Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-04-18


previous speech.
Eyes, l fear so,' | replied, with
sickly smile. But if you have come
| here with the intention of bullying me,
| you made an error in the address. My
solicitors, Messrrs. Wright & Wright,
| Ely place, are the people to call upon"
| He looked at me and frowned Then
he crossed the room. locked the door
and put the key in his pocket.
What the deuce do you mean?" l
cried, starting up Indignantly. You
are presuming unpardonably! Re
place the key and unlock the door,
And went over to him as l spoke
Gently, gently, my good sir" he
said. 81 am not entirely satisfied with
our chat yet. Look at this, and sit
down quietly"
This" which he held in my face,
was revolver. Was l at the mercy
of a mailman?
you are at the wrong end of it,
you know, so sit down and be civil"
| | shrugged my shoulders and re-
turned to my chair, having the un-
pleasant sensation that he was "cov-
ering" me all the time.
When | had seated myself he came
and sat down at the other side of my
table, laid his revolver in front of him
and began to bite his nails. | waited
his pleasure silently, wondering what
| could best do.
TITS like this!" so suddenly that he
startled me out of my thoughts. Il
had a partner. The partner gets
drowned at our works in a butt o;
lpurple-not blue, mind you-dye. You
see the bare facts mentioned in the
papers (that is what you sayu write
story about it. You make me John
Saxon of your accused book, murder
my partner, and you bring me to JUS
tice, eh?"
Yes, that's it," l replied as easily
as l could. Il offer you my sincere
apology for the unpleasantness it must
have caused you; but l assure you, on
my honor, | never dreamt that you
really existed. or l should not have
used such a plot"
"But you must have known! YOU
must have Scent" leaning over the
table and kissing his words into my
face
| What would have happened if the
meaning of his words had flashed in
stead of dawned slowly upon me
cannot Think never want to know.
| Tl,,A ,inpr NV xrnRriOd
slowly, the meaning did not make me
start, and my visitor, who evidently
realized he had spoken without think.
ing how he spoke, probably trusted I
had missed his sentence.
To help him to that belief, an
swered:
How could I have known the un-
fortunate dyer had partner? | real
| ize my horrible mistake now, Of
course | ought never to have written
the book without first inquiring
whether my plot would encroach too
much upon actual facts"
He did not seem to hear me. He
was staring over my shoulder, deep in
thought, like man who dreamed his
thoughts.
BAH" he said suddenly, with great
passion. How did you learn all you
know, Ell? You could not have
guessed what no one else had sus-
pected!"
81 fear | do not understand you"
said with a smile.
"You liel You know you lie. Do you
think | have come here to be sucked
on such presentations? Do you think
brought this here for any reason but
to get from you an account of how
you discovered the purple spot on my
shirt, how you saw how it happened
as you must have done, though you
don't say so in your accursed story?
Can't you see, ingenious puppy, that
mean to know, and that when | know
to send you where you can't run a
man down by novel-writing, nor put
the law upon him? It's your life or
minel"
with all your threats" | said, you
are a bit Of a fool, Mr.. Portman, OF
else your mind is unhinged. The book