The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-01-06
the window. He
lstling. mi now and

voice. .sTedl hima Curse mo IL
o shall!" Colonel John heard him
say The next moment b door was
sharply closed. and he canghtsno mere.
his pulses. What was 1t she wished
to tell him Was h seeking to follow
up the hint which she had given him
on Bales behalf? And was the sur
VIGILANCE to which he had been sub
jected for the last two days aimed at
keeping them apart?
Colonel John suspected that this
might be 30; n his heart beat more
quickly. At the evening meal he was
early In the room, on b chance that
h might appear before the others.
But h did not descend, and the meal
proved unpleasant beyond h ordinary,
James drinking more than was good
'for him and taking q Q brutal and
Hchurlish. For some reason the colonel
reflected, the young man was beginning
to lose his fears. Why? What was he
planning?
myself" Colonel John thought. And
he slept that night with his door
bolted and a loaded pistol under his
pillow. Next morning he took care to
descend early, on the chance OF seeing
Flavia before the others a%ppeared: She
was not down; he waited, she did not
come. Blu when he had been In the
room Ave minutes a serving girl slipped
in at the back, showed him a scared
face, held out a scrap Of paper and.
when he had taken 1t. fled in q panic
without a word.
He hid the paper about him and read
it later. The message was In Flavia's
hand; neither James nor the O'Beirnes
were capable Of penning q grammat-
ical sentence. Colonel Johns spirits
rose as he read the note.
B at the old Tower an hour after
IN COT ~ Vn1N yrtYutN mt ha fnlJnvundb EHa
That is more easily said than done"
he commented.
Nor did he see how it was to be done.
He stood, cudgeling his brains to
evolve a plan. But he found none that
might not, by awakening James US
picious, make matters worse. He had
at last to let things a k their course,
in the hope that when the time came
they would shape themselves favora-'
bly,.
They did. For before noon he gath
cred that James wanted to go fishing.
The O'Beirnes also wanted to go fish,
ing, and for the general convenience 1t
became him to go with them. He said
neither no nor yes, but he dallied with
the idea until 1t was time to start and
they had made UP their minds that he
was coming. Then he declined.
James swore, the OBeirnes scowled
at him and grumbled. Presently the
three went outside and held a confer
ence. His hopes rose as he sat smiling
to himself, for their next step was to
call Darby. Evidently they gave him
orders and left him in charge, for a
few minutes later they were off, spend
Ing their anger on n another n on
the barefoot gossoons who carried the
tackle.
Later in the afternoon Colonel John
took up his position on the horse block;
there he affected to be busy plating
horsehair lines. Every two or three
minutes Darby showed himself at the
door. once in a quarter of an hour the
!. court to. count the ducks or rout a
~trespassing beggar. Toward sunset he
came less often, having to busy him
self with the evening meal. The COLO
mel smiled and waited, and presently
the butler came again, ound him still
seated there n withdrawals time
with an air Of finality. Hes salts
fed" the colonel muttered, and the
next moment he was gone also. The
! light vas waning fast, night was fall
ing in the valley. Before he had trav-
eled a hundred yards he was lost to
view.
When he had gone a quarter of a
mile he halted and listened, with his
ear near the ground, for the beat Of
pursuing footsteps. He heard none,
nor any sounds but the low Of a cow
whose calf was being weaned, the
"Whoo! hoo! hoo!" of owls beginning
to mouse beside the lake and the creak
of oars in a o which darkness al
ready hid. He Strengthened himself
with a sigh of relief and fastened at
speed in the direction of the water
fall.
Before he stood on the platform and
made out the shape of the Tower loom
ing dark and huge above him, he had
come to the conclusion that the need
which forced Flavia to such a place at
such an hour must be great. The moon
would not rise before II o'lcock, the
last simmer Of the water had faded
into unfathomable blackness beneath
him; he had to tread softly and with
care to avoid the brink.
He peered about him, hoping to see
her figure emerge beside him.. He did
not and, disappointed, he coughed.
Finally. in a subdued voice, he called
her by name once or twice. Alas! only
the wind, softly stirring the grass and
whispering in the ivy, answered him.
He was beginning to think that she
had failed to come when, at no great
one moved. He CROPPED his way for
ward half a dozen PAGES, found a light
break on his view and stood in aston
ishment.
The movement had carried him be-
You'd the face of the Tower and so re-
vealed the light, which issued from q
doorway situate in the final of the
building. He paused, but second
thoughts treasured him. He saw that
in that position the light was not WISH
BILE from the lake or the house: and he
moved quickly to the open door, ex-
pecting to see F1aYia. Three steps led
down to the basement room of the
Tower; great was his surprise when he
saw below him in this remote. aban-
doned building-in this room three feet
L Alor tl- l~,,OI 80 - L,at
handsomely with four lighted candles
IN tall sticks and furnished besides
with a silver inkhorn, pens and paper.
Beside the table stood a couple of
chairs and a stool. Doubtless there
was other furniture in the room. but
in his establishment he saw only these.
He uttered an exclamation and de-
scended the steps. "Flavia!" he cried.
"Flayia!" He did not see her. and he
moved a pace toward that part of the
which the door hid from him..
Crash! The door fell to, dragged by
an unseen hand. Colonel John sprang
! fnypa rJ II hr,t tnn 1ofa H. haay.J tho