The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-02-25

|ague that would reduce a foundry
RATHER to matchwood! Art cold.
fair YOUTH"
Then come, come away, ira
la-la," with me-" said the strange
denizen of the dark house; ito q
realm of balmy air and breezes
Of Ceylon. To heel; and IL thy
heavy hoof but scrape the gravel
to betray our flight, thou diest,
and all thy wad is gobbled by the
privy Golfer of the emporium. To
heelI"
With a swift darting movement
the stranger turned, and followed
|obediently by Carson, went by the
bridal-wreath bush of conclusive
memory. and across to building
which Theodore guessed to be a
greenhouse. His guide opened the
door, and stood back with elabor-
late courtesy that Carson might
precede him. Entering, Theo-
dore found himself among beds OF
flowers which filled the house
save for a central passageway, all
in deep shadow, fragrant and
warm.
81 shall not Freeze" said he to
himself; "and that is some COM
fort"
The stranger stayed SO long at
the door that Carson began to feel
sure of having been beguiled into
a prison by his polite companion,
and that the next phase would be
the constabulary and arraignment
He was guilty of trespass; and the
case for attempted burglary
might be plausible; but, surely
they would not be severe. He was
safe from the dog, now. and what
matter If the trial should delay
his return to the south? In the
confusion of his mind, hard, OBJ
lvious exigencies lost importance
to him, numbed as he was by the
lamputation of a great hope
Shayne had meant everything
that might make or mar his life;
and he had. defied and angered
him irremediably. That was ire
parable, but he had struck SLIDER
berg's thick-lipped mouth-and
that was worth much. He had
had another meeting with the
lnameless niece; she had stood R5
him against her uncle and SLIDER
berg, who was great figure and
suit for her favor. These were
unavailable assets financially, but
they meant so much to the foolish
boy that he forgot the man whe
Ihad enticed him into this flowery
| Jail; forgot everything except the
white face of Shayne's niece
pleading against his foolhardi-
mess, as he leaped from the aero
nat, and. spurning her deck In
youthful indignation, shot down
ward into the cloud. Her one arm
was about the aluminium stanch-
lion, its hand on her breast, the
other to her hat. She had changed
the flowery bonnet for a little by
!cocket of bottle-green velvet,
brooded over by graceful plume,
land worn with the point over her
Ieyes, the turned-up brim behind,
and the sharp crown flattened
over like the top of mountain
struck while plastic by a huge
paddle. He could see it all, the
|great air-ship lessening to a dim
blur in the high mists, the face
land eyes of the quaint little by
|cocket hat glowing on and on with
faithful steadlness. Constables!
IA fig
"It is too dark" said, his guide.
lrejoining him, '.to make the ex-
change of cards more than an
empty and invisible formality.
Yet, would fain know more of
|you than the bare data Of your
as a ladder and the
bright and snappy technique of
your tooth-chattering. Quite ma
|terial enough, IL is true. had one
1.-THE time to work 1t out, but, to
coin a phrase, what's the use? Be
|yond your nocturnal habits, what
peculiar volitional defect brings
Iyou here? To follow the usual
conversational forms here. are you
La steady, or a periodical?"
81 don't understand, answered
Carson. ct came here quite by
accident. I had no intention OF
looming. L"
"Quite So" interposed his In
Iterlocutor. Lets sit down by
the American Beauty bed-there.
IIf we might strike a match, now
- i estimate that half us
Ilush-logged derelicts go ashore
here, in a state, to coin word
of orey-eyed wooziness. I may
say that / came myself by acct
dent, and without meaning to do
Iso-or otherwise
must have smoke!"
He seemed to be feeling for q
lcigar-case, tapping his person in
various places where 1t might be
lsecreted. Then came the scratch
lof the match; and Theodore scru-
ltinized the face in the flare of the
matches, as, with nervous, un-
Isteady movements the stranger
lighted the weed. 2
He was a medium-sized person,
with deep-set eyes Pickering from
their caverns with blurred sharp
mess, like tungsten-lamps seen
Through yell. His face was sal
low and co1orless, with hollows in
1.-THE cheeks, whose announcement
LOT iiI-health was contradicted by
1.-THE general appearance of hard
- Lx& 4