She gave me one Of the looks that
made me feel she was counting my
vertebrae and then said, "Hah!" in
an odd tone. Thereafter, her mind
dwelt on other matters.
y wish" she complained, that
I hadn't so respectable an attorney.
! need a scoundreI who'll help an
idiot who won't help himself"
LAS bad as that" I asked.
She nodded and lighted a ciga-
rette.
Grove" she said, "is being held
as q material witness. He still won't
talk, so they're going to take him
before the grand jury presently. If
he doesn't talk then, he'll be in
dicted."
Her brisk voice was armor that,
/ know, hid great distress. She
brooded a minute, while I CROPPED for
words and then asked:
Where's the typewriter"
You said" I told her, that it
was IN the storeroom."
"Why didn't you get it?"
Miss Agatha" I asked, ''can you
imagine Higgins letting me rum
mage through a basement storeroom
without writ of mandamus, a ha-
beas corpus and a strong-arm
squad"
The lines of worry in her face
slackened and she chuckIed.
NO" she admitted. I'm an old
fool. David, but just the least bit
bedeviIed today. Well go down to-
gether."
trundled her into the hall and
rang for the elevator She said moth
ing till the car appeared, but the
grim lines had deepened again on
her face and I knew she was eating
her heart out for her nephew. Hoyt
took US down. I could see his ears
pricked for tidings, but we did not
speak. had propelled Miss Agatha
into the basement hall. A wan light
burned there and the air was heavy
with the familiar smell of lime and
coal gas and cabbage for the Hig-
gins dinners, past and present.
Miss Agatha dug in her handbag
and chose a key from ring.
Along one side of the basement
hall was series Of iron doors, with
gaps at Intel and threshold for ven
tiIation. They guarded the cubbies
that served as attics for tenants Of
the Morello. It was against one of
these that I had reeled during my
dark struggle with the intruder.
thought, as funbled with the lock,
how brief a space by actual meas
urement, yet how long ago, that had
been. Perhaps if I had been less
clumsy that night, might have end
ed the mystery. I might have saved
innocent folk much danger and dis
tress. The smell and gloom of the