The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-04-21

clothed beautifully In white had run
madly from the church, met a young
man at the gate, and with him had
vanished In d taxieab whose chauf-
feur unquestionably placed little value
In his license.
At twenty minutes past eight that
taxicab, having eluded all attempts at
pursuit (if any such there were) drew
up before the apartment house in
which Captain Parr maintained his
New York home.
A moment later the doc of his quar-
ters closed upon Patria Claiming and
the lover of her choice. II thought you
would never come !" she stammered.
81 had to work very quietly" he ex-
planned. at was obvious from the first
that this arrangement couldn't con-
tinue-you couldn't go On hoodwinking
Huroki and at the same time keep out
of marrying de Lima. And when
Huroki found out that you had made
a fool of him, you would have to be
mighty safely hidden to escape repri-
sal. So l fixed things up for you here
I've moved over to the Vanderbilt
got hold of Anne, sent her to the Ritz
with an order for your belongings-she
was there within ten minutes of the
time you left for the church-brought
everything Of yours here and . . .
Well, here we are!"
"But how did you yer find out de
Lima had a wife?"
81 didn't" Donald explained grave
ly. "She wasn't his wife," -.
There came a knock at h door.
That's Ryley. Let him in, please,
Anne. I left him to protect the wom-
an in case either Huroki or de Lima
became violent"
The grin of the detective as he en-
tered was evidence of the fact that he
had experienced no great trouble.
There had been a bit of a rumpus, he
reported-nothing to speak of.
His account was interrupted by the
shrill, imperative Glamour of the tele-
phone. Donald answered, and sobered
to sudden gravity as he carried on a
brief conversation with Bertram in
Powder Town.
Trouble at Claiming" he an
nounced as he hung up. "Betram says
our man Barnes was shot in a street
fight this afternoon by some loafer
who interrupted him when he was
'phoning me. In addition the town
seems strike-mad all of a sudden
%agitators, even now, are preaching
strike and destruction of property.
Bertram thinks we'd better run down
and look the situation over for our
selves. 1t may prove necessary to call
on the governor for militia to protect
the mills"
"Donald-please! 1 am so afraid
for you ]"
II must go, dear-I must. You
need not worry on my account-we've
a dozen men down there who will help
Ryley take care of me. Not that 1
anticipate any serious. trouble. The
rabble have no excuse for rioting till
the company refuses the strikers de-
mands-and it can't do hat till to-
morrow
He found a timetable, scanned it
rapidly, snatched up his hat.
with luck and a fast taxi-man we
can just make the next train, the last
tonight" .
The door banged incredibly, Patria
was alone-alone, that is, except for
Anne.
She threw herself into a chair, when
she had suffered Anne to change her
bridal garments for a negligee.
Womanlike, she was s%tubbornly bent
on spending a sleepless, wretched
night. In spite of herself, toward
eleven o'clock, she nodded in her chair,
then slept.
It was two when the telephone
aroused her.
One of her force of private secret
service agents was calling from Pow
der Town for Captain Parr, in ignor-
ance of the fact that, according to the
timetable, and providing he had
caught his train, Donald should have
three hours.
In response to her catechism the
agent reported that the situation at
Channings was one of imminent emer-
gency. A strike had been called at
midnight; the employees of the pow
der mills who had come off shift at
that hour had not been replaced; riot
ing was already in process; the gen.
eral store maintained by the company
had been burned and looted; the mob
was threatening to march upon the
mills.
I%nstructing the man to seek Captain
Parr at the mills, Patria left the tele-
phone and stealthily entered the bed
room which had been Donald's, which
now was hers.
From the adjoining chamber sound
ed an unmistakable snore: Anne I'M