Martinsburg statesman. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1869-1906, 1905-07-07
THE
LEVERIDGEc.

<6x > 80 ~ a Mx> AE{ZHnu>
Three of a kind" said Mona Lev
, eridge, gazing after her husband as
he drove away from the dooryard on
his way to the station, to fetch Aline
Register, her dearest friend, whom
she had invited on a visit with a
purpose.
She would have preferred her hus-
| band driving something quieter than
those fiery chestnuts, but they were
three Af a kind, and perhaps the
brutes understood their fiery master
as well as he understood them.
For her own sake, as well as Alines
she wanted to patch up that old af-
fair" With Rafe Stillman at the 9th
er end of the globe it had mattered
little. But with Rafe back home her
next door neighbor.
She had not married the last of the
Leveridges unwarned. Prophecy had
regret it," THE LeVeridges were not
as other men"
Across the long, sloping approach
to his own outer gate; adown the
dusty gray highway, with its vivid
border of bushes; into the twilight
gloom of the forest growth that mark
ed the boundary line between the Lev
eridge and the Stillman places, Lever
idge guided his highmettled team,
pleasantly exhilarated by the spirited
resistance to control manifested by
his beautiful brutes.
Suddenly, with snorts of terror,
they swerved, carrying the vehicle
well out of the road. They had TAX
en- fright at a thoroughly common
place object-an old man standing on
the roadside innocently engaged in
winding bits of Irvine about the sad
die girth that had treacherously brok
en-, leaving him dismounted from the
horse that improved his opportunities
by grazing. 1t was his own stableman.
A fact which Leveridge recognized
with q heavy outf1ash of temper.
you Internal old idler, why are you
not at work."
The old man DOTTED his ragged hat
deferentially:
81 told missus didn't think I had
time to go, but she say | must"
Leveridge leaned toward the old
: man with darkening eyes: go
where?"
cover to Mis- Stillman's."
For WHAT"
ITO carry a letter.
ITO Mrs. Stillman?"
IL don't know sir. Missus JUS give
me this an she say / worn't to wait
for no answer.
With confiding frankness the old
man extracted note from the crown
of his brimless hat, and put it into
the hand eagerly stretched out for it.
1t was addressed to Mr.. Rafe Still
man. Leveridge turned it over with
unsteady fingers. 1t was sealed with
a looseness that invited treachery.
Il used to be accounted a gentle
man." he snarled in an undertone-
faltered a second, and in another
one was in full possession of the con
tents of the hastily sealed envelope:
MIR. Leveridge goes out this morn
ing You had better come over early
if you want a good day with the
snipe.'
The address and the signature were
brief to curtness. Mr. Stillman." and
IN. T. Leveridge." Horace replaced
the intercepted note in it's envelope,
and sat staring at it so long that his
wife's messenger ventured to ask:
rs you going to deliver it to Mr.
Horace?"
"No." The man in the drag handed
back the note You are to deliver it
according to your mistress orders.
And, Munson'-his voice was tense
in it's enforced comprehension will
go as fast as if the devil was spur
ring your beast. Deliver that note
and come back here to me. |, too,
have a note for you to deliver. It's
only mile by the Cypress Walk. Five
shillings if you are back here in half
an hour; dismissal from the place if
you are not"
III be here, sir"
Leveridge Strengthened himself in
the drag as the oiu man cantered out
of sight He had some few prepare
tons to make OF course, he should
| have to kill Stillman. AS well then
and there as at any other time. He
laughed unpleasantly. 1t was odd he
should have his gun under the seat
| of the drag. He had meant to leave it
/ with the smith in town to be cleaned.
/ He tore a page from his pocket
| diary and wrote his courteous regrets
/ that circumstances rendered it inCon-
venient for him to fetch Miss Regis
/ ter from the station.
Il have a little matter to settle with
Mr. Stillman," he wrote, that may
] interfere with his snipe shooting.
Sorry to have spoiled your little plan
for a pleasant day. Your pardon for
a rather free Interpretation of mar
| itaI rights
As old Munson reappeared, tlurried
and heated, but punctual, his master
/ sprang from the drag and shook the