Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1909-11-23
found himself at once out Of his chair
and his dream. bowling
"Mrs Haliamn

| The woman nodded and smiled gra-
ciously. "Eccles has attended to your
needs. hope? Please don't stop smok-
ing" She sank into an armchair on
the other side of the hearth and. prob
ably by accident, out of the radius Of
illumination from the lamp, sitting
sidewise. one knee above the other, her
white arms immaculate against .the
somber background of crimson.
She was very handsome. indeed. Just
then, though a keener light might have
proved less fattering.
"Now. Mr.. KirkwoodT she opened
briskly. with a second intimate and
friendly nod. and paused. her pose re-
ceptive.
Kirkwood sat down again, smiling
good natured appreciation Of her un-
prejudiced attitude.
"Your son. Mrs. Hallam"-
"oh, Freddie's doing well enough
Freddie" she explained, "has deli
cate constitution and has seen little Of
| the world. Such melodrama as to-
nights Is apt to shock him severely
We must make allowances, Mr.. Kirk
wood. think" she said deliberately.
"that It is time we came to an under.
standing"
Kirkwood agreed-"Yes," affably.
T purpose being perfectly straight
forward. To begin with, don't place
you, Mr.. Kirkwood. You are an un-
known quantity, new factor. Won't
you please tell me what you are and
are you friend Of Mr.. Calendars"
'I think l may lay claim to that
honor, though"-to Kirkwood's way Of
seeing things some little frankness on
his own part would be essential If they
were to get on-"I hardly know him,
Mrs. Hallam. had the pleasure Of
meeting him only this afternoon"
She knitted her brows over this
statement.
THAT, assure you, is the truth" he
laughed.
"But l really don't understand"
"Nor l, Mrs. Hallam. Calendar
aside, am Philip Kirkwood, Ameri-
can, resident abroad for some years,
a native Of San Francisco. Of GER
tain age. unmarried. by profession a
poor painter"
"And"
Beyond that2 I presume | must
tell you, though l confess I'm IN
doubt" He hesitated, weighing can
dor In the balance with discretion.
But who are you for? Are you In
George Calendars payT
Heaven forfend!' piously. my
sole interest at the present moment Is
to unravel most enhancing mys-
terry"
Entitled Dorothy Calendar Of
course. You've known her long?"
Eight hours. believe" he admit
ted gravely-"less than that, In fact"
Miss Calendars interests will not
suffer through anything you may tell
| me-"
whether they will or no, see /
must swing looser tongue or you'll be
showing me the door,"
The woman shook her head, amused
Not UNTIL" she told him significantly.
VERY well, then" And he launched
into an abridged narrative of the
nights events as he understood them.
touching lightly on his own circum-
stances, the real poverty which had
brought him back to Craven street by
way of Frognall And there you
have 1t all. Mrs. Hallam."
1T Is SO like Calendar" she exclaim-
cd, 80 like him that one sees how
foolish 1t was to trust-no, not to
trust, but to believe-that he could
ever be thrown of the scent once he
got nose to ground. So II we suffer.
my son and |. shall have only my
self to thank!"
Kirkwood waited In patient atten-
ton till she chose to continue. When
she did. Now for my side Of the
| case! cried Mrs. Hallam and. rising
began to pace the room. her slender
and rounded figure swaying grace
fully the while she talked.
George Calendar is a scoundrel.'
she said. "a swindler gambler-what
believe you Americans call conf
dence man. He Is also my late hus'
bands first cousin. Some years since
| he found It convenient to leave Eng
land, likewise his wife and daughter.
Mrs. Calender-a countrywoman Of
yours, by the bye-died shortly after
ward Dorothy. by the merest acci-
dent. obtained situation as private
secretary in the household Of the late
Colonel Burgoyne Of The Cliffs, Corn
wall. You follow me?"
Eyes, perfectly"
Colonel Burgoyne died. leaving his
estates to my son, some time ago.
Shortly afterward Dorothy Calendar
disappeared. We know now that her
father took her away, but then the
disappearance seemed inexplicable,
especially since with her vanished q
great deal Of valuable information.
She alone knew Of the location of Ger
| tain of the old colonel's personal ef-
fects.
"He was an eccentric. One Of his
peculiarities involved the secreting Of
valuables in odd places. He had no
faith In banks. Among these valua-
bles were the Burgoyne family jewels
quite q treasure, believe me, Mr..
Kirkwood. We found no note Of them
among the colonels papers and with
out Dorothy were powerless to pursue
search for them. We advertised and
employed detectives, with no result.
It seems that father and daughter
were at Monte Carlo at the time"
| Beautifully circumstantial. my dear
lady" commented KirkwOOd to his
inner consciousness. Outwardly he
maintained consistently pose OF I'm.
passive gullibility.
''This afternoon for the first time we
received news Of the Calendars. Cal
endar himself called upon me to beg
loan. | explained our difficulty. and
he promised that Dorothy should send
us the information by the mornings
post. When | insisted he agreed to
bring It himself after dinner this
evening. l make 1t quite clear" she
interrupted. little anxious.
Quite clear. | assure you." he as
sented encouragingly
Strangely enough. he had not been
gone ten minutes when my son came
In from a conference with our 80