Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-01-01


NA alone. carried to the Ia
< bic several letters that
had come In the late mail The events
of the afternoon filed her mind, and
she was not sorry to be alone. 1t oc-
CURED to her that she was building up
q formidable tower of strange secrets,
and she wondered whether having be-
gun by keeping her own counsel as to
the attempts she had witnessed against
John Armitage's life, she ought now to
unfold all she knew to her father or to
Dick. In the twentieth century homi-
eide was not a common practice among
men she knew or was likely to know,
and the feeling of culpability for her
silence crossed ances with a deepening
sympathy for Armitage. She had
learned where he was hiding. and she
smiled at the recollection of The triGing
bit Of strategy she had practiced upon
Chauvenet.
She had kept Dicks letter till the
last. He wrote often and in the key of
his talk. She dropped a lump of sugar
into her coffee cup and read his hur-
ried scrawl:
What do you think has happened
now? | have $l4 worth of kilograms
from Senator Sanderson wiring from
some God forsaken hole in Montana
that it's all rot about Armitage being
that fake Baron Won Kissel The news
paper accounts of the expose at my
supper party had just reached him.
and he says Armitage was on his CAR
mitage'SJ ranch all that summer the
noble baron was devastating our north
ern seacoast Where may | ask, does
this leave me? And what cad gave
that story TO the papers? And where
and who is John Armitage? Keep this
mum for the present. even from the
governor If Sanderson is right, Armi-
tage will undoubtedly turn up again
he has Il weakness for turning up in
your northumberland sooner or later
he's bound to settle accounts With
Chauvenet. Now that | think of it,
who in the devil is he? And why didn't
Armitage call him down there at the
club? AS think over the whole bust
ness my mind grows added, and feel
as though | had been kicked by a
horse"
Shirley laughed softly. keeping the
note open before her and referring to II
musingly as she stirred her coffee She
could not answer any Of Dicks ques-
tions. but her interest in the contest
between Armitage and Chauvenet was
intensified by this latest turn in the
affair. She read for an hour in the
library, but the air was close, and she
threw aside her book drew on a light
coat and went out upon the veranda.
A storm was stealing down from the
hills. and the fitful wind tasted OF
rain She walked the length of the
veranda several times, then paused at
the farther end of it, where steps led
out into the pergola. There was still n
mist of starlight. and she looked out
upon the vague outlines of the garden
with thoughts of its needs and the
gardeners work for the morrow. Then
she was aware of light step far out
in the pergola and listened carelessly
to mark 1t, thinking it one of the house
servants returning from a neighbours
but the sound was furtive, and as she
waited 1t ceased abruptly. She was
about to turn into the house to sum
mon help when she heard stir in the
shrubbery in quite another part of the
garden. and in a moment the STOPPING
figure of man moved swiftly toward
the pergola.
Shirley stood quite still. watching
and listening. The sound of steps in
the pergola reached her again, ther
the rush Of flight. and out in the gar
den a flying figure darted in and out
among the walks. For several minutes
two dark figures played at vigorous
hide and seek. Occasionally grave
erunched under foot and shrubbery
snapped back with sharp swist
where it was caught and held for sup
port at corners. Pursued and pursuel
were alike silent. The scene was like
pantomlme.
Then the tables seemed to be turned
The bulkier figure of the pursuer was