Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-22


feet her face twisted with horror and un-
certainty; but, with rare courage, rushed to
a window, threw it open, and peered out.
"Who is there?" she said, and Clancy, de- |
spite his own sweat of fear and total lack of
recognition of the source of that unnerv1ng
din, felt a subconscious admiration for the
dauntless spirit of a woman who dared even
inquire into its cause.
The policeman, who had not gone yard, |
remained stock still, and so did Clancy. The
silence was profound, the only sounds being
the diminished snorts of the tugs exhaust,
and these served rather to enhance the alb
soutc stiffness that reigned in the grounds
of the Rosery. Then there was the click of
a latch, and Mary Mallow and the gardener
came out at the side of the house; though
shut off from sight of the lawn by one of the
many tall hedges that converted the place
into leafy maze.
Gaining confidence from the nearness of
the servants, Mrs. Delamar advanced a few
PAGES into the open.
"Hopkins," she began, "did you hear
Then something swooped at her out of the
void and she was attacked so fiercely from
the air that she screamed in quick terror and
covered to the earth.
ooh, Heaven have mercy!" she sobbed.
Help! Help! All, have pity! I am not fit
to die"
Someone crashed through the laurels, and
a mans form appeared. He carried heavy
stick, and srnote fiercely at an object that
whirlcd and futtered above the woman's
head With one blow, which got home, the
assailant was vanquished.
Don't you be scared, Ma'am," he cried.
dts an owl, that's what it is. l hope it
hasn't hurt you
There was no answer: Mrs Delamar had
tainted
The gardener called to the frightened
housekeeper, "Come here, Mary. Here's
Madam in faint. She was battered by an
owl; but it II not trouble you. I've laid it
out, the varmint!'
Between them they carried Mrs. Delamar
into the house. and Clancy, as in a dream,
heard them deciding to take her to the bed
room, where Mary Mallow could more easily
apply the simple restoratives known to every
woman in an emergency of this nature.
He was roused and considerably startled, !
by hand being laid on his shoulder.
"Now, who'd ha thought an owl would
kick up divvil of a row loike that?" said
the policeman, to whom the boot of night S |
woodland beldame was no Jew thing; though
he had never before known the bird to attack
a human being.
at must ha bin worried by us dodgin' in
and out among the threes, he went on, hap |
PLY oblivious of the fact that Clancy was
nearly as shaken as the woman who had just
been beaten by the creatures wings and
probably scratched by its claws. at made
me jump when it let out that yell; though |
knew in a flash what it was. Av coorse. it
was dazed by the light, an hardly knew what
it was dom when it set about her. Holy
war! she must ha fancied that Ould Nick
hisse1f, wild hoofs an horns, had flown at
her."
The mans homely accents supplied the
best of all tonics. With each passing second
Clancy regained better control of his scat
tered wits, and now he saw that once more
chance had befriended him.
Don't go!" he Kissed. "Wait here till I
return
HE ran straight to the open window, and
l ! heard Hopkins and the housekeeper
straining up the stairs with their inanimate
burden. With silent haste he crossed the
room to the writing table. The letter that
Mrs. Delamar had consulted so earnestly
lay there. He snatched it up, and read the
address,-the hotel at Narragansett. Pier at
which Claude Waverton had stayed! 1t was
signed with heroglyph of initials; but