Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-09-21
CHAPTER XIII.
A Rock or a Lighthouse.

toms boarding house. Within a week
he was as much a part of 1t as II he
had lived there for years. AT lunch,
on the day of his arrival, he made his
appearance at the table in company
with Pearson, and when the landlady
e%xultantly announced that he was to
be "one of our little party" thereafter
he received and replied to the welcom-
ing sa~lutations of his fellow boarders
with unrufded serenity.
The captain paid frequent visits to
the offices of Sylvester, Kuhn & Graves
in Pine street. Upon the senior part
ner, whom he esteemed and trusted not
only as a business adviser but a friend.
he depended for information concern
ing happenings at the Warren apart
ment.
Caroline sent him regular statements
of her weekly expenditures, also bills
for his approval, but she had written
him but once, and then only a hrief
note. The note brought by a messeli
ger accompanied a package contaiasn
the chain which he and Pearson selecJ
ed with such deliberation and care Il
the Fifth avenue jewelers.. Under III.
existing circumstances, the girl wrote
she felt that she did not wish to accap
presents from him and therefore re
turned this one.
After Pearson had departed n morn
ing Captain Elisha put on his hat an
o1aA nd -, ,+nJ for hic Ia urxrorfS affaa
Sylvester was glad to see him and il
vited him to lunch.
mo, thank you," replied the captain
II just run down to ask if there was
anything new IN the offin'. Last time
see you. you limited you and your mates
had sighted somethin' or other through
the fog, and it might turn out to be a
rock or a lighthouse, you couldn't tell
which. Made up your mind YETI"
Sylvester shook his head. NO." he
said slowly, "it is still foggy. We're
busy investigating, but we're not ready
to report"
"Humph Well, what's the thing
look like? You must be a little higher
to it by now"
The lawyer tapped his desk with a
pencil. 81 don't know what it looks
like" he answered. "That is to say, !
DON'T can't believe it is what it ap-
pears at this distance to be. If 1t is it
is the most
He paused. Captain Elisha waited
for him to go on and when he did so
asked another question.
1.-THE most whatT" he demanded. SIS
it likely to be very bad? Amt discov.
cred any more of those Cut Short bonds.
have your"
The bonds to which he referred were
those of a defunct Short Line railroad.
A large number of these bonds had
been discovered among A. Rodgers
Warren's effects. Part of his tangled
assets" the captain had termed them,
differentiating from the tangible" va.
riety.
"Abbie, my h~ousekeeper, has been
writin' me-" he went on, about hayin'
the SEWN room papered. She wants
my advice concernin' the style of pa
per. Says it ought to be pretty and
out of the common. but not too expen.
sive. l judge what she wants is some.
thin that looks like money but amt
really wuth more than 10 cents a MITE.
I've been thinkin' I'd send her a bale
or so of those bonds. They'd fill the
bill in those respects, wouldn't theyf"
Sylvester laughed. "They certainly
would, captain" he replied. mo, we
haven't unearthed any more of that
sort. And, as for this mystery Of ours,
I'll give you the answer, if it's worth
giving at all, in a very short time.
Meanwhile you go home and forget It."
"Well. I'll try. But 1 guess it sticks
out on my face like a four days tooth
ache. But | won't worry about that.
You know best whether to tell me now
or not, and-well, I'm carryin' about
all the worry my tonnageu stand as
it's"
He drew a long breath. Sylvester re-
garded him alphabetically.
"You mustn't take your nephew's
and niece's treatment too much to
heart" he said.
"Oh, l don't-that is, l pretend 1
don't. And l do try not to. But I
keep thinkin' and wonderin' if 'twould
have been better if l hadn't gone there
to live at all. Hi hum! A mar of my
e hadn't ought to mind what a
twenty-year-old girl says Or does, 'spe-
cially when her kind, advisin' friends
have shown her how she's been de-
ceived and hypocritted. By the way,
speakin' of hyppcrites, l suppose there's
just as much 'Dunnin'' as ever goin'
on up there"
eyes; a little more, if anything, Tn
afraid. Your niece and Mrs. Dunn and
her precious son are together now SO
constantly that people are expecting
well, you know what they expect"
81 can guess. l hope they'll be dis
app'inted."
$50 do l, but l must confess I'm fear
full. Malcolm himself isn't SO wise,
A,,k h;a nnofhor icfS-