Bisbee daily review., 1914-12-30
CHAPTER VII
Meet Ae.skiab.

he proposed that delay my departure until the following day What he wanted. and he put it bluntly was a friend at court and as l had seeming y satisfied him of my entire good faith and of my devotion to his interests he begged that l prolong my stay in Miss Hollister's house. giving as my excuse the condition of the chimneys Of Hope field Manor He brushed aside my plea of other engagements and appeal ed Co our old friendship He was talk ing his troubles hard. and l felt that he really needed counsel and support in the involved state of his affairs did not see how my continued pres ence under Miss Hollisters roof could materially assist him, and the thought of remaining there when there was no work to be done was repugnant to my sense of professional honor, but he was SO persistent that finally yielded.
 While we ate luncheon ! sought by every means to divert his thoughts to other channels After we were seated in the dining room four other men fol lowed. exercising considerable care in placing themselves as far from one ans other as peaSible A few moments lat CT motor hummed into the driveway and we hceus its owner ordering his chauEeur ts psurn Co town and hold himself sabtect to telephone call. This latest arrival appeared shortly in the dining room and. surveying the rest of us with disdainful mir. sought ta- ble in the remotest corner of the room Others appeared, until eight in an had entered. The presence of these men at this hour, their air of aloofness and the care they exercised in isolating themselves interested me. They ap- peared to be gentlemen. They were indeed. suggestive of the ampler met ropolitan wor.d, and one of them was unmistakably a foreigner.
 While Wiegins appeared to ignore them ] was conscious that he reviewed the successive arrivals with every manifestation of contempt. One of these glum gentlemen seemed familiar. ] could not at once recall him. but something in his manner leased my memory for a moment before ] placed him Then it dawned upon me that he was the third man J had met in the field overhangipg the garden after my eavesdropping experience the day before thought it as well, however, not to mention this fact or to speak of the man ! had seen SO grimly posted iu the midst of the cornheld. l was an observer, locker on, at Hopeteld, and f.aH 1Fa ..N lectiug of Information.
 "WiIl you kindly tell me. Wiggy. who these strange gentlemen are and just what has brought them here at this hourf'
 "I know them-they are guests of the inn. Most of them were more or less companions in our procession across Europe last summer The one in the tan suit is Henderson must have heard of him. The short dark chap of atrabilious conntenance is John Stew. art Dick, who pretends to be philosO- per As for the others"-
 He dismissed them with a jerk of the head My wits struggled with his ex- planati0n. it is my wish to reduce in formation to plain terms
 Are these gentlemen. then. your ri- vals for the hand of Miss Cecilia Hol- lister? If so, they are solemn band of suitors, l must confess"
 "Nou have hit it. Ames. They are suitors, assembled from all parts of the world"
 Nice looking fellows, except the chap with the mOnOcle. who has just ordered rather more liquor than gen tleman should at this hour"
 That is Lord ArrOwood. l have feared at times that Miss Octayia fa- vored him"
 Possibly but not likely. But how long is this thing going to last? If you fellows are going to hang on here until Miss Cecilia Hollister has chosen one of you for her husband ] shud- der for your nerves l imagine that any one of these gentlemen is likely to begin shooting across his plate at any minute Such a situation would be. come intolerable very quickly if l were in the game and forced to lodge here"
 'I hope" replied Wiggins with heat ''that you don't imagine these fellows can crowd me out I've paid for a months lodging in advance, and if you win stand by me I'm going to wine
 Spoken like a man. my dear Wig ginsl You may count on me to the sweet or bitter end, even if pull down an the superb chimpeys with which Pepperton adorned that house up yon der"
 He silently clasped my hand A lit tle later ] telephoncd from the inn tC my office explaining my absence and instucting my assistant to visit sev eral pressing clients, and ] instructed the valet at the Hare and Tortoise tC send me a weeks supply Of linen and an odd suit or two.
 At about o'clock ! left Wiggins ir first raIe spirits and set out on my re