The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-02-06
The Siege
of the
Seven SuitOrs
By
MEREDITH NICHOLSON
Copyright. 1910. by Meredith Nicholson
Copyright. 1910. BY Meredith Nicholson

rabIe great-grandfather bore in that
mOmentous struggle"
Several copies of New York newspa-
pers, half dozen French gold coins,
the miniature <bf a woman's face
which we assumed to be that of Roger
Virgins mother or sister, were briefly
examined; then by Miss Octavia's Or
| ders we carefully returned everything
to the chest. Several packets of let
tiers we did not open.
Arnold" she said when we had
closed the chest, will you and Mr..
| Pepperton kindly carry that box to my
/ room? No servants hand shall touch
! it, and I shall myself give it to Mr.
Virgins at the earliest opportunity
We had lost track of time in those
hidden rooms, preserved by the within
of one man t1ls t the Secret Of another
might be discovered and. found with
surprise, after the chest had been car
Fied to Miss Octavia's apartments, that
it was after O'Clock. We had been In
/. the hidden rooms for more than three
hours.
1--WE shall, have much to talk about
| tonight, and fancy we are all good
deal shaken, It's not often we receive
a letter from dead man, SO we shall
admit no callers tonight unless, in
! deed, Mr.. Virgins should chance to
| GOMEZ announced Miss Octavia. ''The
F., next time Hartley Virgins visits this
/ house he shall come as a conquering
! hero
81 hope so," replied Cecilia brokenly.
| We were still at dinner when the
cards of Dick and the other suitors I
had last seen at the Prescott Arms
were brought in J, but Virgins made no.
sign, and T wondered.
! The man who looked after my needs
handed me a note the next morning
which added fresh hazards to Ceci1ia's
already periIous plight.
Is Left with the gardener before g
! O'Clock by a boy from the village.
Said 1t was most confidential, SIR
I waited till he had left the room be-
fore opening It, It read:
l 9 Gooseberry Bungalow,
Before Breakfast
= Dear Chimneys-Pep stopped here yes
| terday to see b. H He and C. old pals
Watch him. Where's wig? H. H.
The information she conveyed was
startling enough. We had been deal
ing with a company Of s6itors outside
| the barricade, now came warning of
the presence of a strange knight with
/
the perils of the situation. The com
pact among the suitors at the inn was
thing of the past, and L now ex-
pected them to exercise all the in
genuity of which desperate lovers are
capable in pressing their claims. The
fact that both Virgins and Pepper
ton were old friends of mine did not
make my task easier. L not only felt
/ it incumbent on me to prevent Dick,
the holder of the clew, from taking adj
| vantage of it, but knowing Cecilia's
own attitude of mind and heart toward
Virgins I wished to save Pepperton
the pain OF rejection If it could be
done.
But what did Hezekiah mean by the
question with which she ended her
| note? II Virgins, smarting, under Ce-
cilia's treatment of him the day before,
had quit the field here was pretty
ow-d'-ye-1o- Miss Octavia's refusal
to countenance telephones made it nee
essary for me to leave Hopefield to
learn what had become of Virgins,
and realized that must act prompt
" If saved the day for him. His con-
duct first and last had been spiritless
and I was out of patience with him.
1t seemed impossible to formulate any
plan amid these multiplying uncertain
ties. If Virgins had decamped Dick
knew it and would lay his plans ac7
cordingly. l felt that it was base in
gratitude on Virgins part to ask me
to watch his interests while he went
roaming indifferently over the country.
One or two consoling reflections re-
manned, however-Dick believed me to
be a sutton for Cecilia's hand, and this
| doubtless caused him considerable un-
easiness, and he did not know that
Pepperton, whose acquaintance with
Cecilia antedated the European fight,
had to be reckoned with. 1 wished
Pepperton had kept out of it.
Breakfast that morning was inter
ninably long. Miss Octavia was never
more thoroughly amusing, never more
drolly inadvertent. She attacked Pep
perton' for all the evils in American
architecture and in. particular took him
to task for some house he had built at
Newport which she pronounced the
most hideous pile of marble on Ameri-
can soil.
/. When we left the table at about half
past 10 Miss Octavia insisted that we
4 must visit the Kennels A friend had
just sent her a fine Aireda1e, and she
wished to make sure the kennel mas
ter was treating the dog properly. Lat
er we were all to ride.
made haste to excuse myself, say
ing that personal matters required at
tentfon.
Certainly, Arnold; you shall do as
you Ike. Mr.. Pepperton is a difficult
bird to catch, so we hope for you at
luncheon, and of course we expect you
for dinner"
Pepperton looked at me fnquiringly
I Judged that he had known Miss Oc-
tayfa good many years-the tone of
their intercourse was intimate, and yet
he plainly was at a loss to understand
just how / came to be SO thoroughly es-