The Irish standard., 1892-10-22

ID ;
4 ll,,aye ss,r1 l Is
YOU rye A tn ns'
III, Sc at the bottt this ~
that Birchmore and Kate are So much rlls
exercised haa't S he l'1l1
l; There's 81 ono thing 81 re,olved 81 dso.
however. y continued to myself, a = IL u
settled down with the paper, pens and
ink at the table ia the wind FL ~
buttonhole Birchmore this very after sE-5
noon. and get out Of him everything h Fl
knows about his precious. valet g can g.
do no harm to have the matter cleared
m This thing is absurd, Of course, still
the situation ont here is rather lonely
and with two s1lch lovely neighbors as|
Pana Rudolph and Slurk par mobile
fratr,11n-it may be well to be on the
safe side. Yes, that shall be cleared up
today!' .if.t .3s. q, y s.st... ,llss
Having arrived at this sapient de-
termination | set to work writing my
letters, and scrubbed away diligently
for an hour or two At length. as Twas
looking vacantly up from my paper, at
q loss for something interesting to set
down upon it. my eyes happened TO rest
upon the pane of my open window. .
Like nearly all German windows I'd It
opened inward on hinges, instead OF
running up and down in grooves The
pane on my left. therefore, having the
dark room as a background, acted as
mirror of the sunlit landscape outside on
the right, showing me portion thereof
which was directly invisible to me from
where | sat, and to any person standing
in which must myself be invisible
Now, my window was on the southern
side of the house, which fronted west
ward on the road On the Opposite sid
of the road was narrow strip OF land
planted with vegetables. and above this
rose the abrupt side of a hill. assembled
by a winding path partly hidden by the
trees. lcould not see this hill and path
without leaning out of the window and
looking toward the right; but consider
able part of it was reflected in my win
dow pane mirror and could thus be
readily observed without rising from
my chair Happening then. as said. to
cast my eyes upon this mirror. saw two
persons standing together on the path
upon the hillside and converslng In a
very animated manner.
| had no difficulty in recognizing
them; they were Mr. Birchmore and his
valet So far there was nothing surpris-
ing in the spectacle. That which did
surprise and even astonish me. however
was the mutual bearing of the two men
toward each other.
l have already mentioned the per-
emptory tone in which Mr.. Birchmore
uniformly addressed the man Surk and
the generally overbearing attitude he
assumed toward him: but in the CONVEX
sation now going forward all this was
changed To Judge by appearances,
should have said that Slurk was the
master and Mr. Birchmore the valet.
The former was gesticulating forcibly
and evidently laying down the law in a
very decided and autocratic way. His
square, ungainly figure seemed to dilate
and take on a masterful and almost
hectoring air: while Mr.. Birchmore
stood with his hands in his coat pockets
unde1nonstrative and submissive, appar-
emily accepting with meekness all that
the other advanced. and only occasion
ally interpolating a remark or sngges-
ton to which Slurk would pay but slight
or impatient attention Both were evil
IDENTIFY talking in low tone; for though
they were not more than fifty or sixty
yards from where sat. could not catch
q single word. or even SO much as an in
articuiate mur1nur, unless by deliber
ately straining my ears. But did not
need nor care to near anything; what
saw was quite enough to startle and
mystify me.
After few minutes the two inter-
locutors moved slowly on up the path
and were soon beyond the field of my
mirror. But the unexpected scene which
had witnessed did not 80 soon pass out
of my mind.
got up from my table and began
walking about the room with the rest
lessness of one who cannot make his new
facts tally with his preconceived ideas.
Who and what was Slurk and how had
he obtained ascendency over a man like
Birch1nore? Certainly it could not De a
natural ascendency. Birchinore FAUST
have put himself in the others power
In other words, Slurk must be black
mailing him And this was the trouble.
was it?-this was the mystery? 1t was
an ugly and awkward business, certain
ly; but the main question remained after
all unanswered. What WAS it that
Birch1nore had done to give Slurk a hold
upon him? and had that act. whatever it
was, compromised his daughter along
with him?
For now that l gathered up in my
memory all the hints and signs which
had come under my notice in relation to
this affair, could not help thinking that
Hates attitude had in it something sug
gestive of more than mere flial sympar
thy with her fathers misfortune. In
that misfortune or disgrace she had 9
personal and separate, in addition to
sympathetic, share. And yet in what