Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1904-05-19
CHAPTER vII.-continued.

e JsSS oobAa obOLA 49,
seeing that the place held a rough Ia
BILE and a wooden chair or two, which
could be dimly d~iscerned by the aid
OF a stray ray or two OF moonlight i'll
tering in through the broken shutters.
n through the door she had left
open, when she heard. with those
quick ears upon which she had had
to depend SO often, the sound Of voices
and then the laugh of a man. Rap
Idly deciding that it might be danger
GUS for her TO be found there, dressed
and jeweled as she was, If these men
were poachers or country night-birds
OF any sort, she got put of the place,
covering her tracks, as 1t were, by
closing the door carefully again; and
then, hearing the voices unpleasantly
near, slipped back round an angle of
the wall and dropped down. as we
know, among the underground, and
listened and watched.
Sometimes. in an uneasy dream, one
sees a face that has long passed out
OF ones life-just in the fash Of n
moment, as 1t were-and wakes, and
laughs to think how absurd it was
that that face could ever have APP
peared at all. So the woman, crouch
ing in the shawods. saw a tall man
she did not know pass up to the door
of the house and kick 1t open; then
saw, emerging from behind the trees,
q face she knew distinctly-a face so
startling, there in that spot, that she
clapped a hand hard upon her lips to
save herself from crying out-the face
Of Owen Jaggard, last seen when the
man was sauntering through a dark
street of San Francisco. and when she
had held her breath in a doorway
while he passed and wondered with
dread IL he would see her.
For a moment she lay there. stun
ned and be~wildered. In the fierce ag-
ony and terror OF the moment she was
in a mood to run to the door of the
place and beat II In and face this
man. If only to convince herself that
she had not been dreaming. She had
left him thousands of miles away; she
had carefully obliterated every trace
of her identity so that he should not
follow her; she had come, in the
another name, and with a story at
tached to her which should inevitably
wipe out every trace of the Joyce
Bland he had known: yet here was
the man, coming secretly by night 10
q cottage on the very estate she had
claimed, walking as close to her. un-
consciously. as he had walked that
night in San Francisco. What did it
mean7
The panes of glass in the shattered
windows had long since been smashed.
In the dead silence of the night joyce
heard the scraping of the match as
Roger Hawley lit the candle; heard
distinctly the voices OF the men. She
waited In dread while the one man
made his discovery as to her recent
presence in the house, and while the
other ran UP the stairs to look about.
Still she dare not creep away: her one
thought-the one frantic desire in her
mind-was to know why these men
had met. and why Owen Jaggard was
there.
She heard from the lips OF the
stranger who he vas that Roger
Hawley who had been cast out Of the
inheritance that should have been his,
and who had evidently come back to
spy out the land. Then she heard that
extraordinary remark about "the two
Grace Yarwoods."
She crept nearer to the shattered
window, put her head against 1t and
listened. Roger Hawley. after asking
that question, had sat silent, waiting
for the other man to speak.
cit appears. as I've told you, that
there's one Grace Yarwood up at the
big house." said Owen Jaggard. slowly
and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS down at
the place we've left tonight DO l Jun
derstand that the one at the big house
had to make good her claim before
she could step in and run the show?"
Clearly" replied Roger Hawley. II
know nothing about the matter be-
yond the fact that the long-lost and
much-advertised-for Grace Yarwood
has appeared: that is the primal o.
son for my being here; I wanted to
see what had happened. Now. what
OF this other one?"
that's what I don't know" said
Owen Jaggard. cautiously. II met Ter
quite by accident q Cay or two back;
I md them again-the girl, and the
old man who is looking after her-at
the very gates Of this place. Seems to
me there's going to be trouble"
Two OF them-the one established,
the other hiding In secret" said Roger
Hawiey. mnsing1y. MY word! II they
both fall out: n. when the imposter
stands against the real one (for one
Of them must be an imposter. you
know)-if then each condemns the
other-well., there may be q chance
for me after an. It's only that broth
- of mine that's the dif1culty. The
real Grace Yarwood can't touch Z pen
~ unless she marries him."
~What7r Owen .Jaggard had sprung
Is hfa fcet and beemed. to the listen
~ woisdn outside. b have overturn-
y : chair n 6ciny e. whist q you
mean fhak Grace Ysrssood VIII
'hsr forfnno on that striot stipu'
lD1kps; thst shs msrries nv younsss