The Washington times., 1913-09-29

that your Uncle Rufus contemplated
any important changes in his Will
No. l did not even know the con.
tents of the first will until Vinton
found it. But don't Sou see? No mat
it Is the last one, then that hich Vim
ton nolds is worthless. And he loses
that additional grip
She spoke eagerly, :, new note in her
voice. 1t was almost note of hope.
Il can see that you are sLu cling.
ing to an idea that you may not marry
sInton after all. 1 said.
She looked at me with a flash of
spirit, al then shook her head.
No" she answered slowly. Il Can
see no hope there. And yet
But you do see it, even if subcon-
sciously,' / broke in. Your manner
says ii, even If your lips do not. You
are still hoping. You can't see the way
but You haven't given UP. You've spent
hours trying to tind something that may
weaken Vinton's grip, Why should you
do that If you, really thought mar
riage to him was inevitable You may
not know it, but you're still fighting.
OH" she cried, clasping her hands
at her bosom. Il wish l could believe
thatr'
Believe it, then. for it's true an
." 1ou We ucen Ittuilg ultO a Oau
habit of late, apparently-that of be-
lieving only what Vinton wants you to
believe. You've been as weak as water
when you had no business to be weak.
Vinton didn't obtain all his control over
you at one stroke. He did it gradually.
You let him do it!' .-.-...-
But" she .fsltered. there was no
body else ...,. .. -.
There was always yourself" 1 ex-
claimed sharply. For heavens sake,
have You no self-reliance? No charac-
ter? How old are you?''
'Twenty-three." she answered family.
Twenty-three! And you've behaved
Ike child. i think I'd feel a little
ashamed If We're in your place." =.
II am
Then shake it off. Be yourself again.
You've got some character in your face.
II I'm any Judge Why not live up TO
1t? Do You suppose your father would
want you to act as you have acted?. I
don't believe it. Why"-I was indignant.
In spite of myself-"the whole business
Is utterly wrong-it's preposeerous," B..
She broke into fit OF sobbing I'm a
poor hand when a woman starts that
wanted to run.
you re-you're scolding me-" she
said. miserably, Just as
There! Never mind" / interrupted
ID gentier tone. Il didn't mean to
scold. only l was trying to show you
that you re sun possessed of your i'll
oependence; that you're not somebody
else's slave"
If there was only somebody, sho
said. Somebody else."
mere is, L assured her She looked
up to me through wet eyes. I'm
here" / supplemented
She seemed doubtful and incredu,ous
as she stared at me
But how can You help?'' she ss,,.J
wonderingly. And WHY should ,,o,,a.,
don't know just how | can beIn-
yet L answered. But I'm in on !,
fou See, ] have an interest In the ,,.,
.er. II finton He and !, apparentIv
nave some business together. | can't
'e. .hings drop where they are
s, hu, G 1 trled to help him against You ;,
, .na LII not charge that up against you.'
! answered easily. I'll balance il will
me information you've given me Nov
III not vindictive by nature hui :
confess quite cheerfully that Td lite to
DO MIR. Vinton a bad turn. 7 coujd do
! II with very comfortable conscience,
going to do after he found out where
my compass Was?"
Il don't know" she replied frankIv
All j was to do was to learn wher. =;
WAS. he-they-heVer told me anything
more than suited their purposes.i'
derstand it. the thing that would bother
Mr.. tinton most, Just at present, would
be the finding Of this other will made
by your uncle
She nodded.
Then let's find it," said. swinging
down from my perch on the table.
But we've looked-eyerywhere." sbs
declared, although there was an rx-
preston of gratitude, almost of relief,
in her face.
sure it must be in this room, If any
where?'
Absolutely. My uncle kept nothing
in the way of papers anywhere else.
Only his books are downstairs.
Did he have safe?"
She shook her head.
Let's go through the desk first" I
said
Between us We made a very syste-
matte examination of Uncle Rufus
desk. We removed all the drawers from
II and went over their contents with
written in French. 1t was his habit to
keep his records in that language, she
told me. He regarded IT as the inter-
national language of science. and had
the idea that he was about to be-
queath something Of infinite importance
to the scientific world.
She read French easily. and I sub
mitted all of the foreign-worded docu-
ments to her: but there was nothing
among them that resembled will They
dealt for the most part with expert
ments in chemistry, and | gathered
from scraps that she read to me that
Uncle Rufus believed himself to be
upon the trail of a new theory of pro-
toplasmic life.
While ] had no real hope that We
should uncover a will. / concealed that
from her. for the mere prosecution Of
a search seemed to instill energy and
decision into her For the time she for
got Vinton completely. 1t was exceed
ingly interesting to watch her as she
pOked into age-yellowed envelopes, un-
tied bundles of neatly-folded documents
and delved through the pages of close
ly written manuscripts. Once more she
was alert, birdlike. animated.
i could not help noticing the pretty
manner she had of using her hands:
every movement she made was one of
youthful grace. Her cheeks were glow