They left soon after breakfast, promising to be back again in time for lunch. It was a beautiful day, and Mary Louise was in high spirits, anxious to get everything arranged for the opening of the dining room the following morning. Naturally, she expected Adelaide Ditmar to feel the same way; she was therefore taken aback when the young woman came to the door with a distressed expression on her face and actual tears in her eyes!
“That husband of hers has done something,” Mary Louise thought resentfully. “Oh, why can’t he behave himself?”
“Come in, Mary Lou,” invited Adelaide, repressing a sob. “You too, Freckles, if you can keep a secret.”
“Of course I can!” replied the boy proudly.
They entered the charming little house, and their hostess closed the door behind them. Then she reached into the pocket of her apron and took out a coarse piece of paper which she handed to Mary Louise.
“Read that,” she said.
Mary Louise held the paper in front of her so that her brother could see it at the same time. The message was printed in pencil, and the words were misspelled, but there could be no mistaking its meaning:
“Clos up your place rite away, or expeck FIRE!”
Mary Louise read it twice before she handed it back to Adelaide Ditmar.
“How did this come?” she demanded.