The Princeton union., 1900-11-29

- 1900. 5
my eyes, my heart beating tumultuous-
II. If ISonlY knew what they did.
They had beer with Willie were the
last to see him, proha bly,, in the Vic.
tOria dock. Il
The man, small man, thin, twisted,
snakelikc, and venomous, was no
doubt the ringhader. one OF the prime
movers in the plot. AS I looked at
his dark, salloW face. heavy, brooding,
with dull, savage, bloodshot eyes, I
trcmbled to think might have to
measure strength with him--that 7,
weak, helpless woman, might be called
upon to Unmask him, and bring him to
account. What chance should I have
alone against these unscrupulous, muir
derous, coldly deliberate villains?
| got some little comfort, however,
from my examination Of the woman
Duchess Oh no duchess, accomplice and
confederate or hapless tool, willing OF
constrained, I knew that within her
poor means she had been kind to
Willie, and would have helped him If
she could. She was not wholly bad, I
felt sure. A. handsome woman, un-
doubtedly; very tall, with a fine figure
and beautiful face, although with
sad, worn, anxious eXpreSSiOn-the
face Of one who had known some
trouble. Was she vexed, harassed,
tortured perchance, by past that
was irrevocable, at present hateful and
lntOlerable, which she was power
less to mend? There could be but lit
tie sympathy between her and her hus-
band. They hardly spoke to each
other: when they did, the man seemed
to snarl, and if she answered at all, it
was only in sullen monosyllables.
When the false Willie Wood addressed
her, which he did from time to time
with an air of easy familiarity, she
disdained to reply at ALL 1t was clear
the conspirators We're not a happy
family.
While sat looking intently at these
people and engrossed with very serious
thoughts, I was disturbed by Fan
shave, my maid, who came up and
said, in a very fretful. disappointed
tone:
'Please, Miss Frida, I'm Worried to
death with this tiresome dog. What
ever made you bring him is more than
I can say. can do nothing with him."
Roy had been pretty good till now,
and when we got on board the tender
handed him. over to Fanshawe. He
had followed her very obediently from
the train to the quayside, but when
once embarked had shown the most
unaccountable restlessness. He began
questing about the deck, dragging Fan
Shave after him, for he had great
strength and, besides, he groWled so
threateningly that she was forced to
give in to him. When l took him in
hand he displayed the same restless.
ness. At last, in despair, she appealed
to me.
I again took the leash out Of her
hand and tried to pacify him. As a
rule I could manage him. He had
taken to me long before in the early
days Of our acquaintance, and now,
since Willie was gone, he transferred
his affection, as l hoped, to me. But
now I had lost all control over him.
He would not keep quiet, still much
less crouch down at my feet. He dis.
dained to obey. I tried all ways with
him-spoke to him softly and sweetly.
scolded him and cuffed him, but all to
no purpose. He stood away from me
1.-THE longest distance his chain would
allow, as if we were, utter strangers
and his only idea was to break entirely
away at the very first chance.
Then, just as our tender ran along
side the great liner, and l was occu-
pied with mother and all our belong
ings, he made one great snatch at his
chain. It slipped through my fingers
and IN an instant he was gone. He
ran forward to the bows Of the tug,
and could hear him raging furiously
along the deck through the throng
with loud, quite joyous yelps, as eager
as if he was rounding up flock of
scattered sheep on the mountain home
Of his ancestors.
In the end l saw him crossing the
gangWay at the fore part-that put
down for the second cabin passengers.
He was thrusting his way through
them noisily, and was one Of the earli-
est at the ladder, which he ran up, to
disappear hastily into the big ship.
Directly had installed mother into
a snug place in the music room and set
Fanshawe to unpack made inquiries
for the dog.
"Dog, miss?" said passing steward
"Is he passenger? Then the butcher
will have him safe. If not, guess he is
made into sausages by this time, for
the chief officers bound to have him
hanged"
II have paid for the dogs ticket, and
perhaps you will be good enough to d.
- N