The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1907-01-03
THE SECOND
DANDY CHATTER
wNN
BY Tom Gallon.
CHAPTER vIii.-(continued).

CHAPTER VIIl.-(Continued).
A thought had been growing in Phil
Up Chater's mind while they walked,
and he suddenly put 1t into words.
you have some reason other than
mere instinct of which you speak for
d~isliking Ogledon SO much?" He said
1t slowly, having been at some pains
to work the thing out in his mind.
II thought we had done with the
matter, and were not to speak Of 1t
again." she said.
Il think you ought to tell mel
think ought to know" he said, dog
gedly. "In fact, haven't right to
know"
She was silent for some moments,
while they still paced on steadily, side
by side, leaving the gate in the garden
farther behind them at every step.
yes, / suppose you have the right"
she said, at last. Il always suspected
the man, Dandy always disliked
him. But a little time since, presum-
ing upon a chance meeting with me,
he protested-oh, you will not remem'
Der this afterward, will you?-he pro-
tested his love for me in a fashion so
violent that l have feared him ever
since. He said that the stories about
you and that girl, Patience Miller
Do what he would he could not re-
Dress a start-could not keep his lace
wholly within control. So violent
had the start been that she had
stopped instinctively, and had dropped
her hand from his arm.
"Why, what is the matter? Dandy,
dear, you are I'LL"
Nothing, nothing is the matter" he
replied, with a faint tmile. Good
heavens, what's that?"
In the silence of the place, as the
mar and the woman stood looking into
each others eyes, there had come,
borne upon the still air, the unmistak-
able thud, thud of a spade in stiff earth.
A question forced itself to the mans
lips. and found voice, quite as though
some other voice had spoken.
"Madge, in heavens name, what
place Is this?'
She stared at him in mingled amaze
ment and terror; while he, for his part
seemed to count the sturdy thud, thud
neal to them, as he might have count
ed his own heart-beats, II life were
ebbing from him.
What place? Dandy, you are
dreaming! Surely you know that this
ia the wood-the wood behind the mill,
you know"
with a cry like ttst Of a wounded
animal Philip Chatter sprang from her
and went plunging among the trees in
the direction of that frightful sound.
He came, In a moment, upon some-
thing which brought him to his
knees, with a suppressed scream: the
body of a young girl, about whom all
the earth seemed stained a dreadful
crimson. Beyond hat sight was the
young lad, Harry, upon his knees In
a long, shallow trench, In which he
was digging away like a fury. lie
neither heard his masters approach
no glanced up for a moment.
Philip turned, and crashed back
through the wood until he reached the
woman's side again. Come away
he whispered, h%urriedly; 1T is moth,
ing; come away, for heavens sake!'
But she broke from him. and went
racing In the direction he had himself
taken, and was lost to sight In a mo-
ment. He heard, through the silence
that brooded awfuily upon the place, a
piercing creaI and the next moment
she came plunging headlong past him
and went staggering blindly, with her
hands before her eyes, in the direction
in which they had walked so calmly
but a few moments before.