Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-02-23
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central table and when she had gone by II.
Now she came to the door so accurately that
her hand almost instantly found the knob.
This pleased her. She smiled, for she had
made of her blindness game that was to
her an unending pleasure. She refused to con-
slider herself robbed of any important hap
piness
AS for the sum- she could feel the warmth
which she could not see; from the bay and
the garden she breathed of a hundred differ
ent scents the waves along the beach spoke
to her with meaning voices and the sounds
OF wind or rain gave to her intimate messages.
When she came out into the hall she
paused moment, displeased by the faint,
sweet stale odor of cookery which in spite
OF all efforts crept out from dining room and
kitchen to impregnate the air of the house.
1t was perpetual offense of Margaret An
nesley The frown of tyrant was on her
forehead as she went on down. hail to-
the room of Bob Annesley. Her rap at the
door brought no answer. She pushed it open.
Are you there Robert ?" she asked, softly
faint humping answered her from the
floor. She recognized the sound of a dogs
tail, wagging.
Bob!' she called more loudly.
When she had no answer, still, she went
across the room. Her feet were more familiar
here than in any other part of the house. she
left home. She went on until through the
thin soles of her slippers she felt the
heavy rounds Of the rag rug that stood
beside the bed. The bed itself was
smooth and firm it had not been q
occupied Z,
She sat down on it. little puzzled
She had heard Ruth go to her room b
hours before. She had heard Bob come q
IN here, also, and she had not heard him
depart.
The big clock in the down.
stairs hall struck once and again,
II was two in the morning Bob,
of course. might be reading in
the library. with a bottle of
Scotch and a siphon of soda
beside him.
"Manchu" she called Come
here and tell me where he is"
Manchu's tail thumped the
floor but he failed to approach
She got up from the bed and
went toward him. leaning over
and feeling before her until she
touched the sleek hard muscles
Of The dog He became rigid
under her touch.
Good boy" she said patting
him. Tell me where he is.
Manchu"
Her hand touched something
soft in the mouth of the dog. IT
was moist chamois Her fingers
found a row of three small but
tons II was glove that Manchu
guarded and this so startled her -
that she got up in haste and ~
hurried toward the bureau in the
corner Of the room. Here she
miscalculated however. Her knee
struck the foot Of the bed and knocked her
heavily TO the floor.
THE fall half-stunned her She sat up and
] let her wits come gradually back While she
leaned against the bed: her hand still was
trembling as she helped herself back to her
feet. When she reached the bureau, she pulled
open the top drawer and made sure that it
was empty The second too, was empty
After that she leaned against the bureau
with her face buried in her hands but already
she knew what she had TO do. When she had
recovered from the second shock little, she
felt her way back 10 the hall and along II To-
the Commodore's room which now was hers
The rising sea-wind met her again with
the ocean SAVIOR in ii mngling with the sweet
ness of the stocks on the table. Ever since
she had usurped the Commodore's sacred
place In the house she had been filled with dim
forebOdingS Of disaster Wfllcn now, Sne Iclt
was upon her.
She was wise enough 10 make haste slowly
so she lay down on the bed and tried the
deep breathing which the doctor recommended
so highly Gradually the sense of faintness
was diminishing, but she could not remain at
rest long black sense of doom, like a
double blindness was rising in her mind
When she stood up she found her purse on
the dresser fumbled in II, brought out a key
and at once went down TO the study beside the
library.
For almost the first day since her mar
riage she felt like intruder in the house
Marriage itself could not make her blood An
nesey. after all and in the end Of her life
she had permitted a catastrophe in Annesley
House.
In the study she spent some time before
she found the small knob Of the closet door
After that it was not hard to discover the
lock and fit the key into it but when the
door was open il was far more difficult tC
locate the locks of the separate compartments
She at last opened three of them, sifted the
contents through her fingers and made sure
Of the loss In particular. when her hand,