Speed Nell
Molly Brown's College Friends

CHAPTER XVII
TILL DEATH DOTH US PART

The small home wedding that Nance and Molly had originally planned grew to be quite large. Little by little it seemed impossible to get married without first one person and then the other. Andy had many friends at Exmoor and Wellington; Dr. and Mrs. McLean knew half the country and had a long list to be invited; Nance wanted the whole faculty and some of the girls who were favorites of Molly’s; Kent Brown arrived from New York bringing with him Mr. Matsuki, frankly delighted to be included in so honorable an assemblage.

“Surely they can’t all of them sleep here,” said Edwin to his wife as he put on his wedding garments.

“They can, but they won’t,” she answered, laughing at his woeful expression. “The house party breaks up after the ceremony. Do I look all right?”

“Beautiful!”

“I mean my dress!”

“But I mean you! I don’t know anything about your dress except that it is blue as it should be.”

“Can you find your collar buttons and is your tie all right?” asked the anxious housewife as she accepted with very good grace the embrace Edwin felt was necessary to his happiness just then.

“Yes! Everything O. K.! I am sorry for the bride because you are so lovely, honey. Nance is a pretty girl but I am afraid nobody will see her because of the matron of honor.”

“Such a goose! Now I must go look after the flower girls. Katy has them coralled in the nursery where they can’t get dirty. They are the sweetest looking creatures you ever saw in your life. Dodo looks like a beautiful cabbage rose himself, his cheeks are so rosy. I wish Mother could see him.”

“Why doesn’t she come on to the wedding?”

“Sue needs her in Kentucky. The only trouble about Mother is that there is only one of her. I need her more than anything right now. If she were here she would take hold of this wedding breakfast and I would know it would come off right,” sighed Molly, who, true to her character, had planned to do enough for two persons. “Thank goodness, Judy is here!”

The ceremony was to be at twelve and then a wedding breakfast served. This meant Molly was to be very busy. The girls were helping, but at the same time they were more or less flustered trying to get themselves dressed all in one room. They had determined to make this a gay light wedding as to clothes at least. There was a feeling of excitement in every breast, excitement mingled with sadness. Was not this the most momentous day in the life of every true American? War was declared! Perhaps had they realized just what war meant, those girls could not have donned those gay, bright garments. Would they have had the courage to wish their friend God-speed so cheerily? I believe they would. They were of the stuff of the mothers of men. On that second of April, 1917, every woman in the United States must have felt somewhat as Molly Brown’s college friends felt. It was a feeling of excitement, awe, exhilaration and dread combined.

Nance was gowned in white with a wonderful lace veil Otoyo had brought as her present. It was as filmy as the clouds that rest on Fujiyama, the sacred mountain of Otoyo’s country.

“Only suppose she had brought a tea basket like mine! What would that have looked like on your head?” giggled Judy, who was in a strangely hysterical state. She was one girl who very well knew what the war was to mean. Had she not been on the outskirts of war in 1914 when she was stranded in Paris? Had she not seen the soldiers marching off bidding farewell to their nearest and dearest, – sometimes a final farewell? Kent had spent all the time he could in training camps since they had been opened to citizens of the United States, and now he was confident of receiving a commission. Perhaps it would mean that her husband would be in the trenches in a short time. She wanted him to want to go, was proud of him for wanting to, – but oh, the agony of it all!

Almost time for the ceremony now! Molly made her final tour of inspection. Edwin, Kent and Mr. Matsuki were safe in the den where they eagerly discussed politics. Dr. and Mrs. McLean arrived, holding Andy between them as though they might lose him before it was time.

“I meant to help you, Molly, child, but my hea-r-r-t is so joompy I am afraid it will be best for me to compose meself,” said the poor mother. “Don’t let Andy know!”

Molly kissed the dear lady and asked Katherine to stay near her. Katherine’s dressing was always a simple matter, as her gowns consisted of shirt-waists and skirts in various materials to suit various occasions. She declared she could dress in the dark and look just as well as though she had had cheval glasses and a blaze of light.

The other girls were ready and came down to the parlors to help receive the guests. Nance was lovely and looked as fresh and sweet as a white violet as she sat in her room sedately awaiting the hour. A visit to the nursery disclosed the children piously standing with backs to the window and arms held well away from their fluffy skirts, as charming flower girls as one could find.

