All-Story Weekly, March 1, 1919 — page 143: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

p= sd aes the slide and examined it in thé light. It was slightly damp from dew and she dried it carefully with a handkerchief. Then, with cautious hands, she inserted the edge of the slide in the plate-holder and shoved it slowly home, snapping the catch into place. After that it was safe to remove the -holder from the camera, and she did so, feeling quite happy over the fact that she had once dabbled in amateur photography. Picking up her lantern, Miss Dean went down the path in the direction of the cot- tage, humming softly and smiling to her- self. Before she entered the dwelling she slipped the plate-holder into a generous pocket of the coat she wore. Mame Brundage had not moved from the rocking-chair, nor had she opened the book. She was staring fearfully at the door as Miss Dean put down the lantern. “ What—what was it?” she asked in a loud whisper. Miss Dean smiled and shook her head. “ Didn’t you ~ anything?” Mame de- ~~ manded. ‘““T want to ask you, Marigold, if you ever walk in your sleep?” “Who? Me?” Mame showed traces of alarm. Miss Dean nodded. ‘“‘ Why, I never walked in my sleep in all my life!” ‘““How do you know?” Mame paused, for the question raised a point she had never considered. True, how did she know? “T suppose you dream sometimes,” Miss Dean. “ 'Ye-es, I dream quite a lot. Only—only you don’t mean to say I dreamt that, Miss Dean?” “It seems quite possible you may have.” Mame stared and shook her head. “Tt was just too real,” she affirmed, ear- nestly. “ Why, I tell you I felt somebody! And then the flash, and the shootin’, and me going into a swoon!” “Dreams are often extremely real to us,” observed Miss Dean. “ Isn’t it possible said you might have sat in that rocker and dreamed it all?” “Tt ’d scare me to death if I believed “THE “CROUCH that, Miss Dean. I wouldn’t ever go. to sleep again. Didn’t you find anything Se = all?” “ Nothing unusual, Marigold.” “ Nothin’ strange?” Miss Dean shook her’ head. Mame re- — : = ceived this intelligence with a troubled frown. Then she made a stubborn gesture - of dissent. ‘“* Well, I wouldn’t expect the ones that tried to kidnap me to be hangin’ around, Miss Dean. - Would you? If somethin’ scared ’em they’d run away, wouldn’¢ they?” “Tt sounds likely, I'll admit,” said Miss — = “That is, provided they Dean, gravely. were trying to kidnap you.” “What else could it have been?” de- manded Mame. sent her photograph to a movin’-picture magazine, like me. Now I can see how foolish I was. How do I know where the picture went? “It never got to the magazine, because Sa they didn’t print it. They printed lots of others that weren’t near so good, and that proves they never got it, don’t it? I dare say it was stole out of the mail.” As Mame developed this theory, whichh — had but just occurred to her, she showed an enthusiasm that almost brought a sparkle a: to her dull eyes. | “There’s an awful lot of mail- robbin’, you know,” she went on. “ And my plete had the name and address on it. Now I’m beginnin’ to understand it all, Miss Dean. . ‘* Ain’t it terrible when you think how many girls has probably been kidnaped that way? When they see a picture they like they don’t stop at anything. It frightens one, doesn’t it?” “It certainly does, Marigold,” assented Miss Dean. ‘“Tt’s gettin’ so a girl don’t dare to have a personality,” declared Mame warmly. Miss Dean glanced at the clock on the shelf and yawned. “J think it’s bedtime for both of us,” she ~ said. Mame jumped to her feet and became anxious again. “And I’ve got to go all the way aves to the house,” she faltered. “You take a girl who has E: e: