Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-08-08
CHAPTER XII.
The Case of Morocco Leather

ALONE in the ebbing twilight
n John Valiant found his hamper
spread a napkin on the broad stone
steps and took out glass, spoon
and part of a loaf OF bread. Inc
thermos flask was filled with mix,
1t was not a splendid banquet, yet
he ATE 1t with as great content as
the bulldog at his feet gnawed his
share of the crust. He broke his
bread into the milk as he had not
done since he was child, and ate the
luscious pulp with a keen relish bred
of the long outdoor day. When the
last drop was gone he brushed up
! the very crumbs from the cloth,
laughing to himself as he did SO. IL
had been a long time since he re-
membered being so hungry
1t was almost dark when the meal
was done, and, depleted hamper in
hand, he re-entered the empty, echo-
ing house. He went into the library,
lighted the great brass lamp from
the motor and began to rummage'
The drawers of the dining-room side
board yielded nothing; on a shelf of
the buffers pantry, however, was
tin box, which proved to be half full
of wax candles, perfectly preserved
"The very thing!" he said, tri-
umphantly. Carrying them back, he
fixed several in the glass candle
sticks and set them. lighted, all
about the sombre room till the soft
glow flooded its every corner.
There" he said, that is as it should
be. No big, blatant searchlight
here! And no glare of modern cleo
tricity would suit that old wainscot-
ing, either" He looked up at the
painting on the wall; 1t seemed as If
the sneer had smoothed out, the
hard, cruel eye softened. You
needn't be afraid" he said, nodding.
II understand"
He dragged the leather settee to
the porch and in the light of the mo-
tor lamp busted it thoroughly, and,
wheeling 1t back, set 1t under the
portrait He washed the glass from
which he had dined and filed 1t at
the cup of the garden fountain, put
into it the rose from his hat and
set it on the reading-stand. The
small china dog caught his eye, and
he picked 1t up casually. The head
came off in his hands. 1t had been
a bon-bon box, and was empty save
for narrow strip of yellowed paper,
on which were written some mean
ingless figures-17-28-94 He pom
dered this a moment, then thrust 1t
into one of the empty pigeonholes of
the desk. On the latter stood an old
fashioned leaf calendar. the date il
exposed was May IA. Curiously
enough, the same date would recui
tomorrow. The page bore a quota
ton, every man carries his fate or
a riband about his neck" The line
had been quoted in his fathers let
| ter. May 14th--how much that date
and that motto may have meant fol
him!
He put the calendar back, filled
his pipe, and sat down, facing tn,
open bow-window. The dark wa.
mysteriously lifting. the air film,
with a soft, silvery-gray trans
lucence that touched the wild growtl
as with fairy gossamer. Presently
from between the still elnns, the new
sickle moon climbed into view. From
the garden came a plaintive bribery
long drawn and wavering, and then
from farther away. the triple mellow
whistle of a whippoor-will.
The place was alive now with bird
notes. and he listened with q ney
delight. He thought suddenly, wit
a kind of impatient wonder, tina
never in his life had he sat perfectl
alone in a solitude and listened t
the voices of the night. The onl
out-of- doors he knew had been com
prised In motor whirls on frequente
highroads, seashore or mountai
months where bridge and dancin
were forever on the cards or els
such up-to-date camping" as wa
INDUCED in at the Fargos' "shack
on the st. Lawrence. He sat no.
with his senses alert to a new worl
that his sophisticated eye and ca
had never known. Something me-
was entering into him that SCENE
the spirit of the place; the blessin
of the tall silver poplars outside, tn
musical scented gardens and tn