“I’m so ’appee! I’m so ’appee! I’m Mildred’s Japanese dollee! She’s my kick-up dollee!” sang the little Cho-Cho-San. “All I want is bald spot, and all she wants is stick up hair!”

“Ain’t we your little comforts, Muvver?” asked Mildred.

“Indeed you are, my darling! Now when Judy calls, you come running so you can go down the stairs in front of Aunt Nance. Judy will have your wreaths all ready. Where is Katy?”

“She’s peeking at the comply.”

“Well, you kiddies be good and don’t get your dresses mussed. It is almost time now. Don’t wake Dodo.” Of course Dodo had gone to sleep, since there was nothing more important on hand just then. Molly hurried off to the kitchen to see that the wedding breakfast was coming on as she had planned. Mrs. Murphy had hobbled up to help Kizzie, and Mrs. McLean had sent over her two maids.

“All they need is a boss,” sighed poor Molly. “If I only could be two places at one time!”

But whose familiar figure was that seen through the scullery door? The maids were all in a broad grin and Kizzie, as she expressed it, “was fittin’ to bust.”

“Mother! Mother! Where on earth did you come from?” and Molly had that dear lady clasped in her arms. “What are you doing in the back? Come on and hurry and get dressed! It is almost time!” Molly felt like little Cho-Cho when she cried out: “I’m so ’appee! I’m so ’appee!”

“I just this minute arrived and have no idea of dressing!” cried that dear lady when she could speak.

“Of course you needn’t dress! You are lovely as you are – your hair is a bit mussed – and – ”

“You mussed it but it will do very well for the part I am to play. I have no idea of appearing. I mean to serve this breakfast.”

“But, Mother, I couldn’t let you!”

“Nonsense! That is what I hurried on for. Why, child, when I realized that you were having a house party and a wedding and going to serve a great breakfast, I simply jumped on the train with a hand-bag and flew to you. You always have behaved as though you were triplets. Now run along and don’t tell a soul I am here. I can be honored later on; now I want a big apron and room to operate. Kizzie has already told me what the breakfast is to be and you need not think about it. Run along!”

“Well, one more hug and I am gone. Aren’t you even going to peek at the comply, as Mildred says?”

“Oh, I’ll see the ceremony, never fear; but fly, Molly! The guests are coming.”

Molly felt as though she really could fly. Her mother’s arrival had relieved her of all fear about the wedding breakfast. It would be obliged to go off without a hitch now. Dear, dear Mother! How like her to come quietly slipping in the back way just in the nick of time!

One could have heard a pin drop in the old square house on the campus as the first strains of the wedding march arose and the rustle of skirts on the stairway announced the approach of the wedding procession. Andy was shaking and shivering in the hall, tightly clutching his father’s arm. He had declared that Dr. McLean must be his best man and would hear of no other. Of course he was just as scared as the groom always is, at least, all proper grooms.

At Judy’s signal the little flower girls came dancing from the nursery, their fluffy skirts flying. The wreaths and garlands were handed them and they marched down the stairs feeling much more important than Nance herself.

“Heavens!” thought Molly as she followed them with Nance, “what on earth is the matter with Mildred’s hair?” It was standing up in a most peculiar way. Instead of the curls that Katy had so carefully made, her ringlets had been brushed out and Molly realized that at least four inches of her daughter’s hair had been cut off. “And Cho-Cho-San! What has happened to her?” In the middle of the child’s head was a bare spot at least three inches in diameter. It looked as though it had been shaved.

Whatever the matter was, it affected the flower girls not in the least. With many tosses of those shorn heads they marched into the parlor, scattering their posies as they had been told. When Otoyo saw the bald spot on the head of her offspring she almost fainted and had to hold on to the ready arm of honorable husband. Cho-Cho-San had clipped Mildred’s hair to make it stand up like a kick-up dolly, and Mildred had stolen her father’s safety razor and converted her little friend into a veritable Japanese dolly.

Nothing but the solemnity of the occasion kept Molly from hysterics. The little wretches must have got busy after she made her visit to the nursery. Evidently they were doing what Mildred called “playing true.” Cho-Cho was a Japanese dolly and Mildred was a kick-up. The little visitor did look exactly like one of those fascinating Japanese dolls, and Molly could but smile in spite of her distress. She was afraid to catch Judy’s eye as she stepped back to let Andy take his place by Nance’s side.

