The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1911-09-14
AFFAIR AT
TIA RETH By Burton E: Stevenson.
Holiday Case" to-
New York-Henry Holt & co-lsGI
CHAPTER xIv-(continued,.
New York-Henry Holt & Co.-la01.

CHAPTER Xv-(Continued).
But as I laid the paper aside. and
filed my pipe for a final smoke before
turning in. I told myself hat 7 could
scarcely hope that they would drop SO
easily from my mind, however much
I might wish it; besides. I had left 1t
and a mystery of that sort is not easily
forgotten. 1t is k an unfinished book,
an unsettled case-it lives to Cypress
the mind and piqne the imagination.
l knocked olr my pipe impatiently.
me place for me was in bed. / was
becoming obsessed by this affair. If
I did not shake it off, 1t would end by
getting such a grip of me that I could
not sleep at all, or / would fall asleep
only to be startled awake again as I
had been the night before. That was
truly a terrifying prospect!
l started for my bedroom, when a
tap at my door stopped me-. I opened
the threshold.
"A telegram for you, Mr.. Lester
she said, and held 1t out to me. i told
the boy to wait"
THANK YOU" I said. and tore open
the envelope. ''There'n be no answer"
! added. a moment later, and shut the
door somewhat hastily 1 fear, but Mrs.
f1tch'S Eyes are sharp ones, and 1 did
not wish her to see my face just then.
j uIoppeq into my chair n read the
message again:
!~=sa1tssy to return 10 Elizabeth
at once. New developments in which
you will be interested.
Godfrey"
New developments!" All, Godfrey
knew me we'll! Flo already my fatigue
was forgotten in the ardour of the
chase, and a moment later / found my
self changing from slippers to shoes
as fast as my fingers could handle the
laces.
Mrs. Fitch met me on the stair.
Not going out again, Mr.. Lester!"
she protested. why, you'll kill u
self"
II can't help it, Mrs. Fitch" I said.
I've got to go"
Not bad news, I hopper"
"No."
And you'll be back soon?"
Not tonight, I'm afraid"
ooh. nonsense, Mr.. Lester
But I left her protesting on the step,
and hurried down the street. Mrs.
Fitch meant well, but h vas some
times a little in the way.
1 took the elevated to Cortlandt
street, and hurried down to the ferry,
expecting every instant to hear the
gong which announced the departure of
the boat. But I found that 1 had 10
minutes to wait before there was a
train, and I spent them walking fever
ishly up and down the narrow waiting
room, where the roads patrons are
herded like cattle behind the Slated
gates.
AT last h gates opened; there was
the usual rush to the boat; the slow
crossing Of the wide river, with the
cool salt breeze coming in from the
ocean,; the stampede to the coaches
through the great Jersey City station;
and finally I found myself in a seat,
with h train rumbling out from under
the long shed.
Ing what the new developments could
be. They must nave been unusual and
unexpected ones, to stir Godfrey to
sending me that telegram! But what
could they be? For the present, the
case was closed. Curtiss and Miss
Lawrence were both in mid-ocean, and
any further developments must await
their meeting. Besides, 1t was only q
few hours since I myself had left
Elizabeth, n there had seemed no
prospect then OF anything further hap
pentng there. Godfrey had announced
his own intention of leaving the place
at once-he had said that the case
wasn't worth wasting any more time
over. What, then, had detained him?
Was 1t possible, ! asked myself, that
Marcia Lawrence had not sailed on the
Umbria, that the message had been
merely a blind, that she had foreseen
that we would trace it to the West
street office, that h had written it on
a sheet of the steamers paper for the
purpose Of deceiving us7 Yes, that
turned home, and Godfrey, discovering
the return, had summoned me to be
present at her unmasking! I had really
only half-believed that it was she
whom Curtiss had deserted upon the
Umbria's forward deck. But If she
had. indeed, done all this, she must be
far more deeply versed in deception
than / had supposed. l should hardly
have given her credit for laying a plan
so adroit as that: but one can never
Judge a woman's capabilities.
Suddenly conscious again of my IA
tigue, I laid my head back against the
seat, and dozed away until the sharp
call of the brakeman aroused me. Not
until I had left the train did I remem-
Der that Godfrey had appointed no
awaiting me at the hotel, or, at least,
he had certainly left a message there
for me, and I started up the street.
But an inquiry of the clerk developed
the fact that, while Godfrey was still
stopping there, he gone out i'm
message of any kind. For a moment
I was fairly taken aback, SO confident
had I been; but perhaps Godfrey had
deemed c message supsThuous after
the mint given IN the Knew
how he detested the obvious. He had
no doubt thought that III sufficient
! and 1t was.
| Elevent o'clock was strik-
ing as / gained the street
again. and turned my steps toward the
Lawrence place. If there We're indeed
any new developments, it must be
either there or at the cottage that they
had come to light. That was self evil
dent; that could be the only rendez-
vous; 1t was there Godfrey was await
ing me. So 1 walked on rapidly, and
in a very few minutes reached my des-
| tinatlon.
The house was dark and gloomy, as
1t had been the night before. I en-
| tered the ground and made q careful
circuit of the place, but not a glim-
mer of light could I detect at any of
the windows. There was nothing to
indicate that any one was stirring, nor
did l come upon any trace of Godfrey,
though I half expected to collide with
him at any moment. Plainly there was
nothing to be discovered here, and at
last / turned my steps toward the
| ,nof1, witch lad tp tho oottora