The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1914-05-28
CHAPTER xL-contInued-

CHAPTER NL-Contlnued-
Wonders win never ceasei" said
ehs young man easily, Struggling.
We'll, our quarry Ii here somewhere
From the way the dogs act should
cay he's bolted into the house. With
your permission I'll take one of them
In and see" He stopped and snapped
a leash on q dog-collar.
I'm really very sorry." said Valiant,
but I'm living In 1t at present"
The edge Of smile lifted the care
fully trained mustachp over the
others white teeth. It had the per
fectly courteous air OF saying. -Of
course. II you say 80, But"
Valiant turned, with a gesture that
included all. III you care to dismount
and rest he said, II shall be honored,
though I'm afraid l can't offer you
such hospitality as l should wish"
The Judge raised his broad soft hat
Thank you. SIR" he said, with soft
accent that delightfully."- disdained the
letter "r." But we mustn't intrude
any further. As you know, Of course,
the place has been uninhabited for
any number At years, and we had no
Idea It was to acquire o tenant You
will overlook our riding through,
hope. I'm afraid the ndghborhood
has got used to considering this sort
Of no-mAn's land. It's pleasure to
know that the Court is to be re-
claimed, sir. Come along. Chilly" he
added. Our fox has burrow under
the house, reckon-hang the cunning
little devil!"
He waved his hat at the porch and
tnrned his horse down the path. side
BY side with the golden chestnut.
After them trooped the others, horses
walking YEARLY, riders talking in low
voices, the girls turning often to send
swift btsd-like glances behind them
to where the straight masculine figure
still stood with the yellow sunshine on
his face They did not leap the wall
this time, but filed decorously through
the swinging gate to the Red Road.
Then, as they passed from view be-
hind the hedges, John Valiant heard
the younger voices break out together
like the sound of bomb thrown into
q poultry-yard.
John Valiant stood watching till the
last rider was out Of sight. There
was a warm flush of color in his face
At length he turned with a ghost
of a sigh, opened the hall door wide
and stalking a hundred yards away.
sat down on the shady grass and be-
gan to whistle, with his eyes on the
door.
Presently he was rewarded On a
sudden, around the edge OF the sill
peered a sharp, suspicious little muz-
xle. Then, like a fash Of tawny light,
the fox broke sanctuary and shot for
the thicket.
Tho brown ivied house in the vii
3age was big and square and faced the
sleepy street. A one-storied wing con-
tanned a small door with doctors
brass plate on the clapboarding be-
side It. Doctor Southall was one Of
Mrs. Merryweather Mason's paying
guests-for she would have deemed
the word boarder a gratuitous insult,
NO less to them than to her. Another
was the major, who for a decade had
occupied the big old-fashioned cor
ner-room on the second floor, com
panioned by a monstrous gray cat and
waited on by an ancient negro named
Iereboam, who had been a slave of
his fathers.
The doctor was a sallow taciturn
man with saturnine face, eyebrows
like frosted thistles, a mouth as II
made with one quick mife-slash and
head nearly bald. set on neck that
would not have disqualified a year
ling or.
On this particular morning neither
the major nor the doctor was In evi
dence, the former having gone out
early, and the latter being at the mo
ment in his Office, as the brassy buzz
of a telephone from time to time an.
nounced. Two Of the green wicker