The daily Alaskan., 1917-06-18
MT. Partington's s
 Secret
By ESTHER VANDERVEER

One day a man appeared at Penton- VillA R farming village, and opened negotiations for e -four nin and water power that had lons stood idl& Ha was a nDslRncholy locking man. nSVeR smiling, never chatting fRmillaEiy with thoss with whom hS osnS m contact and, above all, unSommunicatiEe about himEelf.
 At first hts roticencs was not no- ticed, and 10 eaS cared who he was or where he cams from, but as soon as 1t was ohaerved that theS0 facts were not forthcoming every one be- came curious about hirn Many a covert move was made to draw from him some information about hiuHslf, but be paErtsd thRm au 90 adrOAtlJ as not to give onenB0 and % Ski1lfully ss not to teu anything. The only thing known about him was hig mama, AL bert PRrttngten, and when # became known that hs was holding back in- formation about hlraPSlS it was behsT- ed that even that was asgumSd
 It is a human trait when people arc denied . knowledge about other per sons affairs b supply that knowledge by inference. Each pRrSoa m Penton- vile who assumed Feasoas SoE hE Partington's antscOdontB 6id 70 on his or her account The woman account ed for bis mysterious appearance among them on the ground 0S love affair. Some of them believed that he had been crossed in love, some that he had wronged some woman and was hiding from the vengeance due him The men favored . theory that he had married 8 vixen and was hiding from her or that hs had int0rfered with some mans domestic affairs and was keeping out of the way of the injured husband
 The fitting up Of ths milI and the business matters connected with it were also kept In the dark.
 All of e sudden Parttngton disappear cd from Pentonville, and t& was mo- tlced that from the day of his depar- ture all work on his plant stopped. The property was left in charge Of one Daggett, Mr. Parttngton'B right hand man, who discharged every work man, and a solemn stiffness settled down on what before was busy as beehive. He resisted all efforts on the part of inquirers for an explanation.
 4 few days after Partington'B depaT- ture a handsomely dressed woman ap- peared in Pentonville and was driven at once to the plant There was blood in her eye, but her lips were drawn tightly together as If she feared that her ire might lead her to say something it would not be well to reveal After a long conferuncs with Daggett she was driven away, no one knew whera and the theories of thoso who had clHimed that Partington'g roticence was occasioned by complications with a woman seemed to have been confirmed
 That was the last live episode in the Burlington affair. DagSOtt remained awhile longer; then, turning the prop erty over to 6 watchman, be too de- parted.
 One day the world was shocked by the announcement that Austria had de- clared war against ServiR, and within a short period there were more such declarations. A week after the first Mfr. Burlington suddenly appeared in Pentonville, the work of preparation was recommended, and therO was far moro clatter than thers had been be- fore. There was now no secrecy with regard to the plant, but every one con- nected with 1t WAS SO busy that he had no time to answer questions. h. deed, since 1t appeared that tho prop GTy was to Do used for Bome kind of manufacture connected with the war In Europe curiodty was Rllayed
 There were those who remembered the woman who had come to Penton- vile tmmediAtaly altar Partington'B de- parture and who claimed that, WhSth- CT or not he had come to the placs pri- unarily on business, hs had certainly bean anxious to escape an angry wom- an. These persons received conhrmR- don of their theory on' the reappear- ance of the woman who had been ther0 before, especially since she ar rived at 2 D. n. and Burlington left at 1:56, thus escaping her by only five minuteS-
 Meanwhile men were working night and day getting the plant ready for production Then one day a commit tee of citizens appeared at Mir. Parting tons office and told him that 1t was being rumored that he was going to manufacture goods that would endan- ger the lives of the people and prop erty of the town, If SO they desired to enter q protest, wherefore MT. Burlington announced to them that the plant was to be powder mill
 The main part of the secret was out Mir. Burlington having desired 10 man. ufacturs an explosive 'in close proxim- !ty to the PentonvnHans and, fearing that if they knew what be was about