The pioneer express., 1912-12-20

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had been doing; about an hour ago
l stretched out my. hand, unconscious
~. and that lay beneath 1t, on the
counterpane. It cracked as I touched
It; and I knew then, even before ]
recognized the feel Of it."
Sixty seconds! Was there ever such
an interminable period? Sixty long
seconds before that door would open
with the interruption that would
| spare me. fumbled with the devil.
ish paper; let it slip through my
fingers; tore bit here and bit
there; finished the tearing: and then,
assembling, began tearing the other
end. And still the seconds Jagged;
still the door remained stationary.
my God, Clyde!" Cameron cried.
in a frenzy of impatience. Whats
the matter with you tonight? Are
you never going to get that thing
open?"
And then I. desperate, too, with
eyes fixed imploringly on the door.
was about to answer him with the
truth-that did not want to open 1t;
that would not, could not read the
contents; that he must wait and trust
me. absolutely-when, quite without
design on my part, the envelope fell
to the rug at my feet. And as
stopped to recover it, heard the door
knob turn.
When regained the upright, Miss
Collins was entering, and the letter
was in the pocket of my dinner jack
ct.
"And so you see, Cameron" said,
speaking distinctly and with double
purpose, the nurse being in ear-shot,
everything is quite right. The mat
ter you spoke of shall be attended to,
at once, and I'll report to you, to-
night-before ten o'clock, surely"
The reproach In his eyes stung me.
and the pain of it followed me from
the room and stabbed me at inter-
walls during dinner. And yet it was
not the part of sanity to have acted
otherwise than l did. The tempta-
tion had occurred to me to invent
phrases and sentences expressive of
satisfaction over the effort of the
previous communications. But l
doubted that. in my agitation, I
should be successful in the deception.
And SO, my only course had been de-
lay-stupid. bungling, palpable delay
1t was, l suppose, but after all it had
served; and, though it left Cameron
In doubt, it gave me time and oppor-
tunity to arrange some plan for ex-
tracing the fangs Of this epistolary
adder before it could strike it's prey.
Purposely delayed reading the let
ter, myself, until after l had dined. 1
chose uncertainty as to its contents
as less likely noticeably to affect my
demeanor than an exact knowledge of
the minatory message which felt
sure it carried.
I think / fancied should be able
to conceal my real state Of mind. Ger.
tainly I willed to do so. But I was
very soon conscious that Evelyn had
OWNED my discrimination. Her eyes
became suddenly grave and question
ing, her laughter quieted, and her con-
versation, which had been glad and
gay, relapsed abruptly into the seri-
GUS. When the coffee and liqueurs
had been brought on, Mrs. Lancaster
asked to be excused, and left us
alone together.
There followed then a moment Of
silence between US, while I selected
a cigarette and lighted it. She had
edged her chair a little closer to me
she was sitting on my right, n US
ual-and leaned forward, her slen-
der but divinely rounded forearns ex-
tended across the shining damask Of
the tablecloth.
Az I dropped my match upon the
tiny silver tray which the inimftabte
Checkabeedy had placed convenient
ly at my elbow turned to her and
saw her question In her imploring
gaze and attitude even before she
voiced it.
"Tell mel" was what she said. And
although I knew that she would de-
mand it was unprepared. To gain
time rather than information bade
her be more explicit.
Everything" she pursued, inclu-
siyely. with q peremptory emphasis
which indicated her determination not
to be denied. g aj ..,@ &
My hesitation resulted in some am
pliflcation on her part. She was i'm
patient az well as resolved, and re-
sented what she interpreted as my re-
luctance to crafty her.
Everything" she repeated. "Ev.
erything that you have been hidiag
from me from the hrst. I am entitled
to know. What about the head that
was cut from the portraiti What was
1t that caused the shocks, which
brought on Uncle Roberts illness? !?
Why did you, 80 for the mail four
times today. and sit All the rest Of tho
time in Uncle Roberts study? What
has happened TO- make him !, worse
this afternoonf What 10 troubling