Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1896-12-31

vice to you, and it is to put you in pos
session of the facts that have spoken.
a check for your services to my late
client viii be mailed to you Immediately
upon my return to the city"
Thereupon the lawyer went his way,
leaving me by no means so disheartened
by his remarks as might have been the
case with a man whose regard for
Dorothy Gray was entirely platonic.
He was as good as his word in settling
Mrs. Loring's affairs, and in few days
my check arrived. Another valuable bit
of paper reached me about this time
from a very different source, one from
which it was decidedly unexpected.
Jones, the mysterious farmland, in>
trusted it to the mails not long after
1 had seen him safely on train south
bound from BASKERVILLE. In parting
he had thanked me with good deal of
heartiness for my attendance upon him,
but had maintained his old reticence
as to the character of the business which
had brought him to Rodneytown with
results so disastrous to himself. The
size OF the check, though, was sufficient
to prove that when he entered Mrs.
Weston's employ he was in a position
to care little for the pittance size paid
him. Banks, too, received substantial
token Of the mans gratitude, but he
was even less able than to guess what
Jones' mission had been.
These achievements to my financial
strength helped me to arrive at decis-
ion, though it was decision burdened
with conditions. In the matter of for
tune, Dorothy Gray and were not very
far apart; and surely her position was
such as to encourage the most timid of
wooers. So far, [ found clear sailing.
But, once this point had been attained
il my calculations, there arose a rem
nant of the old perplexities. Lamar was
still the disturbing factor, for, in spite
of the deadly na1ady which had him in
its unrelenting clutches, I could not be
certain of his plans, so long as strength
remained in him to leave his present
quarters should he desire to do so. It
could hardly be supposed that he would
survive more than a year; at least that
was the limit had fixed, after allowing
him what believed to be wide margin.
a second examination had shown that
the disease was advancing steadily.
His precariols condition had in no way
decreased my aversion for him, but it
had the effect of ending any idea I
might have entertained of resigning my
post. To desert him now was out of the
question. Yet to remain with him
meant a postponement of the inevitable
struggle for a professional foothold in
some city, or even of a partnership with
Banks. So long as I was in the hermit's
employ I must be free to follow him
if need arose. Tt was my duty, strive
as I might to disguise the fact.
Dorothy and did not continue quite
the old friendship. There was a subtle
difference in our relations. We were
together often, though she seldom drove
with me and there were no more boat
ing excursions, but there was some
thing of our former comradeship lack
ing. She was graver, quieter, more alb
stracted. The mourning she wore was
no meaningless badge of sorrow. She
was grieving over her aunt's loss, and, I
feared, causelessly reproducing herself
for the accident. It was not time for
me to speak; it was better to wait until
her thoughts should be less with the
dead and more with the living. L had
determined. when my opportunity
came, to lay my doubts and difficulties
fairly before her, and to ask her aid in
seeking way out Of them.
But many days wore away before the
opportunity was mine. had asked her
to accompany me to BASKERVILLE, and we
were riding homeward from that town,
with the horse fallen into his LATEST
jog-trot. For some little time neither of
us had spoken. She was preoccupied, I
thought, but it did not occur to me to
suspect that any unusual cause existed
for her abstraction. AS for myself
we'll, inasmuch as she was by my side,
I was fairly content.
MAY ask your advice ?'' she said, at
last, breaking the silence.
Surely, in anything" I answered.
''It seems to be best, but am not
quite satisfied with my own Judgment"
This she said as if more in explanation
to herself than to her nearer. 81 am GO
ing away
sWhy?" I demanded. ''Why, and
| when. and whither?''
lit must be soon; I've realized 1t ever
since my aunt's DEATH" she said, with a
brave effort at composure. 81 am poor
Il think you know that. 1 must find a
way to support myself. I have thought
that perhaps I could be most useful as
= hot Al