Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-07-08
cHAPTER VII.
AT HADLEY MANOR.


Hadley Common lies north Of Lon
don by about ten miles. On the verge
Of this lonely understanding common
stands a high, square mullioned-win-
dowed house, built In Elizabeth's day,
with dark red walls and a steep tiled
roof s~urmounted by clusters of great
chimneys.
In one of the upper rooms OF this ST.
lent and solitary old manor house. a
vast, high-cetlinged apartment, a man
sat at an immense table Uttered with
papers, books, drawings and designs.
Bottles containing all kinds of chem
icals, jars, the skins of serpents. fishes
and snakes, the f1bers of exotic plans.
models of apparatus, moulds, and
strange shaped instruments. either
stood on brackets, hung on the walls,
or lay i'm hopeless confusion on the
floor.
To judge by the volumes that, row
upon row., lined the walls, the occu-
pant was a man whose mind found
room for the study of widely differing
branches of knowledge.
At the far end of the room stood a
furnace, rows OF electric motors, coils
of wire, and machinery of different
kinds.
Whatever the experiment was that
at the moment engaged the occupant
of the room, he was so absorbed that
he failed TO hear the knock at the door.
1t was only When il was repeated that
he started suddenly, his strong hands
clasping the arms of the chair, his fine
head With it's mass of iron gray hair
thrown back, his blue eyes flashing in
veXation for il was understood hat
while in this room he was never to be
disturbed save In cases of urgent inn
portance.
"Who goes there?'' he asked in Ital-
ian.
Father, it is r. came the answer
in he sweetest n gentlest of voices,
spoken in the same language.
You, my Roma" he said, changing
his tone OF brusqueness to affection.
What do you want, my daughter
Count Sasari has just arrived
"Sasari here?" exclaimed her father.
Lorenzo Neneto. "Ah. but ii is good to
see some one from u land; say / shall
be with him Immediately"
Taking the liquids with which he had
been experimenting. he carefully locked
them in a safe. ~unfastened the double
doors of his study, and in turn secured
them. and then hurried down stairs to
a sparsely furnished room where his
visitor awaited him.
Count Sasari vas a man just over
thirty, middle sized and stout. Not
w~ithstanding the squareness of his fig
ure, an indehnable air of breeding gave
his appearance a certain distinction.
+ldy friend, my friend, it warns my
heart to see you, for you bring with
you the sunshine OF our Italy" Veneto
said enthusiastically, rs he burst into
the room.
You see / have disturbed YOU said
the younger man when their Affection
ate greetings had ended.
Would that such q happy disturb
ance occurred every day. But tell me,
hcw is my beloved country?'
Don't let us tall politics, but tell me
what o are working att" said Sasari,
anxious to turn the conversation
j am working at many things" re-
piled Veneto, readily complying with
his friends request. II am always div
ing into natures secrets"
You are a strange combination"
Sasari replied. You who are q politi-
inventor, an analytical chemist, and a
dreamer all in one"
"All that n something else" Veueto
replied l~aughingly, "for there is always
more in a man than his friends see or
than he acknowledges"
What may that be in your case, my
friend2"
Veneto laughed once more.
Seriously" he said. II will tell you
what chiefly occupies me just now. j
am haunted by an idea which may lead
10 an invention that will direct and
control the energy stored in coal, which
is now lost in the heat that escapes
through the chimneys. A successful
result would have been incalculable in
huence upon the world
THAT is practical. But have you laid
aside the great clock scheme?"
mo. no. But I relieve the effort of
labor in one direction by following II
In another.
My belief is that great ideas. won
derful thoughts. are In the air, striving