Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1910-10-12
Tie
.zyEZzEP
e ZNLN
ZZ(NNETZW
ZZZlZ1RzZ2EzEF
C0cZRTUzv z1a5 1,r
RlHEc- HERRLZZ a.
CHAPTER I.
The Vanishing Mystery.

OF her dining room. She had turned
her back on it. She swayed forward.
Her bare arms were lifted. Her hands
lightly caught the molding on either
side OF the door. She was looking in
tently into the mirror at the other
end Of the hall. All the lights in the
dining room were lit, and she saw
herself rather keenly set against this
brilliance. The straight-held head,
the lifted arms, the short, slender
waist, the long. long sweep of her
skirts made her seem taller than she
actually was; and the strong, bright
growth of her hair and the vivacity
of her face made her seem more deep
ly colored.
She had poised there for the mere
survey of new gown, but after mo-
ment of dwelling on her own refiec-
ton she found herself considering it
only as an object in the foreground of
a picture. That picture, seen through
the open door, reflected in the glass.
was all of bright, hard glitter, all
high, harsh tone of newness. In its
paneled oak, in its glare of cut-glass
and silver, in the shining vacant faces
of its floors and walls, there was not
a color that filed the eye, not a shad-
dow where imagination could find
play. AS background for herself it
struck her as incongruous. Like a
child looking at the landscape up
side down, she felt herself in a for
eign country. Yet it was hers.
She glanced over the table. 1t was
set for three. 1t lacked nothing but
the serving of dinner. She looked at
the clock. 1t wanted a few minutes
TO the hour Shima, the Japanese but
Ter, came in softly with the evening
papers. She took them from him.
Nothing bored her so much as a pa
per. but tonight she knew it con-
tanned something she really wanted to
see. She opened one of the damp
sheets at the page of sales.
There it was at the head of the
colHmn in thick black type:
AT AUCTION. FEBRUARY IS
PERSONAL ESTATE OF
ELIZABETH HUNTER CHATWORTH
CONSISTING OF -
She read the details with interest
down to the end, where the name of
the famous Chatworth ring" finished
the announcement with a flourish.
Why famous? it was very provok-
ing to advertise with that vague ad-
jective and not explain it.
She turned indifferently to the first
page. She read sentence, re-read it,
read ii again. Then, as if she could
not read fast enough, her eye gal
Hoped down the column. 1t was the
most extraordinary thing She was
bewildered with the feeling that what
was blazing at her from the columns
of the paper was at once the widest
thing that could possibly have hap
pened, and yet the one most to have
been expected.
For, from the first the business had
been sinister, from as far back as the
tragedy-the end of poor young Chat
worth and his wife the Bessie. who,
before her English marriage, they had
all known so well. Her death, that
had befallen ia far Italian Alps, had
made a sensa ton in their little city
and the large announcements of auc-
ton that had followed hard upon it
had bred among the women who had
known her a morbid excitement, a
feverish desire to buy, as If there
might be some special luck in them,
the jewels of a woman who had SO
tragically died. They had been ready
TO make a social affair ~ the private
view held in the Maple room" be-
fore the acution. And now the whole
spectacular business was capped by a
sensation so dramatic as to strain
credulity to its limit She could not
believe it; yet here it was glaring at
her from the first page. Still-it
might be an exaggeration. a mistake
She must go back to the beginning
and read it over slowly.
The striking of the hour hurried
her. Shimas announcement of din
ner only sent her eyes faster down
the page But when, with a faint.
smooth rustic, Mrs. Britton came in,
she let the paper fall. She always
faced her chaperon with little ner-
vousness, and with the same sense of
strangeness with which she so fire.
quently regarded her house.
It's Is minutes after eight" Mrs
Britton observed. I'VE would better
not wait any longer"
She took the place opposite Flora's
at the round table. Flora sat down,
still holding the paper, flushed and
bolt upright with her news.
IT'S the most extraordinary thing!"
she burst forth.
Mrs. Britton paused mildly with a
radish in her fingers. She took in
the presence of the paper, and the
suppressed excitement of her com
panions face-seemed to absorb them
through the large pupils of her light
eyes, through all her smooth, pretty
person, before she reached for an ex-
PLANTATION.
What is the most extraordinary
thing?" The query came bland and
smooth, as If, whatever it was, it
could not surprise her.
why, the Chatworth ring! At the
private view this afternoon it simply
vanished! And-and it was all our
own crowd who were therei"
"Vanished." Clara Britton leaned
forward, peering hard in the face Of
this extraordinary statement Stolen,
do you mean" She made it definite
Flora flung out her hands.
well, it disappeared In the Maple
room. in the middle Of the afternoon,
swhap ovarvhodv vas fhera-aud they