Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-07-25
CHAPTER XXI.
HAVE ANOTHER CIGAR.
Well, William. what do YOU think of

Well, William, what do you think of
1t all?"
The w men had sat in silence for
quite q considerable time after Fred
erick Power had marched out of the
room. Colonel Harris buried in thought
was in no hurry to talk things over.
Sir thomas Ryder-a very busy man
was the more impatient Of the two.
I must tell you" he said. seeing
that his brotherinlaw seemed disin-
as soon as Power had pointed Luke out
to him. went and rang the bell at Rad
slyfIe's house and quickly enough es-
tabliehed beyond q doubt that the man
who had just entered it was Mr.. Luke
de Mountford. I tell you this now, so
all in case you should imagine that
this might be a case of mistaken iden-
t1ty. Moreover you yourself know and
have admitted to me hat Luke's inten-
ton was to seek out his uncle and his
cousin at the Veterans club, after he
night"
"Yes," said Colonel Harris. 81 know
that. I was not thinking Of mistaken
You" rejoined the other. were
thinking Of Luke. and 50 am l. 1
have thought little OF any one
else since first the crime was re-
ported to me last night. And long
before Travers cleaned the outlines Of
the story which Power has just ampli-
fled for us. l vaguely.Nguessed at the
broad lines Of 1t. Now that l know 1t
IN all its details. l car see the whole
scene in the lobby of the Veterans club
before me. o may believe me or not
as you like. but as a matter Of fact 1
know quite q good deal about Luke de
Mountford. l have often met him. of
course. and though we have never been
very intimate-for I am a busy man
and have but little tine for intimacy
with my fellow men-I have had many
opportunities of studying him. He has
a very curious power of self control
almost an abnormal one I call it, and
a morbid hatred of public scenes or
scandal. This. OF course, he shares
with a great many men Of his class.
and his self control is all the more re.
markable as he is not by any means
the tmpassive young man about town
which he pretends to be. Well, that
same power. l suppose, stood him in
good stead in the lobby Of the Veterans
club. In Powers picturesque parlance
course. he had been provoked beyond
bounds of endurance, and IL hi had
rushed at Philip de Mountford and
strangled him then and there, no one
would have been astonished. l should"
continued Sir Thomas with emphasis.
~ ~ WOAAA Ao 1ldNC OCCll IKE
the Luke whom I had studied. The
bpicture of two gentlemen at f~isticuffs
like a pair of navVies would not have
been an ed1fying one, mi Luke-as 1
know him-would above all Nlsh not
to make a spectacle of himself before
the ante-room of a second rate club.
He naturally-for h a sort of thing be-
comes second nature-pulled himself
together ahd walked out into the
street."
You must not think for a moment
q laxative man. Englishmen OF his
class and type are rarely talkative, and
Sir Thomas position n occupation
rendered him less communicative than
most. But Colonel Harris and he had
been brother officers. friends long be-
fore family ties were closely knit by
marriage. and he considered the pres
ent crisis q very serious one.
He had had enough to do with crime
In the past years since he a OBJ
tanned the interesting post which he
now occupied, but never with q crime
one did. Luke de Mountford was. Of
course. nothing to him, except in con-
nection with Louisa Harris. But this
was q strong tie. Louisa was his "
wife's niece; she was the daughter Of
a friend. OF q brother officer. No one
who 10 not In some manner or. other In
touch with military men can have the
slightest idea OF how much those two
tmag1c words mean: brother offcer:"
what magnetism lies in them: what an
peal they make to all that is most loyal.
most willing. mos helpful in a man.
Sir Thomas felt that the mud Of
irretrievabje disgrace which was bound
to smirch Luke de Mountford would
In no small measure rebound on
Louisa to-. Instinctively. too. all his
sensibdlitieS recoiled against the idea