Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-03-07

of the man had been summed up in
O1e contenntuous word. Besides, bar
ring that, what was there in common
between himself and such a type as
Plank! He had not even troubled
himself to avoid him at Shotover He
had merely been aware of him when
Plank spoke to him.
Perhaps Plank had changed, perhaps
Siward had, for he found nothing Of
fensive in the bulky young man now
nothing particularly attractive, either,
except for certain simplicity, a GER
tain direct candor in the heavy blue
eyes which met his squarely.
Come In for cigar when you have
few moments idle" said Siward
slowly.
''It will give me great pleasure
said Plank, bowling.
And that was all. He followed Fleet.
wood down the stairs. Wands held
their coats and bowed them out into
the falling shadows of. the winter twi-
light. IF f..
sSiward, sitting beside. his. window,
watched them enter their hanson and
drive away up the avenue. A dull
flush hadasettled over his cheeks, the
aroma Of spirits hung. in the air, and
he looked across the room at the de-
canter Presently he drank some of
his tea, but it was lukewarm, and he
pushed the cup from him. f''-6'
:'Gumble, are you there" he asked
carelessly.
The butler entered from the hall
way. Eyes, SIR" .
"You may leave that decanter."
But the old servant may have mis-
understood, for he only bowed and
ambled off downstairs with the de-
canter, either needless or deaf to his
masters sharp order to return.
Lamplight brought out sharply the
physical change in Siward-the angu
lar shadows fiat under the cheek bones,
the hard, slightly swollen flesh in the
blush shadows around the eyes. The
mark of the master vice was there
it's stamp in the swollen, worn out hol.
lows; it's imprint in the fine lines al
the corners of his mouth; it's sign
manual in the faintest relaxation of
the under lip, which had not yet be-
come a looseness.
For the last Of the Siwards had al
last stepped into the highway which
his doomed forebears had travelled be-
fore him.
"Gumblep' he called irritably.
T A quavering voice, an unsteady step,
and the old man entered again. ''Mr.
Stephen, STRIP
Bring that decanter back. Didn't
you hear me tell you just now"
"SirY
didn't you hear me?"
Eyes, Mr.. Stephen, SIR"
There was silence.
"Gumblew
"Sir."
"Are you going to bring that de-
canter?"
The old butler bowed and ambled
from the room, and for a long while
Siward sat sullenly listening and scor-
ing the edges of the paper with his
trembling pencil. Then the lead broke
short, and he flung it from him and
pulled the bell WandS came this
time, lank, sandy, silent man, grown
gray as rat in the service of the ST
wards. He received his masters or
ders and withdrew, and again Siward
waited, biting his under lip and tear
ing bits from the edges Of the news
paper with fingers never still, but no.
body came with the decanter, and after
awhile his tense muscles relaxed.
Something in his very soul seemed to
snap, and he sank back in his chair,
the hot tears binding him.
He had got as far as that. Mo
ments of self pity were becoming al
most as frequent as scorching inter
walls of self contempt.
So they all knew what was the mat
ter with him. They all knew--the doc
tor, the servants, his friends. Had he
not surprised the quick suspicion in
Fleetwood's glance when he told him
he had slipped and sprained his ankle?
What if he had been drunk when he
fell-fell on his own doorsteps, carried
into the old Siward house by old ST.
ward servants, drunk as his forefa-
theirs? 1t was none Of Fleetwood's
business. 1t was none Of the serv-
ants business. 1t was nobody's bust
ness except his own.
The tears dried In his hot eyes. He
jerked the old fashioned bell savagely,
and after a long while he heard serv-
ants whispering together in the pas
sageway outside his door,
DR.. Grisby
AgkS came into the
NJ room from the
~ b~YN outer shadows of
Nv W. the hall.
" II He was very
A n u small, very mea-
4 M ger, very bald
and clean shay
n en-, with a face
like a nut crack
er, and til e
h