Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-23
Sepen Kevs to Baldpate
BY EARL DERR BlGGERs
Copyright by Merrill CO.

not know; whose motives were mostly
in the fog. And he had come up here
to be alone.
For the first time in many hours he
thought of New York, of the fellows
at the club. of what they would say
when the jocund news came that Billy
Magee had gone mad on a mountain
side He thought of Helen Faulkner.
naughty, unperturbed, bred TO hold
herself above the swift eatastrophies
of the world. He could see the arch
of her patrician eyebrows, the shrug
of her exquisite shoulders, when young
Williams FASTENED up the avenue and
poured into her ear the merry story.
Well--so be II. He had never cared
for her. In her superiority he had
found q challenge, in her icy indif-
ference a trap, that iured him on to
try his hand at winning her. But he
had never for q moment caught a
glimmering Of what II was really to
care--to care as he cared now for the
girl who had gone from him-sorne-
where-down the mountain.
Quimby dragged into the room, the
strain of rather wild night in Upper
Asquewan Falls in his eyes.
Jake Peters asked me to tell you
he amt coming back" he said. Mis-
Quimby is getting breakfast for you
down at our house You better pack
UP now and start down, reckon
Your train goes at half past six
Mrs. Norton jumped up, proclaim
ing that she must be aboard that
train at any cost. Miss Thornhill, the
professor and Kendrick assembled the
stairs, and in d moment Magee fol-
lowed
He stepped softly into number
seven, for the tragedy of the rooms
was still in the air Vague shapes
seemed to fit about him as he lighted
candle. They whispered In his ear
that this was to have been the scene
of his achievement; that here he wac
to have written the book that should
make his place secure. All, well, fate
had decreed it otherwise. 1t had set
plump in his path the melodrama he
had come UP to Baldpate to avoid
1ronic fate. she must be laughing
now in the sleeve of her kimono. Feel
ing about in the shadows, Eages
gathered his things together, sat
them In his bags, and, with y last
look at number seven, closed sSie door
forever on its many exeiteEs5rss.
A shivering group awaitsS hsn1 al
the foot of the stair. Mrs. Korton's
hat was on at an angle even the most
imaginative milliner could not have
approved. The professor looked older
than ever; even MISC Thornha.
seemed a little less statuesque and
handsome in the dusk Quinby led
the way TO the door, they passed
through 1t, and Mr.. Magee locked II
after them with the key Hal Bentley
had blithly given him on Forty fourth
street, New York.
So Baldpate Inn dropped back into
the silence to slumber and to wait.
To wait for the magic of muslin. the
Tilt of waltzes, the tinlxle of laugh
ter, the rhythm of the rockers of the
fleet on its verandas, the formal tread
of the adniral's boots across It's pol.
ished floors, the clink of dimes in
the pockets of its bell-boys. For a
few brief hours strange figures had
replaced the unromantic Quinby In
its rooms, they had come to talk OF
money and of love, to plot and
scheme, and as they came In the
dark and moved most swiftly In the
dark, SO in the dark they went away
and Baldpate's startling winter
drama took reluctantly its final cur
tain.
Down the snowy road the five fol.
lowed Quinby's lead: Mr.. Megee pic
turing IN fancy one who had fed
along this path but short time be-
fore; the others busy with many
thoughts, not the least of which was
of Mrs. Quinaby's breakfast. At the
door OF the kitchen she met them
maternal concerned. eageF to nam