Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-03-10

scott. "It Vas harmless interview
enough, NO doubt Women are a little
nervous and cowardiy sometimes, you
know; I fancy that yonr wife inasined
that poor Harrington might send you the
documents to look at"
Il have NO doubt the letters contained
only what was perfectly justiiable," said
Moncrieff, with a somewhat distant air.
He would not hear Stella slighted. he told
himself, although his heart was wrung
with jealous pain and rage. "Of course,
if she was engaged to him"
I'VE must make allowance for women's
whims," said Kingscott, laughing. THE
iirtt,7rs are probably rather tender effu.
E ms, and she 10 ashamed Of them cow.
Goodnight, Ralph" said Alan, sud
denly rising from his chair. "I think i
won't hear any more. thanks. Stella 10
going to tell me the whole story herself
and would Eethss hear II from heE."
Il wont anticipate the recital" an
swered Kingscott. with a careless smile.
Are you going? Goodnight"
Stella was painfully conscious of the
change in her husbands manners during
the next few days. 1t was as though he
were holding himself back, trying to be
patient and courteous while suffering
from a constant sense Of injury and an
ger. A sort of half suppressed irritation
and resentment showed itself In his man
ner She could not understand 1t. She
knew that she had vexed him by her re-
fusai to divulge the secret Of her inter
view with John HanninSton, but she
-sse1t seittt tthst DE ought 10 trust heE = little
especially when she had said that she
would tell him everything BY and BY
no nd . fhnff H.
to Molly, telling her that she had prom
ised Mr.. Harrington a weeks grace, and
that she hoped he would then speak to
Mr.. Moncrieff. Molly tossed her graceful
head, and looked at her stepmother with
scornful eyes.
An air of gloom and mystery seemed to
have settled over the household. No two
persons were happy in each others com
pany. Misunderstanding abounded on
every side. The whole family appeared
TO be at cross-purposes. BERTHE was un-
der the impression that Molly's inter
course with Harrington had been broken
off; and although he had not known much
Of it, he had known enough to make him
vaguely uneasy.
At the same time he was q little pug
zled by the new friendliness which seem
ed to obtain between Molly and Uncle
Ralph. He came upon them once OF
twice In deep converse; once he was GER
tain that he saw bis uncle hand her a
letter, and 1t struck him a. odd, when he
went into the octagon room one day, that
Ralph was standing In the middle of the
room, with q ring in his hand which he
was idly fitting on his little finger. As
soon as he saw BERTHE he thrust his hand
into his pocket, SO as to conceal the ring.
why have you got Moliy's ring" ex-
claimed BERTHE.
You are quite mistaken" said Kings.
colt. The ring | am wearing never be-
longed to Molly at ALL it was an heir
loom in our family, and l was trying it
on in sheer absence of mind. l wish, my
dear boy, that you would mind your own
business"
And then he left the room. but-as Ber-
tie noticed-without offering to convince
him of his mistake by showing him the
ring, which must have hung very loosely
on his finger, for ne drew his hand out of
his pocket without it
These vague suspicious, these sensa-
tions of something unexplained, sufhced
to make BERTHE wakeful for the next two
nights. AS he lay sleepless, he could not
rid himself of the idea that there were
strange sounds in the house. stealthy
footsteps going to and fro. light gleam-
ing for a moment where no light should
be. On the second night this impression
was SO strong that he got up and partly
dressed himself and went out into the
corridor. He had armed himself with a
revoIver-a pretty, dangerous toy, which
he had bought in London, and was boy
ishly proud of keeping loaded beside his
| bed.
He felt something like thrill of posi-
tive satisfaction when at last be was
| cer;aiu that he did hear q footstep, tina,
he did see d glimmer OF light beneath the
door OF his fathers study-where no ligh!
was usually to be seen between the
hours of one and two in the morning. H.
drew back into dark recess and waited
| for the footsteps that were drawing near
The study door opened a fash of light
| came forth 1t came from a lantern in a
mans hand and the light cleaned upon
| the mans face as he walked. Berti'
| started; his revolver nearly fell from his
hano az ne looked. This was no robbsAI
then merely Ralph Kinsscott. BE had
, roll of papers in his hand, and his faes
| was pale; his eyes cleaned in . restless
vay az he glanced furtively from side to
ide. He stopped and extinsuished hil
| intern before he reached the dark re-
| .ss. He went to the octagon room.
ONE impulse urged Berthe to follow
lie made his way softly and stealthIy
| to the octagon room, holding his loaded
revolver firmly in one hand.
| The octagon room was dark. The dool
Into the tower stood open, and q breath Of
cold night air blew on Bertie's face a
he approached it'll He knew what that
meant. The door from Ralph's room
into the garden must be open, too. Voices
fell suddenly upon his ear. BE stopped t.
listen, for surely one Of them at least wa!
well known to him Molly; what could
Molly be doing in Uncle Ralph's room
at that hour Of the night? And there
was Kingscott's voice, and another
whose? Not John Hannington's? What
did this meant