Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1913-05-22

] marry LORENZO
Which is impossible"
Then the money goes into the fam
lily, of course, as my dot Or-or, II
| should die-in that case Stephen
Inherlts the money And there Is no
doubt but that Stephen needs money"
Aleck pondered for several minutes
while grave shadows threatened his
face But presently his smiling, IN
guenchable good temper came to the
surface. and he gleefully tucked Me-
lanie's hand under his arm.
las said before, you need a hus
band very badly"
"Oh. don't know" she l44aghed
The result of Alexis moment of
grave thought came few days later,
with the arrival of two quietly-dressed
men He told Melanie that one man
was her chauffeur for the white ma
chine, and the other was an extra hand
he had engaged for the return trip
on the Sea Gull The chauffeur, how
ever, for one reason or another, rare
ly took the wheel, and could have
been seen walking at distance be-
hind Melanie whenever she stirred
abroad The extra hand for the Sea
| Gull did just the same as the chauf-
feur.
From the day of the arrival of the
manager, Mr.. Hands rather mysteri-
Gus but friendly temper underwent a
change for the worse He not only
continued silent. which might easily
be counted virtue, but he became al
most suIky, which could only be called
crime. There was no bantering
with Sallie in the kitchen, scarcely a
friendly smile for Agatha herself. Mr..
Hand was markedly out of sorts.
On the morning following Mr..
Straker's request that Hand should re-
pair the car. the manager found him
| tinkering in the carriage shed near
the church The car was lacked UP on
a se-block, while one wheel lay
near the road Mr. Hand was as grimy
and oily as the law allows. working
over the machinery with sort of
vicious earnestness Mr. Straker how
cred around for few moments. then
addressed Hand in that tone of
pseudo-geniality that marks a certain
type of politician.
Look here, colonel, understand
you were in the employ of that French
anarchist
1t was an unlucky moment for at
tack, though Mr.. Straker did not at
once perceive it. Hand carefully wip-
ed the oil from neat ring of metal,
slid down on his back under the car
and screwed on a nut AS Mr.. Strak-
err, hands in pockets and feet wide
apart watched the mechanician. there
came through the silence and the
sweet air the sound of thrushes call
ing from the wood beyond Mr. Strak-
er craned his head to look out at the
church. then at the low stone wall.
as if he expected to see the songsters
performing on a stage before row of
footlights. He turned back to Mr.
Hand.
That's right, is it? You worked for
the slippery Mounseer?"
"Uh-m," Hand grumbled, with
that"
what you DO.
I've found where she was wrenched
in the turnover. Got to have d new
pin for this off wheel before she goes
much farther
''All right. I'll order one by telegraph
today. Whatd you do, | asked
Hand wriggled himself out from I'M
der the car and got on his feet. He
thrust his grimy hands deep into his
pockets, stood for moment con
templative and belligerent as il un-
decided whether to explode or not,
and then silently walked away.
AS Mr. Straker watched his figure
moving slowly toward the kitchen. he
started long low whistle. expressive
of suspicion and doubt Midway, how
ever, he changed to lively tune
whose title was I've got him on the
run"-a classic Just then spreading I'D
and down Broadway He took few
turns about the car, looked at the gear
ing with knowing air and then went
into the house.
If he had been small boy. his
mother would have punished him for
Sb0ulPlhS lHiOu6H lHS mains, DSl0R a
grown man and visitor. he may be
described as walking with firm, bold
tread. Finally he was able to run
down Agatha, who was comforting
with Sallie in the library.
Sallie shifted in scorn of MIR. Strak
er, whom she disliked far worse than
Mr. Hand; nevertheless. as she left
the room she twisted up her bingham
apron and tucked it into its band in
vague attempt at company manners
Mr. Straker lost no time In attacking
Agatha.
What d'you know about that chauf
feur-nurse and general roustabout
that's taking care of your young gen
tleman up-stairs?" he inquired bluntly
Innocent of subtlety as Mr.. Straker
was, he was nevertheless keen enough
to see that Agatha's instincts took
alarm at his words Indeed one skilled
in reading her face could have detect
ed the nature of the uneasiness writ
L