The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-06-28
eContinued from Page s.)

 veranda she found Caine waiting in hope of another glimpse of her.
 What was the matter?" he asked, solicitously. 'Why did you run away from us all? Conover waited long time. hoping you'd come back. At last I told him you had a. sick headache. Then
 Tt happened to be true" she an miserable Why did that man come here? I've left word I'm never at home to him.
 "Be nice to him for my sake. won't you, darling?" pleaded Caine. T can't explain. But I-need him very much just now. I can't afford, for business reasons, to have him offended" ''But if you only knew-!' she cried; .'then stopped.
 "Knew what? Tell me-" he begged. els anything troubling you?''
 The fornless fear she sought to voice died on her lips.
 "No,". she said. "Nothing at all But Pm very tired. Good night"
 And with this lachrymose evasion he was forced to content himself But before going to bed,. Letty,- as a. last hope. sought out her father.
 'T wish." she entreated. nerving her self to the effort, "I wish you would forbid MT. Conover the house. IT hate him. I'm afraid of him. Oh, Father. please don't let him come here any moret'
 SLdnQlSh tOOkS0 up lIOAA HIS OSCAiAAA6 paper with a frown of cold dfspleasure. sT do wish, Letty,' he said with the dry little cough that nowadays accom- panied his every sentence, that you would learn self control, You are not a baby any longer These childish prejudices of yours are absurd MT. Conover is-very useful to. me--and to the bank-just at present Out or deference to me, you will please treat him with courtesy whenever he chances Callp'
 But Lefty, weeping uncontrollably had run from the room. She felt her self helplessly enmeshed in net whose cords her best-loved were draw ing tighter and tighter about her.
 CHAPTER XVIII.
 Caleb 4Conover Gives Reading Lesson. Conover, during the month that fol- lowed, found time from his fnancia1 warfare to make three more calls at the Standish house. The soft-hearted Divinity of children and fools were mercifuI to Lefty on those occasions. inasmuch as there were each time other guests on the dusky piazza. The girl thus avoided intimate talk of any long duration with her giant visitor. Yet she noted with helpless dread that at every successive visit the Fighters manner told more and more of a subtle understanding between them: Of an in creasing sense of possession. Wildly,
  she watched it's growth with a dazed Fascination.
 By turns she clrng to Caine in mad craving for protection; or repulsed him with pettish impatience as a de- fense which she instinctively felt would not be strong enough to guard her when her hour of stark need should come. More than once it occurred to Lefty to tell Caine all her fears. But. strip ped of woman's formless, illogical in- tuition, what was there to tell? She had no shadow of actual fact to go on; and men demand facts So she continued to puzzle her lover by alter nate spells of effusfve demonstration and chilling sF1lks.
 The ever-reAdy tears, too. began to leave marks. She was not looking her best. In her lonely misery the girl was glad of this. She wished Copover would call by, daylight instead of at night, so that he might see and be rerelled by what she pleased to term the '-ravagesD his attentions were wreaking on her once placid-face. Caine and her father. it is true, gave most f1atterfng heed to these "rav- ages"; but heartless1y ascribed them to hot. weather and need of change to Mrs. Standish's vitreous gaze, too, mingled mild curiosity with its irrit- ing bepevolence- Once she asked Lefty quite tactfully if the engagement with
  if the girl might not be in danger of blighting her God-gfven young life by a loveless marriage. To which ran dom shot Lefty paid the passing tri- Mrs Standish of her own spiritual in spiration in putting the question. The net result of it all was that Lefty and her aunt were packed off, with Give. to the seaside for a month.
 Miss Standish's departure did not greatly trouble Caleb He himself was nearing the beginning of his much hera1ded first vacation" Indeed, Caine. coming disconsolately to the Fighters room, one evening, just after seeing Lettys train off. found Con- over sitting on the floor beside an open trunk. A mass of clothing. also on the floor. radiated away from the trunk on every side Perspiring. red of face, Caleb was reaching out methodically for garments, folding them with slow care of the self-made man and stow ing them away in fast-rising layers in the leathern nav that gaped so hun gri1y for them i've just come from seeing Miss Standish and her aunt off to Block Island" announced Caine. routing pile Of clothes from a chair and seat ing himself.
 'BIock Island. hey?' said Caleb. Anything like Coney?"
 ssNo," laughed Caine. "nor like any other place on earth. A treeless pla-
 
 glance, but with a hundred-year-old charm that somehow grips one. Sea, sunshine and wind: and the eternal roar of the surf"
 "H'm!' grunted Caleb. disapproving- 1y. '.Nice, lively sort of joint for a busy man to go lookin' for fun! Bout as jolly as it's own jail. should think
 s1t has no jail,' retorted Caine. NO fail, no almshouse, no asylum. There hasn't been a criminal. nor pauper. nor an insane person on the whole island in century. There Is only one policeman--or was when used to go there. And he used to take turns serving as driver of ono of the 1s- lands two horse-cars. There's a his- E toric yoke of oxen, too. that"
 ''Not a jail-or crime-or an in stitootion Of any sort?' cried Conover. "Son, you're stringin' me! What do the local politicians do for Twin then? If Moo York's a paradise for grafters this Block Island of yours must be a hell for 'enn- Amt anyone ever walked up there to the chances