The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-08-18


She need not trouble. He would never
force any girl to tell him :: what she
preferred not to speak Of. He an
swered almost as If she were Miss
Jones or Miss Brown. Every moment
the situation was growing more un-
natural, and they both were quite
aware Of It.. Yet neither would be the
first, to break down the impalpable
barrier that was rising itself between
them such is the perversity Of man
kind. ~ !
=: It was only when the waltz was
over, and, If they had been asked, they
must honestly have confessed that
they had never enjoyed a dance to.
gether less, that ,Winstanley> suddenly
spoke in different voice. 4
Ursula. we seem at cross pur-
poses,'' he said, resolutely. Cant we
do Sbetter:*than we are doing? Let us
sit out the last dance - the next we
have together-and talk it over.
There's no chance to say what one
wants when the room is whirling like
a teetotum. I must have a real talk
before we go home-there's been no
chance of one yet"
Her heart leapt up In answer to his
earnest suggestion. She looked up
into his face with suddenly softened
eyes. "Very WE'LL" she said. II shall
be only too glad of it. We will sit it
out, by all means"
The thirteenth was Countess Ika's.
Winstanley went to claim her with a
little kindly amusement in his mind,
such as he would have felt for petu-
liant child. She had: accused him OF
being vexed with her-had begged him
with her voice and manner not to be
angry still: What an innocent Little
woman it was! Why should she think
he was annoyed? It was only his un-
fortunate manner when he had let her
see plainly that 1t was out of the ques-
tion to do what she asked about her
brother and his invention. That con-
founded explosive! It had given him
more trouble than any other thing in
all his duty as A. D. C. He wished to
heaven the general would finish with
1t, or had never told him word about
it. 1t was getting to be the bane of
his life. Why could not people re-
strain their vulgar curiosity overwhat
was less than no business of theirs?
1t was rather lacking in good taste,
too, on the part of any one to ask him
questions about what they were. well
t aware IT. was: absolute1y impossible
| that he should confide to them. The
thing was not only secret, and the
world knew that it was one, but it, was
| a secret of his chiefs; and his tongue
was doubly tied.
He went to find Countess Ilka, with
| the half-formed idea> in his mind of
! advising her to tell her brother to ap-
| ply to the various secretaries of war
| for foreign countries for the informa-
tion he wanted about this discovery
of his. Probably it was nothing The
mere dabbling of boy amongst old
books of experiments was not likely
to produce much practical effect,
though no deribt ihe imagined he was
going to set4the world on fire with his
genius. But he might at least have
his mind set at rest Then suddenly
he wondered whether there were any
thing n the thing after albany
chance that this old invention might
clash with the one his chief was per-
| fecting. If there were the faintest
| chance of that, it would be better to
| investigate it. .--
He might speak to. Gen. Kenyon
about it, it was true, and he might go
into. the matter. morea&thoroughly. 1t
was only fair to let him know that
| there might be another discoverer in
the field. They might by chance have
come to the same conclusion, this old
Polish noble and the American pro-
fessor, as, had happened in the history
of inventions before now. He went to
find Countess Ilka with a sudden de:
termination to reopen the subject he
had meant to- close permanently. i:
ITO Be Continued.) $~>s.-~
I