Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1894-11-22
CoPYRIGHE, 1894 ]
CHAPTER Xu-coxrrNrrn

Can you hear what they say?"
mo, cannot hear. Some one is COM
ing into the ROOM
''Who is it?'
II feel it is man but cannot see
him"
''Can you not hear what he sayse'
Il cannot hear what he says-I can
only hear what the woman says"
What does she say?"
The girls eyes started from her
''Oh. there are the soldiers coming.
The air is cold. They have not taken
down the iron railing. My God-that
is the train. l hear it-they will all be
killed." Then with a wild shrek, she
threw up her arms and with shudder
put her hands upon her ears and be-
came to all appearances lifeless. But
a little foam ooZed from the corner of
her mouth.
Hendricks was puzzled and annoyed.
There was an uncanny air to the
girls utterances that affected him in a
manner peculiar to himself. He may
be said to have resented the intima-
ton of prescience. He, as a rule,
avoided and disliked mysteries. He
did not like to acknowledge to himself
that something was going on above
ground that was suspicious and that
Mrs. Hendricks had him at disad-
vantage. He turned the matter over
in his mind and viewed it from every
conceivable point. There seemed only
one way out of the growing uncer-
tainty and it was to take body of
men, surround the house and make
the officers prisoners.
Just as he had about settled to this
conclusion Mrs. Hendricks summoned
him to the telephone.
II want to warn YOU she said ''if
any voice but mine comes through this
instrument not to answer it. They
are all away on the grounds at this
moment and | can talk to you. | can
not tell if they suspect that these
wires that apparently go out on the
poles, lead in another direction. but
they are liable to use them at some
moment. They have already made re-
marks about the chimney and the
mails and have ominOusly kept silence
about Miss Endicott's disappearance.
But / guessed the truth when they
found the horses hoof marks and
brought in the flask which smelled of
the captains Medford rum. If you
precipitate matters now, you may
wreck your st. Mary's scheme. If Cal
loot knows something about your past
how much / cannot learn. He may
know something of your future plans.
/ believe he is the only man who has
put together the threads of your career
In a personal encounter he may ge5
away. If you entrap him, there wi be
an armed force quartered on us The
best plan is to keep him here in lux
urious ease By every Establishment can
offer until the st. Mary's affair is over.
He will prefer this place to the Bayou
house, if indeed he suspects that place.
He is shrewd man but susceptible
one. Leave him in my hands"
Hendricks was not led by this COM
munication into a moments inadver-
tence. He could not tell if it were an
honest conviction or part of some
scheme of the woman's. He did not
dare tell her his own conclusions and
thus put her on her guard. He gave
her no intimation of his fast maturing
plan. He merely asked questions. The
result was that he obtained from her
further Acknowledgements to the fol-
lowing effect:
'CalicOt is no ordinary man. l fear
him because l cannot read him. l have
q growing belief that he has induStri-
ously put together your whole career
made his own theory-kept it to him
self and is staying here to corrobOrate
it before putting the machinery of law
in operation, or making his plan pub
lie. He has shown an unmistakable
admiration for me. He processes to
have never met woman whose intel
lectual gifts SO impressed him. But 1
cannot tell how far this is his suscepti-
bility or his game. Yesterday he said
my gifts would be of inestimable value
to the social system if arrayed on the
side of the normal forces of society. 1
tried all my art to get him to say how
far he thought they were arrayed
against the conventional order, but l
could not get him to divulge anything.
AT another time he said: You are in
constant communication with Mr.. Hen
bricks But he changed the subject
adroitly when l tried to find out how
he knew it. This VIII show you that
If he stays here it is only question of
time when he discovers our means of
intercourse and how necessary it is
that should sparingly use it. You
know me too well to think for mo-
ment that 1 am superstitious or vision
airy, but this cool. plausible, mysterious
man somehow stands in my instructive
feelings for the slow, inevitable, dis
passionate, solidarity of man that we
have raised our hands against. l have
exhausted all my woman's ingenuity
in trying to discover the weak spot in
his nature. He has, so far, baffied me.
1 cannot tell if he has weak spot or
is only the cleverest man 1 ever met in
hiding it. 1t would be supreme tri-
Crrph to outwit such a representative
agent intellectually. 1t cannot be done
in your way. You must handle events.
Leave me to deal with motives. In
any case, trust me-"
The result of this was just what we
might expect in n man of Hendricks
unplastic will and aggressive nature.
He was not convinced. He did not
like the woman's weak admission of
something august and invincible in
the social order. He saw nothing in
the statements and arguments that
might not be put forward as part of
subtitle scheme to gain time and to
keep him helplessly out of the way till
her own security was attained. He