Never had the wedding ceremony seemed so impressive as on that second of April. Every mind was filled with the importance of the step that the country was taking, and with the prayer that Andy and Nance would prosper, was breathed the thought that the United States might come out victorious.

Nance was to go with Andy’s unit in the capacity of interpreter. She was not a brilliant French scholar but was thorough in her knowledge of that as of everything she had undertaken. She frankly declared that she had been separated from Andy long enough and she intended to follow him to the ends of the earth if need be. It was that wonderful fact that made Andy’s “I will!” so strong and clear. His tremblings left him and he stood by his dear girl like the soldier of the Red Cross that he was. Nothing was impossible or too hard if Nance was to be with him.

Mrs. McLean’s good, honest face was like an angel’s as she gazed on her new daughter-in-law. No jealousy was depicted there – nothing but adoration, gratitude that the girl was to make her Andy happy. Poor Dr. McLean was sobbing like a baby and his good wife had to put her arms around him to comfort him.

All over! “Whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.” Andy clasped his Nance with the look of: “I dare anyone to try!”

Otoyo and Molly held a whispered consultation over their imaginative offspring and decided that nothing was to be said or done to the culprits on that day of days, – the reckoning must be deferred.

Those infants were greatly astonished, somewhat relieved and secretly chagrined that their prank was not noticed. They had expected to be even more important than the bride in their rôles of Japanese and kick-up dolls.

“I weckon nobody don’t love us ’nough to spank us even,” pouted Mildred.

“Japanese babee gets not spank-ed – but honorable mother frowns on Cho-Cho when she loves her most after naughtiness – but now – but now – she smiles, but not with love,” was the wail of the companion in crime and misery.

The efficient helmsman in the kitchen steered the wedding breakfast to safety. The affair went off with such expedition that the housekeepers present marveled at Molly’s cleverness.

“She must have trained her servants wonderfully well,” whispered one.

“I remember the joke they got off on Molly in college,” laughed Miss Walker. “It was that she came of a family of famous cooks.”

“It is not only the cooking now,” said Mrs. Fern, Edwin’s cousin and the mother of the perfect Alice. “It is the way it is served and the orderliness of the waitresses. I wonder that Molly can be with her guests while it is being done unless she has had a caterer come up from New York. I simply have to be in the pantry myself when my daughters entertain on a large scale. That is, unless I can hire someone to come take charge, and Wellington does not boast such a person. Alice is very particular but not willing to do much herself, – not able, in fact,” she added lamely, a little afraid of having criticized her perfect daughter in public.

Mrs. Fern was very fond of Molly and admired her greatly in spite of the fact that she could not help bearing her a tiny secret grudge for marrying Edwin Green. That good lady had in her heart of hearts hoped that Alice was to bear off the professional prize. Perfect persons are not always very pleasant to live with and Alice Fern was no exception to the rule. Mrs. Fern wished no harm to Edwin but she would have been glad to shift her burden of perfectness to other shoulders.

“We are just asking ourselves how you do it, my dear,” she said as Molly came up to see that all was going well with her guests.

“Do it! I’ll tell you a secret that I was not to divulge but I am simply bursting with it: Mother is in the pantry! She came in the back way, without my even knowing she had left Kentucky, and now she is directing operations. She refuses to appear until the party is over.”

“Ah, that is the reason for that glow in your eyes!” exclaimed Miss Walker. “I used to say when you were a college girl that I could tell by your expression when the western mail had brought you a letter from Kentucky.”

“I didn’t know it showed so,” blushed Molly, “but it does make me feel warm all over when I know my mother is near.”

CHAPTER XVIII
THE PUNISHMENT OF MILDRED

The last rice thrown and the bridal party gone! Molly and Judy all that was left of the gay girls! The old crowd once more dispersed! I wonder if they will ever come together again. It had been a perfect time, and Molly, although dead tired, was very happy that she had been able to gather them in under her roof. All that worried her now was the fact that Mildred was to be punished. How, she was not certain.

Mrs. Brown, no longer in her apron but now the most honored of all, was ensconced on the sofa with Dodo in her arms and Mildred snuggled up close to her side. The child’s eyes were big and sad. Her little cropped head was drooping and her mouth trembling. Even Granny was not noticing her naughtiness. Evidently nobody loved her!

