The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1905-02-08
CHAPTER WI.

in daytime lit by one window only, which
now was hung with red curtains. BY
the fireplace, where a brisk wood fire
was cracking, leaned a young gentle
woman who, as she now turned her eyes
upon me, ceased lingering the guitar or
mandolin that she held against her waist,
and raised her pretty head not without
curiosity.
But twas on the table in the center Of
the chamber that my gaze settled, and on
two men beside it, of whom | must speak
more particularly.
The elder, who sat in a h~igh-backed
chair, was a little, frail, deformed gen.
tleman Of about fifty, dressed very rich
ly in dark velvet and furs, and wore on
his head a velvet skullcap, around which
his white hair stuck up like a f~erret's.
But the oldest thing about him was a
complexion that any maid of sixteen
would give her ears for-of a pink and
white so transparent that it seemed a
soft light must be glowing beneath his
skin. On either cheek bone this deli
cate ~coloring centered in a deeper flush.
His eyes were very bright and sharp, and
his chin stuck out like a vicious mules.
The table before him was covered with
TASKS, in the middle of which stood a
silver lamp burning, and over it a silver
saucepan that sent up a rare fragrance
as the liquid within it simmer'd and
bubbled. So eager was the old gentle
man in watching the progress of his mix
ture hat he merely glanced up at my
entrance, and then, holding up a hand for
silence, turn'd his eyes on the saucepan
again.
The second man was the broad-shoul-
dered lackey, and stood over the sauce
pan with a twisted flask in his hand,
from which he pour'd a red syrup very
gingerly, drop by drop, with the tail of
his eye turn'd on his masters face, that
he might know when to cease.
Now it may be that my entrance upset
this experiment. At any rate, | had
scarce come to a stand about three PAGES
inside the door, when the little old gen.
tleman bounces up in a fury, Kicks over
his chair, hurls the nearest bottles to left
and right, and sends the silver saucepan
spinning across the table to my very
feet, where it scalded me- clean through
the boot, and made me hop with pain,
"Spoil'd - spoild!" he screamed;
"drench'd in filthy liquor, when it should
have breath'd but a taste!"
And, to my a~mazement, he sprang on
the strapping servant like a wild cat,
and began to beat, cuff and belabor him
with all the strength of his puny limbs.
Twas like a scene out of Bedlam.
Yet all the while the girl lean'd quietly
against the mantel-shelf, and softly
touched the strings of her instrument,
while the servant too the rain Or blows
and slaps as though 'twere a summer
shower, grinning all over his face, and
making no resistance at all.
Then, as | stood dumb with perplexity,
the old gentleman let go his hold of the
fellows hair, and, dropping on the floor,
began to roll about in a fit of coughing,
the like of which NJ man can imagine.
Twas hideous. He bark'd, and writhed,
and bark'd again, till the disorder seem'd
to search and rack every innermost inch
of his small frame.
Hes dying" L cried, and ran forward
to help.
The servant pick'd up the chair, and
together we set him in it. By degrees
the violence of the cough abated, and
he lay back, livid in the face, with his
eyes closed, and his hands clutching the
knobs of the chair. | turn'd to the girl.
She had neither spoken nor stirr'd. but
now came forward, and calmly ask'd my
business.
Il think" said I, that your name is
Killigrew?'
81 am Della Killigrew, and this is my
father, Sir Deakin."
Now on his way to visit his estates
in Cornwall?"
She nodded.
Then l have 70 warn you that your
lives are in danger" And, gently as pos
sible, I told her what | had seen and
heard downstairs. In the middle OF my
tale, the servant stepp'd to the door, and
return'd quietly. There was no lock on
the inside. After a minute he went
across and drew the red curtains. The
window had a grating within, Of iron
bars as thick as a mans thumb, strongly
clamp'd in the s~tonework. Clearly. he
was a man of few words; for, returning.
he merely pulrd out his sword. and
waited for the end Of my tale. The girl.
also, did not interrupt me, but listen'd
in silence. As l ceas'd, she said:
us this all you know?"
"No,' answered /, lit is not. But the
rest L promise to tell yon il we escape
from this place alive. Will this content
your"
She turn'd to the servant, who nodded.
Whercupon she held out her hand very
cordially.
"Sir, listen; we are travellers bound for
Cornwall, as you know, and have some
small possessions, that will poorly re-
ward the greed of these violent men.
Nevertheless, we shonld be hurrying on
our Journey did we not await my brother
Anthony, who was to have ridden from
Oxford to join lis here, but has been de-
layed, doubtless on the Kings bust
ness
L started; for below / ..saard the main
door open, and Captain Settles voice in