“Anyhow, they are all of a kind, the two women and McCracken. As Ellison had never made a will that anybody knows of, and this affidavit regarding his dictated wishes is the only instrument brought into court, the Surrogate is inclined to give the thing weight.
“Here comes in our missing witness, a young girl who worked for Mrs. Poole. She was examined by my chief clerk and admitted she heard all that was said in the room where Ellison died. Her testimony diametrically opposes several items which McCracken has written into the unsigned testament of the deceased.
“You see what we are up against when I tell you that the young girl has disappeared. Martha Poole says she has run away and that she does not know where she went to. The girl seems to have no relatives or friends. But I have my doubts about her having run away. I think she has been hidden away in some place by the two women or by the lawyer.”
“Oh, Daddy!” exclaimed Jessie, who had been listening with interest. “That is just like the girl I tried to tell you about the other night—little Henrietta’s cousin. She was carried off by two women in an automobile. What do you think, Daddy? Could Bertha be the girl you are looking for?”
CHAPTER XV
CAN IT BE POSSIBLE?
“What is this?” Mr. Norwood asked, staring at his eager daughter. “Have I heard anything before about a girl being carried away?”
“Why, don’t you remember, Daddy, about Henrietta who lives over in Dogtown, and her cousin, Bertha, and how Bertha has disappeared, and—and——”
“And Henrietta is the champion snake killer of all this region?” chuckled Mr. Norwood. “I certainly have a vivid remembrance of the snakes, at any rate.”
“Dear me!” cried Momsy. “This is all new to me. Where are the snakes, Jessie?”
“Gone to that bourne where both good and bad snakes go,” rejoined her husband. “Come, Jessie! It is evident I did not get all that you wanted to tell me the other evening. And, it seems to me, if I remember rightly, you got so excited over your radio business before you were through that you quite forgot the snakes—I mean forgot the girl you say was run away with.”