“Poor child! Poor child!” murmured the chief. “I’ll see that the place is looked after. Don’t have the telephone taken out. My men may need it.”
“I’ll see to that, but I think it wisest not to let Mary Louise know that her home is in danger of marauders. She must rest in security for a while at least.”
“Good girl! Is there no certainty of how much Jim Hathaway put in those wild-cat gold mines? He spoke to me of a gold mine, but I know nothing of it.”
“None at all! There are no papers to be found relating to his investment and, unless the persons who were floating the stock are much more honest than we dare hope to find them, there is absolutely nothing to show that he has ever invested a cent in the crazy scheme. We don’t even know the name of the mines. He told Mary Louise about them but she can’t remember the name if she ever knew it.”
“Poor old Jim! He was so astute and keen and to think of his coming such a cropper just at the end. What is your theory as to his behavior?”
“I haven’t any. My father used to say that there was no use in having theories about persons who were out of their senses. They never behaved as you expected them to and, as soon as you made sweeping assertions about what they were likely to do or say, they went back on you and did and said exactly the opposite. I certainly would never expect a man like Colonel Hathaway to go around hiding gold coin—”
“Gold coin! I thought it was papers that were mislaid.”
“Papers as well, but there is no telling how much gold he has put away somewhere. Mr. Peter Conant says he has gathered from various banks that Colonel Hathaway had been cashing securities for months and months and always demanding gold. He did it quietly and without ostentation and no one suspected him of being a bit off his head. Now, he must have put that gold somewhere and we can hardly think that all of it was invested in the mines that everyone fears were spurious. Mr. Conant is trying to locate the mines, but there seems to be no certainty at all concerning them. The Colonel talked about them quite freely but vaguely and Mary Louise says she never questioned him about them. She had an idea there were some men in Dorfield who were pushing them, but she never saw the men. Her grandfather would come home every few days quite jubilant over his wonderful and safe investments. Mary Louise knows nothing about business beyond being able to cash a check and keep her stubs written up so that things balance more or less at the end of the month. Her grandfather kept her well supplied with cash and put a goodly sum in the bank for her each month. She is going to learn though.”
She told the chief of her plan for Mary Louise to open a bonnet shop and he applauded the scheme.
“I don’t wear ’em myself but every female creature belonging to me is going to have a fling at that bonnet shop before so very long,” he boasted.