The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1912-09-06

@ place was with Miss Letitia
Edith was desolate
Margery ana I were alone.
Ferhaps was morbid about tho ring
1t seemed to me she lifted her hand
and looked at it.
larry Wardrop was here last
night" l said. poking down the log
with my heel.
"HereY'
Yes. suppose was wrong. but
old not say you were here"
She looked at me closely out of the
most beautiful eyes l ever saw.
I'm not afraid to see him." she said
proudly. "and he ought not to be afraid
to see me-
In justice to him." l said. land be-
cause l want to fight fair tell YOU to-
night that l don't believe he knows
anything about your fathers death
and that I believe he was robbed that
night at Bellwood."
What about the pearls he sold at
Plattsburg?" she asked suddenly.
II think when the proper time comes
ne Will tell about that too Margery."
l did not notice my use Of her name
until too late. If she heard she failed
to resent it. After all. if you love
him hardly anything else matters. does
It? How do we know but that he was
in trouble and that Aunt Jane herself
| gave them to him?
She looked at me with a little per-
plexity.
You plead his cause very WE'LL" she
said. did he ask you to speak to
me?'
Il won't run race with a man who
is lame" l said quietly. ''Ethically
ought to go away and leave you to
your dreams. but l am not going to
do it. If you love Wardrop as a wo-
man ought to love the man she mar
ries then marry him and l hope you
will be happy. II you don't-no. let
me finish. have made up my mind
to clear him if can. to bring him to
you with clear slate. Then-I know
1t is audacious. but l am going to come
too, and-I'm going to plead for my
self then unless you send me away"
She sat with her head bent. her color
coming and going nervously. Now she
looked up at me with what was the
ghost Of a smile.
! 1T sounds like a threat" she said
| In low voice. And you'll wonoer
If you always get what you want?"
! Then. of course. Fred came in and
fell over hassock looking for match
es. Edith opened the door of the den
and called him to her irritably. but
Fred declined to leave the wood fire
and settled down in his easy chair
After awhile Edith came over and
Joined us. but she snubbed Fred the
entire evening to his bewi!derment
And when conversation Jagged during
the evening that followed l tried to
remember what I had said. She had
not been angry and she had under
stood Blessed be the woman that un-
derstands!
We broke up for the night about IL.
Mrs Butler had come down for awhile.
and had even played little, some
thing of Tschaikowsky's a singing
plaintive theme that brought sadness
back into Margery's face.
Fred and l sat in the library for
awhile after the rest had gone, and l
told him a little Of what I had learned
that afternoon.
"a second wife, he said. land a
/ primitive type. eh? Well. did she shoot
him or did Schwartz? The Lady or
the Democratic Tiger?"
1.-THE Tiger l said firmly.
1.-THE Lady, said Fred. with equal
assurance.
| Fred closed the house with his usual
care Then we went up to bed.
| NV bedroom was over the library.
and Mrs. Butler and Margery Fleming
had connecting rooms across the hail.
| Fred and Edith slept in the nursery
wing so they would be near the chill
dren. In the square upper hal! there
was big reading table. lamp and
some comfortable chairs.
| was wakened by the pungent acrid
smell of smoke. My cigarette had
dropped from my hand still lighted
and. as is the way with cigarettes. de
termined to burn to the end. In so do
ing it had fired my bed. the rug under
the bed and pretty nearly the man on
the bed. 1t took some sharp work to
get it all out without rousing the
house. Then | stood amid the wreck
age and looked ruefully at Edi, his pref
| ty room.
Three pitchers Of water ON the bed
had made it an impossible couch.
put on Il dressing gown and. with a
blanket over my arm. l went out to
hunt some sort of place to sleep. de
cided on the davenport in the hall
lust outside. and as quietly as | could
nut screen around it and settled
down for the night.
| | was Weakened by the touch OF Il
hand OF my face. started. l think
and the hand was jerked away. l a..
not sure: was still drowsy. The hal
was dark and quiet. When | found
one | concluded it had been only ii
| vivid dream. Then | noticed heavT
swedish odor in the air. The SINE:
,roe n lrpoSt nauSoatiup For some rea