Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-05-08

i St6ppcU tOWdAQ uCIs tnO low isS Il
suppose / meant to kiss her. But her
expression changed in manner not en-
couraging to such an advance; she
looked both grave and hurt and l
paused.
81 was going to say-if thou wouldst
| like to see the diamonds, it would give
me great pleasure to show them to
thee"
MANY thanks, honored sir; 1 would
rather not" And, with formal cour-
tesy, the fair haired little maid opened
the door and disappeared, leaving me
feeling rather foolish.
1.-THE pretty peasant has pride OF her
own" said TO myself as l opened my
trunk and got out my writing materials.
"She's actually offended because l
wouldn't constitute her guardian OF
thirty thousand pounds worth OF dia-
monds. Good gracious! why that father
of hers, il l know anything OF faces,
would cut all our throats for as many
groschen. But what an unmistakable
scamp my friend Slurk must be to have
aroused the suspicious of such an inno-
cent, unsophisticated little creature as
| Christinchenl BY Jove, though, any
body might be suspicious of leer and
a SLOUGH like his! What II there should
be anything in it? Just suppose such
thing for a moment, Ell? It's impos-
| sible, to be sure; but the impossible
does sometimes happen. How on earth
did Birchmore ever happen to have such
fellow about him? tell you I've al
ways had notion that he may be at
81 ~ oil that
Birchmore and Kate are so much exer-
cised by. Now, what II he-but pshaw!
There's one thing I'm resolved to do,
however" continued to myself, as
settled down with the paper, pens, and
| ink at the table in the window. "I'l
buttonhole Birchmore this very after
noon, and get out of him everything he
knows about his precious valet. 1t can
| do no harm TO have the matter cleared
up. The thing is absurd, of course, still
| the situation out here is rather lonely,
and with two such lovely neighbors as
Papa Rudolph and Slurk--par mobile
fratrum---it may be well to be on the
safe side. Yes, that shall be cleared up
to-dayr'
Having arrived at this sapient deter
mination, l set to work writing my let
ters, and scrubbed away diligently for
an hour or two. At length, as l was
looking vacanty up from my paper, at
loss for something interesting to set
down upon it, my eyes happened to rest
upon the pane OF my openwindow.
Like nearly all German windows, 1t
opened inward on hinges, instead OF
running up and down in grooves. The
pane on my left, therefore, having the
! dark room as background, acted as
| mirror OF the sunlit landscape outside on
the right, showing me a portion thereof
which was directly invisible to me from
where l sat. and to any person standing
in which l must myself be invisible.
Now, my window was on the southern
side of the house, which fronted west
ward on the road. Oh the opposite side
Of the road was narrow strip OF land
planted with vegetables, and above this
rose the abrupt side OF hill, assembled
by winding path partly hidden by the
trees. ! could not see this hill and path
without leaning out OF the window and
looking toward the right; but consid-
cradle part of IL was reflected in my
window pane mirror and could thus be
readily observed without rising from my
chair Happening then, as / said, to
cast my eyes upon this mirror, l saw two
persons standing together on the path
upon the hillside and conversing In a
very animated manner.
| had no difficulty In recognizing
them; they were Mr.. Birchmore and his
valet. So far there was nothing sur
prising in the spectacle. That which
did surprise and even astonish me, how
ever, was the mutual bearing OF the two
men toward each other.
have already mentioned the per-
emptory tone in which Mr.. Birchmore
uniformly addressed the man Slurk 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, l
should have said that Slurk was the
master and Mr.. Birchmore the valet.
The former was gesticulating fore
IDLY and evidently laying down the law
In a very decided and autocratic way.
His square, ungainly figure seemed TO
dialate and take on masterful and al
most hectoring air; while Mir. Birch
more stood with his hands in his coat
rockets, undemonstrative and submis-
sive, apparently accepting with meek
ness all that the other advanced, and
only occasionally remark
or a suggestion TO which Sunk would
pay but slight or impatient attention.
Both were evidently talking in a low
tone; for, though they were not more
than fifty or sixty yards from where l
sat, could not catch q single word, or
even so much as an inarticulate muir
muir, unless by deliberately stralning my
ears. But ! did not need nor care to
hear anything; what | saw was quite
enough to startle ard 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 so 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
Birchmore? Certainly 1t could not be
natural ascendency. Birchmore must
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? II was
an ugly and awkward business, certain
ly; but the main question remained after
all unanswered. What was il that
Birchmore had done TO give Slurk a
hold upon him? and had that act, what
ever it was, compromised his daughter
along with him?