Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-04-06


tray and his eyes wandered to the win.
| dows.
"Not quite, sir. You sec"
"But ] don't see!"
1T had occurred to me that as Mr..
/ Pickering's allowance wasn't what you
might call generous it was better to
augment IT, Well sir, ! took the lib
erty Of advancing tr1fe, as you might
say. TO the estate Your grandfather
would not have had you starve. sir"
He left hurriedly as though to escape
from the consequences of his words.
and when came to myself Larry was
gloomily invoking his strange Irish
gods.
LARRY Donovan, I've been tempted
to kill that fellow dozen times, This
thing is too damned complicated for
me. wish my lamented grandfather
had left me something easy. To think
OF it-thst all the tlTao I've been ours.
ing and abusing Bates since / came
here I've been enjoying his bounty
and he's been giving me the fat of the
land, Just because of his devotion to
my grandfather's memory. Lord, /
can't face the fellow again,"
"As have said before, you're rather
lacking at times in perspicacity Your
intelligence is marred by lange Opaque
spots Now that there seems 10 be a
woman in the case you're less sane
than ever. Bah. these women, And
now we've got to go to work"
Bah. these women! My own heart
caught the words. / was enraged and
bitter. No wonder she had been anx.
ious for me to avoid Pickering in Gin.
cinnati. after daring me to follow her
there,
We called council of war for that
night that we might view matters in
the light of Pickering's letter His
assuredness in ordering me to leave
made prompt and decisive action
necessary on my part. | summoned
Stoddard to our conference, feeling
confident of his friendliness.
' "Of course" said the broad-shoul-
dered chaplain, 'if you could show that
your absence was on business Of very
grave Importance, the courts might
construe in your favor"
Larry looked at. the ceiling and blew
rings of smoke languidly. | had not
disclosed to either of them the cause
of my absence. On such a matter
knew | should get precious little SYM
pathy from Larry, and | had more
over, a feeling that ] could not discuss
Marian Devereux with any one; / even
shrank from mentioning her name.
though it rang like the call of bugles
in my blood
She was always before me,-the
charmed spirit of youth, linked to
every foot of the earth, every CLEAN of
the sun upon the ice-bound lake, every
glory of the winter sunset. All the
good impulses | had ever stifed were
quickened to life by the thought of her,
Amid the days perplexities I started
sometimes, thinking | heard her voice,
her girlsh laughter, or saw her again
coming toward me down the stairs, or
holding against the light her fan with
it's golden butterflies. | really knew
so little Of her; | could associate her
with no home, only with that last fling
of the autumn upon the lake, the snow
driven woodland. that twilight hour at
the organ in the chapel, those stolen
moments at the Armstrong;. | re-
scented the pressure of the hours af-
fairs, and chafed at the necessity for
talking of my perplexities. with the
e,.;n Ic rho n bDI
| wished to be alone, to yield to the
sweet mood that the thought of her
brought me. The doubt that crept
through my mind as to any possibility
of connivance between her and Picker
ing was as vague and fieeting as the
shadow OF a swallows wing on
sunny meadow.
You doat intend fighting the fact
OF your absence. do your" demanded
Larry, after long silence.
"Of course not" | replied fiercely
Pickering was right on my heels, and
my absence was known to his men
here And it would not be square to
my grandfather,-who never harmed
flea, may his blessed soul rest in
peace,-to lie about it, They might
nail me for perjury besides"
Then the quicker we get ready for
a siege the better. AS I understand
your attitude, you don't intend to
move out until you've found where the
siller's hidden. Being a gallant gen
tleman and of a fcrgiying nature, you
want TO be sure tLat the lady who is
now entitled to it gees all there is
coming to her. and as you don't trust
the executor any further than Jcue
ISshman trusts British prime mi"ts-
ler's promise, you're gting to stand hr
20 watch the bullion counted. is tha'
a correct analysis of your intenti9c %"
That's as near one of my IDEAS as
you're likely to get"
Spoken like man of spirit. And
now we'd better stock up at once, In
case we should be shut off from oar
source of supplies, This IS a lonely
place here; even the school is 70,
mote neighbOr. Better let Bates raid