The Redwood gazette., 1909-11-10

sure she told herself so over and over
again
The next day she was still enraged
when he called 1t cost no effort tc
have him turned from the door. When
his note arrived she started impul
sively to open 1t. then checked her,
self. She would be firm: she would
punish him.
And so with some slight effort she
handed the letter to the servant with
instructions to return it to Lieutenant
Sommers at his hotel.
Passing her Old lover on the street
had been an effort. but that. too. she
managed to do. 1t took the last of
her anger. however. The reaction he'd
come. She began to regret, then to
forgive and finally to long once more
for the one man who, she felt sure.
could make her happy
A little discreet questioning had
brought out the cause Of his anger.
She found out the real reputation OF
Pinckney among the work people. The
discovery shocked her.
CUC uuuoTStOOu tutN WHY OOuhClo
had been so enraged She saw it was
not against her or brought about by
any doubt of her, bUt merely fierce
uucontrollable rage against Pinckney
that he had dared-sa man OF his kind
Ito put her in a position that his char
acter at once made questionable.
When she had finally come to real
understanding the girl longed to write.
but Sommers by that time was away
on sea duty, ana she could not reach
| him. Against her own judgment she
had longed for and expected some
word from him. But the naval Off
GERS pride was too great to pursue a
further Rntrusien after so signal a re-
buff
Then the girl began to grow pale
and to worry. Her parents noticed
the change without realizing the cause.
No one had any suspicion of the real
relation between Frances and the
young naval officer. That good
night" on the vine covered porch was
| a secret-a tender memory locked in
! her heart and in his. to be brought out
| by each. regarded fesldiy and mourned
,over when alone.
ISommers had his work, but Frances
dEhaa >1otning te. distract her mind. Nc
wonder she grew Eoaier and seemed &c
lose interest in everything. MIR and
1 Mrs. Dufant became alarmed They
ltconsulted, doctors but there was moth
Y MI f.1I 1Ix- +lni
daughter. Finally one big expert pro
posed q sea voyage, -and for the first
! time Frances showed some sign of in.
terest. Mr.. Durant paid "a double
size bill cheerfully. thinking that doc
| tor a wonderful man.
The Durant yacht, the Irvessa, was
got ready as quickly as possible. Mr.
Durant could not go himself, and he
decided it would be a good plan te
send his wife and daughter away for
a cruise in charge of Pinckney.
Now for month they cruised. bu1
Frances sh-ved little sign of interest
Pinckney was the only one who
seemed to get real enjoyment out .ot
the "trip. He now felt that victory
must in the end be his.
He was not deceived by the result
OF the first test of the SommerS gun
1t had stood the first test safely. but
in his heart the, conspirator knew that
soon the badly tempered gun must
fail, perhaps with shocking results
That mattered little to him. The
! worse the accident the greater the dis
grace of SOmmers and the surer the
result in his favor The government
must then accept the Rhinestrom gun,
and probably would give a bigger or
der than ever.
He had no fear of an investigation
That had been wef attended to- Smith
under another name, was working fan
away. There was no one else who
knew anything except Marsh. and he
could Zoe depended on to keep quiet.
The ultimate success of all that he
had Planned now seemed to the gen
eral manager certain. He gave him
self up. to the enjoymeuts of the cruise
| dreaming now and then of the time to
come when he and Frances as man
and wife should so on long trips to-
gether & -
The first sign of real interest the girl
showed after starting was when the
yacht cast anchor in the broad harbor
of Ponce Porto Rice, and she learned
| quite by accident that the cruiser
Roanoke was expected there in a few
| days. Il -4r
Then. to the intense aStoniShment of
Mrs. Durant and Piuckney. Frances
| once more asserted herself She de-
I clared that she loved the old Spanish
town. Even the dirty plaza, two miles
away from the main city. interested
4 her. She insisted on staying over. be-
cause, she declared, she was deter
mined to study the town and the peo-
/ pie and even ride over the famous mil
itary road constructed by the Span
iards at terrible cost Of labor and
life from Ponce through the mountains
| to San Juan
| Nothing that her mother or Pinck-
! ney could do would move her. She was