The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1908-10-15
CHAPTER XVIII,
Missinu.

Missing.
The Rev. Tom Grayton stood with
his elbow on the mantelpiece, a per.
picked look In his yes and an open let.
ter In his hand. 1t was a brief, type.
written letter from the owners of the
steamship Nebraska, and announced
that no one of the name of Webster
had taken passage In her on her last
v~oyage-that the only passenger, in
fact, whose name began with a wv"
was a Miss Marion West.
That settles the matter" he said
to himself, at length, and he drew a
long breath.
But the settling OF n matter had
unsettled a good many CHEERS. The
look OF perplexity In his eyes, instead
Of clearing away, deepened into a look
Of pain, He had been proud of the
good name OF st. Chloe. Since he had
known anything of 1t nothing In the
shape of scandal had ever been con-
nected with the place. 1t was a sim
gularly honest, sober, G~od-fearing com.
munity that inhabited this little hol.
low by the sea. The fishermen, farm
ers and tradespeople appeared to be
all of the same type-men who could
do urnat danAe k,,t IsA ,Nt x,a-3 49,
talked about; men who kept the com
mandmenis because the fear of God
was constantly before their
st. Chloe had been lifted into promi-
more than once by It's heroisms.
The nearness OF the ~treacherous Bee
ties" had given all too frequent oppor-
tunity for the display of courage and
self-sacriice of the noblest kind. But
within the memory Of the Oldest in.
habitant IL had never been lifted into
prominence By an outrageous de-.
parture from the moral law. There
was not a man or woman in st. Chloe
who had ever been in jail, not one
who had even been fined for wrong.
doing.
And though II was on record that
there we're several people In the vii
lage who held strange and unorthodox
viws on questions OF ritual and dogma,
and others who OF Sundays were con.
spicuous by their absence from both
church and chapel. nevertheless the
ethical sense had been kept SO well
alive that every man felt that he, to
the measure of his influence, was re-
sponsible for the good name of the
place.
Hence to Tom Grayton, in whom
this feeling was particularly strong,
the presence Of a man who was now
proved 10 be a liar, and who was un
doubtedly bent on the act Of dishon-
esty, was like the presence Of an cpl.
demic in a once healthy community.
He felt that the fair fame of st. Chloe
war in danger OF being soiled-that
the tradition of a century was in peril
OF being broken. And If that tradi-
ton was once broken no one could tell
the moral effect IL would have. II
might prove what a bad fall is to a
horse. The beginning Of evfi as well
rs the beginning o fstrife Is like the
letting out OF water.
Grayton folded up the letter at
length and put 1t into his pocket, but
the look Of worry and p~erplexity still
clouded his strong. handsome face.
Being the only resident minister in
the place. he naturally felt more re-
sponsible for the good behavior of the
community than any other man. New
ms, or whatever his name might be.
would have to be got rid of. He
would have to be told straight and
plain that he had been found out, that
his story about his health and his
relative was pure fabrication, n that
he was suspected OF intent to com.
NIT q felony.
1t would be no easy task, OF course.
TO tell a man to his face that he was
living in the village under false pre-
lenses, but 1t would have to be done.
For the sake of the fair nam of st.
Chloe the threatened scandal would
have to be prevented, and the sooner
II was done the better.
Grayton was not lacking In courage,
but he certainly did not like the task.
II was something new in his minis
terial career. and he was sorry 1t had
fallen to his lot. To carry comfort
to the sick or solace to the sorrowful
was a delight, but to tell an apparent
ly innocent and respectable man to
his face tina the was a fraud and q
liar Jared painfully on the nerves
He crossed the little square slowly
to Mrs. Dyer's house. where Nevins
lodged. II was a raw, MINDLESS day,
that threatened rain later on. At pres
ent everything was obscured in q
white mist that rolled slowly In from
the sea.