Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1891-01-02
The Evil Genius.
A DOMESTIC STORY.
EY WILkIE COLLINS.
BEFORE THE STORY.


BEFORE THE STORY.
CHATTER XXlX.
As LAWYER ElntaIs guest understood
that H".l ave %. events can only produce
10 I.-ht effect. on one condltion-it must ht-
GLE Al the beginning. Having related all
thai had ben >aid and don" during hi> visit
L. The coitacr. incluin- his inst e.iIrtS IN
the character Of an angler under kitty's
supervision. he stopped 10 ill his class again,
ami then astonshcd Randall 10y describing
the plan he had devised for escaping from
the spies by crossing the lake in the io-.
What did the ladies say 10 IT, Randall
inquired. "Who spoke first?'
''AiIS. Pre>ty. of course. She objected TO
ri>A her life uli the water in a fog. Mrs. Lin
ley showed 4 resolution for which was not
prepared. She thought of Kitty, saw the
Nliuc of my suggestion, and went away at
once t. consult with tie landlady. In the
meantime sent for the gardener and tod
him what was thinking of. He was one Of
those s:olid Englishmen who possess re-
sources which don't express themselves out
wardly. Judging by 5 face you woaid
have said he was subsid!Ig into slumber un-
der the iniliction Of a sermon, instead of list
ening to a lawyer pro; sing stratagem.
When had done the man showed the metal
he was made of. In plain English he put
three questions which & I'VE me the highest
opinion of his int lgen"e. How much lug
gage sir? AS lite as they can conveniently
taac with them,' l said. How many per-
sons" THE two ladies, the child, and my
self Can you row, sir?' In any water
you like, Mr.. Gardener, fresh or salt Think
of asking me, an athletic Englishman, if /
could row! In an hour more we were ready
to embark and the blessed fog was thicker
than ever. Mrs prcsty yielded under pro-
te7t Kitty was wild with delight; her moth
er was quiet and resigned. But one ercum-
stance occurred that / didn't quite under
stand-the presence of stranger on the pier
with gun in his hand"
You don't mean one Of the spies"
Nothing of the sort; l mean an idea of
the gardeners. He had been sailor in his
time-and that's trade which teaches man
Of he's good for anything) to think and act
on his thought at one and the same moment.
He had taken a peep at the blackguards in
front of the house, and had recognized the
shorter Of the two as native of the place,
perfectly well aware that one of the fixtures
attached to the cottage was a boathOuse.
That chap is not such fool as he looks
says the gardener. If he mentions the boat
house the other fellow from London may
have his suspicious. 1 thought would post
my son on the pier-that quiet young man
there with the gun-tO keep lookout If
he sees another boat there are half dozen
on this side of the lake, putting Off after us,
he has orders to fire, on the chance of hear
ing him. A little notion of mine, sir, to pre-
vent our being surprised in the fog. Do you
see any objection to itT Objectioni In the
days when diplomacy was something more
than solemn pretense, what a member of
congress that gardener would have madeI
Well, we shipped our oars, and away we
went Not quite haphaZard-fOr we had q
compass with us. Our course was as straight
as We could go, to village on the opposite
side of the lake, called Brightfold. Nothing
happened for the first quarter of an hour
and then, by the living lingo (excuse my
vulgarity), we heard the guny'
what did you do?"
'Went on rowing, and held council This
time came out as the clever one of the
party. The men were following us in the
dark; they would have to guess at the d.
rection we had taken, and they would most
likely assume Tin such weather as we had)
that we should choose the shortest way across
the lake. At my suggestion we changed our
course, and made for large town, higher
mp on the shore, called Tawley. Welanded,
and waited for events, and made no discOv-
cry of another boat behind U.S. The fools
had Justified my confidence in them-they
had gone to Brightfold. There was half an
hour to spare before the next train came to
Tawlcy; and the fog was beginning to lift
on that side of the lake. We looked at the
1ops, and made purchase in the town."
''Stop minute, d" said Randall. SIS Bright
I'd on the railwayT'
'No.n
SIS there an electric telegraph at the
lace?
Yes"
hat was awkward, wasn't it. The first
Isng those men would do would be to tele-
Eaph to Tawley."
mot doubt of It How would they de-
scribe us, do you think?'
Randall answered: "a middle-aged gentle
man-two ladies, one of them elderly-and
little girl. Quite enough to identify you at
Tawley If the station-master understood the
message"
''Shall tell you what the station-master
discovered, with the message in his hand?
No elderly lady, no middlesaged gentleman;
nothing more remarkable than ono lady
snd little boy"
Randal's face frightened. "You parted
company, Of course" he said; land you dis
guised Kittyl How did you manage it?''
didn't say just now that we looked at
the shops, and that made purchase in the
town? A boys ready-made snit-not at all
bad fit for Kittyl Mrs. Linley put on the
suit and tucked up the child's hair under
straw hat in an empty yard-no idlers about
In that bad weather. We said goOd-by and
parted with grievous misgivings on my side,
which proved (thank God) to have been quite
needless. Kitty and her mother went to the
station, and Mrs. Presty and hired car
rage and drove away to the head Of the lake
to catch the train to London. Do you know,
Randall, have altered my opinion Of Mrs.
Presty."
Randall smiled. "You, too, have found
something in that old woman" he said,
(which doesn't appear on the surface"
THE occasion seems to bring that some
thing out" the lawyer remarked. 'When l
proposed the separation, and mentioned my
reasons, expected to find some difficulty in
pcrsuading Mrs. Presty to give up the adj
venturous journey with her daughter and
her grandchild. reminded her that she had
friends In London who would receive her
. and got snubbed for taking the liberty. i
know that AZ well IS you do. Come along
I'm ready to 60 with YOU 1t isn't agree
able To my feelings to own II, but l expected
to hear her say that she would consent to
any sacrifice for the sake of her dear daugh-
ter. No such claptrap as that passed her lips.
She owned the true motive with a superiOri-
ty to cant which won my sincereSt respect
I'll do anything she said, to battle Herbert
Linley and the spies he has set to watch u.s.
can't tell you how glad was that she had
her reward on that same day. We were too
late at the station, and we had to wait for
the next train. And what do you think hap
pened? The two scoundrels followed US in
stead Of following Mrs. LinleyI They had
-tnQniried No -denbt, the sffvefy stable
where we hired the cariage-had recognized
the description of us-and had taken the
long journey to London for nothing. Mrs.
Presty and shook hands at the terminus
the best friends that ever travelled together,
with the best of motives. After that think
deserve another glass Of wine"
go on with your story, and you shall have
another bottler r. cried Randall "What did
Catherine and the child do after they left
you?"
.'They did the safest thing-hey left En-
gland. Mrs. Linley distinguished herself on
this occasion. 1t was her excellent idea to
avoid popular ports of departure, like Folke-
stone and Dover, which were sure to be
watched, and to get away, II the thing could
be done, from some place on the east coast
We consulted our guide and found that q
line of steamers sailed from Hull to Bremen