Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1913-02-27


ed with her head bowed
| breathed Il sigh OF relief. and when
| felt safe FROM detection. climbed the
slope.
Pausing on the crest to survey the
landscape, | saw man. wearing der
by hat and a light topcoat. leaning
against fence that incioSed pasture
AS | glanced in his direction he moved
away hastily toward the road below.
The feeling of being watched is not
agreeable, and | could not account for
him. AS he passed out of sight still
another man appeared. emerging from
a strip of woodland farther on. Even
through the evening haze should have
said that he was a gentleman. The
two men apparently bore no relation to
each other though they were walking
i'll the same direction. bound. | judged,
for the highway below. had an I'M
comfortable feeling that they had both
been observing me- though for what
purpose | could not imagine Then
once more, just as | was about to Ell
ter the Italian garden from fallow
field that hung slightly above it, Il
third man appeared as mySteriously
as though he had sprung from the
ground, and ran at Il sharp dog trot
along the fence, headed. like the 9th
erS, for the road In the third instance
the stranger undoubtedly took pains to
hide his face, but he. too, was well
IpnSSn1 nd and fn-
dora hat of current style.
did not know why these gentlemen
were ranging the ueighborhood or what
object they had in view, but their sew
eral appearances had interested me,
and | went ON into The house well sat
iStied that events of an unusual char
acter were likely to mark my visit to
the home of Miss Octavia HOLSTER.
Cecilia sat reading alone when l en-
tered the library shortly before the din
ner hour. She put down her book and
we fell into tittu talk.
Il took Il walk after tea. | always
feel that sunsets are best seen from
the fields You can't quite do them
justice from windows" she began.
She seemed preoccupied Virgins
was in her recollection of the glowing
landscape-I was confident of this, and
poor Virgins was even now wander
ing these hills. no doubt, brooding upon
his troubles under clear October stars.
Dinner was announced the moment
Miss IIolliSter entered, and | walked
out between them. Miss Octavia Hol-
lister was Il surprising person, but in
nothing was she SO delightfully."- way
ward as in the gowns she wore My
ignorance of such matters is immeas.
urable. but ] fancy that she designed
her own raiment and had her ideas
were thereupOn carried out by tailor
of skill. At the ASolando, and when we
had met at tea in her own house, she
had worn the severest of tailored
gowns, with short skirt and Il coat
into whose pockets she was fond of
thrusting her hands. Tonight the ma
terial was lavender silk trimmed in
white, but the skirt had not heightened,
kind of cutaWay cut that matched
the skirt. An aigret in her lovely
white hair contributed piquant note
to the whole impression. AS we PASS
ed down the hall she talked with great
animation of The Hague tribunal. just
then holding a prominent place in the
newspapers for some reason that has
escaped me.
1.-The whole thing is absurd, perfect
ly absurd. | know of nothing that
would contribute more to human enjoy
ment than Il real war between Ger
many and England. The Hague idea
is pure SentimentaliSm-if sentimental
ism can ever be said to he pure. will
go further and say that | consider it
positively immoral"
She had ordered dinner in the gun
room, but l thought this merely a turn
of her humor. and | was taken aback
when she led the way into low. heav-
ly raftered room, where electric sconces
of an odd type We're thrust at irregular
Intervals along the walls, which were
otherwise hung with arms of many
sorts III orderly combinations. They
We're not the litter of antique shops, |
saw in hasty glance, but rifles and
guns of the latest patterns, and beside
the sideboard stood a gun rack and a
cabinet which assumed contained still
other and perhaps deadlier weapons.
But for the presence Of Miss Cecilia,
who was essentially typical of our
twentieth century American woman,
think | might readily have yielded to
the illusion that | was the guest of
some eccentric chatelaine who had in
vited me to dine with her in hastion
of her fortress before ordering me to
some chamber of horrors for execu-
ton.
No reference was made to the char
acter Of the room. | felt, in fact. that
Cecilia rather pleaded with her eyes
thar ! should make no reference to il.
And Miss HoiIister remarked quite
casually as though in comment upon
my thoughts:
consistency has buried it's thou