Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-21
CHAPTER v.
A Night in the Cottage.
Joseph 'Orsford, sir"

Joseph OrSIOrU, SIT.
The answer had come quietly enough.
yet it had fallen on my ears like the ex-
plosion Of a bomb. So this was the man
against whom my anonymous correspond
ent warned me, He was a harmless-ap-
pearing man. stolid and not clever. but
not bad, surely, type Of Briton very
common in and near London. not always
a farmer-a bus or cab driver. more like
| ~. or. perhaps a mechanic.
/ had ceased to regard the warning as
| a practical joke, but as l was still in the
| dark concerning its purpose or its au-
thor-for i had abandoned the idea that
Barney Rafferts had anything to do with
| i'll had resolved to act without refer
| ence to It, except as to keeping myself
| alert to discover whence it came.
| After the first shock Of surprise, there
| fore, / threw off all thought connected
| with my new duties and. peacefully puff
| ing my pipe, / INDUCED in a short series
of dreams and speculations concerning
the girl who also had arrived in Winton
| that evening
| Rousing from that pleasant pastime l
turned into bed for a night Of sound
| sleep-as | fancied at the time.
| ! was bordering on slumber. [ think.
when L became conscious of sound
which brought me suddenly into sitting
posture In the bed and put all my facul-
ties at once upon the alert. There was a
| moments silence, and then it came again
"a long, low vail. followed preser ~ by
sharp snarl. as of rage. Then me a
sibilation OF quick whispers. and, ter a
little. sob. woman's piteous SO
Noiselessly l left my bed and or, It 10
| the window. young moon lay i, - on
/ the horizon, and in the light viii IL
shed upon the earth | could distir uish
| dimly in the distance the shining roofs
| OF a building hidden behind the ices
the villa of Overlook. no doubt. where
! Mr.. Somhers had come to his un, mely
/ end.
Slowly. and careful to make no nc Sc.
opened the shutters Of the window. But
| there was nothing either human a ami
\ NAL in sight. the noise had been nithin
the house. Hastily l slipped OF some
clothing and stepped to the door oading
| into the front room. prepared t. 80 out
and learn more if the sound came again
i But IL was not repeated. and, after a
time. / tiptoed back to the bed and
| threw myself upon ii dressed. prepared
/ however. 10 court sleep. But rome came
My mind was still alert and insistent
4 upon taking up the threads OF the Som
hers tragedy. which l had rcsolutely kept
4 from dwelling upon since m arrival upon
4 the scene of its enactment
/ / recalled my first acqu aintance with
| the old gentleman-nt old then, but in
active middle life. He had recently lost
his wife. and his mir A was so full of his
i grief that change If scene had become
/ imperative Was iaQ at tine time,
/ taking with my parents my first trip
1 across the ocean. Mr.. Somhers and my
| father became interested in each other
/ as soon as they found themselves side by
| SIDE upon the steamers deck. During
\ the winter that followed our return home
| Mr.. Somhers visited us. and for many
years thereafter-so long as my father
4 lived, indeed. Mr.. Somhers and he kept
| friendly tabs on each other. 1t had been
Mr.. Somhers custom to spend a portion
of each winter In New York SO il was
| possible for my father and him to con-
tinue their pleasant relations.
l had not seen Mr.. Somhers for perhaps
/ twelve years previous to his death. My
| recollection OF him was OF an alert-look-
| ing man OF middle height. with hair
whitening about the temples, who had
once taken me upon his knees on the
| deck of an ocean liner and had enter
tanned me with tales of another little
boy. whose name, Mr. Somhers said, was
| Roland; but Mr.. Somhers told me that
he had gone far. far away-too far for
4 me to see him for a long time.
4 Some years before my fathers death
/ Mr.. Somhers bought Overlook and my
/ father visited him. l remember that
| father spoke on his return home Of the
orphaned nephew, younger than I, whom
Mr.. Somhers had taken to live with him,
and recoliect that he predicted that the
lad. who was active and restless and for
whom Mr.. Somhers had mo- affection,