Dear old Isaac! I would not let him come to see me, but the next
day there came a basket, with six bottles of wine, and an old
daguerreotype of my mother, that had been his treasure. Nor was that
basket the last.
CHAPTER IX
The coroner held an inquest over the headless body the next day,
Tuesday. Mr. Graves telephoned me in the morning, and I went to the
morgue with him.
I do not like the morgue, although some of my neighbors pay it weekly
visits. It is by way of excursion, like nickelodeons or watching the
circus put up its tents. I have heard them threaten the children that
if they misbehaved they would not be taken to the morgue that week!
I failed to identify the body. How could I? It had been a tall woman,
probably five feet eight, and I thought the nails looked like those of
Jennie Brice. The thumb-nail of one was broken short off. I told
Mr. Graves about her speaking of a broken nail, but he shrugged his
shoulders and said nothing.
There was a curious scar over the heart, and he was making a sketch
of it.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113