The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-02-14

of that"
''Who is Mad Mortimer" 1 asked.
Haven't you heard of him? A fam
BUS safe-cracker and forger-one of
those genteel highwaymen you read
| about"
81 don't read about them"
| "Well, that other folks read about
who make polite speeches to the ladies
while they pocket their silver spoons
and cameo ear-drops. Bah! The hum
bug there is in this world! say, Dip
'Well?'
eff the fellow really wanted to hide
himself, where could he do it better
than in just such place as this?" said
Smith. ''Who ever comes here?"
"Well, l hope he WON'T" said 1.
| "You're plucky girl, Di. don't be-
lieve you'd be afraid even of Mad
Mortimer!'
eyes, 1 should" I persisted.
Remember, the devil isn't always as
black as he's painted"
"John, don't talk that way!"
''Di, put down that dish towel! Come
herer'
| why"
! GIVE got something to say to you.
I've been a lying scoundrel all these
weeks. l am the runaway scamp that
men would scotch as they would a
| snake! l am Mad Mortimer. l tell you
this because the chase is getting too hot
in my vicinity. 1 must go away"
1 looked at him in surprise Was 1
dreaming?
''I'm not such villain as folks would
believe" he went on. ''If l could ex-
plain all, you would understand that
I've been more sinned against than sim
ming, Di. But there's no use in talking
about that. Goodbye, my girl! Tell
! Adam how it was. Tell him to keep nv
secret"
''John, you are not going to leave us?"
"Would you have me to stay to be
hunted down as the ferrets hunt rat?"
burst into tears.
In moment he had me clasped in his
arms.
'Di! you don't mean to say that you
care whether 1 live or die? Di, was it
because of this that you said No to
Ralph Maddox"
My trimming eyes must have betrayed
the secret that my lips refused to frame,
for he drew one short, quick breath, his
| face glowed.
"My girl" said he, ''this is Ike a
| new life to me. I'll make myself
worthy to claim you yet-see if 1 do
not! One kiss-do, my brave girl! And
now, goodyear
| So he left me.
This happened years ago. The next
spring new mill proprietor bought the
Allaire property and settled down at
Baldville.
He was dark, with heavy black
beard, softer than any silk, covering his
face. l am not sure / should have
| known him myself had it not been for
certain bright look-a smile-a trick of
utterance.
His father came with him to inspect
the purchase-a fine, gray-haired gentle
man-one DR.. Burgoyne, from New
York.
I'VE are going to put up some con-
| servatories for you, my DEAR" said he
John tells me you like flowers. John
| is great amateur gardener in his way
Also l feel deal ssfer to leave him
here, now that he has had the good fort
une to win you for his wife. He has
been wild in his day-a little wild-but
he always loved his old father, and he
has had the sense to choose a wife like
you. He'll do we'll now, 1 don't doubt. !"
And John came up and placed blue
orchid in my hand.
''Yeur favorite color, DIP said he.
So We were married, and, like the
people In children's story-books, ''lived
happy ever after"
The only reference to my husbands
past history that I ever heard, outside
OF our home, was on one summer even
~: MN asSS"-- % - 80 80 he
mill hands gathering blackberries on
the rocky side of Bald mountain, as our
pony carriage wound along the steep
road--the pony carriage that John al
ways allowed me to drive for myself.
There's queer story" said one to
the other, shat the famous craftsman.
Mad Mortimer, once hid month in this
very cave, behind these wild clematis
trails, that time the New York detect
ives were hunting him for the Bigley
bank case. 1 wasn't living there then,
but Eve often heard of it."
80 have ]" said the other. "But I
didn't know that was the place. Plucky
Fellow, wasn't he? By the way, how
did it all end? They freed him at last,
didn't they?
Not they. Came pretty near it, up
In Maine, but he gave 'em the slip, once
for all'
Give them the slip? How?"
Didn't you never hear? Rode of a
preclpice, forty feet high, with his load
ed revolver in his hand, just as they
were chuckling to think of the reward
they were going to get Body never was
recovered. And that was the end of
Mad Mortimer. He died as he had lived
clear grit to the end"
Mamma, do stop Fox a minutep,
cried my little boy, breathlessly. sIet
me look at the cave where the robber
chief hid from his enemies. Only one