The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-12-24

puttolu ne 5iDpptu ana lhCtu me dkdlUs
You're a better man than ! thought he
said. III you'll bury the Ratchet, SO will l..
take back what | said TO you, not because
I'm afraid of YOU. but because l respect
The surly, arrogant expression was gone
from his face. In its place was a puzzled,
somewhat inuuiring look.
N hard feeling on my part" / cried
gladly. We shook hands. Jasper, Jr. slapped
me on the back. It's a most distressing.
atavistic habit I'm getting into. knocking
people down without rhyme or reason"
%daresay YOU had reason" muttered
Coilngraft. II got what was coming to me-"
An eager Light crept into his handsome
eyes. BY Jove. we can get in some corking
box quite a bit at home. and I miss 1t
ira .eling about like this. What say to a
half,hoqr or SO every day? have the
horribly seedy. l need stirring up"
Charmed. I'm sure" | said, assuming an
enthusiasm | did not feel. Put on the gloves
with this strapping. skillful boxer?. Not l!
| was firmly resolved to stop while my
record was good. In a scientific clash with
tho gloves he would soon find out what a
miserable duffer l was.
ana nAnd JaPpF, here Is no SLOUGH. He's as
The shiftier the better" said I. with
great aplomb. Jasper. Jr.. stuck out his
chest modestly. and said; "oh. piffle, colly;'
in my mind that Jasper could put it all
over me-" II was a rather sickening admis-
sion, though strictly private.
We made our way to my study, where l
mildly suggested that we refrain from men,
tioning our little encounter to Mrs. Titus
or the Countess. / thought Colingraft was
especially pleased with the idea. We swore
secrecy.
"rve always been regarded as a peaceful.
harmless grub l explained, still somewhat
bewildered by the feat l had performed.
and considerably shaken by the fear that
] was degenerating into Q positive ruffian.
You will believe me. ! hope, when de-
clare that was merely acting in seh-de-
Tense when l."
He could not resist the impulse to blurt out
once more: by Jove. I didn't think you
could do it"
with my left hand, too" T said wonder
A little later on. as collngraft left the
room, slyly feeling of his jaw. Jasper. Jr.,
him eating out Of your hand, old top"
Things were coming to q pretty pass. said
l to myself when / was all alone. It Ger
tainly Is q pretty pass when one knocks
down the ex-husband and the brother of
the woman he loves. and quite without the
least suspicion Of an inherited pugnacity.
| had a little note from the Countess that
afternoon. tremendously delivered by Helene
Marie Louise Antoinette. 1t read as follows:
you did Colingraft a very good turn when
YOU laid him low this morning. He Is tire
somely interested in his prowess as a box
IiAAhtis VI ~ I" =
athletic parlance. He has been like a lamb
all afternoon and he really can't ret over
The way YOU whacked him. ts what the
word p At first he was as mum as could be
about II. but | think he really felt relieved
when told him l had seen the whole af-
fair from a window In my hall: You see IT
gave him q chance to explain how you got
in the whack, and I have been Obliged to
listen to intermittent lectures on the manly
art Of self-defense all afternoon, first from
him. then from Jappy. l have a headache.
,~1 ~, nj 1afanCn ua I'D mo that he
deserved II. but l am not surprised. Colly
is a sporting chap. He hasn't a mean drop
Of blood in his body. You have made 9
friend OF him. So please don't feel that l
hold a grudge against you for what you did.
The funny part OF II all Is that mamma
quite agrees with him. She says he de-
served it! Mamma is wonderful, really,
when It comes to a pinch. She has given up
all thought Of putting a foot outside the
castle. Can you have luncheon with us to.
morrow? Would it be too much trouble II
mad to get out-of-doors II only for an hour
or two in that wailed-in spot. Mr.. Poopen-
dyke has been perfectly lovely. He came up
s snls mor at \ q, to sDs tell tba me , ,naH t ysu re hnSsn.t
chance now that YOU will have a cold. 1t
seems he was afraid you might, You must
have a very rugged constitution. Britton
told Blake that most men would have died
from exposure If they had been put In your
' "AL1NE T,
"P. SCI may come down to see you this
evening"
l shall skip over the rather uninteresting
events Of the next two or three days. Moth
ing OF consequence happened, unless you
are willing to consider important two per-
fcctly blissful nights of sleep on my part.
Also. l had the pleasure Of taking the
Countess ''out walking" IN my courtyard,
to use a colloouialism: once in the warm.
.#.ln., p.,nEhtna AGAIN MEATH tha ulaur ne q
radiant moon. She had not been outside
the castle walls, literally, in more than five
weeks. and the color leaped back into her
cheeps with a rush that delighted me. l
may mention in passing that I paid %particu-
lar attention to her suggestion concerning
my dilapidated. gone-to-seed garden, al
though I had been bored to extinction by
Jasper, .Jr. when he undertook to enlighten
me horticulturaliy She agreed to come forth
every day and assist me in building the
poor thing up; propping 1t, so to speak.
As for Mrs. Titus. that really engaging
lady made life so easy for me that I won
dered why | had ever been apprehensive.
She was quite wonderful when ut came to
n pinch l began to understand a good
many things about her. chief among them
being her unvoiced theories on matrlmony.
While she did not actually commit herself.
| had no difficulty in ascertaining that,
from her point of view. marriage les are not
ranged divorce is a great deal less terrestrial
than It is commonly supposed to be, She
believed matrimony as n trial and divorce
as a reward, or something to that effect.
NV opinion seemed 10 carry considerable
weight with her. For a day or two after
our somewhat sanguinary encounter, she
when addressed myself to her with unln-
territorial directness. She soon got over
thet, however.
We we're discussing Aline's unfortunate
venture into the state Of matrimony and I,
feeling temporarily august and superior,
managed to saw the wrong thing and in