Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1910-01-13

anu night IL Is Iue
same noises, the same smells, the
same wines, almost the same women
-aRdnno song at all worth hearing.
haveaa mind to chuck it all and go out
into Gods country, out into the sub.
urks.''
With Fickson to think was to act
and this is how it happened that the
good people of Horton Hollow were
curious almost to crucial point of the
the antecedents and personality Of the
dapper young society man who came
among themsso"reservedly to superin.
tend the construction Of pretty
Queen Annercottage on Lake Shadows.
That he was "a yveritable catch was
soon agreed uponiby the spisters, but
how TO break his reserve and teach
him to worship "at the feet of Aphro
dite was difficult problem. For. be.
sides admitting to Amos Squires, the
'busman, that he was not married.
Hickson had met the persevering ad-
vances of the natives with a stern
frigidity.
There amt "a blessed woman that
kin git within gun shot o. him." COM
planned Mirandy Hodges, "exceptin'
Marty BrOwn-fan' she amt interested
In nothin' but Taisin' money fer a new
parsonage fer that new preacher an
his stuck-up wife"
& At last the cottage was finished and
Hickson selected his furniture and
fittings. On the 10th of December it
was ready. With glad heart he rode
gayly homeward from the city, and
slipping the key into the lock, stepped
into the nest that was to be the heart
Of his simple life. The evening was
spent in gloating over his new toy
and even though II did seem strange
ly quiet and lonely. Hickson's spirits
were so light the Joy bulb stood high
In the glass tube of pleasure.
But solitude wears on the best Of
US after time, and to Harrison
Honeywell Hickson, Injured to chatter
and bang and the busy whirl OF socie-
ty, the continued silence fell like q
pau
"Of course, could get married.
sighed Hickson, as he sat on the edge
Vi HIS DCu dhu pohuSlSu' nat WOulu
help some and-no." shaking his head
determinedly, mo laces and tantrums
for mine!"
Satisfied in his decision, he lay
down to sleep.
Then, all at once there entered that
( vacuum of stiffness. strange and sim
lister, the cracking OF a veneered
Joint, the settling Of a beam. AS Hick-
son sat bolt upright in bed, he dis
tinctiy heard a sound as Of running
water. Dashing madly down the
stairs he found a leaking water pipe
and what was worse, he discovered
that the hot-water plant was simply
boiling its head off. The servants had
not yet arrived, but Hickson managed
to check the furnace and turn of the
water. Then he returned to bed.
Suddenly a hoot-owl set up his weird
call, the soughing wind whistled with
sepulchral meaning, misguided cock
mistaking the bright moonlight for
morning awoke and set up an unearth-
ly din. while pair Of stray cats
meeting In sanguinary combat under
the west window, added to the hor-
rible intensity Of the night.
When he bounded out OF bed, Hick.
son was a determined man. He looked
at his watch and then at his time
table. Thirty minutes later 4 dark
form scurried through the shadows OF
the shaded street and dashed madly
up to the three o'clock train as II
pulled and snorted at Horton Hollow
The next day, Martha Brown. sweet
white-haired. motherly Martha Brown
received a letter II said: