The Ordway new era., 1914-05-01

Where the devil does he come in
meanwhilef'
The receiver pursed his lips. y
knew his father" he said. He had
the same crasy quixotic streak.
He gathered the scattered docu-
ments and locked them carefully with
the satchel in . safe. Spectacular
young ASST" he said explosivsly.
II should say sol" agreed Fargo.
do you know used to be afraid my
Katharine had . leaning toward him.
But thank God, she's = sensible grill"
-
Dusk had fallen that evening when
John valiant's Panhard turned Into .
cross-street and circled into tho yawn-
ing mouth OF his garage.
A little later, the BULLDOG At his
heels. he ascended the steps Of his
club. where he lodsed-he had dis
posed Of his bachelor apartments .
fortnight ago. The cavernous seats Of
the lounge were all occupied, but he
did not pause ~ he strobe through
the hall. He took the little pile Of
letters the boy handed him at the
desk and went slowly mp the stairway.
He wandered into the deserted libra
~ and sat down. tossing tho letters
on the magasine- Uttered table. He had
suddenly remembered that It was his
twsnty.nfth birthday.
In the reaction from the long strain
he felt physically spent. He thought
Of what he had done that afternoon
with sense Of satisfaction. A re-
versal Of public Judgment, In his own
case, had not entered his head. He
knew his world-its comfortable facul
ty Of forgetting. and the multitude Of
sins that wealth may cover. To pre-
serve at whatever personal cost the
one noble monument his fathers
genius had reared. and to right the
wrong that would cast Its gloomy
shadow on his name-that had been
his only thought What he had done
would have been done NO matter what
the outcome Of the investigation. But
now, he told himself. no one could say
the act had bssh wruny from him.
That, he fancied. would have been his
fathers way.
He smiled slow smile OF reminis-
cence-for thero had come to him 1t
that moment the dearest Of all those
memories play Of his childhood.
He saw himself seated on . low
stool. Watching . funny old clock with
. moon-face, vh0s smiling lips curved
up like military mustachios. and wish-
ing the lazy long hands would hurry.
He saw himself stealing down long
corridor to the door Of big room
strewn with books and papers, that
through some balsful and mysterious
spell could not be made to open at
all hours. When the hands pointed
right, however. there was the open
SesAme"-his own secret knock. two
fierce twin raps., with one little lone
some one afterward-and this was un-
failing. Safe inside, he saw himself
standing on . big. polar-bearskin. the
door tight-locked against all comers,
an expectant baby ngure with his lit
tie hand clasped in his fathers. The
white rug was the magic entrance to
the Never-Never Country. known only
to those two.
He could hear his own shrill treble:
Wishing House. Wishing House.
where are your
Then the deeper voice (quite unreo-
ognisable % his father's) answering:
Here I am, Master; here I ami"
And instantly the room vanished
and they were in the Never-Never
Land. and before them reared the big
sest house in the world, with row Of
white pillars across its front . mile
high.
John Valiant felt an odd beating Of
the heart and I tightening Of the
throat. for he saw scene that never
faded from his memory. It was the
one hushed and horrible night, when
dread things had been happening that
he could not understand. when big