People's voice., 1899-09-14

saying something or sending word :
She seated herself behind the coffee
urn and touched the bell for Aunt
Nina.
"Oh, I don't know about that" re-
Piled her husband carelessly, taking his
place opposite. "a mans liable to do
anything when he's badly hipped as
Hugh is"
"Please, Tom, tell me all about it.
won't you? l can't get word out OF
Hester, and Hugh goes about looking
like a man who had lost all his friends
in single night"
u don't know anything to tell, sxcep.
what is evident enough to q man up
o moderately tall tree. Hugh has
about as pronounced a case as ever
saw develop in so short time, and it'll
go hard with him if he doesn't win. Ii
Hester should refuse him, shouldn't
be surprised to have him leave us
without a word; it would be very much
like him." So much good-natured Tom
Ludlow ventured on the chance that
Ringbrand had carried out his threat.
why should Hester refuse him?"
BLESS my soul! how should know?
I'm not in the young woman's conf
dence; and, besides, don't know that
she has"
Ludlow hurried through his break
fast, and breathed freely again when he
was well out Of ear-shot of his home.
I'm lucky mani" he chuckled; "flve
minutes more, and shed have had the
whole story out of me-, and / really
mustn't tell her that-not yet awhile;
it d be cruelty to animals. I'd like to
know If that addle-pated rascal has
actually taken French leave must
try and find out from the colonel if he
comes down to-day"
The colonel did come down, but Lud-
low learned nothing more than that
Ringbrand had left The Laurels" quite
early in the evening, that he had in
sisted upon walking, and that he had
taken the north road instead of turning
toward Tregarthen. Ludlow guarded
his inquiries carefully, but the coloners
hospitality took the alarm at once.
"Do / understand that youh friend
didn't come home las night?" he asked.
Ludlow admitted it, and hastened to
add that Ringbrand was sometimes
rather erratic in his movements.
81 reckon it would be something a
little mo- than erratic if he camped out
on the mountain all night; thah's no
house this side of Squire Craven's, an
that's good ten mile"
perhaps he went on down the road
TO Dunbar" suggested Ludlow; "he's
good for long tramp if he felt like it.
He'll turn up all right"
The colonel looked thoughtful. 81
hope so; indeed, l do. He's a mighty
fine young gentleman, and veal think
a heap Of him up on the mountain. He
told me yesterday that he was going
back to New York befo' long,"
Ludlow took this as a confession of
his suspicion, and answered, accord
ingly: "Yes; he's quite anxious to get
back to his work"
Here the matter rested, and the three
people who knew OF Ringbrands dis
appearance held widely different views
as to its motive. Mrs. Ludlow, finding
the packed yalises in the guests room,
reluctantly gave place to the carefully
insinuated suggestion of her husband
that the young man had fed because
Hester had refused him; Ludlow, some
what better informed, was quite sure
that the unceremonious departure was
due to Ringbrand's failure to win in the
battle with his weakness; while the
colonel went home with a slightly-con-
fused idea of the unaccountability of
authors and story writer's, whose
vGgaries led them TO refuse the hospi-
talities of comfortable mansion for
the sake of spending the night in wan
dering about on the mountain. Impart-
ing his convictions to Hester, together
with the information that Ringbrand
had not returned to TregaFthen, he
awakened an emotion in the heart OF
that ingenious young woman which
had slept quite peacefully through the
unobtrusiye wooing of her lover; and
her quick intuition, finding a better
trajectory than the logic of the others,
went nearer the mark, filling her with
vague apprehensions for Ringbrand's
safety. She Immediately recalled the
conversation Of the previous evening,
remembering his abstraction and the
abrupt leave-taking. Then she recol-
lested that Henry had been the last one
who had seen him, and she quickly OBJ
tained all the information that could be
CLEANED from that source. 1t contained
grain of comfort in the assurance that
he was not unarmed; but she could not
help thinking that the mere possession
of the revolver promised little for his
safety.
The following morning she mounted
Pluto and rode straight to Mrs. Lud-
lows, in the hope of finding that her un-
defined premonition of trouble was
groundless; but there had been no word
from the missing guest, and the small
matchmaker made an unsuccessful at
TENT to conceal her resentment toward
the girl who had so ruthlessly demol-
ished her beautiful air castles of domes-
tic felicity.
where do you suppose he can be?"
asked Hester, when the conversation
had been brought around by carefully