The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-10-09
tcopvrieht, 1885,, by Robert Bonner,s sons.l

surely! For I'm sure by the noise you
made, it might ha' been the parish
church afrew
But the shivering man was begin
ming to feel that dry clothes and fire
outweighed everything else in his
mind.
>"Let me get inside" stammered he,
"and when I'm dry again, I'll talk to
you"
But this speech caused Claris to look
at him with more attention, and he
then perceived that Lowndes was
dressed.
"Fhere's something to be explained
herew he exclaimed, with sudden sus-
picion. You haven't been to bed.
Who are you?" he asked, in different
tone, barring the entrance to the house
with his burly person. "Who are
you? And what did you come here
for? Now, out with it! Were you
sent here to lay traps for honest folks ?
Speak out, man, or back you shall go
into the river again.
And Claris seized the unfortunate
Lowndes in his powerful grasp and
forced him backward in the direction
of the little river.
BY this time Nell had partly recov-
cred her composure. She now spoke
to her uncle in a calmer voice.
"Let him come in, Uncle George" !"
she said. "Let him come in and
change his wet clothes. And then
make him give an account of himself,
if he can"
With apparent reluctance the inn
keeper took his niece's advice, led
Lowndes up to his room as If he had
been q prisoner, locked him in, and
kept watch outside the door until he
was ready.
Jack Lowndes could hear the uncle
and niece in whispered conversation
on the landing, and murmured some
imprecations against the 'artful little
hussy," as he detected by the rising
anger in George Claris's tones the fact
that the girl was working him up"
A laundering knock at his door,
which threatened to bring it down as
easily as Lowndes himself had brought
down the door Of the upstairs room,
warned him that it was time for him
| to come out and face the indignant
pair.
"Now, SIR" roared Claris, barely
| r Joe &1,n frsr
stairs before beginning his attack,
what have you to say for yourself?
1t seems you had the - impudence
to batter in the door of my niece's
room, and that you went flying out
through the window like a madman.
Now, what have you to say for your
self? Do you remember anything
about 1t, or not"
And George Claris, who had lit a
candle, the pale rays of which looked
sickly in the struggling light Of the
dawn, peered curiously into the hag-
gard face of Jack Lowndes.
Remember? OF course I remember.
How should I know it was your
niece's room? only came into the
house last night for the first time. I
followed the woman and she went In
there. She turned the key in the
lock, so had to burst it open."
AS he mentioned the word woman"
a cry burst from Nell's lips, cry so
piteous that Lowndes turned to look
at her, and was struck with bewilder-
ment. Believing thoroughly in her
guilt as be did, having come down as
he had come to unmask her, he was
at that moment converted to an abso-
lutte belief in her innocence. And yet
he could not have explained how it
was that the sight Of her face, the
sound Of her voice as she uttered the
cry, had this instantaneous and de-
cided effect upon him. So deeply abb
sorbed was he in contemplation Of this
new aspect of the matter that at first
he did not hear, or did not heed, the
innkeeper's next words.
woman! What woman You said
nothing about woman"
II don't know myself what woman
it was," answered Lowndes, in a tone
in which a change to doubt and hesi-
fancy could be detected. "But some
woman came into my room in the
night"-George Claris moved impa-
| tiently. II don't say I was unpre-
pared for this, but I can swear that
she came, and when she took up my
clothes and I heard the chink of the
loose money in my pockets 1 started
up, and she ran out Of the room. I
was not unprepared, as say, and
ran after her, saw her go into the
| back room at the top, heard her lock
it, burst it in, and saw her getting out
of the window just as l got into the
room. 1 got out after her, saw her
once more when I got to the ground,
and the next thing knew was that
was in the water"
"Well, it sobered you, at any rate"
said George Claris, shortly. And
now there's nothing left to do but to
tell us how much money she took.
Don't be bashful; make it a hundred,
or say two. We've been bled before;
no doubt we can stand bleeding
again"
There seemed to Lowndes to be
something pathetic in the rough irony
| of tho mon'S tOne. he hppnD to fool