The Lamar register., 1917-08-08

was placed absolutely in her hands.
OF course the truth became public,
as 1t always does. Young Ed" Aus
tins life became scoTn and a kissing
among his neighbors. They were not
unduly fqstidious, these neighbors, and
they knew that hot blood requires more
than n generation to cool, but every
thing Ed did outraged them. In trying
to show their sympathy for his wife
they succeeded in wOunding her more
deeply. and Alaire withdrew into her
self. She had changed. The alteration
reached to the very bone and marrow
Of her being. At first the general pity
had wounded her then II had offended,
and finally angered her. That people
should notice her a1liction, particu-
larly when she stroye so desperately
to hide II, seemed the height of inso-
lence.
The management of Las Palmas was
almost her only relief. Having sprung
from family of rnnchers. the work
came easy. and she grew to like it-as
well as she could like anything with
that everpresent pain in her breast.
Las Palmas had prospered to admira-
ton, and La Feria would have pros
pered equally had IT not been for the
armed unrest of the country across the
border. No finer stock than the BOX
A" was TO he found anywhere. Uu
Alaire had not confined her ef'0-'.
cattle; she had improved the breed OF
BOX A" horses, too, and hand IN hand
with this work she had carried on
series of agricultural experiments. For
Instance, she had started a grove Of
pnper-shelled pecans, which was soon
due to bear; the ranchhouse and its
clump Of palms was all but hidden by
a forest Of strange trees, which were
reported TO ripen everything from
mothballs to bicycle tires. Blaze Jones
was perhaps responsible for this re-
port, for Alaire had shown him sew
eral thousand eucalyptus saplings and
some ornamental rubber plants.
THAT Miz Austin is a money-makin'
piece Of furniture" he once told his
daughter Paloma. I'm no mechanical
ndder-I count mostly on my fingers
but her and me calculated the profits
on them eucher what's their name
trees 2-and it gave me splittin' head
ache. She'll be a drug queen, sure
"why don't you follow her exam
pleT" asked PalOma. I'VE have plenty
Of land"
Blaze. in truth, was embarrassed by
the size Of his holdings, but he shook
his head. mo, I'm too old to go ram
pagin' after new gods. 1 amt got the
Imagination TO raise anything more
complicated than a mortgage; but II
| was younger, I'd organize myself up
and do away with that Ed Austin. I'd
sure help him to an untimely end, and
then I'd marry them pecan groves, and
blOoded herds, and drugstore orchards.
She certainly is a heart-breakin' de-
vice, with her red hair, and red lips
an
'Fatherw Paloma was deeply
shocked
Complete isolation, of course, Alaire
had found to be impossible, even
though her ranch lay far from the trav-
eled roads and her Mexican guards
were not encouraging to visitors. Bust
ness inevitably brought her into CON
tact with considerable number of
people, and of these the one she saw
most frequently was Judge Ellsworth
of Brownsville, her attorney.
1t was perhaps a week after Ed had
left for San Antonio that Alaire felt
the need Of EIlsworth's counsel, and
sent for him. Ellsworth was kindly
man of fifty-five, with a fOrceful chin
and a dropping, heavy-lidded eye that
could either blaze or twinkle. Judge
Ellsworth knew more than any four
men in that part of Texas information
had way Of seeking him out He was
good lawyer. too, and yet his knowl-
edge of human nature he considered
far more important than law. His
mind was like full granary, and every
grain lay where he could put his hand
upon it.
He motored out from Brownsville,
and after Kidding himself of dust, in
sisted upon spending the interval be
fore dinner in an inspection of Alaire's
latest ranch improvements. Not until
dinner was over did he inquire the rea-
son for his summons.
"It's about La Feria. General Lon
gorio has confscated my stock" Alaire
told him. Il was afraid of this very
thing, and so was preparing to bring
the stock over. Still never thought