Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-30
TODAY'S INSTALLMENT.
PART u.

"Confound the brute" He looked down
al his hand The scratch hurt and was
beginning TO swell and an ugly little
yellow ridge was rising ominously No
doubt the beasts claws were poisoned
the wound would tester perhaps he might
lose his hand He sucked the scratch
and cursed the cat again.
What the deuce was keeping JeX-was
there anywhere in this place where he
could wash his hand He glanced toward
the door leading 20 the staircase, com
municating with the upper part-he felt
distssie that was more than reluc-
lance To 90 upstairs. He had not been
there since the day Of his wife's death
the dav that had given him back his
freedom.
Much good his freedom had done him,
His thoughts ran in a bitter vein this
afternoon Betty Lumsden-an hts plans
seemed II not to be actually miscarrying,
10 be hating inexplcaby Rimington in
prison safe. barred and silenced for
twenty years seemed for the present at
least. as effective barrier as Rimington
young and rich and free. Betty was
such a fool-she had given her promise,
It was true. hut there was q woeful lack
OF flavor in a marriage OF barter.
Hang the brute.
Really. his hand was beginning to pain
him abominably. II was detestable, but
there was no help for IT, He must go
upstairs With his lips pressed against
his hand he went up the stairs mount
ing them slowly.
Ghostly memories came out 10 meet
him as he pushed open the door at the
top Of the stairs and looked in. The in
de1nable odor that had chung about
Jenny--a fragrance that had never left
her even in her Illness, that even now
had power to couture up the past, that
rose leaf past OF the first days OF their
marriage still hung family in the air.
The bed was made as though ready for
occupation Her hair brushes and little
toilet trinkets, dainty TRIES Of tortoise
shell and gold he had given her. tricked
out the dressing table. SAKE drew back
with something Ike a shiver What a
sentimental old idiot lex was! He opened
another door that Of the old mans own
bed room this time, apparently. There
were signs Of his occupation huddled
clothes. q medley Of queer things, pros
pective stock, apparently. and In the cor
ner what SAKE sought-a hand wash
stand.
He poured out water into the old blue
basin and bathed his injured hand The
water cooled and soothed IT, As he wiped
IL gently he saw that some Of It's angry
redness had abated.
Caught!
He stood looking about the room with
a half amused curiosity as he dried his
hand, What a queer old cuss lex was,
Hts thoughts snapped suddenly His
wandering eyes had encountered some
thing that stood on a table by the iron
bed-a box OF dark wood curously bound
with brass, an oddly familiar looking box
his own, he would swear 20 that--that
he had thought secure beyond all ques
tion IN the locked safe at the safe de-
post in Chancery Lane, where so many
other precious and dangerous things were
buried under a name that no one but him
self knew, under combination OF let
tors TO which no one but himself had the
cew
Paul Saxe's face was not good 70 see
As he crossed the room and examined the
box by the bed Yes, II was the same
there in the midst Of one Of the brass
arabesques were his wife's initals-he
remembered how he had got the shopmeu
in the queer old Paris shop TO scratch
them there when he had bought il dur
ing the heyday OF his infatuaton for her
And she how was IL she had retained
possession Of it all this time? He could
have sworn he had sent it with the other
things. Could It he possible that he had
been guilty of an act Of such gross care
lesSness?
Beads Of sweat started to his brown
II lex had been tampering with that box
Was this the explanation of his new att
tude Of sllghty-veiled insolence' lie LAID