The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1916-08-30
The Stroke Of Twelve.


! protection by installing in one of the
upper rooms of his house huge bur-
glar-proof vault of chromium steel.
The installation OF so ponderous a
vault, however, involved much mate
rial Strengthening of a structure not
primarily designed for the support of
seven-ton safes, and for days small
body OF expert workmen had been busy
| putting in pillars and Orders and
Disgusting these ponderous supports
under veneer of mahogany ceiling
beams and oriental teakwood columns.
In the ornamentation of the latter, in
fact. the owner of the house found a
valued assistant in Count Luigi Da
Espares who, with his finished taste
and his knowledge of the fine arts, ad-
vanced many suggestions for beautify-
ing what might otherwise have been
an ungainly and cumbersome innova-
ton.
1t was Marsery Golden, even more
than her father. to whom Da Espares,
in these small efforts, looked for graft
tude. And the more Margery Golden
saw Of that gallant young antiquarian
the more mysteriously impressed she
| became.
| David Manley, who was not alto
gether ignorant of this new turn in
the tide of events. found little to add
to his happiness in this evergrowing
intimacy between Margery and her
guest. For Manley, by this time, did
more than merely distrust Da Es-
pares; he hated him.
These vague misgiyings Of Man
iey's extended even TO the costume
dinner-dance which this csthetic for
eigner undertook to engineer for Mar
gery's amusement And IL talking
over his plans with Golden himself.
as the latter was making ready fer
O Of his hurried trips to Washing
ton, the young nobleman even ven
tured the hope that this fctef might
be made the occasion of an even more
suspicious announcement.
But the morose-eyed old millionaire
did net quite follow the others line
of thought. So Da Espares was driven
to the expedient Of openly yet cour-
teously requesting the privilege Of
pressing his suit for the hand of this
fairest daughter of America
What d'you mean by that" de-
manded the astounded f1nancier. Are
you trying to tell mo that you want to
marry my daughter?"
That is the honor Of which l have
dreamed" was Da Espares' quietly in
toned reply.
We'll, the point 10, be- ~ Margery
been dreaming along the same hne?"
That I cannot venture to say" re-
piled that unctuously gallant sutton.
We'll, in America that's about the
first thing that counts! And guess
we'd better call OF this courtship talk
until we find out how the girl feels
about it,"
The disappointed, but not disheart-
ened. count, accordingly, proceeded
quietly yet earnestly to sound Margery
Golden herself as to her feelings in
the matter. But here, too, he was
met with reply which, If graciously
worded, was at least noncommittal.
But you at least know that l wish
to bring you happiness. that | was
your friend in the past, that always
in the future | want to be your
friend!"
But when friendship remains
masked, it remains harder to under
stand" ....
Then the mask may be withdrawn,
and withdrawn sooner than you ex-
pect.'
Just what does that mean" asked
the clear-eyed girl, studying his face.
1t means that I am about to make
a move which will deliver you and
your father from his enemy. And this
time l think the plan will succeed"
Mysterious as that plan was, it de-
yeloped through an incident which
soon brought things down to the plane
OF the practical. For when the ma
sons and ironworkers who were COM
piStAh6 ShC lAlotdlldtlOu VI tuC u0W
Golden vault returned from their mid
day meal far-from-attractive stranger
stole into the house at their heels.
And when David Manley happened to
catch sight of this stranger deep in
talk with Count Da Espares, he
promptly jumped to the conclusion
that he had at last discovered some
thing on which to concentrate all his
earlier Scotch-mists of suspicion
For Da Espares' visitor unmistak-
ably bore the earmarks of the I'M
kempt denizen of the hop joint and
the Bowery saloon.
What is this man doing here?" he
asked as he confronted the intruder.
This man is here at my request.
And the happiness of this house de-
2ends much on lis VISIT was Da Es-
3ares' retort