Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-03
ENGAGED In HASTE.
BY MISS NJ. f. BRADDoN.
CHAPTER MI.
CHATTER MI.
. A POWER OF HE'LL o'ERCLoJDs THY IN
DERSTANDING."

no difficulty in awaking at any hour of the
morning at which he wished to rise. He
needed to victimiZe no servant who must
rise still earlier to call him-nOr did he re-
Quire TO have his courage stimulated by
cup Of hot tea. He went to his bedroom
directly the detective had retired TO the
servants quarters, and he told himself as
he lay down to rest that he would be astlr
at 4:S0 O'Clock next morning; not with any
idea Of cub-hunting, but with the serious
Intention of getting an interview with Mrs.
Jaker before detective or search warrant
could reach her cottage. Before bidding
Miss Darnel goodnight he had contrived
20 ascertain from that lady the exact stu
alton Of the cottage. 1t lay within mile
of the park gates, in particularly lonely
district, given over to agriculture. Half
dozen small farms had been rolled into
one, and the homesteads belonging to them
had been pulled down or turned into labor
ers' cottages The Jakers' domicile was
situated at the end Of a long lane, just
where the uttermost limit of cultivated
land met the edge Of wild stretch of
common.
Having told himself that he should be
asi.r at 4:3O, the colonel woke few min
utes before the hour. He had scarcely
sounded his repeater when the eight-day
clock in the corridor chimed in with MS
four musical sotes and then its four sonor-
ous strokes upon the big bell. The colonel
was up and in his bath within five min
utes. Not a man he to yawn and loiter
and think twice about leaving his pillow
when there was business to be done.
Ii was pitch dark as yeti would hardly
be light by the time he should arrive at
Mrs. Jaker's cottage, but he calculated
that a person of her condition would be an
early riser, and he felt no compunction
about waking her up should she prove
slug-a- bed He was bent upon seeing her
before the detective arrived with his
search warrant; so that in the event OF her
husband having obtained his plunder from
Victor de Camillac the woman's mouth
might be sealed as to the existence and
whereabouts of that obnoxious French
man
my friend Penwern ignores those foot
marks on the flower beds now that he has
started on another track" the colonel
thought as he walked briskly along the
avenue under the cold October sky. Not
sery logical. That narrow sole and pointed
heel could never have belonged to the
boot of a rustic poacher, and yet those
foot-marks have to be accounted for some
how, and I am not at all clear that Grace's
admirer is safe out Of the business"
Before going downstairs the colonel had
tapped softly at his friends door and had
questioned the night nurse. Her reply
was more favorable than usual The pa
= tient had spent quieter night, the fever
was little less intense, the delirium less
violent. All this was hopeful
There were patches of gray in the east
ern sky by the time the colonel came to
the end of the long, muddy lane and en-
tered Mrs. Jaker's neglected garden.
Albeit the sky WAS gray in the east, and
faint adRixture of silyery light glorified
the undulating lines of hill and woodland,
Mrs. Jaker had not yet left her pillow
when the colonel knocked with his stout
oak stick at the cottage door. She put her
head out Of an upstair window presently,
however, and on hearing that he had par
ticular business with her, promised TO be
down in ten minutes. So the colonel
strolled up and down the dreary little
garden, with its stagnant puddles in de
pressed corners and ii sragged regiment of
barren cabbage stalks.
The cottage door opened while he stood
at gaze above the cabbage stalks, and he
was admitted to the Jaker abode. Mrs.
al >
colonel could not help suspecting that she
had slept in her gown. A swarm OF
healthy, handsome children, all in the
last stage of rags and dirt, were squatting
aud scrambling about the wide hearth,
which had eviddntly belonged TO the farm,
house kitchen. The few sticks Of furni,
ture were all in a ruinous condition, and
Il was not without careful selection that
Mrs. Jaker found chair which she could
venture to offer 10 her guest. When he
had seated himself she knelt on the hearth
and lighted fire of sticks and turf, which
made a cheerful fare of light amidst the
rrayne.ss of the morning. While she was
doing This she turned her head now and
then and looked timidly and interroga
tiyely at the colonel She was scared by
the appearance of q stranger at this un
wonted hour; but she was accustomed tC
be visited from time to time by the gen
try who came to demonstrate with hel
upon her own and her husbands misdo
ings.
You had a stranger here last night
Mrs. Jaker," began the colonel,
-Yes, sir, there was person here
aExactly. / know all about him ant
what pas sed. You have not heard tn,
last of that person and his inquiries. L
would have been wiser II You had told
him the truth about that money which i!
10 pay your husbands passage to Canadf
and set you all up in new country. II i
nice little fortune for man like jake
20 drop into. II ought TO buy him prett.
little farm ont yonder."
Mrs. Jaker paled at his speech, and {
frightened look came into those mild eye
OF hers, eyes which were apt to mislea'
strangers as to her character.
sFortune, SIR she faltered. "My poo
husband had nothing but the &l0 he wol
at the races"
Indeed! Then how came he to spen'
nearly Rf0 with the old woman at tn
shop! That would leave him very littl
for his passage money
Hereupon Mrs Jaker, with tears in he
eyes, called upon the heavens and thos
who dwell therein to witness her truth
She had told the strange gentleman VIII
called last night the truth, and nothin
but the truth. II her husband had NOR
money than those 10 sOvereigns won 70
him by the horse True Blue-which was
Wiltshire-b bred horse and well beknown
him, or Jaker would never have backe
him-she knew it not.
-Come, now, Mrs. Jaker, this is all yer
foolish" said the colonel, in a friendl
tone. suppose / were to tell you that tn
person you saw last night is coming agai
this morning, and that in all probabilit
he will take you off to prison A man
Jaker's station doesn't come by s4OO
bank notes without people asking que
tons, and as Jaker has made off it will
for you to answer those questions"
As the colonel uttered those wort
@e400," he looked straight into Mr.
Jaker's face; and every line in that fac
hardened as the woman was by long e,
perience in lying, told him that the sh'
had gone home. Sir Allan's bank not