Kent was seated on the floor, his head against his mother’s knee, where, without exerting himself, he could see Judy’s animated face and bright fluffy hair. Perhaps the time was soon coming when he would have to be far away from these beloved women. He was sure of his commission now and was ready for his country’s call, but oh, it was hard to be uprooted from the pleasant spot where love had planted him! Ah, well! The war could not last forever and maybe there was a good time coming for all of them. It was hard to leave Judy, but it would be harder to take her with him if duty sent him to France. He did not criticize Andy McLean in the least. He knew his own business and Nance wanted to go with him but he, Kent Brown, had no idea of exposing his Judy to any more horrors of war. The taste both of them had had of it was enough.

The little group around the fire was very quiet. Dormouse Dodo went off into his usual soporific state. Judy was knitting rapidly, and the click of her needles was all that broke the stillness. Judy always declared she did not mind knitting if she could just make her needles click. Molly was too tired to knit, too tired to do anything. If only she had settled matters with her first born! Her conscience told her it must be done and done soon. If only something would happen to keep her from having to do it, whatever it was to be. She actually prayed for strength to take the matter up and also that she would not have to take it up.

Suddenly on the twilight calm of the library there arose a broken-hearted wail! Mildred had broken out into an abandon of grief. Her wails rent the air.

“Gee whilikins! I thought the Germans had come,” exclaimed Kent, jumping to his feet.

“My darling, what is it?” asked Mrs. Brown as Mildred clutched her around the neck.

“Oh, Granny, Granny! My muvver hates me!”

“Oh, Molly! What have you done to this angel?” asked the grandmother almost sternly.

“Nothing! I declare!”

“That’s jes’ it! She ain’t done nuffin! That shows she hates me. Kizzie done say, ‘Who de Lord loveneth he chases,’ an’ I done did the wussest thing I could do an’ my muvver she ain’t so much as said: ‘Why, Mildred!’ I wants to git spanked! I wants to git spanked!”

“Why, darling, what have you done?” asked Mrs. Brown, trying to control her risibles.

“I done shave-pated, number-eighted my little Haythen friend. Kizzie called Cho-Cho:

 
“‘Shave pate, number eight
Hit yo’ haid aginst the gate.’
 

“It sho did hurt Cho-Cho’s feelings. And Cho-Cho, she slish-slashed my hair off so’s I’d look cute. Nobody ain’t told us we look cute – and nobody ain’t spanked us nor nothin’ – and nobody don’t love us.” This tirade came out between sobs.

Kent and Judy roared with laughter but Molly and her mother tried to look sad and mournful.

“Molly, I’m astonished! Why don’t you spank your kid? I never heard of such an inhuman parent,” teased Kent.

Molly was very happy indeed. The miracle had come! Her prayer was answered. She did not have to punish Mildred. Mildred was punished.

“You wouldn’t have treated yo’ dear little children so mean, would you, Granny?”

“You bet she wouldn’t have,” insisted Kent. “Why, if I had shave-pated, number-eighted my little Haythen friends, your granny would have torn me limb from limb and beaten me black and blue.”

“Sho nuf?”

“Yes, indeed, and if my little Haythen friend had chopped off all my pretty curls, I am sure her mother would have thrown her in the fire and poked holes in her with a red hot poker.”

“Jes’ ’cause they loved you so much?”

“Yes, just because they loved us so much.”

“Me’n’ Cho-Cho wisht we could git throwed in the fire,” sighed the repentant Mildred. “But, Uncle Kent,” and she got up and put her little mouth close to his ear, “don’t you think I made a mighty cunning little Japanese dolly out’n my Haythen friend?”

CHAPTER XIX
A DEATH

“Aunt Judy, my Poilu is tellible sick! He can’t open up his mouf mo’n ’bout a minute far. Won’t you please, ma’m, punch it open wif the button hook so’s I kin poke some breafkast down him?”

Mildred had the little puppy clasped in her arms and he did seem to be very miserable. His eyes were partly closed and his teeth were tightly clamped together.

“I weckon that big ol’ dog what eated a piece out’n him done made him so sick.”

“But, honey, that was a week ago, and if it had been going to make him sick it would surely have affected him long ago. It was nothing but a scratch, and don’t you remember Aunt Judy bound it up so tight it only bled a moment?”

