Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-11-30
CHAPTER K.
BETWEEN THE LINES.

up and down the bachelor rooms, Spe-
cial pride of his friend Carroll Meredith.
Unique they were in decoration; antlers
of ten, hung with varied guns, fishing
tackle and game bags; rare stuffed
specimens on brackets and stands;
while the walls showed best reproduc-
lions of the sporting triumphs of Amer
lean and foreign art.
But the younger man was alone, as
night fell rapidly over the cold quietude
of the city, four days after that Sabbath
when the prisoners had passed through
Baltimore streets; and with it fell the
north wind, that had howled/an day,
leaving the outer air piercing cold, and
presaging a sharp, hard freeze.
Raising the sash, Mckee peered out
anxiously into the fast-growing gloom,
then shutting the window with bang,
and shivering, as he muttered:
"Growing devilish cold! Why don't
he come? His dispatch said five
o'clock
He poked the fire nervously, lit a
fresh cigar, and threw himself into a
great leathern chair, thinking, half
aloud:
''Um! if Pete has come over, I'll risk
it tonight, without waiting for that
nameless adviser she trusts so implicit
ly. If this calm holds, the river will
freeze; and then"
Brisk clatter of hoofs on the stones
without brought the thinker to his feet,
with the exclamation:
cat last, thank heaven.'
But as he waited expectant for Car
roll Meredith's entrance, the door
banged, a slow, heavy step crossed the
hall, and a stout, ruddy-faced Irish
woman, with neat band of grizzled hair
low over her forehead, entered the room.
''Where is he, Mary?" he queried, i'm
patiently.
''Hes rid aft, sor," the woman an
swcred, ''afther LAWN this note for the
masther.''
''Was that not hep
cat tn dhoor? Shure it was wan av
thin blue-coats, bad luck to 'em! He
fetched this: Wild dispatch from hid
quarthers,' he sid. I'd like to crack his
hid-quarthers, be tn same tolSen!"
With an angry toss of her head, she
laid the note on the table. It was an
official envelope, printed in the corner,
Headquarters department of Mary
land, adjutant generals Office. Official
business" and directed to Carroll Mere
dith, Esq, in prim, clerical hand.
Mckee stared hard at the missive,
taking it up more than once, as though
his curiosity would force him to open it.
Could it be an arrest? he wondered.
His friend made frequent trips to ''the
Ferry" but his ordinary huntsman's
life left them presumably without sus-
picion. Besides, were it an arrest, it
would come in very different manner.
A warning, perhaps? Yet Meredith had
no friends among the federals-had
avoided the officers, and even lectured
Mckee roundly for his courtesies to Maj.
Bond for sake of passes. Anyway, no
warning could come from that Office.
What could it mean? Again he took up
the envelope, handling it as though it
burned him, then holding it close to the
ruddy blaze, only to find it densely
Opaque.
"Who brought it, Mary?" he asked of
the servant, still lingering by the table.
IAN orderly?'
"Virry, sor! A dacint-shpoken lad
emo, barrin' tn blue" she answered, in
an accent that long residence nor long
devotion to the Meredith family had
been potent to conquer. ''He sid it was
immayjit; and sid I'd hand ut to tn
masther in three winks av pigs eye!
1 wudn't be afther littin' tn likes O.
thin know whittier he wor in or no."
"You are right, Mary. Prudence can
do no harm these days. OF course Car
roll only goes hunting, but"
els it that? Shure it's tn bad shot
he's grown, thin, fur whin he takes tn
longest thrip tn bag comes in tn impti-
est. But where he goes, an whin, is
his own bisiness, an none av tn blue
divi's matther." The woman spoke
hotly and honestly, though there was
keen twinkle in her eye as she finished.
every well, Mary" the man an
swcrcd, looking l.eenly at her. "I'l
give him the letter as soon as he re-
turns" And, as the servant closed the
door, Mckee resumed his restless walk,
with many glance at the suspicious
missive.
1t was full hour after nightfall when
Carroll Meredith clattered up, dis
mounted and entered his own coy
apartment.
''Hcllo, Willie! U-ugh! but it is Bit
ter cold!'' was his greeting, as he threw
off coat and gloves and stood with his