The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-12-02
EIGHTH EPISODE
The Stroke OF Twelve.

The Stroke or Twelve.
Enoch Golden had never been known
as a haIfhcar,cd fighter. He was. in
fact. Of that uerwa,ious breed who
fight best when half defeated. And
as he grew into fuller realization Of
the virulcuce Of jules L-gar's hatred
for him and his house, he proceeded TO
take more effective steps to protect
himself.
One Of his precautions was to place
an armed guard about the home which
had been repeatedly and audaciously
invaded by Lcgar and his agents
But the mere posting of a couple
OF paid sentincls about his doors did
not mark the limit of his activities.
He strove for still more substantial
protection by installing in one of the
upper rooms of his house a huge bur
glar-proof vault of chromium steel.
He chose for this purpose that small
but wcll-sCrecncd chamber which had
once been known as his bond room"
The installation of so pOndCrOUS a
rial strengthening of structure not
.H.. 'Eu,. 'Or the support of
7~yel'... for days a small
boo. men had been busy
and girdcrs and
-o-.ormg these pOndc~Ous supports
under a 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 I'm Count Luigi Ia
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.
IL was Margery Golden, even more
than her father, to whom Ia Espares,
in these small efforts, looked for graft
tude. And the more Margcry Golden
saw of that gallant young antiquarian
the more mysteriously impressed she
became.
David Manley, who was not alto
gethcr 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 Marley. by this time, did
more than merely dis.rust Ira Es-
pares; he hated him.
These vague misgivinCs of Man
ley's extended even to the costume
dinner-dance which this csthetic for
eigner undertook to engineer for Mar
gery's amusement. And in talking
over his plans with Golden himself,
as the latter was making ready for
one OF his hurried trips to Washing
ton, the young nOblcman even ven
tured the hope that this fete might
Ne made the occasion of an even more
suspicious announcement.
But the morOseeyed old millionaire
did not quite follow the others line
OF thought. SO Da Esparcs 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- |
"A 4
you trying to tell me that you want to |
marry my daughter"
That is the honor of which | have |
dreamed was Da Espares' quietly in |
toned reply.
Well, the point is. has my Margcrv
been dreaming along the same Iipeo"
That | cannot venture to say" re-
piled that unctuously gallant sutton
We'll, in America that about tho
first thing that counts, And guass
we'd better call of this courtship talk
until we find out how the girl feels
about it,"
The disappointed, but not dishcart-
ened, count, accordingly. proceeded
quietly vCt rnestly TO sound Nargerv
Col herself As 10 her feelings in
the matter. But here. too, he was
49,, VIII = rer' rhich. if graciorgIv
eorcea wac - least noncommf'raI
tn you will at least permit, me
to hope" persisted her so.t-yoireI
wooer.
The girl turned on him one Of her
entrancingly incOnsequcntlal smiles
II was a smile which he sometimes
found it no easy matter to under
stand
Your hopes, I'm afraid. are somo. ,
hing have very little influence ,
over"
But you at least know that wish : 2
o bring you happiness. that 7 vas n
1our friend in the past. that always ?
n the future want 10 be ypIr +,
riend," q,
But when friendship reualns {,
asked. it remains harder to under. 4
tand,"
Then the mask may be withdrawn. q
I'd viii Ia VT: soonsr than You ex- Il
e =. >ach pade.. .
to s5.45 per weeA. -. -, =
7g his face. l.
sven-year-old George Cutws. m maj. a.
York walked in Cd his weeDu sad =
" and denied that body in