Detective and mystery stories; New Jersey -- Fiction; Telephone operators -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
"I was enraged and let her see it, pushing her round to the car and
ordering her into the back seat. I vaguely noticed that she carried a
bag and wrap over her arm. She tried to excuse herself but I shut her up
and took my seat at the wheel. There was no one on the platform as we
went out.
"It took me over an hour to negotiate the distance between the Junction
and the turnpike. The road was in a fearful condition. We ran into chuck
holes and through water nearly to the hubs. Once the right front wheel
dropping into a washout, the lamp struck a stump and was so shattered it
had to be put out. My attention was concentrated on the path, especially
after we left the open country and entered a thick wood, where, with one
lamp out of commission, I had to almost feel my way.
"I said not a word to the woman nor she to me. It was not till I was
once again in the open that I turned to speak to her and saw she was
gone."
"Gone!" said one of the jury—a raw-boned, bearded old man like a
farmer—so interested, he spoke right out.
"Yes, gone. I guessed in a moment what she had done. Either when I had
stopped to put out the lamp or in one of the pauses while I was feeling
my way through the wood she had slipped out and run. It would have been
easy for her to hide in the dark of the trees. I glanced into the
tonneau and saw that the things she had carried, the bag and the wrap,
were also missing. She had been frightened and made her escape.
Unfortunately, in the shock and horror of the next day the whole matter
slipped my mind and she had time to complete her getaway, probably by
the branch line early Sunday morning."
The Coroner here explained that inquiries had since been made at the
branch line stations for the woman but nobody had been found who had
seen her.
"I had no time to go back and look for her, and, anyway, it would have
been useless, as she could have hidden from a sheriff’s posse in the
wood. Besides, my whole interest was focused on reaching the turnpike. I
could see it before me, a long winding line between the dark edges of
small trees. I turned into it and let the car out. Though the road has
many turns I could have seen the lamps of a motor some distance ahead
and I ran fast, looking neither to the right nor left but watching for
approaching lights. On my ride back I met only a few vehicles, several
farmers’ wagons and the car of Dr. Pease, the Longwood practitioner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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