The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser., 1917-08-10
CHAPTER l.

Hilary Kingston had been shot.
Old Hilary had been familiar fig
ure in the village of Nottingham fol
years. The eccentricity of his gray
derby hat, his beetling gray brows, his
always fresh gray gloves, his erect
rather heavy old figure, singled him
out from the mass of commuters that
thronged the city trains. The gray
derby was a part of old Hilary. Ex
cept on those rare occasions when he
attended service at Saint Judes ne
was never seen without it.
He lived on the hill above the vii
lage, with his daughter-had lived
there for ten years. The hall was
beautiful, but old Hilary received nc
visitors, returned no advances. Visit
ors thought this curious. The villagers
prosperous business men with smart
wives. shrugged their shoulders. The
mans house was his own. If he found
that he could do without the town
the town could get along without him.
There was no mystery about the
hall, and little curiosity. Cars going
to the country club passed under the
brick wall of it's italian garden. Their
occupants sometimes caught glimpse
of Elinor Kingston there, reading In
rose arbor, wandering among her
peonies and iris in the spring, or cut
ting sprays of phlox in midsummer.
The men thought her rather lovely
the women, odd, with her blond hair
and dark eyes. The assistant rector
of Saint Judes, newly come to the vii
lage, met her face to face on one OF
his long country walks, a month or SO
before old Hlary's death, and could not
forget her.
He led the conversation to her that
night at a dinner.
"An exquisite face" he described
her, "but sad, almost tragically sad
"Blond?" The lady on his right was
Mrs. Bryant. In honor of the new
assistant rector, who came of fine fam-
fly and was a distinct acquisition to
the village, she wore the Bryant pear
shaped pearl. She spoke rather curt
ly. 81 should not call her exquisite
but you probably met Elinor Kingston.
Her sadness is pose, l believe; she
has everything she wants"
The assistant rector was young, but
very wise So he spoke no more of
Elinor until the women had left the
table. Then he ventured again.
''Dont join the army of those of us
who worship from affair."" advised the
youth who had moved up beside him.
"Shes the loveliest thing in this part
of the country. But, except our safnted
rector, no one ever gets to put foot
on the place. It's exclusiveness to the
nth power, and then some. There's S
lot of talk, of course, or used to be.
Old Kingston brings his servants from
New York, and except an elderly
housekeeper, none of them speak Eng
lish. They used to say around here
that he was refugee, but that's all
rot. He's a stingy old dotard, afraid
some handsome youth like myself will
captivate the girl. That's all there is
to it,
The assistant rector, whose name
was Ward, smiled perfunctorfly. In
stead of the cleaning table, spread
with flowers and candles, with the gay
colors of cordiaIs and liqueurs, he was
seeing a girl standing at the turn of a
country road and gazing down into the
valley and the distant village with
SOmber eyes.
Faith, hope and charity, and the
Of iS fai n r.
selves, faith in those around US, and
that sublimest faith of all which
trusts in something beyond. To all
men is given such faith at the begin
ming of life, and some keep it to the
end. But here and there is one who
has lost it, who cannot turn his/eyes
up and say Lord, Lord" Old Hilary
had not kept the faith.
Years ago he had not been evil. He
had gone from philosophy into unbe-
lief, that route which all must travel.
But, unlike the many, he had not come
back.
He had started with socialism, but
socialism must be founded on the
Christ, and him he scorned. So from
socialism ne had drifted to anarchy.
To rob the rich and give to the poor,
at first. Later on, to rob the rich, to
incite seditions, to arm the rebeIlious-
oh, 1t was comprehensive enough, vast
IL wicked with that most terrible law
lessness of all, that believes itself law.
To pit his wits against the world
and win-that had been old Hilary's
creed. "For the oppressed" had been
at first the slogan of the band he gath
ereG around him. Against the op-
pressor" it became later on. Vastly
different the two. Most of human
charity and kindness lay crushed
down and trampled underfoot during
old Hilary's progress from Christ to
Antichrist.
The band had been gathered with
much care. Responsibility, order, de-
corum-these spelled safety to old
Hilary's astutc mind. Most of them
we're younger sons of English landed
families, with a sprinkling of other na-
tionalities. Young Huff was an Aus
tralian, for instance, the son of a
wealthy sheep-Owner. Boroday the
Russian-implicated in the bomb
throwing that destroyed the minister
of war-was nobleman. Old Hilary
had got him out Of Siberia during
those early days when he righted what,
to his crooked mind, were wrongs.
There were twelve In the band at the