Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1917-10-19
Copyright by Chas. Scribner's Sons
CHAPTER XVIII.
~
The Arrow to the Mark.

Smith, concentrating aDSLracteQly, as
his habit was, upon the work in hand,
was still deep in the voucher-auditing
when the office door was opened and
a small shocked voice said: ooh,
wooh! how you startled me! saw
the light, and supposed, of course, it
was colonel-daddy. Where Is he?"
Smith pushed the papers aside and
looked up scowling.
HE was here a minute ago, with
Stillings Said he'd be back. You've
come u take him home"
She nodded and came to sit in
chaiy at the desk-end, saying:
''Don't let me interrupt you, please.
III be quiet"
~ don't mean to let anything inter-
rupt me until have finished what I
have undertaken to do; I'm past all
that, now"
81 have heard about what you did
last night"
"About the newspaper fracas? You
don't approve Of anything like that, of
course. Neither did I, once. But
there is no middle way. You know
what the animal tanners tell us about
the beasts. I've had my taste of blood.
There are q good many men in this
world who need killing. Crawford
Stanton is one of them, and I'm not
sure that Mr.. David Kinzie isn't au-
other"
81 can't hear what you say when
you talk like that" she objected, look
ing past him with the gray eyes
yelled.
do you want me to lie down and let
them put the steam roller over me?" he
demanded irritably. SIS that your
ideal of the perfect man"
"What I said, and what I meant,
had nothing at all to do with Timan-
yoni High Line and its fight for life"
she said calmly, recalling the wander
ang gaze and letting him see her eyes.
II was thinking altogether of one
mans attitude toward his world"
"That was some time ago." he put
in soberly. 1--WE gone a long way
since then Corona"
hhON yOu HlNcs why uOeou
daddy come back2"
He'll come soon enough. You're
mot afraid to be here alone with me,
are your"
"No; but anybody might be afraid
OF the man you are going to be-"
His laugh was as mirthless as the
Greaking of rusty hinge.
"You needn't put it in the future
tense. l have already broken with
whatever traditions there were left to
D. break with. Last night 1 threatened
to kill Allen, and, perhaps, 1 should
nave done it If he hadn't begged like
dog and dragged his wife and chill
dren into it."
Il know" she acquiesced, and again
she was looking past him.
"And that isn't all. Yesterday Kin
sie set trap for me and bated it
with one Of his clerks. For a little
while it seemed as If the only way to
spring the trap was for me to go
after the clerk and put a bullet
through BIN. 1t wasn't necessary, as
1t turned CUT, but If it had been"
"Oh, you corldn't" she broke in
quickly. ~ can't believe that of you !"
'You think I couldn't? Let me tell
you Of a thing that I have done.
Might before last Verda Richlander
aad a wire from a young fellow who
wants to marry her. He had found
out that she was here in Brewster,
and the vire was to tell her that he
%as coming in that night on the de-
aged flyer She asked me to meet
aim and tell him she had gone to bed.
He Is miserable little wretch; q sort
II sham feprobate; and she has never
Dared for him, except to keep him dan
Cling srOunG with a lot of others. !
told Der wouldn't meet him, and she
knew very we'll that l couldn't meet
fim-and stay out of Jail. are you
;steningT
@3'Th uSlng to-"
sit was the pinch, and wasn't big
,4nOugh-in your sense of the word-to
Sleet il. i saw what would happen.
IL Tucker Jibbey came here, Stanton
would pOunce UPON him at once; and
1ibbey, with a drink or two under his
belt, would tell oil he knew. I fought
At all out while l was waiting for the
train. 1t was Jibbeys effacement, or
the end of the world for me, and for
TimanyOnl High Line"
Dexter Baldwin's daughter was not
Of those who shrek and faint at the
apparition Of horror. But the gray
eyes were dilating and her breath was
coming in little gasps when she said
~ can't believe It You are not go
ing to tell me that you met this man
rs a friend, and then"
"No; 1t didn't quite come to MUIR
der in cold blood, though I thought it
might. ! had Maxwell's .runabout, and
] got Jibbey into 1t. He thought was
going to drive him to the hotel. After
ne got out Of eOwn he grew suspicious,