Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-01-17
A KnaVe of
Conscience
By FRANCIS LYNDE.
Copyright 1900, by Francis Lynde.)
CHAPTER XVII.


upon which Margery Grierson had
asked her father for bread and got
a stone-was fraught with other
happenings to more than one of
those whose trivial tale this is. The
first of these fell upon Jasper Grier-
son, as we have seen, and was little
short of a rebellion in his own house
hold. The next was of import to one
Andrew Galbraith.
The president of the Bayou state
bank was spending a very pleasant
vacation in the quiet Minnesota sum-
mer resort. The people at the hotel
were chiefly from New Orleans, and
hence congenial; the cooking was
good, the weather perfect, and the
few social doors of the town that Mr..
Galbraith cared to enter were opened
wide to him. Moreover, Mr.. Jasper
Grierson had been exceedingly kind
to grabbed old man who was with
out kith or kin to make much of him;
and Miss Margery had quite neglect
ed the younger men to be gracious
to him.
It was in the forenoon of this day
of happenings, while Mr.. Galbraith
was smoking his after-breakfast ci-
gar on the great veranda which over
looks the lake, that a caller was an
nounced. A bellboy brought the card
from the Office, and Mr.. Galbraith ad
justed his glasses leisurely and read
the name.
Mr.. Kenneth Griswold,' Ell? I
don't recall the name. Stop Bit
yes, | do. He is Miss Maggie's writ
er friend. Ask him if he will step
out here, where it's cooler"
The bellboy disappeared, and pres
entity returned, towing Griswold.
The old man rose with the courtly
good breeding of the elder genera
ton and shook hands with his visitor.
Il am glad to met you, Mr.. Girls
void Miss Grierson has often spoken
of you. Sit down--sit down and be
comfortab BILE. If you could only have
our Louisiana winters to put with
your summers, this would be Para
disc ITSELF
Griswo1d made shift to make some
acknowledgment, sat down, and be-
gan to tumble for his cigar case.
What he had come prepared to say
to Mr.. Galbraith was not made any
easier by this instant Juggling in of
Margery Grierson as his social spon-
sor.
"a cigar?" said the banker, inter
negatively. TRY one of mine; they
are Cubans with pedigree, and if I
may toot my own pipe bit, I'll say
they are not to be duplicated this
side of New Orleans"
Griswold took the proffered cigar
and was still more i'll at ease. While
he hesitated, not knowing exactly
how to begin the tale which should
twist itself into a warning to the
would-be purchaser of worthless pine
lands. the old man leaned back in his
chair, regarding him with kindly in
terest. But all at once he sat up
very straight, and the kindly gaze
became sharp scrutiny.
Have you ever been in New Or
leans, Mr.. Griswold?' he asked, alb
ruptly.
Griswold was instantly on his
udlu, DuU III luC CHICh OIL III lie SoU
his teeth upon sudden resolve not
to lie.
Il have; but not very recently"
HIM; may I ask how recently?"
81 was south for few weeks last
spring, and spent part of the time in
New Orleans"
Andrew Galbraith sat back in his
chair, and for all his apparent lapse
into disinterest, Griswold could see
the long upper lip twitch nervously
HIN; last spring, you say? We
had quite bit of excitement last
spring, Mr.. Griswold. Did you chance
to hear of the robbery of the Bayou
bank while you were there?"
Now Griswold knew that, notwith-
standing the seeming abstraction of
his questioner, he was under the
sharpest surveillance that pair of
well-trained old eyes could bring to
bear; knew this, and made sure that
the slightest hesitation, the merest
quiyering OF a muscle, would bctray
him. So, though his lips were
parched and his tongue clavc to his
aeeth, he answered with well-simu-
lated nonchalance:
Il read of it in the newspapers on
my way noNth,' he said, with exact
and literal truthfulness. 81 remem-
Der thinking 1t was the most brazen
thing l had ever heard of. | presume
you know all the parties concerned?"
This was said with the mildest pos
sible shading Of decent curiosity, and
was a very master stroke of evasion,
which did its work effectually for the
time. Andrew Galbraith smiled a
so"r little smile, and confessed that
he knew QUa Of the ma rites yo,.1, xr,oIl