Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1910-02-10


marks about dead men. All the same,
it was happy release for Lady Maud,
and | doubt if she sits up all night
mourning for him. Have you been
out this afternoon, Miss Donne?"
He changed the subject with ex-
IRENE directness, and Mrs. Rushmore,
who was used to the dictatorial ways
of lions, took the hint submissively
enough, though she would have been
glad to discuss the relative and in
trlnsic values of the designations
Lady Maud" and Countess Leven.'
But it was much more important that
the lion should be left alone with
Margaret as much as possible, and the
excellent lady therefore remembered
that she had something to do and left
them
Il had little talk with Kralinsky
before he left" said Van Torp, when
she was gone. "He says he'll meet
us in Venice any time in the next few
days. He's just going to run over to
Vienna in his sudden-death-cart for
"a hours; then he'll go south, he says.
He ran me up to the hotel and
dropped me. [ dare say you heard
the toots. I thought | saw Lady Maud
looking out of the window of your
room as 1 got out"
EYES," Margaret said. "But how do
you know that is my Window"
"In the first place, I've counted the
windows. I felt sort of interest in
knowing which was yours And then,
[ often see your maid opening the
shutters in the morning"
"Oh!" Margaret smiled. did you
notice anything unusual about Lady
Maud when you saw herr" she asked,
for she knew that he had good eyes.
"Since you mention it, I thought she
looked as if she didn't feel quite up to
the mark-pale, | thought she was"
EYES," Margaret said. She felt
i'll for moment, and I thought she
was going to faint. But it passed al
most directly, and she insisted on 60
ing for walk"
"Oh," unused Mr.. Van Torp, lis that
so? Well, I dare say it was the best
thing she could do. I was telling you
about Kralinsky. He's not Levi Long
legs after all, and I'm not sure he was
ever in the west"
81 thought it sounded unlikely, IS
Margaret said.
81 asked him, just like that, in a
friendly way, and he thought mo.
ment and made an effort to recollect,
and then he seemed quite pleased to
remember that I'd been Fanny and
he'd been Levi Longlegs,' and that he
used to whistle things out of 'Parsifal
by the fire of an evening"
"Well-but in that case" Marga.
ret stopped with an inquiring look.
Just so" continued Van Torp, nod.
ding. did you ever attend a tria!
and hear a witness being cross-ex-
amined by lawyer who wants him to
remember something, and he wants to
remember it himself, but can't be-
cause he never heard of it before in
his life? It's quite funny. The law.
yer makes steps for him and puts his
feet into them so that he gets along
nicely, unless the judge happens to
wake up and kick, and then the little
game stops right there, and somebody
laughs Well, my talk with Kralinsky
was like that, only there was nc
Judge, so he went away happy; and
we're old friends now, and punched
COWS on the same ranch, and he's
coming on my yacht. I only wonder
why he was so anxious to remember
all that, and why he thought it would
be kind of friendly if | called him
Levi LOnglegs again, and he called
me Fanny Cook. I wonder! He says
he's still very fond of 'Parsifal,' anc
| came on purpose to hear it, but thai
he's completely forgotten how to whis
| tle That's funny, too. I just thought
I'd tell you, because if you come or
my yacht and he comes, too, you're
liable to see quite a good deal Of one
another"
did you tell him that Mrs. Rush
more and would Gomez" Margare
asked. "And Lady Maud?"
"Why, no. You've not promised yet
any more than you did last nigh
when we talked about it, so how
could I? l forgot to mention Lady
Maud to him, or else I thought
wouldn't forget which. It doesn'
matter"
NO Margaret smiled. mot lit
tie bit!'
"You seem amused" observed Mr.
Van Torp.
t'By your way of putting it ant
your pretending to forget such ;
thing
ct wasn't quite true that l forgot
but I wanted to, SO I didn't say any
thing about her That's why | put i
in that way. I don't choose to leav,
you any doubt about what say, O.
mean, even in the smallest things
The moment you feel the least doub
about the perfect accuracy of any
thing l tell you, even if it's not at al
a. downright lie or anything resen
bling one, you won't trust me at all
in anything. Because, if you trus
me, you'll end by liking me, and i
you don't trust me you'll go back t.
thinking that I'm the Beast out o
Revelation, or something, as 20,
used to-
GIVE forgotten all about the Beast,
Margaret said.
Thank you," answered Mr.. Val
Torp. "To change the subject-I'v
got a little scheme to propose. May
be you'll think well of it. Anyhow
as it's mere matter of business cor