Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-01-12

guess NOBODY knows where
ne comes from-or cares. He works
pretty hard, but guess he likes ID :"
Hes an industrious man. is he }"
"Oh, he's a steady worker; but he's
a queer kind, too. Now, he nj ver
votes and he never goes to chutch:
and for the sake of the argument.
neither do 1"-and the old fellow
winked prodigiously. "He's a mighty
odd man; but l can't say that til ats
against him. But he's quiet and p, ace
able, and now his daughter" l.
"Oh, he has daughter?'
Yes; and that's. all he has, co.;
and they never have any visitors. The
daughter Just come home the other
day, and we amt hardly seen her yet.
She's been away at school,"
Il suppose Mr.: Hartridge is ali sent
sometimes; he doesn't live down there
all the time, does he?"
Il can't say that could prove It.,
sometimes I don't see~ahim for y a
month or more; but his business IS his
own, stranger" fhe concluded point,
eddy. = =zsS 49,
"You think that If Mr.. Hartridge
had a visitor you'd knowit ?"'::s per:
sisted, though the shopkeeper Grew
less amiable. .5.s=..=| s.:.;. s:5.
well, now, might; ana egafn !,
mightn't. Mr.. Hartridge IS q queer
man. I don't sees him every day, and
particularly in the winter don't keep
track of him. .s.z
With little leading the storekeepe,
described Hartridge for me, and his
description tailed exactly with the
man who had caught me on the canoe
makers premises the night before
And yet, when had thanked the
storekeeper and ridden on through the
village, I was as much befuddled as
ever. There was something decidedly
incongruous in the idea that a man
who was, by all superficial signs, al
least a gentleman, should be estab
ished in the business of making ca
noes by the side of lonely creek in
this odd corner Of the world. E1em
the storekeeper's account, Hartridge
might be absent from his retreat TO.
long periods; if he were Henry Ho!
brook and wished to annoy his sister
it was not so far from this lonely
creek to the Connecticut town where
Miss Pat lived. Again, as to the daugh
ter, just home from school and not
yet familiar to the eyes of the village
she might easily enough be an inven
ton to hide the visits of Helen Hol
brook. I found myself trying to &C
count for the fact that, by some means
short Of the miraculous, Helen $Hol
brook had played chess with Miss Pal
at st. Agathas at the very hour hat
seen her with her father on the Tip
pecanoe. And then I was bahlei
again as l remembered that Paul Stod
dard had sent the two women to st
Agatha's, and that their destination
could not have been chosen by Heller
Holbrook.
My thoughts wandered into man1
blind alleys as rode on. was thor
oughly disguised with myself at find
ing the loose ends Of the Holbrooks
affairs multiplying so rapidly. The
sun Of noon shone hot overhead, and
turned my horse into a road that leI
homework by the eastern shore of thu
lake. AS I approached little country
church at the crown of a long hill
saw crowd gathered in the highwa,
and refined my horse to see what hat
happened. The congregation of farmer.
and their families had just been dis
missed; and they were pressing about
a young man who stood in the cente,
OF an excited throng. Drawing closer
I was amazed to find my friend Gil
lespie the center of attention.
"But, my dear SIR" cried a tall
bearded man whom I took to be thu
minister of this wayside flock, "yor
must at least give us the privilege o,
thanking you! You cannot know what
this means to us, a gift so muniflcent
so far beyond our Dreams"
Whereat Gillespie looked bored
shook his head, and tried to force his
way through the encircling rustics. He
was clad in a Norfolk jacket and
knickerbockers Of fantastic plaid, with
a cap to match.
A young famer, noting my curiosity
and heavy with great news, whispered
to me:
THAT boy in short pants put 81 ,00(
bill in the collection basket. All in
one bill! They thought it was a mis-
take, but he told our preacher it was
a free gift
(TO BE CONTINUED.)