Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-11-29

Ill uIlueT tQe SHOCK OF Alicia s QeaLn.
II like to talk to him, Miss Meggie
EFF yo' think he ain comm any,
how, how bout yo' calling him up
and askin' him tor So I could talk
to him?" Annie was grave-eyed and
portentous.
Megan, jerked out Of her unhappy
abstraction by Annie's tone, looked
up at her curiously.
"Why, Annie, what's wrong7 Why
do you want to talk to Mr.. Larry7"
she asked, puzzled.
Annie drew herself up a little and
there was a gentle, yet implacab1e
| dignity about her as she said firmly,
tits private match, Miss Meggie
but it's powahful important. Yo'
call him TO- me?"
Eyes, of course, ANNIE" Megan
answered and Annie thanked her
and went out of the room, padding
softly in the heelless felt slippers
that she wore to lease" her feet.
| But Megan did not have to call
Laurence, for at about four o'clock
he came down the. road and turned
in at the gate grinnlng at her warmly
and happily.
II came over with the coroner and
some of the county officers" told
her cheerfully, dropping down on the
steps at her feet and barring his head
to the soft wind. pheasant Groves
certainly getting her name in the
papers. There was a newspaper
correspondent for one of the Atlanta
papers at the inquest"
Megan asked, after a moment,
"What-what did the inquest find"
death by means of a sharp in
strument at the hands of a party or
parties unknown" answered Lau-
renee, looking up at her white,
drawn face with surprise. "Oh look
here, darling, I had no idea you
were such close friend of hers"
"I-wasn't, really" admitted Me-
gan. Butt knew her and-it's
been a shock"
"Of course" said Larry gently.
He took her hand in his and held
it closely. eve won't talk about
| it"
"Yes!" said Megan so sharply
|
upon her. Megan managed faint
smile and said, IL really want to
know-whatever they could learn"
well, it wasn't much" said Lau-
renee. mo trace of the weapon, a
knife or dagger of some sort. No
trace of robbery or anything of that
kind. The girl at the bank said she
had cashed her usual monthly in
come check for fifty dollars, a few
days ago, and her purse was found
with more than thirty dollars in it.
They feel sure that if she had sur
prised a burglar at work, he would
not have left the purse. They be-
ieve that she was killed by someone
she knew-or at least, someone she
was not afraid of. There were no
signs of struggle in the place."
Megan sat very still, her hands
locked tightly in her lap.
Killed by someone she knewl
Someone she was not afraid of
"There was one sensation" said
Laurence after a moment, not look
ing at Megan. His eyes were on the
garden, where, despite the fact that
it was almost Christmas, few late
zinnias and marigolds were still in
bloom and the chrysanthemums
were great shaggy things of glowing
| beauty. THAT was when the tele-
gram from her husband arrived"
"Her-husband?" she repeated in
| credulously.
Laurence nodded. "That seemed
as much of a shock to everybody
there as it is to you," he told her.
but it seems that when the detec-
tives were going through her papers
yesterday they found that she had
a husband and that he was the one
who was sending her fifty dollars
a month. They wired him and the
answer was brought to the inquest
this afternoon. The husband is
somewhere in the west, but he's fly
ing east to claim the body Should
be here tomorrow or next day, they
thought"
''But she was a widow!" Megan
protested, dazedly.
apparently not" said Laurence,
looking up as Annie appeared be-
hind the screen door that led into
the hall. Hello. Annie-how about
putting another plate on the table
and letting me stay for supper?"
"Yessuh, Mist Larry-us sho' be
glad to-" she assured him, beaming,
and then asked uneasily, "'Scuse
me, suh-but could talk to yo'-fo'
a few minutes?"
Laurence looked surprised, but got
to his feet.
"Of course, Annie-don't tell me
you want to divorce Amos, after all
these years." he laughed, excusing
himself to Megan as he moved to-
wards the screen door which Annie
held open for him.
81 amt suah, Mist Larry, dat I
amt gwine git rid O. dat shif'less,
no'-count niger. sho' nuff!" she as
sured him darkly as she led the way
to the kitchen.