Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1917-09-12
Copyright BY Chas. scribner's Sons
CHAPTER XVII.
The Arrow to the Marx.
ID


his habit was, upon the work in hand,
was still deep in the voucher-auditing
when the office door was opened and
small shocked voice said: "0h
woOh how you startled mel l saw
the light, and l supposed, of course. it
was colOnel-daddy. Where is he?"
Smith pushed the papers aside and
looked up scowling.
He was here minute ago. with
Stillings. Said he'd be back. You've
come to take him homer"
She nodded and came TO sit in
chair at the desk-end, saying:
Don't let me interrupt you. please.
Til be quiet"
II don't mean to let anything inter
rupt me until have finished what /
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 l, 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 a 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 an
other"
Il 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. rs that your
ideal of the perfect man?"
what l said, and what 1 meant,
had nothing at ali to do with Timan-
yonl High Line and it's fight for life,"
she said calmly, recalling the wander
ing gaze and letting him see her eyes.
81 was thinking altogether of one
mans attitude toward his world"
''rhat was some time ago." he put
in soberly. 1--WE gone a long way
since then, Corona"
Il know you have. Why doesn't
daddy come back?'
Hell come soon enough. You're
not afraid to be here alone with me-
are your
mo but anybody might be afraid
of the man you are going to be-"
His laugh was as mirthless as the
creaking of a rusty hinge.
'You needn't put it in the future
tense. 1 have already broken with
whatever traditions there were left to
break with. Last night l threatened
TO kill Allen, and, perhaps, should
have done it if he hadn't begged like
a dog and dragged his wife and chill
dren into It,"
II know" she acquiesced, and again
she was looking past him.
And that isn't all. Yesterday Kin
zie set a trap for me- and bated it
with one of his clerks. For 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 him. 1t wasn't necessary, as
1t turned out, but If it had been"
"Oh, you couldntl" she broke in
quickly. 81 can't believe that of you 7"
You think 1 couldn't? Let me tell
you of thing that l have done.
Night before last Verda Richlander
had wire from a young fellow who
wants to marry her. He had found
out that she was here in Brewster.
and the wire was to tell her that he
was coming in that night on the de-
layed Flyer She asked me to meet
him and tell him she had gone to bed.
He is miserable little wretch; a sort
of sham reprObate; and she has never
cared for him, except to keep him dan
Cling around with a lot of others.
told her / wouldn't meet him, and she
knew very we'll that ] couldn't meet
listening?"
I'm trying to-"
1T was the pinch, and l wasn't big
enough-in your sense of the word-to
meet it. I saw what would happen.
IL Tucker Jibbey came here, Stanton
would pounce upon him at once; and
Jibbey, with drink or two under his
belt, would tell all he knew. l fought
it all out while l was waiting for the
train. 1t was Jlbbey's effacement, or
the end of the world for me, and for
Timanyoni 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 !:
81 can't believe IT. You are not go
ing to tell me that you met this man
as q friend, and then"
mo- it didn't quite come to muir
der in cold blood. though l thought it
might. 1 had Maxwell's runabout. and
/ got Jibbey into 1t. He thought I was
going to drive him to the hotel After
we got out of town he grew suspicious,
and there was a struggle in the auto.
II had to beat him over the head to
make him keep quiet; l thought for
the moment that had killed him, and
I knew, then, Just how far l had gone
on the road I've been travelling ever
since a certain night in the middle Of
last May. The proof was in the way
] felt; wasn't either sorry or horror
stricken; I was merely relieved to
think that he wouldn't trouble me, or
clutter up the world with his worth
less presence any longer"