The Mermaid of Druid Lake, and Other StoriesBump, Charles Weathers
Science
The Mermaid of Druid Lake, and Other Stories
Bump, Charles Weathers
Fiction; Short stories
At my request the box was brought up. It was a soap box almost full.
"Are these only the sweepings of today?" I asked. The janitor spoke up.
"I emptied all the others yesterday, sir," he declared. With this
assurance, I plunged my hands into the pile and began a minute and
careful search of it, dumping handful after handful on newspapers spread
over a table in Dr. Goucher's office. Dorland kept the others in
conversation, and this fortunately enabled me to make a couple of finds
unnoticed by them.
At the end of 10 minutes I had reached the bottom of the box. Turning
then to the dean, I said:
"How many Canadian students have you here?"
"Canadians? Oh, two--Miss Carothers and Miss Anstey."
"And may I see them?"
"I cannot see"----began the dean warmly.
I hastened to assure him I had no idea of suspecting them.
"Nevertheless," I added, "I should like to question them. I have a
theory that one or the other may help me."
The dean was mollified. "Miss Carothers has been absent sick for several
days. Miss Anstey you can see. She is a charming girl. Her father is one
of the leading Methodist divines of Canada, and an old friend of Dr.
Goucher and myself. She does not live in the College homes, but with a
lady around the corner on Charles street, who is also an old family
friend. I will send you there. She may not be at home just now, but you
can try."
The janitor's wife spoke up, "Miss Anstey was here an hour or so ago,
sir. She was upstairs for a few minutes, and then went out and got in
an auto with a young gentleman."
"I will go around to her home at any rate," I said.
"You have very little hope of finding the mummy, have you not, Mr.
McIver?" asked the dean, anxiously.
"On the contrary," I replied confidently. "I expect to bring back the
Egyptian princess in an hour or two."
He accepted my boast dubiously. "Whatever you do," he urged, "use no
questionable methods, for the sake of the College. If you find the
thief, let me decide whether to prosecute him. If you can get back the
mummy without injury, I would prefer to hush up the affair."
I promised him I would. "I consider this a very unusual case," I said,
"and I believe you will be satisfied with my disposition of it." With
this I left him.
Dorland and the College professor who accompanied us were both eager to
know what clue I had, but I stood them off as we walked round to the
Charles-street dwelling.
Miss Anstey was out, as I had anticipated, but we were graciously
received by Mrs. Eden, her hostess. It was a home of culture and
refinement, and the large parlor abounded in paintings, art objects and
other curios evidently picked up in foreign travel. "I expect Ethel home
soon," said the sweet-faced and sweet-voiced old lady. "She went
motoring this afternoon with a friend, and she said she would be home
to supper."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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