Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-04-07

s. . :
for Drayton, the pup, the yellow
streaked pupil talk to Mister Dray-
ton when l get back to- Reuton."
Before you go, Bland remarked
Magee, smiling, II want to ask about
Arabella. Where did you get her!
Some of it happened to friend OF
mine," the ex-haberdasher answered,
"a friend that keeps clothing store.
got this suit there. I changed the
story, here and there. He didn't write
her no note. though he thought seri-
ously of it. And he didn't run away
and hide. The last I seen OF him ne
was testing the effect Of the heart-oalm
on sale behind the swinging doors.
Mr.. Magee laughed, but over the
long lean face of Bland not the ghost
of a smile fitted. He was frightened,
through and through.
You're a fine bunch" sneered Mr..
Max. Performers, eh? Well, you II
get what the rest OF em always got.
Well tie you up in knots and leave you
on the doorstep Of some orphan asy-
lum before we're through with you
"Come on, Lou" said Cargan.
"Drayton's smart guy, Doc. Where's
his proof? Eloped with the bundle or
dry goods this young mans taken
fancy to. And even if he had the
money-I've been up against this many
a. time. You're wasting your talents.
Doc. Good night! Come on, boys.
The three stamped out through the
dining-room, and from the window Mr..
Magee watched them disappear down
the road that stretched to AsqueWan
Falls.
CHAPTER XVIII.
A Red Card.
/ Mr.. Magee turned back from the
window to. the dim interior of the no.
tel Office. He who had come to Bald
pate Inn to court loneliness had never
felt so lonely in his life. For he had
lost sight of her--in the great Reuton
station of his Imagination she had
slipped from his dreams-tO go where
he could not follow, even in thought.
He felt as he knew this great bare
room must feel each fall when the last
laugh died away down the mountain.
and the gloom of winter descended
from drab skies.
Selecting a log of the hermit's cut
ting from the stock beside the hearth.
Mr. Magee tossed 1t on the fire. There
followed shower Of sparks and flood
Of red light in the room. Through
this light Kendrick advanced to Ma
gees side, and the first of the Bald
pate hermits saw that the mans face
was lined by care, that his eyes were
tired even under the new light In
them. that his mouth was twisted
bitterly.
"Poor devil" thought Magee.
Kendrick drew up chairs for himself
and Magee, and they sat down. Be-
hind them the bulky Mrs. Norton dozed
dreaming perhaps of her Reuton board
ing-house, while Miss Thornhill and
the professor talked internationally IN
low tones The ranks at Baldpate
were thinning rapidly: before long the
place must settle back with sigh in
the cold, to wait for it's first summer
girl.
"Mr, Magee," said Kendrick nerv-
ously you have become involved in
an unkind, a trigic story do not
mean the affair of the bribe-I refer
to the matter between Hayden and
myself. Before Peters comes back
with-the men he went for-I should
like to tell you some of the facts of
that story"
eff you had rather not" began
Magee.
mo" replied Kendrick, 81 prefer
that you should know. 1t was you who
took the pistol from-his hand. l DO
not believe that even 1 can tell you
all that was in Hayden's mind when he
went into that other room and closed
the door. It seems to me preproster-
Gus that a man of his sort should take
his life under the circumstances.
feel, somehow, that there is a part OF
the story even do not know. But
let that be-
He bowed his head in his hands.
ever since | came into this room,
he went on, "the eyes OF a pompous
little man have been following me
about. They have constantly recalled
to me the nightmare of my life. You
have noticed, no doubt the pictures of
the admiral that decorate these
walls?"
81 have" replied Magee. He gaxed
curiously at the nearest of the por-
traits. How persistently this almost
mythical starched man wove in and
out Of the melodrama at Baldpate Inn.
well" continued Kendrick, "the
admiraIs eyes haunt me- Perhaps
you know that he plays game-a
game of solitaire. I have good rea-
son to remember that game. 1t is a
silly inconseQuental game. You would
scarcely believe that it once sent a
man to BELL
He stopped.
81 am beginning in the middle Of my
story" he apoligized. Let NE go
back. Six years ago was hardly the
man you see now-I was at least TWEEN
| ty years younger. Hayden and
worked together in the office of the
Southern Railway. We had been close
| friends at college, believe in him
| and trustd him. although I knew he