Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-12-09
CHAPTER Y-lContinued.N

mind. Evidently Miss Vaughan thought
she had grave cause for alarm, n yet
1t was quite possible she might be mis-
| taken. She was being urged to consent
to something against her will, but per
haps 1t was for her own good. In n
event. l had seen no Indication that
her consent was being sought by Vio-
lence. There must be no Interference
on u part until We were surer of our
ground.
We'll. Swain" l said, at last. will
help you on n condition.
What is that?"
You will meet Miss Vaughan to-
night n hear her story, but you will
take no action until you and l have
talked the matter over. She, herself,
says that she has three days" | Went
on. as he started to protest, so there
Is no necessity for leaping in the dark.
And | would point out TO YOU that she
Is not yet of age but is still under her
fathers CONTROL"
She is 49," he protested.
In this state, the legal age for wom-
en-, as for men, is 81. The law requires
a very serious reason for interfering
between a child and it's father. More
over added, she must not be COM
promised. If you persuade her to ac-
company you tonight, where would you
take her? In no case. will l be a party
to an elopen1ent-I will do all / can
to prevent it,"
He took a short turn up and down
the room. his hands clenched behind
him.
Mr.. Lester he said. at last, stop
ping before me. Il want you to believe
that l nave not ever thought of an
elopement-that would be too base, too
unfair to her. But l see that you are
right. n must not be compromised"
And you promise to ask my ad-
vice."
Suppose | make such a promise,
what then?''
IF you make such a promise, and l
agree with you as to the necessity for
MISS Vaughan to leave her father, l
think l can arrange for her to stay
with Mr.. and Mrs. Royce for a time.
There she will be safe. Should legal
proceedings become necessary, our
firm can help you. 1 want to help you,
SWAIN" l added, warmly, but I must
be convinced that you deserve help.
That's reasonable, isn't it?"
Yes he agreed, and held out his
hand. and l PROMISE"
Good. And now for the arrange
ments."
Two 10 foot ladders were necessary.
one for either sid of the wall; but, be-
yond a short step ladder, the place pos
sessed none except the long one by
which Godfrey and / had mounted into
the tree. SWAN suggested that his
G DO for one, but l felt that it
would be better stay where it was, and
sent Hargis over to Yonkers to buy
two new ones, i%nstructing him to bring
them back with him.
Then Swain and l reconnoitered the
wall, ana chose for the crossing a spot
where the glass escarpment seemed a
l1ttle less formidable han elsewhere.
You can step from one ladder to
the other l pointed out" without
touching the top of the wall. A mere
toncn would be dangerous in the dark y
he nodded his agreement, and finally
we went back to the house. Getting
there, we found suddenly that we had
nollins more TO say. Swain vas soon
deep IN his own thoughts; md, I must
confess, that, after the first excitement,
l began to find the affair a little weary
ing; and, besides that, the glimpse
which | had caught of Marjorie vaug-
nan made me think that she was
worthy of a bigger fish than Swain
would ever be. He was right in say
ing that there were thousands of men
VINO had more to give her, and who
would be eager to give.
examined Swain as he sat there
staring at '"'i
friendly. He was handsome apr e mhosly
but in a stereotyped way. And he Was
only an insignificant clerk. with small
prospect of ever being anything mI,oh
better, for he had started the battle or
HE too late. Honest, of course. hon
orable, clean hearted, but omnon-
place, with a depth of soul easilv faith
omed. l know now that | was uni,1st
TO Swain. but, at the moment. NV
scrutiny of him left me strangely de-
| pressed.
a rattle of wheels on the drive
brought us both out Of our thoughts.
1t was Hargis returning with the lad
ders. l had him hang them up against
the shed where he kept his gardening
implements, for | did not wish him TO
suspect the invasion we had planned.
then, just to kill time and get away
from swain, spent an hour with Har-
gls in his garden; and finally came the
summons to dinner. An hour later. as
we sat on the front porch smoking. and
still finding little or nothing to saw
Mrs. Hargis came out to bid us good
night.
Mr.. Swain can use the bedroom next
to yours, Mr.. Lester she said.
Perhaps he won't stay all night" 7
said. IF he does. I'll show him the
way to it. And thank YOU very much
Mrs. Hargis.'
rs there anything else I can dc.
Dir? " ~
: NO. thank YOU
MIR. Godfrey will be here a little be-
fore midnight-at least, that's his usual
inie."
Well wait up for him." | said.
Good night, Mrs. Hargis.'
Good night, sir and she went back
into the house.
l have never passed through a longer
or more trying hou than the next one
was, and l could tell by the way Swain
twitched about in his chair that he
felt the tedium as much as l.. Once or
twice l tried to start a conversation
but it soon trickled dry: and we ended
by smoking away modify and staring
out into the darkness.
At last Swain sprang to his feet.
Il can't stand this any longer" he
said. I'm going over the wall"
l struck a match and looked at my
watch.
1T isn't II o'clock yet" warned
him.
Il don't care. Perhaps she's be
ahead of time. Anyway. / might as
well wait there as here"
Come on, then" / agreed, for / felt
myself that another such hour would
be uncomfortable.
Together we made our way back to
h shed and took down the ladders. A
moment later, we We're at the wall.
Swain placed his ladder against it. and
mounted quickly to the top. AS he
paused there, ! banded him UP the