Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-01-06
the Havey girl and the McBriar boy
falling
CHAPTER XVIII.

lands human life shrinks and shrivels
into shivering wretchedness. and a
spirit of dreariness steals into the hui
man heart.
The house of old Milt MeBriar was
not so dark and cherries a howell as
the houses of his lesser neighbors. but
as that winter closed in his heart was
bitter and his thoughts were black.
In roundabout way he had learned of
Young Milt's. visit to the McNash cab
in. His son was the apple of his eye
and now he was seeing him form en-
bryonic affiliations with the people OF
his enemy.
Young Milt had visited Dawn; he
had watched with Anse Havey. The
father had always taken a natural
pride in the honesty that cleaned
from his sons alert eyes. and the one
person from whom he had concealed
his own ways Of guile and deceit most
studiously was the , lad who would
some day be leader in his stead. There
were few things that this old intriguer
feared, but one there was, and now il
was tracing lines of care and anxiety
in the visage that had always been so
masklike and imperturbable. If his
son should ever look past his outward
self and catch a glimpse of the inner
man, the father knew that he would
not be able to sustain the scorn of
those younger eyes. So, while the
lad, who had gone back to college in
Lexington, conned his books, his faith
er sat before the blaze of his hearth,
his pipe tight clamped between his
teeth. his heart fostering in his breast,
and his mind dangerously active
The beginnings Of all the things
which he deplored, and meant to pun.
ish, went back to the establishment of
a school with a ''fotched-on" teacher.
Had Dawn McNash not come there,
his boys feet would not have gone
wandering westward over the ridge,
straying out of partizan paths. The
slimness of her body, the lure of her
violet eyes, and the dusky meshes of
her dark hair had led his own son to
guard the roof that sheltered her
against the hand of arson the father
had hired.
But most of all, Anse Havey was re-
sponsible: Anse Havey who had per.
suaded his son to make common cause
with the enemy. For that Anse Havey
must die.
Heretofore Old Milt had struck only
at lesser men, fearing the retribution
of too audacious crime, but now his
venom was acute, and even such grave
considerations as the danger of a hoIc
caust must not halt its appeasement
Still the mind Of Milt McBriar, the
elder had worked long in intrigue, and
even now it could not follow a direct
line. Bad Anse must not be shot down
in the read. His taking off must be
accomplished by a shrewder method
and one not directly traceable to SO
palpabIe a motive as his own hatred
Such a plan his brain was working
out, but for it's execution he needed a
hand of craft and force-such a hand
as only Luke Thixton could supply
and Luke was out West.
1t was not his intention to rush hast.
lily into action. Some day he would &C
down to Lexington and Luke should
come East to meet him. There, q hun
cred and thirty miles from the hills, |
the two Of them would arrange mat |
tefs to his own satisfaction.
Roger Malcolm had gone back, and |
he had not, after all, gone back with a
conqueror's triumph. He was now dis |
cussing in directors meetings plans
looking to titanic grouping of inter
ests which were to focalize on these
hills and later to bring Developments
The girls school was gradually max
ing itself felt, and each day saw small
classes at the desk and blackboard
small classes that were growing larger.
Now that Milt had laid the ground
work of his plans, he was making the
field fallow by a seeming Ct general
0enehcence. His word had gone out
along the creeks and branches and in
to the remote cOves of his territory
hat it wouldn't hurt folks none ter
gle their children a little P1cnin'."
IN rearCnle TO that ! int they trooped
II from the east, wherever the roads
Gould be travelled. Among those who
'hitched an lighted at the fence were
not only parents who brought their
but those who came impelled