The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1912-12-12
HORACE
HAZEL,TINE

whatever is done, must be done by
ourselves. and by friends whom we
can trust, absolutely. I car take no
risk Of this horrid thing getting into
the newspapers. Besides" he added,
with a kindly, considerative smile.
Evelyn must be kept in Ignorance.
Not for worlds would l have her trou.
bled by our perplexing enigma"
My suggestion that he should go
abroad for a time, or At least spend q
few weeks at Newport. was met with
similar obstinate refusal.
Il admit that l have been somewhat
upset by this extraordinary combine
tion," was the way he expressed II.
'but l am not q coward. I am not 60.
ing to run. Even If I were inclined to
do so. what should l gain? II a man
be not safe in his own house, where in
Heavens name is he likely to find
safety?"
Quite naturally I was led by this ex-
preston to inquire whether, per-
chance, he mistrusted any Of the many
persons who were employed in the
house and about the estate. But, some
what to my surprise, he was almost
gravely offended by the mere sugges-
ton. Nevertheless there were several
features of the affair, chiefoof them
the manner in which the letters were
received, which caused me to dwell
with some mental persistence on this
as the most profitable ground for spec
ulation. And when at length, in the
mornings small hours, I returned to
my home and to my bed, I carried the
thought with me.
conscious garden of my mind brought
forth fruit after its kind. l awoke
with a perfectly clear understanding
of how that which, the night before,
had seemed 30 impossible of accom-
plishment was, perhaps, after all,
merely a harlequin trick, quite simple
when explained.
With the new day, too, and the
sunlight, and the CHEEKY brightness of
my own rooms, there came a lifting Of
that oppressive atmosphere of the ESQ.,
teric which at Cameron's had set my
nerves out of plumb and my reason
on the bias. Indeed I a fully on
WINGED that we had been foolishly con-
s~tructing an Alpine chain out of a mis-
cradle little row Of mole hills. and l
determined to lose no time in bringing
| Cameron, whom I now regarded as
most needlessly alarmed, to my own
] wholesome way of thinking.
Directly after breakfast, therefore, I
set forth on foot for my neighbours,
choosing the shore road Al the more
| direct of the two routes.
Personally, my taste in landscape is
for distant view in preference to near
at-hand foliage. My W house, which
is fashioned in semblance of a Pom
peiian villa, it's cream-white walls
punctuated with shutters of a some
! what vivid pea-green and crowned by
| gently sloping roofs of the same
bright color, gazes out across STAN
ford Harbor and the blue waters Of
the Sound, to where on clear days the
pencilled outline Of Eaton's Neck
shows purple in the distance. There
are no towering, outrageous trees to
interrupt the outlook; only low, care
fully-trimmed shrubs, adjoining q
series of marble sculpture-dotted ter
races. we'll below the line Of vision.
But the Cameron place, rejecting the
Townsbury penchant for a~rboriculture,
is quite the reverse. The prospect
from the windows and verandahs of
the fine old mansion is all green vistas
and leafy perspectives, with only q
CLINT Of sun-sparkled waves, chance.
caught between gray boles or when
the wind spreads q momentary open
ing in the foliage.
My way to Cameron's led through a
veritable forest Of such %luxuriant leaf
age that the path more than half the
time was in twilight, while to right
and left the shadows deepened into
dark in the cloistral recesses of the
woodland heart. The silence was pro.
found. No voice of bird nor scurrying
foot Of squirrel invaded the morning
hush of those FAMOUS depths. My own
footsteps On the soft turf returned no
sound.
A half-mile or more I had walked In
this mute greenwood peace, when
sharp and clear there echoed through
the verdurous aisles the crack Of q
rife, and I came to a sudden, involun-
tary halt.
Then 1t occurred to me that It was the
third day Of the open season for rail
birds, and that it was the report Of a
shotgun I had heard, fred by some
sportsman, of on the shore, there, to
my right. And SO I resumed my tramp,
with ears keen for a repetition. Al
most Immediately I was rewarded, and
then I knew that it was 10 rail bird
gunner. for the shot was Enthusiastically
a rife shot, and it was fired in the
depth Of the wood, to the left of me
Three times more I heard 1t, in fair
ly rapid succession. and sounding al
ways from about the same direction.
cannot say that 1t gave M any un-
%easiness. but it perplexed me In q mild
way, arousing . passing curiosity as
to its object. And then. I came out
upon the wellkept, gravelled drive
which circles the close-cropped. vel
vety Cameron lawn. and catching