The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-07-13
CHAPTER Nv.

Went Out, dS the 0gnI OF the udrk IAN
tern had gone out of the road behind
them.
CHAPTER XIV.
The rain had entirely ceased and the
wind had blown itself away to a ftful
and occasional rustic high up in the top
OF the trees. But Lizzy did not notice
these signs of the fact that the night
was not nearly so black as it had been
az the beginning of the period of twenty
minutes or ten, or half hour-she had
no notion Wilhelm which they had
stood and talked in the cone of the light
from the dark lantern.
You are very successful dissem-
bier, Mr.. Mason" she said, unconscious
ly assuming his own light and frivolous
manner. You have succeeded admira-
bly, in imposing upon the simple, frank
and unsuspecting villagers and country
people in and about Sandtown. But
submit whether this were an object who'll
iy commensurate with your distinguished
ability. The feat of deceiving ignorant
and uneducated people is one that is cas-
lily achieved every day, by very ordinary
t-icksters. A man of genius, / think,
should have exerted his powers upon q
community like that of a great city:
wide awake and vigilant as to its inter
ests."
he laughed so very heartily at this
waspish attack that she felt very much
like joining him in it, although the laugh
would then bear the construction of be-
ing against herself.
Take care Of that brier, Miss Lizzy.
I had almost forgotten the locality of
that bunch. 1t dragged my hat off one
dark night when l was returning from
your house to my tent. And although
hunted and searched for it q full half
hour that night, / had to abandon it at
last and go home hatless. Next morn
ing / saw it from quite distance grace
fully dangling from a branch of little
ash sapling where the brier had thrown
1t in the rebound. / thought / would
cut them out of the way; but 1 didn't"
The total irreleyancy of this some
what tiresome anecdote only confirmed
Lizzy Wickly in her determination to
make this man feel somewhat Of the
weight snd the sharpness of tie edge
of the Sandtown aversion for him.
She could not see what he must have
seen at once-that this acerbity, so for
eign to her speech and manner, was the
natural outcry of her wounded self-love
and self-pride-
"But, after all, it is perhaps as simu-
lator, or a personator, that you have
made your most brilliant record in Sand
town, Mr.. Mason. The pious assistant
to an eminent geologist who in answer to
the hungry cry of a religion starved
people, won his way straight to their
simple hearts, Sunday after Sunday, by
discourses such as they had never heard
nor dreamt of! What possible Interior
design could such a course subserve, Mr..
Mason? What possible design could JUS
tify that particular phase of imposition?
Was it for the sole purpose Of affording
you some amusement, when all the few
sources of amusement in our simple and
serious community had been exhausted 2"
Oh, Lizzy, how very ingenious! How
very incautious in one who wanted to
conceal a self-hurt! Anybody could have
seen the real and only source and origin
of such philippe!
81 beg to assure you, Miss Wickly,
that there was no deception nor dissimi-
lation in that portion of my relations
with the Sandtown people. I beg that
you will believe this upon my OWE state
ment made now; because the immediate
future can do less to exonerate n from
this charge than from any and all the
others. Remember that declare to you
In all solemnity that 1 have not exceed
ed nv POWERS and duties. / was once an
ordained preacher of the gospel. Years
ago / left the pulpit for the business
world. But / have remained, / humbly
believe, a consistent member of my
church"
There was a noticeable quality of COM
plant and remonstrance in his latter SEN
fences. 1t was to this that she address
ed her answer-her inconsiderate and un-
guarded answer-as she aftervard ac-
knowledged to herself, with burning
cheeks.
'sDo you think you did me no harm in
pretending to take such an absorbing
Interest in me, and in my plain aud sim
pie and uneventful life in Sandtown7
Was it no harm to me to lead me to
believe implicitly in the extraordinary at
tributes with which you invested me, In
the many conversations you had with
my friends and neighbors concerning me?
Was it no harm to me, too, to have put
before me. in the most fascinating light,
the personal and mental characteristics
Of an ideal man that might learn to
worship him? Was that no
Miss Wickly, for heavens SAKE don't
tell me that even now, knowing what
perceive you to have OWNED, you are Sc
riously affected toward--toward--
Toward your employer? Toward Mr..
Huntley 2" she said, with great bitter
ness, and emphasizing her manner with
. conclusive clutch upon Mr.. Mason's
arm as she pronounced the relationship
and the man. at is, ,,erhaps, the very
poetic revenge of fate upon you aud upon
me that do not know; that cannot
determine. When on yesterday dim
onsDicton Of the truth daWned upon