Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-02-16
EIGHTH EPISODE
The Stroke Of Twelve.

iWG OH uhG " iWGIfGs
Enoch Golden had never been known
a. a half-hearted fighter. He was, in
fact. OF that p~ertinacious breed who
fight best when half defeated. And
as he grew into a fuller realization Of
the virulence Of Jules Legar's hatred
for him and his house, he proceeded to
take more effective steps to protect
himself.
One OF his precautions was to place
an armed guard about the home which
had been repeatedly and audaciously
invaded by Legar and his agents.
But the mere posting of a couple
of paid sentineis about his doors did
o mark the limit OF his activities.
He strove for still more substantial
protection by installing in one OF the
upper rooms Of his house a huge bur-
glar-proof vault of chromium steel.
The installation OF so ponderous a
vault, however, involved much mate
rial strengthening of a structure not
primarily designed for the support of
s%eVen-ton safes, and for days a small
body of expert workmen had been busy
putting in pillars and Orders and
Disgusting these ponderous supports
under a venee of mahogany ceiling
beams and oriental teakwood columns.
In the ornamentation Of the latter, IN
fact, the owner OF the house found a
valued assistant in Count Luigi Da
Espares who, with his finished taste
and his knowledge of the fine arts, ad-
vanced many suggestions for beautify-
ing what might otherwise have been
an ungainly and cumbersome innoVa-
ton.
It was Margery Golden, even more
than her father, TO whom Ia Espares,
In these small efforts, looked for graft
tude. And the more Margery Golden
saw OF hat gallant young antiquarian
the more mysteriously impressed she
became.
David Manley, who was not alto
gether ignorant Of this new turn in
ne tide OF events, found little to add
to his happiness in this evergrowing
intimacy between Margery and her
guest. For Manley, by this time, did
more than merely distrust Da Es-
pares; he hated him.
These vague misgivings OF Man
ley's extended even to the costume
1inner-dance which this esthetic for
eigner undertook to engineer for Mar
gery's amusement. And in talking
owe his plans with Golden himself,
rs the latter vas making ready for
one OF his hurried trips to Washing
ton, the young nobleman even VEN
tured the hope that this fete might
be made the occasion OF an even more
suspicious announcement.
But the morose-eyed old millionaire
did not quite follow the others line
Of thought. SO Da Espares was driven
20 the expedient Of openly yet cour-
teOusly requesting the privilege OF
pressing his suit for the hand OF this
fairest daughter Of America.
What d'you mean by that?" de-
manded the astounded hnancier. Are
you trying 10 tell me that you want to
marry my daughter2"
THAT is the honor OF which / have
dreamed" was Da Espares' quietly In
toned reply.
Well, the point is. has my Margery
cen dreaming along the same liner"
THAT l cannot venture to say" re-
piled that %unctuously gallant sutton.
Well. In America that's about the
FIRST thing that countsl And / guess
we'd better call on this courtship talk
until we end out how the girl feels
about fl"
The disappointed, but not disheart-
ened, count, accordingly, proceeded
quietly yet earnestly to sound Margery
Golden herself a. to her feelings in
the matter. But here. too, he was
met with a reply which, II graciously
Worded, was at least noncommittal.
But you at least know that / wish
% bring you happiness, that l was
your friend IN the past, that always
In tho future l want to DO your
friendl"
But when friendship remains
masked. It remains harder to under
stapdi"
Then the mask may be withdrawn.
and Withdrawn sooner than you AK
psct"
"Just what dOes that mean r asked
- eiearoySd giTl. studying his tAoa