Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-08-29

l rendered useless by the unhappy chance
! which has brought into our midst this
agent Of the police. All if l only knew
. whether this was the providence of God
S rebuking Us or just the malice Of man
seeking to rob us If our one best treasure
Il mother mtarnished name"
Mr.. Gryce acts from no malice -
began, but | saw they We're not listen
ing
Are they done down below" asked
Luoetta
does the man you call Gryce seen
satisfied" asked Loreen.
drew myself UP physically and men.
tally. My second task was about to be-
gin.
Il do not understand those men,
said l. "They seem to want to look far.
Their than the sacred spot where we left
them. If they are going through form
they are doing it very thoroughly"
That is their duty, said Loreen,
but Lucetta took it less calmly.
1T is an unhappy day for us " cried
She. Shame after shame, disgrace aft
er disgrace. l wish we had all died il
our childhood. Loreon, must see Viii
liam. He will be doing some foolish
thing, swearing Or
My dear, said |, ''let me go tC
William. He may not like me over.
much, but I will at least prove re-
straint to him. You are too feeble. See,
you ought to be lying on the couch in.
stead Of trying to drag yourself out to
the stables.
And indeed at that moment Lucettas
strength gave suddenly out, and she
sank into Loreen's arms insensible.
/ When she was restored, | hurried
away to the stables, still in pursuit 81
/ the task which | had not yet completed.
found William sitting doggedlv Oh a
stool i'll the open doorway, gruntins out
short sentences to the two men who
lounged III his vicinity on either side.
He was angry, but not as angry as ]
had seen him times before. The men ,
We're tuwnsfulk and listened eagerly 10
his broken sentences. one or two Of
these reached my ears,
Let EN- 90 it, It won't be now or .
today they Il settle this business. It's
the devils work, ami devils are sly. .
My house won't give up that secret,
Or any ether house they'll he likely 10 .
visit. The place l would ransack- Bat
Loreen would say was habbling. Good
ness knows a fellows got to talk about
something when his fellow townsfolk
come to see him. And here his laugh
broke il harsh, cruel and insulting.
felt it did him no good and made haste
to show myself.
Immediately his whole appearance
changed. He was SO ast6nished to sec
me there that for moment he was all
solutely silent; then he broke ont again
into another loud gutfaw, but this time
In different tone
"Ah, ha, - he laughed, Miss Butter
worth! Here, saracen. Come, ray your
respects to the lady who likes you so
we'll -
And Saracen came, but l did not for
sake my ground. l had seen what |
hoped to see in one corner, and Sara
Gems presence afforded me the opportu-
nifty of INDUCING in one or two rather
curious performances.
II am not afraid Of the dog, - said l,
Will IIiitI httl h1llItSS, suI ltN anu
the pail Of water lad already marked
with my eye. "Nct at all afraid, l
continued, catching up the pail and
putting it between us as the dog made g
wild dash in my direction. These gen
tlemen will not see me hurt. - And
though they all laughed-thev would
have been fools if they bad not-and
the dog jumped the pail and l jumped,
not pail, but broom handle that was
lying amid all the rest of the disorder
on the floor, they did not see that l had
succeeded in doing what l wished,
which was to place that pail So near TO
William feet that But wait a mo-
ment, everything in its own time | es-
capped the dog, and next moment had my
eye on him. He did not move after that,
which rather put stop 10 the laughter,
which seeing / drew very near 10 Will
liam, and with sly gesture to the two
men, which for some reason they seem
ed to understand, whispered in the rude
fellow ear:
They We found your mothers grave
under the flower parlor. Your sisters
told me TO tell you. But that is not all.
They're tTampling hither and yon
through all the secret places III the eel
lar, turning up the earth with their
spades l know they won't find any
thing but we thought you ought to
1now''-
Here made a feint Of being startled,
md ceased. Ny second task was done.
The third only remained. Fortunately
1t that moment Mr.. Gryce and his fol-
lowers showed themselves in the gar.
den. They had just come from the cell
ar and played their part i'll the same
spirit | had mine Though they were
100 far for their words TO be heard, tie
lir of secrecy and the dubious looks
hey cast toward the stable could not
,ut evince even to Williams dull IN
that their investigations
lad resulted in a doubt which left them
ar from satisfied, but, once this impress
ion made, they did n4 linger long to-
,ether. The man with the lantern moved
If, and Mr.. Gryce turned toward us,
hanging his whole appearance as he
dvanced till no one could look more
heerful and good humored.
"Well, that is over, " said he. Mere,