Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-04-14
TIE Old SILVER TRAIL.
By NARY {. SnCKn,
IcSsyHsht 1896. BY J. B Lippinoou Cal
CHAPTER N.-CoxrNUED.


with an order for examination this
time" he observed.
Well, reckon from what they got
out OF II before that he thought he'd do
better to take somebody that had gone
through the workings without an order
from the court" suggested the superin-
tendent. with a grin.
Col Meredith thrummed absentIy on
the table, his eyes fixed in frowning
thought upon the floor. 'Itwould sim
Plify matters" he observed at length.
evidently referring TO some proposition
that had been discussed before The
mine has stopped work. you say
Yes; engine broke down. Nc
Cready's tone conveying 4 hint of sub
tie kumor in the explanation.
We'll If you can make it go-I don't
know that we take any great chances =
the colonel said, rising with distinct in
TINA ton that he considered the inter
view AT an end But there is no object
in carrying the joke too far. would
stop short of the dislocated shoulder
this time il 1 were you. Come, Doro-
thy;" but he started with surprise as he
looked at her, exclaiming with genuine
Z
child ?-are you sick?"
Il believe-I think I have q slight
headache" she nervously returned, a
wave of red suddenly dyeing her cheeks.
The heat"-she stopped to pass her
hands in a bewildered way across her
-eye-''it is sitting, is it not?"
Il hope you're not going to hare
mountain fever" her father impatient
IL Ella .ulated, Selling upon her hand to
feel ht.r pulse.
"I don't know but we've been givin'
Miss Meredith suthin' Of q scare with
our talk" McCready mumbled, in =
somewhat jocose tone of apology from
the door "Mebbe she thinks she's got
in with some pretty tough citizens
but nobody was giving heed to what he
said
"a little too fast" the colonel pro-
nounced, releasing the wrist while he
shut his watch with an impatient snap.
Il dare say it is nothing; but you would
better take some quinine and go TO
bed"
YES: do not care for any supper.
I viii 60 back to my room" Dorothy
murmured, hurriedly. carefully avoid
=
him at the door.
Take at least FIVE grains of quinine,~
her father anxiously advised, looking
after her "'And Will send you up some
toast and tea"
Five grains of quininei How far
would that go toward sparing Harvey
Neil dislocated shoulder? How far
toward saving her father from the dis
grace Of even tacit acquiescence in such
villainous work? Dorothy laughed in
hvsterical amusement as she restlessiy
paced her room. laugh which ended
in something like a sob.
She had always been so proud of her
father; proud of the instructive refine
Inent which spoke in the almost finicai
care of his person, III the temperatures.
welI-nigh austeriry, of his living; of his
fine appearance in the world of men; of
his brilliant war record, when his title
had been won by signal bravery in the
field; of the unbroken series of business
successes which had given him the
power and prestige of money. However
they might malign him. men treated
him with a Difference which she had al
ways accepted as just tribute to his
worth. looking up to him in that hero
worship which seems an innate impulse
of the woman nature. That this ad-
miration so boundlessly fostered was
not all love she had hardly realized
until now, when she seemed to feel her
self shrinking back from him with
sort of horror. Words that in moment
of excitement her mother had uttered
years ago came back to her now
- hn
have inherited your fathers temper
emenr - for your father has no
heart" the unhappy wife hal
sobbed. bitterly regarding the child,
who had been too young then fully
to grasp the meaning Of the words
People who have no hearts are never
hurt; they only hurt other people; aud
for them il is better So" she had gone
on to say: and now for the first time
Dorothy seemed TO understand. It was
true He had no heart, no feeling; If he
had. he could not have smiled in passive
consent 10 such an ubiquitous scheme
as that McCready had unfolded that
afternoon; he must have felt the shame
of it Thank Heaven, she had not N
Eerited his temperament. II was to be
a moral monstrcsity, one OF natures
most pitiable freaks.
She had worked herself into such a
passion that she seemed hardly capable
of coherent thought. Suddenly realiz
ing that this would not do. she seated
herself by the window, steadily gaZ-
ing out at the flame fringed clouds rim
ming the western hills. She must be
calm to think what was TO be done, for
action of some sort appeared to her in
evitabIe. The idea of appealing TO her
father she impatiently abandoned as
useless. Far rather would she get
warning to Neil himself; but where was
the messenger who would serve her
purpose without danger of betrayal?
Could she wait until her father had re-
tired for the night and go herself? Two
miles of lonely mountain climbing
might have seemed startling PROPOSE
ton at another time; but now, in her
intense preoccupation. she had not a
thought for her own safety, scarcely
even for the conventionalities to be VI
olated in such an enterprise. At first,
though, it seemed the simplest, surest
way; and she only faltered. thinking |
what she might say if brought face to |
face with Harvey Neil. how TO express
her warning without too darkly reflect |
ing upon her fathers connection with /
the matter while there was the more /