The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-07-20
CHAPTER VIII.
Continued.

Mrs. Stubs was very kind. Even
after all the excitement and the po-
lice coming here, she let me stay with
her. She had seen and talked to Miss
Schuyler about losing her bag before
we got here, you know, and said her
diamond earrings were so big she
might easily be murdered for them.
Oh, Billy, you don't think
NO, l don't" I assured her. Go
on, Nancy
"She-Mrs. Stubs went up to
your rooms several times during the
evening, and said Mr.. Casey was the
only one of you who came home.
After the police left (they watched
the house from the outside, I be-
lieve), she suggested I should try
and get some sleep on her little sofa
in her parlor. I stayed there the
first night, but I didn't sleep any, for
it was too short for me. So last
night she told me to go up into MI.
Starts room and try to get some rest,
as it was certain he would not dare
come back there. I went, but in the
middle of the night I go frightened
and crept very softly down to Mrs.
Stubs for protection. 1t seemed to
me that it was more than l could
stand to be there alone"
So it was the rustic of Nancy's
skirt that had walked me the previous
night, and Nancy's comb I found upon
Starts dresser. Why had I not had
the courage to go in and thereby save
myself many anxious hours?
3"I slipped up here when yen came
; down this morning. resumed Nancy,
"'for 1 thought it was Mr.. Casey with
Mrs. Stubs, and I did not want to
meet him here of course. I've been
here ever since in your room, sitting
in your dear old chair, Billy, and
wishing for you"
Ibid Mrs. Stubs tell you l was
here and not Casey?"
NO" said Nancy; "she came up
here and seemed to be rather uneasy
about something. Finally she said
that il I would take her advice I
would go home to Aunt Josephine,
and have nothing more TO do with
you. She believed you were one and
all bad lots and was actually afraid
of any OF you. The first thing we
knew both she and I would be disap-
pearing like Miss Harriet Schuyler,
and how would 1 like that? For her
part she was going to put on her
bonnet and go home to her mothers
house: l was welcome to stay>here If
+ liked, but she felt it her duty to
warn me what to expect"
"And yet you stayed?"
''Of course I stayed. I wrote a
note to Julia Schuyler and got Mrs.
Stubs to mail it, for I did feel a lit
tie nervous about staying here alone
after the queer things that have hap
pened. Something told me you would
be sure to come to me, and so I
waited for you. But where were
you, and why did you take so long?
It's your turn to give an account of
yourself, SIR"
So I told Nancy all I knew. Sit.
ting there in my old armchair, with
my arms around her, it did not seem
half so dreadful aswhen I considered
matters alone. I touched very light
ly upon the incarceration of Casey
and what we might expect when he
was released.
"Of course" said Nancy, "it was
too bad to leave him there, but you
had to get out and come to ME, didn't
you, dear?"
After a while the twilight stole
upon us, and with the gathering
darkness I became very thoughtful.
Nancy" 1 said, at last, Pm 60
ing down to telephone to Miss Julie
Schuyler that she need not send me
your address. And then we must go
to the Little Church Around the Cor
ner-you and l."
Tomorrow" suggested Nancy.
I'm so tired tonight"
But I thought of Aunt Josephine,
and of Mrs. Grundy as typified by
Mrs. Schuyler-Smythe and other ire
proachable matrons.
mo, dearest" I insisted; mot to-
morrow, but tonight"
Men are so foolish" said Nancy
Welles.
CHAPTER TX.
l got q note from Casey the next
morning. 1t said briefly:
Come immediately and without delay
upon receipt of this"
I read it twice and tore it up.
Are you going?" asked Nancy.
We had b~reakfasted together, my
wife and I, at the very restaurant we
had ~patronized for chocolate on the
eventful evening Of our first meeting,
and Nancy had insisted upon my tip
ping the waiter with reckless prodi-
gality, to make up for the gratuity
lacking on the previous occasion, she
explained. When We returned to my
rooms she wrote to Aunt Josephine,
requesting to be furnished with what
she lucidly described to me as her
things" 1t was with the greatest
pleasure I mailed the letter, since it
would prove to that austere matron
that I was not "out of the question"
after all. Then the postman had
come bringing CaSay's note