Judy and Kent had remained at Wellington for a visit. Kent was so soon to join his regiment that he felt he could not tear himself away from his mother and sister, so they had lingered on after the other guests had departed. The bride and groom had also returned after a flying visit to Nance’s old home and were now with the McLeans, Nance declaring that Andy’s mother must have all she could of her son before he was to sail for France.

Judy took the puppy in her lap and smoothed his silky sides. The little fellow opened his eyes and gave her a grateful glance. Mildred did squeeze a little too tight when a fellow felt as sick as poor little Poilu did.

“Maybe we had better get the doctor for him,” suggested Judy. “There come Andy and Aunt Nance now, across the campus! Call them, Mildred! Andy is not too proud to doctor a dog.”

Mildred delightedly ran to the door and waved her arms frantically. “Hi there, brideangroom! brideangroom! Somebody’s mighty sick in this here house. Better hurry up or they might go deaded!”

Andy and Nance quickened their pace and hastened into the house.

“Who is it?” they cried anxiously.

“It’s my littlest brudder!”

“Dodo! What is the matter with my little husband?” asked Nance anxiously.

“’Tain’t Dodo! He ain’t my littlest brudder. I’se got anudder brudder. Ain’t you knowed about him?”

Nance and Andy were much mystified, but they followed the amusing little creature into the library. Nance thought perhaps the big-hearted Molly had adopted a French orphan, – Molly was quite capable of doing it.

“There’s my brudder!” and Mildred pointed to the suffering puppy. “Ain’t it too bad he’s got a tail?”

Andy laughed as he lifted the poor little Poilu to his own knees.

“What is the matter with him, Andy?” was Judy’s anxious query.

“It looks like the last stages of tetanus.” The patient was even then in a violent convulsion. Andy mercifully laid his handkerchief over the little fellow’s head, dreading that Mildred should see his suffering.

“I’d put him out of his misery but he will be gone in a moment anyhow,” he said sadly. “Has he been hurt?”

“A week ago he got bitten by a dog, but it was a mere scratch and did not amount to a row of pins, so Molly and I decided.”

“Did you put anything on the wound?”

“Nothing but a surgical dressing down at the war relief rooms. I remember it was one of the beautifully made dressings Madame Misel had just brought in – ”

Andy sprang up, a wild light in his eye. The puppy had breathed its last so he handed it over to Judy without more ado.

“Where is Molly?”

“She has gone down in the village to pack supplies at the war relief rooms. There were lots of things to get off, so she went quite early. I am to follow a little later, just as soon as Kent finishes primping. What is the matter?”

“There may be much the matter. You and Kent come as fast as you can,” and Andy and Nance hurried off without any more explanation.

The news was broken to Mildred that her pet was no more and her bruised heart was much comforted with promises of a funeral later on when Kizzie got time to make arrangements. Kent and Judy caught up with Andy and Nance before they reached the old church where the war work was carried on.

“What under Heaven is the matter?” panted Judy.

“It may be nothing, but I must investigate. Let’s go in as quietly as possible. Does Madame Misel still work on the surgical dressings?”

“Yes, indeed! And such beautiful work as she does! Molly insists that she must have a great deal of good in her to give so much time to this work. Sometimes I think I must have dreamed that they spoke as they did that night in the garden. Why should pro-Germans and spies choose this particular spot, anyhow?”

The workroom was filled with very busy ladies when our young couples entered. Molly was tying up dressings, after carefully inspecting and counting them. An order had come for many bandages and other dressings and all hands were at work trying to get them off. Madame Misel was deftly arranging the rolled bandages in pyramids and then tying them with strings made of the selvedge torn from the cotton. Nothing goes to waste in this war work. Madame’s countenance was as calm as ever as she bent over her work, but when she saw the two men enter, Judy noticed a sudden alertness in her glance and a tiny spot of red on her usually white cheek. As she pulled the selvedge string, she must have given it an unusual tug for it broke and the tightly-rolled bandages flew hither and yon over the floor.

“Humph! There is no telling how many germs got picked up in that scatteration,” muttered Andy as he stooped and gathered the bandages.

“The – bandage – does – not – touch the – wound,” said Madame, evidently forgetting she was speaking to a surgeon.

“No?” said Andy shortly.

“Molly,” he said, “I must speak with you a moment.”

“Well, Andy dear, I am awfully busy. You come home to luncheon with me, you and Nance, and then you can speak all you’ve a mind to.”

