Her cogitations resulted in an advertisement to be placed in the personal columns of the daily papers.
Persons who saw accident at corner of Crestlake and Broadway last Friday at about quarter to six please communicate with B. Cool, Drexel Building. No annoyance, no trouble, no subpoena. Simply want to get information. Reward of five dollars paid for licence number of automobile which struck young woman.
Bertha settled back in the swivel chair, looked the copy over, consulted the classified rates, and started crossing words out with her pencil.
As finally completed, the ad read:
Witnesses accident Crestlake Broadway Friday communicate B. Cool, Drexel Building, Three-dollar reward licence number.
Bertha studied that ad for a moment, then, with her pencil, crossed out the words three-dollar and wrote two-dollar in its place.
“Two dollars is quite enough,” she said to herself. “And be sides, no one would have remembered the licence number unless he’d written it down; and if he wrote it down, he is the kind who would like to be a witness. Two dollars is quite enough for him.”
Chapter IV
It was Wednesday afternoon when Elsie Brand opened the door of Bertha Cool’s private office. “A gentleman outside; won’t give his name.”
“What’s he want?”