Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-03-16

| tween providence and the engineer OIL
the second section, all the events of
that strange morning were logically
connected; they came from one cause,
and tended unerringly so one end.
But the cause was buried, the end
notNyet in view.
Not until we had left the house
we'll behind did the girls face relax
its tense lines. 1 was watching her
more closely than I had realized, for
when we had gone a little way along
the road she turned to me almost pet
ulantly. please don't stare so at
me-" she said, to nay sudden confusion.
'I know the hat is dreadful. Green al
ways makes me look CHASTITY"
Perhaps it was the green" I was
unaccountably relieved. "Do you
know, a few minutes ago, you looked
almost pallid to mel"
She glanced at me quickly, but I
was gazing ahead. We were out Of
sight of the house, now, and with
every step away from it the girl was
obviously relieved. Whatever she held
in her hand, she never glanced at it..
But she was conscious of it every Sec
| ond. She seemed to come to de-
cision about it while we were still in
sight of the gate, for she murmured
something and turned back alone, 60
ing swiftly, her feet stirring up small
puffs of dust at every step. She fas-
tened something to the gate post
I could see the nervous haste with
oh Snin
me again it was without explanation.
But the clenched fingers were free
now, and while she looked tired and
worn, the strain had visibly relaxed.
We walked along slowly in the gem
eral direction of the suburban trolley
| line. Once a man with an empty
wagon offered us a lift, but after
glance at the springless vehicle l de-
clined
1.-THE ends of the bone think they
are castanets as it is" I explained.
''But the lady"
The young lady, however, declined
and we went on together. Once, when
the trolley line was in sight, she got
a pebble in her low shoe, and we sat
down under a tree until she found the
cause of the trouble.
CT don't know what l should have
done without you," I blundered.
moral support and-and all that. Do
you know, my first conscious thought
\ after the wreck was of relief that
you had not been hurt?"
She was sitting beside me where a
big chestnut tree shaded the road, and
/ surprised look of misery on her
| face that certainly my words had not
been meant to produce.
"And my first thought" she said
| slowly, twas regret that THAT l
hadn't been obliterated, blown out like
candle Please don't look like that!
I am-only talking"
But her lips were trembling, and be-
cause. the little shams of society are
forgotten at times like this, l leaned
over and patted her hand lightly,
where it rested on the grass beside
me.
You must not say those things" I
expostulated. Perhaps, after all, your
friends"
81 had no friends on the train"
! Her voice was hard again, her tone
final She drew her hand from under
mine, not quickly, but decisively. A
car was in sight, coming toward US.
| The steel finger of civilization, of pro-
priety of visiting cards and formal in
| Productions was reckoning us in Miss
West put on her shoe.
We said little on the car. The few
| passengers stared at us frankly, and
| discussed the wreck, emphasizing its
horrors. The girl did not seem to
hear. Once she turned to me with
the quick, unexpected movement that
was one of her charms.
II do not wish my mother to know
I was in the accident" she said. "Will
| you please not tell Richey about hav-
| ing met me?Y
I gave my promise, of course. Again,
when we were almost into Baltimore,
| she asked to examine the gun-metal
cigarette case, and sat silent with it
in her hands, while told of the early
| mornings events on the Ontario.
$50 you see," I finished, "this grip,
everything have on, belongs to fell
low named Sullivan. He probably left
the train before the wreck-perhaps
Just after the murder"
And so-you think he committed
the-the crime?" Her eyes were on
the cigarette case.
Naturally" said. "a man doesn't
jump or Pullman car In the middle
Of the night in another mans clothes,
unless he is trying to get away from
something. Besides the dirk, there
were the stains that you saw. Why,
have the murdered mans pocket
book in this valise at my feet. What
does that look hke?"
colored whom I saw the ghost Of
smile lowering around the corners
1 of her mouth. THAT is" I finished,
eff you care to believe that I am In
nocent"
The sustaining chain Of her small
gold bag gave way just then. She did