“I must speak now,” whispered Andy sternly.

“Heavens! Is anything the matter?” asked Molly.

“I am not sure,” and Andy drew her towards the vestry at the back of the church. “Tell me, Molly, have you packed all the dressings that that Misel woman has made?”

“Why, no, not all of them! Why?”

“Have you mixed them with the others?”

“No! They are so beautifully folded that I do not have to inspect them, and so I have put them in boxes to themselves. She is the best worker I ever saw.”

“Molly, I shall have to ask you not to get this shipment off to-day.”

“But, Andy, it is most important! The poor wounded are bleeding to death and the ship sails in two days. We must get them off this evening if they are to catch that boat. What is your reason?”

And then Andy told her of the puppy’s death. He said the fact that his first aid had come from those very rooms, and that tetanus, or lock-jaw, had set in on a perfectly healthy puppy when he had a mere scratch from another dog, made him suspicious that tetanus germs were on some of the bandages.

“Why, Andy, that is ridiculous! Poor Madame Misel may be in sympathy with Germany in spite of all she says, she and her husband, but she could not do such a vile thing as that.” Molly could not help feeling impatient and indignant with her old friend. “Only look at her sweet face and all thought of such infamy will leave your mind.”

Andy did glance towards Madame Misel and the look of venomous hatred that he surprised on her face was shocking. The young physician laughed grimly. “Molly, you are no judge of persons unless they happen to be angels. You think wings are getting ready to sprout even from our enemies.”

“Perhaps they are! Who knows?”

“You may be right, but in the meantime, please don’t let any of these dressings get off. I must see those Secret Service men. Where are they?”

“Edwin knows, I believe, but he has not told me.”

Molly was irritated beyond endurance. How was she to let these women know that the shipment must be held up? It was all of it so absurd. The women had done the work and now these men must come poking their fingers into the pie that they had had none of the work of making. The idea of accusing Madame Misel of such a crime! Judy, too, seemed to be doubting the stranger, and Nance, of course, would be aiding and abetting Andy.

“I shall have to ask you to be very quiet, not to give this creature an inkling of our suspicions,” commanded Andy sternly. “That is very important.”

“Well, naturally, I’ll hardly be so rude as to let her think anyone is so unkind as to doubt her,” and Molly’s lip trembled.

“Molly, dear Molly, don’t hate me so. I can’t help seeing that something is wrong and if I have the slightest suspicion, I must surely probe to the bottom. You must see that.”

“Of course I do, Andy, but I just can’t bear to have anybody abused, especially a woman who makes such lovely dressings,” and Molly tried to smile at her friend.

“Well, I’ll depend upon you to stop the work of getting them off and still not let the woman know she is under suspicion. Just go on packing but do not make the shipment.”

“I hate to resort to such subterfuge, but I’ll do my best,” sighed Molly.

“Wouldn’t it be better to bring one criminal to justice than to kill thousands of poor wounded men by dressing their wounds with tetanus germs?”

“Of course, only – but – you see – ”

“Yes, I see that your heart is so tender and you are so honest yourself you think all the world must be like you.”

Molly went sadly back to her packing, all the joy and zest gone out of her work. How could nice men like Andy and Kent think such things about a poor defenseless woman? No doubt she did have a sneaking sympathy for Germany. Was not that natural? Had she and her countrymen not been under German rule long enough to consider the kaiser as their rightful ruler? Because her husband chose to pretend to be lame was no reason why everybody should think Madame Misel capable of such a dastardly thing as putting tetanus germs on the bandages of poor wounded soldiers. That was something no woman, no matter how bad, could do, – and surely this woman was not bad, not really bad. Molly Brown was so constituted that one had to be proven to be bad before she could believe evil of him or her, and then, as a rule, she would find some excuse for the sinner if not for the sin.

Nance and Judy stayed on to help in the work, while Andy and Kent went to find the Secret Service agents. While the task of making bandages, etc., went rapidly forward, the detectives quietly ransacked the cottage occupied by the Misels. This was the first opportunity they had had of going over the house. The occupants had never before left it alone. Much of dire importance was discovered. Among other things a small laboratory where no doubt all kinds of evil germs were incubated. The search was made very rapidly, as they were anxious to leave things in such order that the owners would not suspect that they were under surveillance.