Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-11-02
CHAPTER x.

ST1AI ~.
Barbara and Griswold stopped at
the telegraph Office on their way back
to the executive mansion, and were
met by the news that the Sheriff Of
Mingo county had refused to receive
Griswold's message
His lines of communication with
the capital are doubtless well estab-
lished,' said Griswold, "and Bosworth
probably warned him, but it isn't of,
great Importance. It's just as well for
Appleweight and his friends, high and
low, to show their hands,"
When they! were again on the We
randa, Griswold fingered for mo-
ment with no valid excuse for delay
beyond the loneliness of the night and
his keen delight in Barbara's voice
and her occasional low laughter.
which was so pleasant to hear that he
held their talk to light key, that he
might evoke it the more. Professor
Griswold's last Irritation was now so
remote that he would have been hard
put to say whether the long departed
goddess name had been Evelyn or
| Laura. He had so thoroughly surren-
| dered himself to the exactions of the
law that love and marriage held small
place in his speculations of the fu-
| ture. He had heard himself called a
| bachelor professor with the humorous
! tolerance of one who is pretty sure of
| himself, and who is not yet reduced
to the cynical experiment of peering
beneath the top layer of his box Of
Strawberries to find the false bottom.
| He recalled the slender manuscript
volume of verses in his desk at home,
and he felt that it would be the east
est thing in the world to write a
thousand songs tonight, beside which
court would be the silliest of literary
twaddle.
you have done all that could be
asked of you, Mr.. Griswold, and I can
not permit you to remain longer.
Father will certainly be here tomor-
row. assure you that it is not like
him to avoid his public obligations.
His absence is the most unaccountable
thing that ever happened. have my
difficulties here at home, for since my
mothers death have had the care of
my young sisters, and it Is not pleas
ant to deceive them"
"Oh but your father isn't absent!
He is of7cially present and in the sad
die" laughed Griswold you must not
admit, even to me, that he is not here
in full charge of his Office And as for
my leaving the field. have not the
slightest intention of going back to
Virginia until the Appleweight ghost
is laid, the governor of North Caro-
lima brought to confusion, and the gov
ernor of South Carolina visibly pres
ent and laundering his edicts again,
so to speak, ex cathedra My own af-
fairs can wait, Miss Osborne. My uni
versity may go hand; my clients may
be mulcted in direst damages, but just
now I am your humble servant. and |
shall not leave your service until my
tasks are finihed. / am conulting
not my duty, but my pleasure. The
Joy of having hand in a little affair
like this, and Of being able to tell my
friend Tommy Ardmore about it after
ward, would be sufficient. Ardmore
will never speak to me again for not
inviting him to share in the game y
He was more buoyant than she had
seen him and she liked the note of af
lection that crept into his tone as he
spoke of his friend
"A9rdmore Is the most remarkable
person alive" Griswold continued
"You remember spoke of him this
morning. He likes to play the inscru
!, table idiot, and he carries it off pretty
well: but underneath he's really clev
; er. The most amazing ideas take hold
of him. You could never imagine what
. hes doing now! met him accidentally
, in Atlanta the other day, and he was
!, in pursuit Of face-a girls face thai
:, he had seen from car window fol
only an instant on siding some
| where"
, HE must have romantic tempera
lment" suggested Barbara