Evening star., 1912-11-06
CHAPTER XVI.
The Desert Island.

The night before the departure of the
Baxters for Brighton the spectacle Of a
huge pile of packed boxes and the re-
port that the family were fleeing from
the doomed mansion. never to return, had
caused fresh outbreak Of hysterical
panic among the remaining servants.
And scarcely was the car out of sight
bearing the Baxter party to the station
when a deputation from the servants
hall, hated, coated and handbagged and
headed by Parker, waited on Mrs. Merle,
as the senior representative Of the fam
lily, and told her that they were very
sorry. but nothing would induce them to
spend another hour in the house. Only
out of consideration for poor Mrs Bax-
ter had they remained until her de-
parture.
For. the first time in her life Harriet.
confronted by an emergency, totally lost
the power of speech When at length
she recovered her breath and words were
ready to flow, she found herself alone;
the deputation had left the room, closing
the door quietly behind itself.
Half an hour later the station master
at Ippingford telephoned to say that two
servants who had arrived on the early
train from London, on learning, at the
station, the cause of the vacancy they
were required to fill, had taken the first
train back to town.
heard the diminishing hish Of wheels on
the damp gravel outside The sound died
away and a sudden quiet came upon Ip-
ping House. a stiffness that smOte Har-
riet's nerves like the stiffness that
awakenS the passengers on an ocean
liner when the engines stop working in
the night To tell the truth the situation
was much the same, for with the ex-
ception of Anton. the chauffeur; Hester.
the new sewing girl, and Mrs. Pottle at
fIa ln60 her MO- mt IN mt
left at Ipping House.
What will Horatio say?" thought Har-
riet.
To Harriets utter amazement, Horatio.
perfectly calm; he even smiled. She
stared at him open-mouthed.
"Horatio. Have you heard a single
word I've been telling you?"
Yes, my dear"
us that all you have to say?" She
spoke sharply.
Horatio was removing his galoshes.
muddy from long walk This operation
had to be performed standing, as the only
two chairs in the room were occupied
one by the agitated Harriet, the other by
the slumbering Martin Luther.
AS the curate looked up. clasping one
foot in his two hands and hopping alb
surdly on the, other to keep his balance,
he resembled some fantastic bird of the
crane family. At any other time Harriet
might have smiled; now she was too
angry. Her white pompadour bristled
and her eyes blinked rapidly. as II max
ing ready to leap at him.
1T Is incomprehensible," he said, at
length, after depositing the galoshes
neatly beneath Martin Luther's chair. 1T
is incomprehensible my dear, in this age
of aeroplanes and cinematographs and
popular education, that any one should
still believe in supernatural phenomena. >
Only by shutting her lips tightly and
gripping the arms Of her chair did Har-
riet restrain herself from violent inter-
ruption. When she spoke 1t was an ex-
plosion.
"Horatio. are you crazy? Don't you
understand? .nere isn't a servant in
this house There's no one to cook our
luncheon. and. II there were. there Is no
one to serve it, no one to do anything.
and you stand there and talk about aero
planes!
mere was a quiet about Horatio that,
exasperating as it was somehow dis
| concerted Harriet. She watched him ST.
lently. resentfully. as he picked up the
| posing and deposited 1t carefully on the
| floor without waking the cat. Sleepily
| conscious of the proximity of sympa-
| thetic hand. Martin Luther stretched his
| paws and extended his neck to be
| scratched. then curled up to sleep again
| without having once opened his eyes.
| Seating himself In the cushionless chair
| Horatio leaned his head against it's tall
/ straight back. No one to serve, no one
| to do anything" He was echoing Har.
| riets words; his eyes were resting or
| hers, yet his thoughts were far away
| fixed on something invisible to Harriet
a faded picture in tarnished gilt frame
| A dim, arched room, group OF un
j couth dark-haired men seated sideways
| about long table on which were strange
| Iy fashioned tankards and curious COB
| let's. At the feet of one OF these pner
/ was One who kneeled upon the stone
i floor His eyes were sorrowful, hi
| smooth hair fell heavily about Ab be8