The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-26

paragraph and haverarled to grasp the
sense of the whole volume. We want
your head in our business. Mr.. Donald |
son, and are willing to pay for it, but
your heart is your own, and should be
the first to dissuade you from mar.
riage. however advantageous it might
seem to be, that was based upon any
other impulse than the love of a good
woman"
II am a melancholy fellow" said
Donaldson, with evident feeling, land
unfit for matrimony. Only cheerful
people should marry. A rich mans
money may bless or curse his children.
At the best. it is not so good as happy
dispositions; at the worst, it leads to
nothing that is half so bad as hered
itary sourness of heart. You will for.
give me for mentioning this subject.
Really l was afraid that l might be
beguiled into some sort of an expert.
ment. 1t may have been a cranky no.
ton, but this whole conversation has
been such weird mixture Of business
and ghosts"
The big clock in the corner struck
and surprised us all with the lateness
of the hour. 1t was necessary for Don
aldson to return at once to his Office,
and SO we could not ask him the ques-
tons which were pressing for utter
ance. l may say, however, that when
we had abundant opportunity there
after we obtained scant information.
Donaldson either could not or would
%Dn ~l,< hi
messages. 1t is like suddenly remem
bering something that you have always
KNOWN" was the usual way in which
he lodged the question. and he would
never speak UPON the subject at ali
when he could avoid doing so.
Upon the matter of DOnaldsons rec
ognition of his friend Writings pres
ence we made one discovery before
leaving the restaurant. Hackett sat
down in the chair which our young
friend had occupied and Immediately
perceived that owing to the position
of a hat tree upon which our coats
were hung the mirror in the wall could
not explain the phenomenon. l could
see around one side of this Obstruc
ton and Hackett around the other side,
but it was precisely in the necessary
line of Donaldson's vision.
About two weeks after this remark
able luncheon Deacon Donaldson was
added to our working force at Tun-
bridge and became a member of my
household, and there a singular and
amusing complication presently came
about. Mrs. Jane Harrington, whose
husband is 4 cousin of mine and has
charge of a branch of our business in
the west, came to visit me, bringing
her daughter, very charming young
woman of twenty. In some mysterious
manner Donaldson got the notion that
Millie Harrington was the beautiful
psychic whose union with himself was
secretly plotted by the willy Stephen
Hackett and me. He had never been
able to rid himself of the idea that
something of the sort was in the wind,
but he was entirely ignorant of the
facts in the case of Dorothy Vaughn.
In fact, nobody in Tunbridge except
Hackett and me knew that DOrOthy's
coming to teach our school had any
connection with our quest Of mysteries.
1t was far more likely that Donaldson
upon my direct invitation and SEEM
ingly thrown into his way with malice
aforethought, than Dorothy, who lived
on the other side of the town and was
merely the schoolteacher.
Mile was a firt, I'm afraid, and as
the deacon was the most attractive
young man in her vicinity she pro-
ceeded to practice her innocent arts
upon him. think he was not natu-
rally timid in such matters. He had
very easy and graceful manner in the
company of ladies, and not even so
simple an old fellow as myself could
fail to see that he had learned his les
son in the school of experience. Mil
lie found him an admirable cavalier,
and she kept him busy in her service.
1t may have been five weeks that
Mile and her mother were at my
house, and the place was so gay that
l did not feel at home In the even
ings there would be music and dane
| ing, and l would sit in a corner alone
except when Hackett strayed into this
! scene of unaccustOmed revelry or when
Dorothy could be persuaded to come
| over after the school. She was in
mourning for her aunt, of course, and
| could not join in the sport, but she
held 1t no harm to sit in sober black
and watch the others. We had some
! great talks in this way, but it seemed
| to me that she was not in so good spir-
it's after this brief season of festivity
| got we'll under way. Indeed it must
have been trial for young and pref
ty girl. as thought more than once. 1t
never occurred to me that there could
be any special trouble. Even when
she advanced the opinion one evening
that she was not doing very well with
the school and perhaps it might be