Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-10-03

out of the sun and take a sedative.
You won't be happy till you've re-
lieved your f1orid mind"
I followed him into his den and ac-
cepted a cigarette mi something cool
to drink. Then without more preface
I told the tale of my adventure. begin
ming with my arrival at the Tabors'
home.
"Finei" was his unfeeling comment.
II shall lie awake nights waiting for
your next instalment of condolences.
What are you going to do next?'
That's what IN trying to decide" I
growled. land I wish you'd give me
a little serious thought, If o can
stand the strain. 1 like adventures,
but my end of this one is getting rather
unmanageable."
MY lea man, I'm as serious as a
Gagged owl. You've been treated out
~rageously, IL that's any comfort to you.
Only I fail to see where your mystery
comes In. OF course, it's just as they
said: Mr.. Tabor has heard some absurd
Islander, or got you mixed up with
somebody else; and Mrs. Tabor wo--
ried herself into a state about 1t, and
they turned you out. It's q shame-or
1t would be If the thought Of you as a
desperate character who couldn't be al
lowed overnight in a decent family
were not 30 ridiculous. I'll write to
Tabor myself and tell him that he's got
the wrong mule by the wrong leg, or.
If o prefer, we'll delegate the job to
one of your older and wiser friends.
That's all there is to it,"
You're leaving out altogether too
mI1rh How about door h0iOp
locked? How about the dago sailor at
the inn? How about Miss Tabor's
warning me off for all time, and then
meeting me here as II she hadn't seen
me since Christmas?"
Bob smoked and frowned a moment,
then brushed the difficulty aside.
Accidents. old fellow, accidents. Tha
locked door was a mistake, unless
somebody thought you were too dauger-
Gus a ~reprobate to leave at large. The
guinea was drunk, on our own show
Ing. AS for Lady, she has o better head
than the average, but you can't get
me to waste any time figuring out how
any woman's mind works. I've been
married three years"
well, I'm going TO find out what It
all means.'
1T doesn't all mean anything. That's
where your Kaleidoscope imagination
gets to work. There isn't any ~oonceiv-
able connection between these de-
tails, and you talk as If they were
yelled and awful hints ell jointing one
way. Your dragons are windmills, I
tell you, and your helmets a copper
kettle"
You'd think differently if you had
been there. Besides, I know" l stop
ped short. Bob was my friend, and
whatever 1 chose to tell him was my
own business, but ever to him 1 was
not betraying condolences.
Bob" 1 said, II can't prove it, sven
to you, but I know that there Is some
thing wrong, and I firmly believe that
somehow or other all these things work
into it. Now, IL you can throw any
light at all help me out
"I've told you all 1 know. I'm not
exactly an intimate of these people. but
I've known them off and on for three
or -four years, and there simply isn't
anything unusual about them. They're
just like every one else, only a little
nicer-the last people on earth to act
queerly or have n closet skeleton"
"At any rate, they seemed to want to
get rid of me- I said. We'll, they can't
do it. If they've got some scandalous
idea Of me, they're going to apologize,
and IL they're in trouble I'm going to
make myself useful. I've fallen into
an adventure, and I'm going through
with it,"
'Ill tell you one thing" said Bob,
very solemnly for him, "1f there is any
family secret, it's nothing against
Lady. She's about as good and white
and honest-but you don't need to be
told that
mo-" said I, 81 don't; n perhaps
that's the reason
l waited where I was for the rest OF
the week; partly because I was re-
solved not to put myself in the wrong
afresh by following Miss Tabor's move
ments too Immediately, and partly to
give time for Bob's promised vindica-
ton of my character to take effect. I
could not, however, believe that It
would, in itself, make any great differ
ence, for the more I considered the
more it seemed to me that I had been
right in my suspicion, and that the
whole empty charge had been merely
an excuse for driving me from the
nOuse anu d ueNlce Tor terminating the
acquaintance. 1 discovered during those
few days the truth of the saying that
to think is the hardest thing In the
world, for my attempts to reason out
the situation persistently resolved
themselves into adventurous dreams
and emotional "reminiscences until I
suspended judgment in despair and put
the whole matter from my mind;
and it was with an eager relief
at last that I babe good-by to the
Ainslies n retraced my journey. Bob
had received in the meantime no an
swer to his letter; but by that time
/ was not to be surprised.
| took my old room at the inn, got
myself into white flannels with leis-
urely determination, and set forth to
call upon Miss Tabor. 1t was not hot,
and all the air was clear with that
sparkling zest Common enough in au-
tumn but rare in the heat of Md
summer; and as l hurried along, the
beauty of the world flowed over me in
a great, joyous wave of hope and reso-
luton. The little distance between the
inn and The Tabors' 1 covered before
I realized 1t.
is Miss Tabor at home?" I asked
the maid at the door.
She took my card and hesitated.
I'll go and see, sir" she said finally,