The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-08-05
Moon-Face.
A Story of Mortal Antipathy.

| ly. And then he laughed. "You are so
funny! Ho! no! You'll be the death
of me! He! he! he! Oh! Ho! no!
ho!"
What would you? 1t was past endur-
ance. BY the blood Of Judas, how
hated him! Then there was that name
-Claverhouse! What name! Wasn't
it absurd? Claverhouse! Merciful
heaven, why Claverhouse? Again and
again asked myself that question. I
should not have minded Smith, or
Brown, or Jones-but Claverhouse.
leave it to you. Repeat it to your
self-Claverhouse. Just listen to the
ridiculous sound of tt-Claverhouse!
Should a man live with such a name?
l ask you. NO." you say, And mo"
said I.
But bethought me of his mortgage.
what of his crops and barn destroyed,
/ knew he would be unable to meet it.
So got shrewd. close mouthed, tight
listed money-lender to get the mort
gage transferred to him. I did not
appear, but through this agent forced
the foreclosure. and but few days Ono
more, believe me, than the law al
lowed were given John Claverhouse
to remcSe his goods and chattels from
the premises. Then I strolled down
to see how he took it, for he had lived
there upward of twenty years. But he
met me with his Saucer-eyes, twink
ling, and the light glowing and spread
ing in his face till it was as full
risen moon.
"Ha! ha! hal" he laughed. "The
funniest tyke, that youngster of mine!
Did you ever hear the like? Let me
tell you. He was down playing by the
edge of the river when a piece of the
bank caved in and splashed him. o
papa! he cried; a great big puddle
f1ewed up and hit me-"
He stopped and waited for me to
join him in his Internal glee.
i don't see any laugh in it," I said,
shortly, and know my face went sour.
He regarded me with wonderment,
and then came the damnable light
glowing and spreading, as have de-
scribed 1t, till his face shone soft and
warm, like the summer moon, and then
the laugh-"Hai ha! That's funnyl
You don't see it. Ell? He! hel Ho; no!
hoi He GSen't see It'll Why, look here.
You know, q puddle"
But I turned on my heel and left
him. That was the last. I could
| stand it no longer. The thing must
end right there, I thought, curse himl
| The earth should be quit of him. And
as I went over the hill, could hear
| his monstrous laugh reverbrating
against the sky.
Now, pride myself on doing things
neatly, and when resolved to kill John
Claverhouse I had 1t in mind to do so
in such fashion that 1 should not
look back upon it and feel ashamed.
I hate bungling, and hate brutality.
To me there is something repugnanr
in merely striking a man with ones
naked fist-faugh! it is sickening! So
to shoot, or stab, or club John Claver-
house GO that namely did not appeal
to me. And not only was impelled to
do it neatly and artisticaIly, but also
in such manner that not the slightest
possible suspicion could be directed
against me.
To this end I bent my intellect, and,
after week of profound and strenu-
Gus incubation, Matched the scheme.
Then set to work. bought a water
spaniel bitch, five months old, and de-
voted my whole attention to her train
Ing. Had any one spied upon me, they
would have remarked that this train
ing consisted entirely of one thing
retrieving. I taught the dog, which
l called "Bellona," to fetch sticks 1
threw into the water, and not only to
mounting or playing with them. The
point was that she was to stop for
nothing, but to deliver the stick in
all haste. l made practice of running
away and leaving her to chase me-,
with the stick in her mouth, till she
caught me. She was bright animal
and took to the game with such eager
ness that I was soon content
After that, at the first casual oppor-
tunity, / presented Bellona to John
Claverhouse. / knew what / was
about for l was aware of a little weak
ness of his, and of little private and