Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-09-11

Good morning. Charles"
on fiery, coal black steed on her right
and my master on her left with his
fine white Arabian mare. 1t was a
spectacular sight to watch them, know
ing as did something of their lives.
wondered which she would select in
the end-the black or the white?
Promptly at they returned, a little
fatigued by the ride but jovial and in
excellent spirits.
When the doctor came into the dining
room. scrutinized him carefully. He
gave me no particular notice, and this
left me to myself to examine him. My
distant view through the fiedglasses
had been pretty correct, but on closer
examination he revealed the most dis
tinct features of his face-his coal
black, brilliant and restless eyes. These
eyes never laughed, not even when he
was convulsed with merriment. They
were always cold, penetrating and, as |
thought. sardonic. They seemed to
repel and fascinate at once. They cas-
lily dominated everything that came
under their sway.
He was laxative and lively to de-
gree, forming the life Of the party, but
the eyes that so attracted seldom took
notice of me. An uncomfortable desire
to have them centered on me for an in
slant to fathon their meaning seized
me. To accomplish this l spilled some
of the salad dressing on his coat sleeve.
He turned a wrathful look at me, and
l had one long, steady gaze into those
eyes. SO intent was l that | forgot to
be confused ut my mishap. The Incl
dent occupied only minute, but in
that short space l had read the char
acter of the man.
What sort of servants do you have
here. Charlcs?" he broke out savagely
when the dressing filtered down from
his coat sleeve to the floor.
My master looked annoyed and quick
ly apologiZed.
He is a new man, doctor, and you
must overlook this accident"
The conversation flowed on freely
forgotten.
When the wine and cigars We're
brought, they retired to an open bal
cony just off the dining room. Through
the open window | could still hear
their talk. Most of it was Of little
consequence to me, but finally the
words of the doctor made ME prick uI
my ears.
by the way, Charles, you spoke of a
friend of yours having couple of
Dane hounds for sale Can | secure
them for a nominal price,"
Yes, | can get them and make you
a present Of them. But why do you
want two more? You have two of the
finest Danes | ever saw"
mo, haven't any"
Haven't any," calculated both my
master and Miss Stetson.
NO they are both dead" replied the
doctor slowly.
"Why. how is that? What killed
them"
"They simply died. My man over
fed them. | imagine, and they both
died yesterday of commissions"
"How strange"
mo, not strange at all. told my
man that he would kill them if he fed
them too freely while they got no ex-
ercise"
You don't think he poisoned them
asked Miss Stetson.
mo, certainly not attended them
when they were sick and cut open their
bodies afterward. There was no sign
of poison in their stomachs"
Then he made arrangements with my
master to secure the two hounds from
his friend.
did not listen to the descriptions OF
the new hounds or TO the terms of the
agreement. My mind was more con-
cerned about the doctors reason for
concealing the attempted robbery OF
his house. Why did he lie about the
death Of the two Danes and why did
he not report the facts Of the case to
the police? These We're questions that
/ could not dismiss from my mind, al
though | tried to be con WINGED that II
was natural for such q man as Or.
SQuires to hush up anything like sen
sation. 1t would only attract peopl,
to his workshop, which he wanted t.
keep quiet and exclusive.