The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1907-02-21

the dock, ma'am!-on a charge Of aid
ing and abetting a prisoner to escape
What about windows covered with cur
tains?"
What would you ave 'em covered
with ~ retorted Betty, with a laugh
Wallpaper"
Never mind, ma'am-never mind
retorted Tokely, viciously. AT the
present moment, ma'am, | will go to
bed. The law, ma'am, can wait. Pre-
pare yourself, ma'am, for the dock
for the dock, | say!"
With these words, and utterly scorn
sul of Betty Siggs's peals of laughter,
the inspector made his way up stairs
TO his chamber, leaving a trail of mud.
dy water to mark his passage.
That chaps done me good!" ex-
claimed Betty, wiping her eyes and
turning to Toby, who was staring In
ludicrous amazement after Tokely.
IL just wanted something to stir me
up, / did, an that chaps done it,"
"You take care, ole gal, that q don't
stir you up" retorted Toby, shaking
his head. The law as got a cap
be'ind tan you amt got the figger
to be redooced to slkilly, mol the ing,
ers for oakumpickin'. An, mark my
words, that's what you'll come to, ole
gal. IL you mocks at the law!"
Betty Siggs, however, was in too
good a humor TO heed any such warn
ing; she gaily locked up the house, ex-
tinguished the lights, and pushed
Toby upstairs to bed. BLOW the law!"
she exclaimed, kissing him. You an
me won't sleep the less sound because
the law as got it's face scratched and
lost its 'at-will we, Toby?"
Nevertheless, Betty's prediction
proved to be, so far as she was con
cerneE, a false one; sleep refused to
come to her, no matter how she wooed
il. Living, as she always had done, a
good, brisk, Woodworking, blameless
life, with a conscience as clear as her
own healthy skin, Betty had known
nothing of the terrors OF insomnia;
yet tonight she lay blinking at the
stars peeping in through the incur
tanned window, thinking of many
things-thinking most Of all, perhaps,
of the unhappy man flying for his life,
hiding in bitches and under hedges,
and trembling at every soaad. Bettys
tender heart melted a little When h
thought of him, and she Dldiy cried
herself into a state of quiet exhaustion
and so fell into a troubled sleep.
And in that sleep she dreamed a
dream She was back again in the old
days in Australia, at T~allapoona Farm
the farm which had never paid, and
from which her bright-faced boy Philip
had wandered out n morning never
to return. Yet the curious part OF Bet
tvs dream was this: that, although
the sights and sounds beyond the win
dows were as she had known them
over a quarter of a century ago., the
house bore a curious esembiance 20
the Chatter Arms; indeed, faces famil-
lar to her later days in Bamberton
passed to and fro before the windows,
and the slow Bamberton drawl was in
her ears.
But in her dream night came swiftly
on, and the place was in darkness. She
thought she stood again in the HI
tie parlor alone; and, drawing back
the curtain from before the window,
looked out upon the sandy Bride
tracks, and wild vegetation which
fringed the denser growth. Suddenly,
out OF this, and coming straight to the
window, she saw the child, just as she
had known him eighteen long years be-
fore. So vivid was the dream, and so
clearly did she see his face and recog-
nize it, that-waking with a cry upon
her lips-she found herself out of bed
and standing on the floor in the faint
light Of the stars.
Betty Siggs was more troubled than
ever. She looked round the room, as
though half expecting to see her dream
realized, rubbed her eyes, and began
to tremble a little. Toby's regular
breathing treasured her somewhat;
but still she felt uneasy. The window
at which she had seen the face of the
man that night, haunted her; she
felt that she must go to it-must as
sure herself that there was nothing on
the other side of 1t.
ITO Be ContInued.)