Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-12-05
CHAPTER Vim.

though he had painted out Norah's
figure, the picture was so closely c0l-
nected with her that her presence act.
painted; and he paused now and agai ]
to lean back and recall the morning
which she had made so delicious d
time for him. Then, when he had fin'
ished his dinner-a simple affair of
chops and tart, but which he enjoyed
with the zest which youth and good
appetite alone can give-he lit a pipe
and bethought himself of Mr.. Guilford
Berton's invitation.
If Cyril had followed his own incli-
nation he would have avoided any fur.
Their acquaintance with the gentleman
who could be offensive one hour and
conciliatory the next; but he had &C
oepted and intended going, though
there was something about Guilford
Berton which repealed Cyril. For one
thing, he did not like man whose
eyes so continually sought the ground
instead of those of his fellowmen; and
there was certain turn of the lips
and the chin which offended Cyril's
artistic sense. Had the face been
positively ugly he would have forgiven
it, but it was the expression which
marred it and of which he complained
to himself
Just before nine he put on his hat
and started in search of the cottage.
Following Mrs. Browns directions, he
walked up the lane behind the horse
pond and presently came upon door
in high wall, behind which he could
see the upper windows and chimnsys
of an old cottage.
AS this was the only house in the
lane, Cyril concluded that it must be
Mr.. Guilford Berton's abode, and he
was as unfavorably impressed by it as
he had been by its owner. One ex-
poets country cottage to be light and
cheerful; Mr. Guilford Berton's re-
sembled small lunatic asylum, and
had a morose and forbidding appear
ance, singularly out of place in the
pretty green lane.
He tried to open the door, but it
was locked apparently, and he touche |
a bell handle, which hung high UP in
the wall, above the reach of infantile
hands.
The bell changed harshly and quite
in keeping with the gloomy appearance
of the wall, and, after few minutes,
the door was opened by an old woman,
who eyed him with an expression that
puzzled him; it was not exactly one of
suspicion, but rather the concentrated
look of person who lacks one of the
five senses and is endeavoring to
make up for its loss by more than or
binary acuteness of the remaining
four.
as Mr.. Berton at homer" asked
Cyril.
The woman nodded and, opening the
door wide enough for him to enter. let
it go and it fell too with sharp clang.
Then, with slight gesture, she beck
oned Cyril to follow, and, leading the
way up a path which was lined On
each side by thick shrubs and wound
so that it hid the cottage she stopped
before door and motioned to him to
enter, instead of preceding him and
announcing him In the usual way.
Cyril found the door ajar, and, push
ng it, entered small hall. The place
was remarkably quiet, and after wait
ing for a minute to see if his host
would come out from some room to
receive him, Cyril knocked at a door
which he thought might be that of a
sitting room.
No response came, and, after another
spell of waiting he walked to the
front door and looked about for the
woman who had let him in; but the
winding path, with it's thick shrubs,
effectually hid everything from view,
and, not liking to shout out MIR. Ber-
ton, where are you?" he returned to
the hall and gently opened the door of
the room at which he had knocked.
1t was a sitting room, as he had sus-
pected, but so dimly lighted by a
small petroleum lamp that at first he
could scarcely distinguish anything
distinctly. Then suddenly, as he grew
accustomed to the light, he was
startled to see Guilford Berton's figure
lying back in an armchair. 1t was
placed with it's back to the window,
and Cyril, thinking that he had fallen
asleep, wondered whether he had not
better return as quietly as possible
and refrain from waking his host, who
had apparently SO completely forgotten
his visitor. But as he turned to go,
with a sense of relief, something in
the attitude of the figure struck him,
and he noiselessly drew little nearer
Guilford Berton, If he were asleep,
had fallen into slumber very suddenly
and in a very uncomfortable position;
his head lay all one side of the chair
and his legs were stretched out with
a peculiar helpless expression about
them
AS Cyril looked he experienced a
sudden shock, for the thought flashed
upon him that the man was dead!
The stiffness of the place hung over it
like a pail, and, for the first time, ne
noticed faint and peculiar odor In
the room, that reminded him of the
smell hanging about chemists shop.
He went up to the motionless figure
and bent over it, The eyes we're half