The Forrest City times. [volume] (Forrest City, Ark.) 1871-1919, 1913-03-07
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HORACE
HAZElTINE

whatever is done, must be done by
ourselves, and by friends whom we
can trust absolutely. | can take no
risk Of this horrid thing getting into
the newspapers. Besides" he added,
with a kindly. considerative smile.
| Evelyn must be kept In ignorance
Not for worlds would have her trou
bled by our perpiexing enigma"
My suggestion that he should go
abroad for a time, or at least spend
few weeks at Newport, was met with
similar obstinate refusal.
| Il admit that have been somewhat
upset by this extraordinary combina-
ton" was the way he expressed it.
but | am not a coward. am not go
ing to run. Even If were inclined to
do so, what should | gain? If man
be not safe in his own house. where in
Heavens name is he likely to find
safety"
Quite naturally | was led by this ey
preston to inquire whether, per-
chance, he mistrusted any of the many
persons who were employed in the
house and about the estate. But, some
what to my surprise, he was almost
gravely offended by the mere sugges-
ton. Nevertheless there were several
features of the affair, chief Of them
the manner in which the letters were
received, which caused me to dwell
with some mental persistence on this
as the most profitable ground for spec
ulation. And when at length, in the
mornings small hours, | returned to
my home and to my bed, carried the
thought with me-
The sowing of this seed in the sub
conscious garden of my mind brought
forth fruit after its kind awoke
with a perfectly clear understanding
of how that which, the night before,
had seemed so impossible of accom-
plishment was, perhaps. after all.
merely harlequin trick. quite simple
when explained.
With the new day too. and the
sunlight, and the CHEEKY brightness of
my own rooms, there came lifting of
that oppressive atmosphere Of the ESQ
teric which at Cameron's had set M
nerves out of plumb and my reason
on the bias. Indeed ! was fully con
WINGED that we had been foolishly con
structing an Alpine chain out of a mis-.
cradle little row of mole hills, and ]
determined to lose no time in bringing
Cameron, whom l now regarded as
most needlessly alarmed, to my own
wholesome way of thinking.
Directly after breakfast, therefore.
set forth on foot for my neghbor's.
choosing the shore road as the more
direct of the two routes.
Personally. my taste in landscape is
for distant view in preference to near
at-hand foliage. My own house, which
is fashioned in semblance of Pom
peiian villa, its cream-white walls
punctuated with shutters of a some
what vivid pea-green and crowned by
gently slipping roofs of the same
bright color. gazes out across Siam
ford Harbor and the blue waters of
the Sound, to where on clear days the
pencilled outline Of Eatons Neck
shows purple in the distance. There
are no towering. outrageous trees to
interrupt the outlook: only low, care
fully-trimmed shrubs, adjoining a
series OF marble sculpture-dotted ter.
races. well below the line of vision.
Blu. the Cameron place, rejecting the
Townsbury penchant for arboriculture,
is quite the reverse. The prospect
from the windows and verandahs of
the fine old mansion is all green vistas
and leafy perspectives, with only a
CLINT OF sun-sparkled waves, chance
caught between gray bOles or when
the wind spreads a momentary open
ing in the foliage.
My way to Cameron's led through a
veritable forest Of such luxuriant leaf
age that the path more than half the
time was in twilight. while to right
and left the shadows deepened into
dark in the cloistral recesses Of the
woodland heart. The silence was pro
found. No voice of bird nor scurrying
foot of squirrel invaded the morning
hush of those FAMOUS depths. My own
footsteps on the soft turf returned no
sound.
A half-mile or more I had walked in
this mute greenwood peace, when
sharp and clear there echoed through
the verdurous aisles the crack of a
rife. and I came to a sudden. involun-
tary halt.
Then 1t occurred to me that it was the
third day OF the open season for rail
| birds, and that 1t was the report of a
shotgun | had heard, fired by some
sportsman, off on the shore. there, to
my right. And so | resumed my tramp.
with ears keen for repetition. Al
most Immediately was rewarded, and
then ! knew that it was no rail bird
gunner, for the shot was Enthusiastically
rifle shot. and 1t was fired in the
| depth Of the wood, to the left of me
Three times more | heard it, in fair
| ly rapid succession, and sounding al
ways from about the same direction.
cannot say that 1t gave me any IN
easiness, but it perplexed me in a milo
way. arousing passing curiosity as
10 its object. And then. | came out
upon the well-kept, grayelled drive
| which circles the ciose-crOpped vel