Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-01-20

questions. l will make them as brief
as possible. How long is It since you
1rst knew Mr.. Imroth, and where did
you first meet him.
This reference plainly embarrassed
her. | saw that she answered my
question with reluctance.
Please do not speak or Mr.. Imroth.
| am afraid Of him, Dr.. Fabos. ! do
believe that ] am more afraid OF him
than of anybody I have ever known. II
evil comes to me, Mr.. Imroth will send
It."
"A natural antipathy. Some day,
Joan, you will look upon all this and
thank God that a stranger came to
your island. / shall have done with
Mr.. Valentine Imroth then. There will
be no need at all to fear him."
she did not understand me-, and piled
me with many questions, some exceed
ingly shrewd, all directed to one end.
that she might know the best or the
worst Of the life that they had been
living, and what part the general had
played in it. To this l responded hat
I could by no means Judge until the
cas- both for and against him were
wholly known to me.
He may be but a dupe," / said; time
and opportunity will tell me. You owe
to him, you say, for many kindnesses
received during childhood. / shall not
OISSl INA when the GaY OF
comes Joan, l shall forget none who
has been kind to YOU"
He who puts his life against the
intelligence of criminals must be equip
ped with many natural weapons. Moth
ing certainly is more necessary than
the habit OF observation. To watch
every straw the winds of conspiracy
may blow, to read every cryptic mes
sage the voice of crime may utter, to
be Eve alert, vigilant, resourceful, is
something more than mere equipment;
1t Is very salvation to the Investigator.
Trained in these qualities by long years
of patient study, there were signs and
omens of the valley for me, which an
other might nave passed by without
remark. Strange footprints upon the
darkest paths, shrubs disturbed, scraps
of paper thrown down with little eau
tion-not one of them escaped me. But
beyond them all, the rampant of the
foaming water enchanted my attention,
and fascinated me as at some human
call to action. Day by day the volume
Of the water in the boiling river vas
growing less. / first remarked 1t on
the third day Of our Imprisonment; I
made sure OF 1t on the fifth day. Inch
by inch, from ledge to ledge, it sank
In its channel. Another, perhaps, would
have attributed this to some natural
phenomenon. / had too much faith in
the man who served me, to believe any
such thing. Okyada was at work, I
said. The hour Of my liberty was at
hand.
You may imagine how this discovery
affected me, and how much 1t was In my
mind when / spoke to loan of our ap-
preaching days of freedom. g'o NV
question, whether she would visit me
again at my house in Suffolk. she re-
piled chiefly by a flushing of her clear
cheeks and a quick look from those
eyes which could be SO eloquent.
Your sister did not like me-" she re-
Joined evasively; "the dear old thing, I
could see her watching me lust aa
though I had come to steal you from
her!"
Would you have felt very guilty IL
YOU had done so, JoanT"
yes" she said, and this SO seriously
that l regretted the question-"guilty
to my life's end, Dr.. Fabos."
/ knew that she referred to the story
of her w life and the men among
whom destiny had sent her. Here was
a barrier of the past which must stand
between us to all time, she would have
said. The same thought had disquiet-
ed me often, not for my sake, but for
her own.
IT would to God, JOAN / said, there
were no greater guilt in the world thar
this you speak of. You forbid me to
say so. Shall l tell you why?"
She nodded her head, looking away to
the patch of blue water revealed bv the
1 gorge OF the mountains. I lay at her
side, and had all a mans impulse To
take her in my arms and tell her that
which my heart had prompted me &c
say so many days. God knows / hao
come to love this fragile, sweet-wilIed
child of fortune beyond any other hope
| of my life or ambition of the years
Day by day her eyes looked into mn
very soul, awakening there a spirit, 3
knowledge, of whose existence I had
been wholly ignorant. / loved her, and
thus had fallen to the snare my enc
mics had set for me. How little they
understood me, / thought.
You forbid me to say SO. Joan" !
ran on, because you do not trust me-
DO not trust you, DIR. FabosT"
Not sufficiently to say that 1 ar
about to save you from all dangers
even the danger of past years
You canine do that-oh, you cannot
do 1T, DR.. Fabos!"
I covered her hand with my own, and
tried to compel her to look me In the
| Fapa