Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1910-03-25

49, o-A
ed cheerfully. Here we are. SIR" AT
the last curve of the driveway the
trees seemed suddenly to open. and
there sprang into view the low rooted.
many Widowed. much awninged cot
tage," with it's porte-cochere. servants
annex. glass rooted Conservatives and
deep verandas.
"Show you through the house first,
sir?' suggested Timmins.
might as WELL"
Mr.. Devine was lighting q black CT
gar. This accomplished, he followed
Timmins into the darkened vista of
hall and through the large rooms. As
Bulkins had assured him, the place
was fully furnished. There were
chairs, tables. rugs, books. pictures,
even freshly cut flowers in the vases.
upstairs now, sir?"
"Oh, | guess the upstairs II keep.
Let's have Il look at the stable"
Inside of half an hour the Cherub
was smoking lonesomely on the front
veranda, trying to summon a sense of
ownership which it seemed to him i'm
DOSS1DlC l1ul AC COulu CNCl ACnlCNCs
Usually a man much given to ST.
lence, even among his intimates, Mr..
Devine now felt that he wanted to
talk. The stiffness was oppressive. So
this was what it was like to own a
country place. was it?
"Fine thing, the country" solilo-
quized Mr.. Devine. 81 could spend
s,c4 n about N x+anIv InV.n md fbap 1fo
of it."
He walked into the library. As he
did so he heard a mufied exclamation
and caught a glimpse of a skirt whisk-
ing through a door. An easy chair
pulled up before an open bookcase
caught his eye.
"Hellol l wonder who that WASP"
He found a push button on the jamb.
He put his thumb on it and waited.
did you ring, STRIP asked a Sc
pulchral voice behind him.
Mr.. Devine jumped and turned to
see a solemn faced butler.
"Who else would ring if / didn'tY
demanded the Cherub.
mo one, sir"
sure about that, are your"
"Quite sure. sir"
"Well, I'm not. Some one just skip
ped out of this room as l came in.
Who was itY'
Likely one of the maids. sir"
"Do the maids have the run of the
bookcase, eh? She was sitting here"
might have been the 'ousekeeper,
sir-Mrs. Timmins, sir"
she's a reader. is she? Well, tell
her not to be so skittish next time.
1t gives me the fidgets."
The man had retreated as silently
and abruptly as he had come.
wonder If they're all that kind"
commented the Cherub. Guess I'll
have to hang sleighbells on 'em If
want to dodge a case of nerves."
Dropping into the easy chair, he be-
gan reading the titles on the backs of
the volumes before him. So all these
books were his. were they? Well, that
was odd. Some day he might want to
do a little reading. He had always
Soothing white on 80 floor be-
tween the hair and the wall caught
his eye. He stopped and picked up a
handkerchief. 1t was a dainty affair,
mostly lace, and there was an initial
in the corner, an embroidered V with
some sort of a little pointed crown
above it.
"H-m-mr' said the Cherub. "V can't
stand for Timmins."
Having made this subtle deduction,
he pocketed the handkerchief and
started to look for the factotum who
was caretaker and superintendent and
whose wife was the housekeeper.
"Timmins," said Mr.. Devine, "wbat
sized force are we c~arrying?"
"Beg pardon, sir, but Timmins
caught himself abruptly. 'Oh, you
mean how many in help? Only five
now, sir, outside of me and Mrs. Tim
MINIS"
give, eh-and two are seven? Let's
see the payroll, will your"
Timmins produced an account book
in which were entered names, dates
and amounts. Mr.. Devine glanced
hastily through the list.
"None of ZEN seem to have a V in
their names," suggested the Cherub.
ga V, sir?" Timmins' blank look
was wholly convincing.
Maybe you never heard Of any one
whose name began with a V, Tim
mins?'
"Oh, yes, sir. There was the Vena-
bles, sir, as used to visit here, and
Volkenberg, who was one of the gar
deners."
"That ALP
'"There might be others. sir, if /
could lay my tongue to-
Don't strain your memory, Tim
minis. 1t doesn't matter"
Yet when he had returned to the We
randa to resume his contemplation of
the wildly green lawn, over which
the tree shadows were nov lengthen-
ing, he could not rid himself of the
at. kI,A a1Ar,A kks- IT.