Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-07-16

lure.
When Edward Grant returned from
his journey he was a changed man. He
could not return the embrace OF bis
wife and son as when he had left them.
That something was on his mind was
plain to Mrs. Grant, but she could not
tell what it was. On the evening of
his return after dinner he lit a cigar,
and the comfort of being at home
seemed to have dispelled, what had
come between him and it when there
was a ring at the telephone. He look
ed disquieted. Mrs. Grant arose to go
to the instrument, but he motioned her
to be seated and went himself.
When he returned to her he said that
he was sorry not to be able to pass the
first night OF his return at home, but
that a matter connected with the bust
ness upon which he had gone to the
west called him out. His wife knew
that he was deceiving her, but pretend
ed to believe him. In a few minutes
after leaving his home he was with
the woman who had been his travelling
companion.
1t was not long before Mrs. Grant
learned that her husband had fallen
into the hands of a vampire. Spring
was coming on, and rooms were en-
gagged for the Grant family for July
and August at the hotel where they
usually spent the summer. Grant made
no objection to going there, and his
wife hoped that If she could get him
where she could keep him continually
under her surveillance she might break
the spell that held him. Alas, when
she reached the summer resort among
the guests at the hotel where the Grant
family stopped was a woman who, 1t
soon became evident, was the cause OF
her husbands trouble.
It was there that l first heard of this
case and saw Grant and the vampire
p~romenading the piazza of the hotel
after dinner. What became of him and
the woman at other times l did not
know, for l seldom saw either OF them
at any other hour than evening. Mrs.
Grant l did not see at all. / was told
that she kept her room, not caring to
face those who were witnesses of the
shame that had been put upon her.
But l saw Harry Grant frequently
with other boys of his G playing ten
mis- and bathing. He was a fine, manly
boy, and 1t seemed to me that he was
what his father had been at his age.
When the end of the season came
Mrs. Grant and Harry returned to the
city together, while his father bowled
along the turnpike In an automobile
with the vampire. Every one sympa-
thized with the wife, but no one was
in a position to do anything for her.
Every one despised the man. Yet not
every one, for / had a different view
concerning the matter. There are vari-
GUS influences that will undermine a
mans will power, and once 1t is under
mined it is very difficult for him to re-
cover II. Nevertheless nothing is i'm
possible.
The trouble in the Grant family went
on till Harry Grant had passed fifteen
years of age. He had understood the
family trouble from the first and the
cause OF II, He was now nearly full
grown, and the skeleton In the family
closet and his love for his parents had
made a man of him. He dissuaded
his mother from applying for a divorce
until he had made an effort to save
his father from the vampire.
One day he had a talk with his ia
Their. who con1ded to his son that the
only way he could throw off the thrall
OF the vampire was to escape from her
long enough to regain his will power,
but he vas not able to make an at
tempt to escape. Soon after this Har-
ry one day asked his father to take a
ride with him in his car. Grant con-
scented, and Harry took the wheel, with
his father beside him. They had
scarcely left the city when the car stop
ped and two strong men entered and
took the back seat. Grant looked sus-
picious and asked what 1t meant. Then
Harry told him that he was his prison
er and would remain so until be was
restored to his family. Realizing that
the two men in the rear seat had been
hired to oyerpower him in case he re-
bloueus 0IdnL saw Tic lulully VI LIy-
ing to escape. Harry took him to a
house he had prepared for him, where
no one would be able to reach him, and
kept him there.
At the end of a month Grant begged
for his wife to come to him, and Harry
persuaded her to do 80. The family
continued to live In their secret abode,
no INT dreading being discovered more
than the husband and father. He was
like a convalescent who has suffered
from delirium, but who now every day
feels his strength returning to him.
The vampire meanwhile found anoth-
er victim. Nevertheless she made ev-
cry effort to find Grant, rather from
the deviltry there was in her and a re-
pugnance to having him spirited away
from her than any desire to continue
in possession of him. Three months
elapsed before she succeeding in find