Evening star., 1909-08-22
XII-Continued.

On her part she showed now a feverish
haste to get away from the subject, cou
pied with marked inability TO talk on
any other matter. He gave way to her
feeble attempts as If they would help in
this dilemma. and then he came back to
his original purpose with a blunt hard
headedness which seemed almost brutal,
aud yet measured the possibilities of his
position.
II came here expressly to tell you that
! know Of your fathers escape"
He was interrupted by the startled cry
she gave. He had. for an instant. a fear
that che was about to faint. and he
brought her to herself with sharp turn,
acting on the judgment he had already
formed Of her character.
Save your faipting till you've time to
spare" shc exclaimed. and she looked up.
startled TO se!f-control by his tone and
manner.
Then he told her how he had learned
Of the escape, and to the fact of the let
ter she gave u sigh OF relief This
brought him to close quarters and the
advice he had come 10 give.
fortunately. OF all Lanceboro, it came
TO me first and in this way" he said.
'it's an advantage that you can't hope
to hold tweaty-four hours One of Traf-
YOUR father. and then the fat'li be In the
tire. 1t isn't like him TO have waited thus
long. There the luck is with US" lie
used the personal pronoun in the first
person and plural number as a subtle
way Of indicating a common interest.
Has he waited SO iong?" she inter
rupted.
1t was his turn to feel the questioning
which he had read In her face? Had he
She had struck the keynote of the exact
situation. and struck It with. no uncer-
tainty. He absolved her from the impli-
cation OF want OF courage, which he had
before held against her. Might not Traf-
ford have known all the time? Indeed
was IL not more than probabl that he did
know all the time and that he was hold
ing this as the master key of the situa-
ton? Had he himself no. been guilty OF
the supremest folly In assuming for one
moment that Trafford could possibly have
missed II? He attempted no shuffiing,
but faced the situation fairly, and saw
10 reason for sparing her.
II don't believe lie has though ] had
rot though: of 1t before" he answered
He probably knows and has interpreted
IS I have--that is. that your father was
here tina. fatal night and. OF course. is
still here"
do you mean." she demanded. in hei
earnestness laying her hand on his arm
10 check him II he should try to in,er-
rupt. that any one learning that my
clude that he came here?"
THAT IL exactly what ] mean he re-
sponded. '.He could have no object il
leaving there unless he expected TO re-
establish himself as sane and innocent
il there was man In the word wht
could do this IL was John Altenburg. But
his chance with Auenburg was to take
ilini by surprise. To wait until Altenburt
knew he Was out would be to throw ava,
the only chance he had, for in the frs
place Altenburg would be ON his guard
and In the second place 1t would mear
immediate recapture. Therefore. he came
straight here. as a matter OF course
He'd argue that people wouldn't look TO
him here both because of his bitterness
against Altenburg and because YOU
mother wasn't here. There's where h'
made his mistake. He overlooked th'
fact that people who think would se'
that he must move quickly In the matte
OF proving his innocence, and also th'
fact that very few knew that the so
called Mrs; Altenburg was his wife. Who
ever did know this would see at onc'