The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-11-20
CHAPTER xxII-Continued,

|AAhCy dohCu, tlIlIuly.
Il hope SOL hope So" he an
swered, meditatively: "but it is i'm
possible to say yet what is the extent
of the damage"
do you know who he is?' Amos in
quired.
"Oh, yes. Did he not tell you?"
Amos shook his head.
Hes the Rev. Tom Grayton, curate-
in-charge of st. Chloe, and one of the
best fellows living
Amos stared aghast. "A parson!'
he calculated. "Then what in the
name O. Moses was he a-doin'?"
THAT has to be inquired into" the
doctor interrupted. He left St. Chloe
yesterday afternoon OF the tracks Of
another man."
The next moment Billy's voice was
heard outside calling in a loud whis-
per-"Amos! Amos"
"Aye--what is it?" Amos asked,
pushing out his head.
There's THOUSANDS O people crossin'
Penny Downs an comm this way" he
said, eXcitedly.
thousands O. people, Billy" Amos
questioned, hobbling to the door.
We'll, 'undreds and scores, any
how"
DR.. Pell followed Amos into the
Cren, and a few minutes later he and
p. c. BLIGHT were in earnest confabu-
l2tiCn. All the s~trasglers on the
downs gathered up after a few min
Ites. and the news was quickly passed
from one to the other. An hour later,
not only ST. Chloe, but the whole
country side was ringing with the It'd
ings.
Eliza. the Mawgans' housemaid, who
had been sent into St. Chloe to make
Inquiries, ran nearly all the way back
% Mawgan Chase, and was so COM
glctely out of breath in consequence
that several minutes elapsed before
he was able to gasp out what had
happened.
Esther grew pale to the very lips.
The thing she most feared had hap
Gened. All the afternoon she had been
n a condition of painful excitement.
he had tried her best to keep her
ceilings under control, but as the
fternoon wore away she feared some
zines she would scream, SO great had
become the tension.
In a measure she was prepared for
he Jews. She had been suspicious of
Nevins from the very first moment she
looked into his eyes, and when she
hat Nevins had disappeared
al thof fNynytnn hol onr,o aftnr him
tie idea of foul play fastened itself
uren her brain like a leech, and would
rot be shaken off. Grayton, by nature,
YVES unsusricious. He would not
dream of personal harm. and that fact
alone would constitute a real danger.
the afternoon she mad been pic
turing to herself a meeting between
he two men in some lonely spot. She
'inew Grayton's straightforward man
ler. He would accuse Nevins OF
fals ehood-there would be high words
perhaps a pistol shot-and-
She put her hands before her eyes
more than once to shut out the pic
ture her brain had conjured up.
Yet hope lived in spite of her fears.
He might have gone off somewhere
TO see some one who was i'll,
Or suddenly taken into his head
to go to Truro or Plymouth, or
perhaps he had slipped somewhere
and sprained his ankle or broken his
leg. a Gozen things might have hap
peEed, none Of them serious. To-mor-
he might occupy the pulpit of the
Bid parish church as usual.
So hope and fear struggled for the
mastery hour after hour, and then
the certainty. She uttered no
Try. She felt as though she had been
suddenly turned to stone. AS soon as
possible she stole away to her own
rcom and holted the door.
She never fully realized till then
low much Tom Grayton had become
% her. She had admired him always.
He was the one man of her %acquaint-
nee she could implicitly trust. She
1ad a feeling that was put into
words, that if he made love to her,
her own heart would respond In a mo-
ment. But hitherto she had kept her.
self we'll in hand. Her pride had come
10 her rescue. 1t was not seemly for
4 woman to think of love until it was
solicited, and as yet no word had
G%rayton's lips that could be
construed into more than friendship.
But now everything was forgotten
save the fact that he lay wounded
rerhaps dying, and there was no
hand of love to minister him, and only
strangers about his bed. She wanted
TO hurry to his side. She would have
Given all she possessed for the privi-
lege of nursing him.
When the gong sounded for dinner
She went downstairs outwardly calm
to eat, but every mouthful threatened
to choke her.
Il wonder who will preach tc-mor-
Mrs. Mawgan said, ref1ectively;
really it Is the most unfortunate.
This is what ONE of meddling in
other peoples affairs"
"MeAdling, mother?" Esther ques-
lifting her eyes slowly from
her plate.
Il call it meddling," was the an
swer. IF that girl was not sufficient