Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-10-15

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agility. seemed rather an extraordinary pro-
ccrding. Over be would go. however, and
over Mrs. CaiSill must go with him. when
man l., in Il trance he is very unreasonable;
how Mrs Cargill stood it | cannot tell, save
that She herself was, perhaps, little affected.
We were helping them quietly over when
| the professor got into "A most unaccOuntabo
! hurry, and, had we not both devoted our at
! tention to Mrs. Cargill, she and her leader
must have fallen and the train of thought
! been probably broken. We had been asked
| to maintain a discreet silence, but | could al
most have sworn | caught n smothcred ex-
| clamaton from Harold rs Mrs. Cargilrs foot
was brought smartly round upon the side of
his head owing to the professors unreasona-
| BILE haste
Once over the paling the scent seemed to
have grown weaker. OF course there was no
! hesitation i'll the avenue, and n very evident
absence of such feeling when palngs had to
! be surmounted; but once on the dewy grass
! things might be taken more easily. ! went
| back to the palings to join Harold, and we
| left the pair to themselves till they got fairly
across the field. Then the professor seemed to
recognize the proximity of another paling
and we had to run to be in time to help them
/ over We were getting more used to it now
]
/ We handed them over without any mishap
save that the professors foot got twisted in
the fence, and his boot (one of those elastic
sided monstrositcs and very OLD came off in
| the struggle to cxtricate him.
I 1t was by this time thoroughly light; We
must have been out for nearly half an hour
! and as yet had done nothing but climb palings
and get our feet very wet. Still, it certainly
seemed that there might be some method in
! this madness and SO on we went more slowly
! now, owing to the brushwood, which happily
! was not very thick. Suddenly the professor
| stopped, in so decided a manner that could
! not but think it possible that we were near the
| object of our search. lie was at the moment
| Just opposite thick laurel bush | looked
| hastily at Harold, who appeared as confident
! as myself that we must have come to some
! thing to cause such decided and prolonged
| stop. a few minutes of silence and suspense
| passed like hours; then, a step forward, and
! the professor commenced to stoop slowly
| downward, when we heard "A rrStlng among
| the laurel leaves, and Il fox skunk out from the
| other side of the bush and made OF through
| the wood. This distracted my attention fora
! moment, and when looked round the pro
fessor had resumed his usual stiir-backcd atti
tudc We waited for full five minutes
!
| lessons promise? Was there nothing in the
| bush after all:
| He slowly relaxed Mrs. Cargill's hand: 1T
| is no use, gentlemen; | can do nothing more
| just now" But why: What was the rca-
son: Why stop himself just as discovery ap-
/ pearcl certain: The professor could under
stand it no more than we. II came hcrc,' he
said, 'guidel 10y Mrs Cargils thought.
don't know where | am | had the diamond
or the clcw to it, five minutes ago; now it is
lost Whether Mrs Cargill had ceased to as
sist me or not | cannot tell. But know
! can do nothing more just now
1t seemed best, if we wished to preserve any
secrecy i'll the matter, to make our way home
rs quick we could. | gave the professor
! his boot, and Mrs Cargill (who was some
| thing exhausted my arm: and We returned,
| gloomily. almost as we had come, that is to
say by the shortest and most direct way.
| We We're all too disguised with the professor
to be able to discuss the matter amcably with
him at the moment, parted quietly and
like guilty creatures in the hall to court the
! sleep which we all began to feel would be
| beneficial
His explanations later in the day made the
matter no clearer. He was certain that he
had been on the track ana it certainly had
looked like it,, but the reason for the sudden
stop he could not tell Still, in the end he
managed to talk us over, and Mrs. Carglll
was induced to go through the experiment
again but this time We're to start where
we had left off. One thing alone the pro
fessor would swear to; the diamond could not
be in the house, else he would never have gone
outside Also he informed us that his foot,
notwithstanding his thick stocking, was CON
| siderably the worse for wear.
The hour at length came again. Harold
and had decided to dispense with sleep, Mrs.
! Cargill ard the professor turned up very pune
| tualy within few seconds of one another
The morning was clear and frosty. We
| walked to tho laurel bush, where, having
| blindiolded the professor as before, Mrs Car
| gill took his ha"d. He soon started Off, TAX
ing no notice of the laurel bush, but away
| through the wood We must have been walk
| ing for several minutes, and at Il pretty quick
| pace, when, like an evil omen, Il fox (proba-
bly, the one we had seen on the previous night
! sprang out of clump OF underwood and van
| ishcl among the trees.
1t was the same story over again. Our
! leaders pace slackened, then he stopped
| Could it be that fox was, rs il were n non
conducting agent' | put the question to the
| professor; nay, further limited that, perhaps,
/ Wncn III Il ncSilerlc state lnc sense OF smell
might be so heightened that he had been fol
lowing like Il foXhound, for two nights in sue
ccssion, this evil denizen of the woods. He
put the suggestion aside with scorn, but the
more | thought the more felt there mi ,Sht be
something in it, and Harold so far agreed
with me as to question the learned professor
next day as to whether lie had ever been fond
of hunting.
We had gone home as before nonplussed;
we had retired to our rooms, slumbered late
and met for fresh discussion, all TO no pur-
| pose. Mrs. Cargll wished to give up the at
| tempt and call in the detectives Harold and
| We're inclined somewhat ANONYMOUSLY to
agree. But we had forgotten the professor;
his blood was up; our tauntS on the subject
of fox hunting had aggravated him more
| than we had fanCied. Prove himself right he
would; his honor, he insisted, was at stake, he
must be successful in the end. lie appealed
! to Mrs, Cargill TO stand by him, AMI the long
and the short of it was that She agreed to
| ut1lyp "a third aud last tIjn1 tB. ,,rnf.ouor