Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-02-18
DarkHolOw
RAuxa KahalnpG Green
Illustrations CT Rhodes
coPY1eIc54T 1914 81 poDP rEAD q COMPANY

on rising from the taDle-
1.-THE words are more or less impor-
tantl:
81 am really sorry to trouble you,
Mrs. Scoville; but if you have time
this morning, will you clean up my
study before l leave? The carriage
is ordered for half-past nine"
The task was one she had long de-
sired to perform. Giving Reuther the
rest of the work to do, she presently
appeared before him with pail and
broom and a pile of fresh linen. Moth
ing more commonplace could be imag-
ined, but to her, if not to him, there
underlay this special act of ordinary
h~ousewifery a possible enlightenment
ON a subject which had held the whole
community in a state of curiosity for
years. She was going to enter the
room which had been barred from pub
lie sight by poor Bela's dying body.
The great room before her pre-
scented a bare floor, whereas on her
first visit it had been very decently,
if not carefully, covered by a huge car
pet rug. The judges chair, which had
once looked immovable, had been
dragged forward into such a position
that he could keep his own eye on the
bedroom door. Manifestly she was not
to be allowed to pursue her duties IN
watched. Certainly she had to take
more than one look at the everyday
implements she carried to retain that
balance of judgment which should pre-
vent her from becoming the dupe OF
her own expectations.
Il do not expect you to clean up here
as thoroughly as you have your own
rooms upstairs" he remarked, as she
passed him. "And, Mrs. Scoville," he
called out as she slipped through the
doorway, leave the door open and
keep away as much as possible from
the side of the room where l have
nailed up the curtain. | had rather
not have that touched"
Not touch the curtain! Why, that
was the one thing in the roo she
wanted to touch; for in it she not only
saw the carpet which had been taken
up from the floor, but a possible
screen behind which anything might
lurk-even his ~redoubtable secret.
There is no window" she observed,
looking back at the judge.
NO." was his short reply.
Slowly she set down her pail. One
thing was settled. 1t was Bela's cot
| she saw before her-a cot without any
sheets. These had been left behind
/ in the dead Negroes room, and the
judge had been sleeping just as she
t had feared, wrapped in a rug and with
t uncovered pillow. This pillow was his
t own; it had not been brought down
with the bed. She hastily slipped
I cover on it, and without calling any
; ! further attention to her act, begar
/ to make up the bed.
Conscious that the papers he made
a feint of reading were but a cover fol
5 his watchfulness, she moved about IL
a mat~ter-of-fact way and did not spare
d him the clouds of dust which presently
rose before her broom. But the judge
+ was impervious to discomfort. HI
coughed and shook his head, but die
S not bulge an inch. Before she hat
d begun to put things in order the clocl
y struck the half-hour.
"Oh!" she protested, with a plead
ing glance his way, I'm not hal
done"
n There's another day to follow" h
l, remarked, rising and taking a Ike
IT from his pocket,
d The act expressed his wishes; an
d he was proceeding to carry out he
e. things when a quick, sliding nois
from the wall she was passing Dire
f. her attention and caused her to sprin
If forward in an involuntary effort t
catch a picture which had slipped il
lie cord and was falling to the floor.
e, A shout from the judge Of Stan
id aside, let me come!" reached her tc
a late. She had grasped and lifted til
e. picture and seem
But first let me explain. This pi
he ture was not like the others hangir
Id about. 1t was a yelled one. Fro
some motive of precaution or chara
I'D t~eristic desire for concealment on Il
ed part of the Judge, it had been close
ct wrapped about in heavy brown pap
wv before being hung, and in the encou
of ter which ensued between the fallii
as picture and the spear of an imal
IN. standing on the table underneath, tn
er paper had received a slit throui
to which Deborah had been given
he glimpse of the canvas beneath.
ma The shock of what she saw won
have unnerved a less courageo
ce woman.
ge 1t was a highly finished portrait
en- Oliver in his youth, with a broad ba