The Bottineau courant., 1910-02-11

IS! It isn't possible !" 1 and Ardmore
stared In astonishment into Miss Dan.
gerheld's tranquil blue eyes.
1t is possible. Papa Is ducking his
official responsibiliti That's what's
the matter with papa! And guess
they're enough to drive any man into
the woods. Just look at all this!"
Miss Dangerfield rested one Of
those diminutive hands OF hers on the
pile Of documents, letters and tcle-
grams the secretary had left behind
him; with a nod Of the head she IN.
dicated the governors desk in the In.
ner room, and It, too, was piled high
with documents.
IT supposed" faltered Ardmore
that In the absence Of the governor
the lieutenant governor would act. ]
think read that once.'
You must have read it wrong, Mr.
Ardmore. In North Carolina, in the
absence of the governor, am gov.
ernor! Don't look so shocked; when
say /, mean I-me! Do you Under
stand what said?'
II heard what you said, Miss Dan.
gerfield."
II mean what said, Mr.. Ardmore.
have taken you into my confidence
because ! don't know you. ! don't
know anything about you. I don't
want to know anything about you. I'd
be ashamed to ask anybody ] know
to help me. The people of North Car
olina must never know that the gov.
ernor is absent during times of great
public peril. And If you are afraid.
Mr.. Ardmore, you had better not &C.
cept the position"
There's nothing wouldn't do for
you," blurted Ardmore.
''T'm not asking you'll would not
ask you-to do anything for me. I
am asking you to do It for the Old
North State. Our relations, Mr. Ard.
more, will not be social but purely
official Do you accept the terms?"
II do; and warn you now that /
shall never resign"
II have heard papa say that life is
short and the tenure of Office uncer.
tain. can remove you at any time
please. Now do you understand that
this is a serious business? There's
likely to be lot of trouble, and no
time for asking questions, SO when ]
say it's so it's So"
tits so," repeated Ardmore do
cilely.
t'Now, here's the sheriff at Kildare
on our side of the line, who writes
to say that he is powerless to catch
Appleweight. He's afraid of the
dark, that man! You see, the grand
jury in Dilwell county-that's Kill
dare, you know-has indicted Apple
weight as common outlaw, but the
grand jurors were all friends of Ap
pleweight and the indictment was
only to satisfy law-and-order senti
ment and appease the Woman's Civic
league of Raleigh. Now, papa doesn't
II mean don't want to offend those
Appleweight people by meddling il
this business. Papa wants Gov. Os
borne to arrest Appleweight in South
Carolina; but don't believe Gov. Os
borne will dare do anything about it
Now, Mr.. Ardmore, am not going tc
have papa called a coward by any
body, particularly by South Carolina
! people, after what Gov. Osborne said
Of our state"
"Why, what did he say?"
He said in speech at Charleston
last winter that no people who fry
their meat can ever amount to any
thing, and he meant us! I can never
forgive him for that; besides, his
daughter is the stuck-upest thing!
And I'd like Barbara Osborne to tell
me how she got into the Colonial
Danes, and what call she has to be
inspector general of the Granddaught
ers of the Mexican War; for I've
heard my grandfather Dangerfield say
many a time that old Col Osborne
and his South Carolina regiment never
did 60 outside Of Charleston until the
war was over and the American army
had come back home"
Gov. Osborne is q contemplate
rufian," declared Ardmore with deeI
feeling.
Miss Dangerfield nodded Judicial
approval, and settled back in her chair
the better to contemplate her new
secretary, and said:
"I've written-that Is to say, papa
wrote before he went away, strong
letter to Gov. Osborne, complaining
that Appleweight was hiding in South
Carolina and running across the state
line to rob and murder people in
North Carolina Papa told Gov. Os
borne that he must break up the Ap
pleweight crowd or he would do some
thing about 1t himself. It's splendid
letter; you would think that even a
coward like Gov. Osborne would dc
something after getting such a let
ter" q
Didn't he answer the letter."
Answer It? He never got It! Pa
pa didn't send It; that's the reason!
| Papa's the kindest man in the world
and he must have been afraid Of hurt
| ing Gov. Osborne's feelings. He wrote
the letter, expecting to send it, but
when he went on to New Orleans he