The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1915-09-02

For one Of these old papers especial
| ly had set forth plainly the fact that
Hagar's long dead husband. the
| greed5- Matt Harding. had traGickcd
with the great folks Of Fairfax in his
! own flesh and blood. Here was q for
tune to be 0btained by himself. as it
had been obtained by Matt Harding,
Luke Lowell thought And he limred
away unseen from the destroyed
| gypsy camp ana trul|C1 reSO.utcly to
Fairfax. some eight or ten miles away.
there Was no one at Stanley hail to
pay him for keeping or telling the Stan
ley secret, but Luke Lowell knew
| enough of the Staneys and their feuds
to realize his best market would be
with Blair Staney's mother. If Arthur
Stanley, so called, WAS uaCar's son, a
gypsy chalgeliiig, then Blair Stanley
was the real heir to the Stanley earl
dom, to which, according to the old
family tradition, the heir was com
manded to carry the diamond from the
sky.
But at the portals of the home of
Blair Stanicy's mother the proud. cold
widow would hold no traffic with the
sinister gypsy who clamorcd at her
threshold with 4 secret to sell She or
deFed him to be gone and protested 10
interest in the ware he limited he had
for SALE
Ellen Stanley was. in her austere
way. as INSCRIPTIONS in her family am
I.it
cold Judge Lamar Stanley, had been.
But she WouId have no traffic with such
IT'S Luke Lowell. She realized only too
we'll that once such creature had her
in his power. even as q confiGant, his
dominion would be, as is always the
dominion Of the ignorant, brutal and
intolerab,e.
SO Blairs mother dismissed the cha
cTined gypsy i'll cold disd;lin. She would
be no confederate and yet the victim of
the eXactions that she instinctively
knew would follow any association
With any secret with him.
IF you have any secret to sell take it
to some other market" said the Widow
Stanley with cold hauteur. Unless
you leave my premises this instant |
shall have YOU arrested and committed
for attempted blackmail. Shout Your
secret from the housetops if you please.
am not concerned"
But Luke Lowell, thwarteG and dis
ccuraged though he was in his first
bold bid for the fortune he had be-
licvcd Was within his grasp had no in
tention Of shouting his secret from the
housetors He realized its only value
was i'll bis keeping it and being paid,
and heavily, to keep it.
He must fad some one who wc,11d
nay-this some one would be Blair
Stanley. he did not doubt.
But if Blair Stanley's mother had re-
fused to traffic with the sinister ryDsv
she was slirewd enough to s,lr1nise the
secret that had become Il livin. thing
again after lying dormant for eighteen
years.
Why had her husband set off alone TO
meet his death in the mountains the
day after Colonel Stanley had died.
eighteen years ago: WHY had II. Leo
adopted the gypsy womaI's daughter a
few mont.iF since? Why had ,:ii., gypsy
woman returned after all these wears
III he -1i:'c Of y woman, of mems. ami
taken S:anie." hall?
Why had .,hc come with proofs of
blair's guilt of the murder CT DR.. Leo
and prcTercd her silence in exchan~o
Tor social recognition by the proud fam
HES Of Fairfax for this girl:
And now that this gypsy woman WAS
rlazcu and all fear Of her sons Chilli
being known had vanished for the time
BENG ut least. Mrs. Stanley resolved TO
1ake advantage of these, situations as
sac suspcipncl them + this Gil WAS
Tie real .1cir. tao missing: hci;. OF St,n-
ley hail. of which there had been vague
Whispers fer years. why not prcpare
or and fcrtify against any possible
ilS@race that might threaten through
ler sons rash and dreadful GcetI-the |
murder of Dr Lee:
CtiAHTCP w