The Rice belt journal., 1909-12-10

ther meet on friendly terms. Donovan
fought an Italian assassin. He met the
man he supposed was HOlbrOok, but who
said he was Hartridge. a canoe-maker.
CHAPTER V.-Continued.
He spoke the name carelessly, his
manner and tone implying that there
could be no debating the subject.
was prepared for evasion, but not for
this cool denial of his identity.
But this afternoon Mr.. Holbrook,
I chanced to follow the creek to this
point and | saw"
you probably saw that houseboat
down there, that is my shop. AS l
tell you, | am maker Of canoes. They
have, | hope, some reputation-honest
hand-work; and my output is limited.
| shall be deeply chagrined if you
have never heard of the Hartridge
canoe"
He shook his head in mock grief,
walked to a cabarette and took up a
pipe and filled it. He was carrying
off the situation well; but his cool.
ness angered me.
Mr.. Hartridge, I am sorry that I
must believe that heretofore you have
been known as Holbrook The fact
was clenched for me this afternoon,
quite late, as I stood in the path be-
low there. heard quite distinctly a
young woman call you father"
so? Then you're an eavesdropper
as we'll as trespasser!"-and the
man laughed.
1--WE will admit that I am both"
fared, angrily.
"You are considerate, Mr.. Dono-
van!"
THE young woman who called you
father and whom you answered from
the deck of the houseboat is a person
l know"
"The devil"
He calmly puffed his pipe, holding
the bowl in his fingers, his idle hand
thrust into his trousers pocket.
1T was Miss Helen Holbrook that
l saw here, Mr.. Hartridge."
He started, then recovered himself
and peered into the pipe bowl for a
second; then looked at me with an
amused smile on his face.
"You certainly have wonderful i'm
agination. The person you saw, If you
saw any one on your visit to these
premises to-day, was my daughter,
Rosalind Hartridge. Where do you
think you knew her, Mr.. Donovan?"
Il saw her this morning at st.
Agatha's school. l not only say her,
but l talked with her, and l am neith-
er deaf nor blind"
He pursed his lips and studied me,
with his head slightly Titled to one
side, in cool fashion that | did not
like.
Rather an odd place to have met
this Miss-what name, did you say?
Miss Helen Holbrook;- closed
schoolhouse, and that sort of thing"
You may ease your mind on that
point; she was with your sister, her
aunt, Mr.. Holbrook; and I want you
to understand that your following
Miss Patricia Holbrook here is in.
famous and that l have no other bust
ness but to protect her from you"
He bent his eyes upon me gravely
and nodded several times.
MIR. Donovan" he begin, "I repeat
that l am not Henry Holbrook, and
my daughter-is my daughter, and not
your Miss Helen Holbrook. Moreover,
II you will go to Tippecanoe or to
Annandale and ask about me you will
learn that l have been a resident of
this community, working at my trade,
that OF a canoe-maker. That shop
down there by the creek and this
house, l built myself"
But the girl"
Was not Helen Holbrook, but nv
daughter, Rosalind Hartridge. She
has been away at school, and came
home only week ago. You are clear
ly mistaken; and If you will call, as
you undoubtedly will, on your Miss
Holbrook at st. Agatha's in the morn
Ing, you will undoubtedly find your
young lady there quite safely in
charge of-what was the name, Miss
Patricia Holbrook?-in whose behalf
you take so praiseworthy an interest"
He was treating me quite as though
| were stupid schoolboy, but l raj
lied sufficiently to demand:
IF you are so peaceable and only
a boatmaker here, will you tell me
why you have enemies who are so
anxious to kill you? l imagine that
murder isn't common on the quiet
shores of this little creek, and that an
Italian sailor is not employed to kill
men who have not a past of some sort
behind them"
His brows knit and the Jaw under
his short beard tightened Then he
smiled and threw his pipe on the
cabarette.
Il have only your word for it that
there's an Italian in the wood-pile. I
nave friends among the country folk
hero and in Tho Jo1,o iii,