Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1904-05-19
CHAPTER vlI.continued.

bic and q wooden chair or two, which
could be dimly discerned by the aid
SsOf a stray ray or two of moonlight fill
terfng In through the broken shutters,
and 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
i 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 OF. country night-birds
Sof any sort, she got out of the place,
covering her tracks, as it 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 flash Of a
& moment. as 1t wereand 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 tall man
she did not know pass up to the door
OF the house and kick it open: then
7 saw. emerging from behind the trees,
a face she knew distinctly--a face SO
startling, there In that spot, that she
clapped q hand hard upon her lips to
save herself from crying out-the face
gof Owen Jaggard, last seen when the
1 man was sauntering through dark
street Of San Francisco, and when she
had held her breath in a doorway
while he passed and wondered with
dread II he would see her.
For q moment she lay there, stun
ned and heWildered. In the fierce az
ony and terror OF the moment she was
] In q mood to run to the door of the
place and beat II In and face this
man, II only to convince herself that
she had not been dreaming. Sb. had
1 left him thousands Of miles away; She
i had carefully obliterated every trace
Of her Identity so that he should not
follow her she had come in the
strangest fashion, to England under
another name, and with story at
tached to her which should inevitably
wipe out every trace Of the Joyce
I Bland he had known yet here WAS
this man, coming secretly by night Is
q cottage On the very estate she had
claimed, walking as close to her. i'm
S0nscionsly, as he had walked that
night IN San Francisco. What did 1t
1 mean Z s,si s
The panes OF glass In the shattered
windows had long since been smashed
4 n the dead silence OF the night Joyce
heard the scraping OF the match as
Roger Hawley III the candle; heard
distinctly the voices OF the men. she
1 waited Ia dread while the one man
made his discovery as to her recent
presence III the house, and while the
other ran up the stairs to look about.
\ Still she dare not creep away; her one
though the one frantic desire In her
mind was to- know why these men
had met, and why Owen Jaggard was
4 there. ss
@ She heard from the lips OF the
{ stranger who he was: that Roger
4 Hawley who had been cast out Of the
Inheritance that should have been his,
4 and who had evidently come back. to
spy out the land. Then she heard that
extraordinary remark about 'the two
Grace Yarwoods. z
She crept nearer to the shattered
window put her head against it and
4 listened. Roger Hawley, after asking
that question. had sat silent, waiting
Tor the other manSto speak.
S .sIt appearss as I've told you, that
there one Grace \ atwood up at the
! Big house, said Owen y ggard, slowly
and Impressive another down at
!; the place Y left tonight. Do I'M
I serstand that the one at the big house
I had ito make good her claim before
uhe could step Id and run. the show ~
;leari replied Roger TIawley.
y know nothing about the matter be-
4 yoDd the fact that the lost and
L much dYertised Tor Grace Yarwood
has pneared that Is the primal rea-l
son Ton my being here; 1 wanted to-
Sasee WhAt had appened. Vow, whas
sDt this other one ~ ss
q ia at dom sknow z. q ia
Owen Jaggards eau tiousl 81 met her
ssqAtte by accident q day or two back;
and them aga III he girl, and the
I'D man Who 81 looking after her at
the very gates oftSthis place. Seems to
! me here's going To be troubl he. 4 q II
so 81 them he one establ ished,
The ether iding IA secret 3 said Roger.