The Tupelo journal., 1909-05-28
CHAPTER XII.-Continued.

Cor David with his ridiculous little
sling going against Goliath" added
she. Very well put, BERTHE; only the
good advice comes too late; the ques-
ton now is, how to get out with a
whole skin. Surprising as it may be,
| expect to-with your help"
'Honored, I'm sure growled BERTHE.
There is one thing | meant to ask
you'll haven't, but | shall nov In
stead of making it impossible for me
to sleep tonight, as you v~irtuously in
tended in order to clear your con-
science before you tried to pull me out
of the trap I've set for myself, suppose
you do me a favor, right now"
you put it so well, you make me
ashamed of my moral sense, Aunt
Becky; what is it you want?"
"Oh, nothing unbefitting a soldier
and a gentleman, dear boy; just this:
Cary has to have some money. l
meant to give it to Stoves, but you
hustled him off in such a rush that l
didn't get at him. You know where he
is, don't you? You haven't sent him
straight back?"
Il can find him, | reckon"
Then I'll give you the money, at
once"
How weak a thing is mani Here
was an eminently cool-headed, rea-
sonable man of affairs who knew that
paws which had escaped from the fire
unSinged had no excuse to venture
back for other peoples chestnuts; he
had expressed himself clearly to this
effect to young Tracy; now, behold
him as unable to resist the temptation
of a conflict and the chance to battle
Atkins as if he were a h~ot-headed boy
in plain shoulder-straps!
"Tll do better for you, Aunt Rebec-
Ca" said he. I'll not only take Fire
less the money, I'll go with him to the
house. l can make a sneak from here;
and Atkins is safely downstairs at
this moment. He may be shadowing
F~ireless; if he is, perhaps l can throw
him off the track"
Thus it befell that not an hour later
Rupert Winter was guiding the shabby
and noisy runabout a second time to-
ward the haunted house.
Nothing doin'," said the joyous ap-
prentice to crime; Il called old Cary
up and got a furious stating for doing
it; but he said there wasn't a watch
dog in sight; and the old nan had sur
rendered. He was going to let him
into the library on parole"
you need a guardian" growled the
colonel where did o telephone?
Not in the drug store?"
ooh, dear, no., not in such a public
place; I've a shrinking nature that
never did intrude it's private, personal
affairs on the curious world. | used
the phone of that nice quiet little res
taurant where they gave me a lovely
meal but were so long preparing it l
used up all the literature in sight,
which was the Ladies' Home Journal
and a tract on the virtues of Knox's
gelatine. When l couldn't think of
anything else to do l routed out Cary
I'D smoked all my cigarettes and all
my cigars but one which / was keep
ing for after dinner. And Cary rowed
me good and plenty. There wasn't a,
soul in the room"
"Has any one followed your"
mot a man, woman or child, not ever
a yellow dog. / kept looking round,
TOO"
1T was a dreadfully risky thing to
do; you don't deserve to escape; but
perhaps you did. Atkins may have
come to the Palace for some other
purpose and We have noticed you"
my own father wouldn't have got
on TO me in that dinky rig"
Winter was not so easy in his mind.
But he hoped for the best, since there
was nothing else for him to do. They
were in sight of the house now, which
doomed against the dim horizon, dark
err. grimmer than ever. Where the
upper stories were pierced with semi
circular arches, the star-sown sky
shone through with an extraordinary
effect of depth and mystery. All the
lighter features of the architecture,
carving on pediment or Intel or archi-
1oA. delicate iron tracery of rejas, re-
lief of arcature and colonnade-all
these the dusk blurred if it did not
Jbliterate; the great dark bulk of the
house with its massive ~buttresses, its
Dyramidal copings and receding upper