St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1899-02-25

Mr.. Bingham began hurriedly In q
querulous key, clearing his throat, and
tapping the buttons of his vest with. his
! gold-rimmed eyeglasses. ss
Tt does not become you, Faith, under
the. circumstances, to be. SO excessively
on your dignity; a little more respect
for yourself in more important ways
and these little forms would not matter.
am afraid you have had very artif-
.cial training. Upon my word, ] don't
know, how a man is to bring up his
| daughters, or whom he can trust them
with; / thought that your aunts had
made at leasta good girl of you.",gf
Father, if there,is any thing you have
! to find fault with me about, please dent
do it through my aunts. i'll have dis
appointed you, it's not their fault
mo; youare right. It's not their fault
any more than it is mine We have all
been deceived. But, say, it's enough
to shake a mans faith in the daylight!
Why, thought thatyou were pride and
innocence itself" t
Faith replied with sad little laugh:
"Is it my pride or my innocence that's
in doubt?"
"Bless me, bless me, I did not think
you could be SO hard; must be plain,
then. You cannot be ignorant of the
critical situation we are in: a war be-
tween capital and labor seems tineVit-
able. have serious responsibilities on
both sides, and friends, hope, on both
sides. But it's imperativeI should know
who are my friends and whom 1 can
trust. A man would naturally think
that he might trust his own child"
Mr.. Bingham paused, but Faith simply
looked at him in pale-faced astonish-
ment. s'How do you suppose I feel
when / discover that I am harboring a
spy, and that owe his presence in my
house to the-connivance and sympa-
thy of my daughter?''@ Ss2 sslss
% ga spy!" Faith repeated. "a spy on
whom? IF there is such a person in
this house did not know it." s
"You did not know it? And you can
face me down with that innocent look!
Are you. acquainted with Mr.. John
sDarcie. as he's calls himself ?'' 80 tz&
The pink rose of consciousness in the
girls cheek famed into red rose of
anger. ssHave you any reason to sup
pose that he is not what he calls him.
self?" she asked. +.& ~ z5
81 have his own signature to prove
that he is not. / will show it to you
presently. He is cowardly detective,
sent over here by the faction in London
that is trying totdown me and discredit
my management. He sneaked in here,
and has been doing the scavenger ON the
sly for months; raking up lies and dirty
gossip, listening to every sorehead
that nurses a grudge against me or the
mine. He has been carrying the stuff
around with him, waiting for chance
to send it off-his letters and reports
and so and so onto his hackers in. Lon
don. He sends them under cover to
shyster lawyer in Spokane, who is in
with him. I say, is this the man my
daughter gives secret meetings to in
places where no young girl who valued
her good name would be seen, alone,
with stranger, at twelve o'clock at
night?"
g ssDo you wish me to think that you
believe this, father?" asked Faith, with
the look of the lamb when the wolf ac-
cused it Of rolling the stream.
Think that I believeit! Do you,deny
that you were therein the tanaracks,
on Tuesday night, with Dareie, the man |
I am speaking of 2
s@s'I was there-yes-to prevent muir
der. You know it is in all the papers
that man was shot here, in cold
blood, by our own men, for some Of
fense against their miners union -
'We are not talking of what is in the
papers. / am talking Of something that
was not in the papers, most fortunate
ly for us. What was this man doing
here, on my premises, without business
with me or. with any of my employees? |
What was the occasion, the inducement,
that brought him five miles after dark
through the woods to a place where
there was nothing to see, or do, or
learn, except by secret appointment |
with some other person? What was he |
there for? Do you know 2"
message, I believe
I'm whose name ?"
aIn. my name. O father, please 1etme
ell you all!o
You are telling me a good deal, I /
.hink. And why should a message be |
;e1t to this young man in your name?
Vas that the surestway to bring him?'',
"Father, you must ask those who
sent the message. / did not send it,"
.stYou seem to know good deal about
t, considering that You did not send
t. How did you learn the hour and
he place of meeting so accurately?"
!, II cannot tell you how learned it;
Fou viii have to trust me for that
.'Did you happen to learn the words
If the message?"
II did not, father--I mean-not at
irst.n n "A
Mot at first What am / to under
tand by that2 Let me repeat the
words; perhaps you may recognize
hem"
.."Oh, don't repeat them! The. whole
hing is frightfu1. How can ] talk to
-ou at all when you begin by accus-
ng me Of sucf things? n
TT is certainly not very pleasant for
ne to pursue this kind of an mvestiga-
ion, but we may as well go through
With it; for your own sake the thing
must be cleared up. Abby tells me that
he took that message herself, pre-
isley in your language, because you
sere unwilling to trust iteon paper
aiming the place and the time of the