Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-07-03
CHAPTER LXX
Copyright, 1917, Star Company

Ills arms were ABOUT me, MS not
breath on my checks. but 1 wrench
cd myself free from him.
Steps sounded on the steps below
us. The boys were coming in-care-
fully, lest they waken the house
hold.
"Confound it," my companion
muttered.
He released me. then caught my
hand in his, and stood thus, waiting
for Hugh and Tom to appear at the
turn of the stairs. A moment more
and they would be here.
Let me go! whispered, trying
to Gisengage ny hand
1t was 100 late. The boys reached
the foot of the second flight of stairs
and looked up. Both hesitated, and
Brewster Norton addressed them in
q voice that he meant to make light,
but that quivered with suppressed
emotion.
"Ah, boys, so you are back. are
you? was just telling this dear
girl good night"
He had never spoken like this
before in the presence Of anybody
hut himself and myself. What would
his bearers think?
Even in the dim light I could see
how every drop of blood left Hugh
Perker's face. / also saw that a
dark and angry flood of crimson
swept across Toms boyish counte-
nance.
Good night, Mr.. Norton" I said
with grave formality.
He let my hand so when he had
spoken to the boys, and l was free
TO return to my own room.
How is Grace?"
1t was Hugh who asked the ques-
ton, and he looked straight at me.
The words themselves were moth
ing, yet they were proof of self
control that amazed me.
] did not doubt his love for me,
and Y had let him see that I cared
for him. Yet, coming "pon me
standing here at this time of night,
alone with my employer who was
holding my hand, he could speak
like that! Was it because he trusted
NE in spite of appearances? If he
stopped to think. he must believe
that was engaged to Mr.. Norton
that ] ought to he. ,Was 1t possible
that a man could love a girl so
deeply that he could trust her in
spite of what seemed like such con-
vincirg evidence OF her untrust-
Worthiness?
Hugh leads Tom Away
Even then I did not know of what
heights of loyalty Hugh Parker was
capable.
Grace is better" I stammered,
that is-she is asleep"
Come on, old boy" Hugh said,
throwing his arm across Toms
shoulders, lets go to bed"
In q flash of intuition, felt that
frun tutor and nnntI had
grown closer together during the
past hour than ever before. AS
went to my room, without a back
ward glance. that fact was borne
in upon me.
I thought of the mysterious tele-
Phone message, and Tens eXCla-
nation of irritation with regard ia
it. Had he suspected its import
and had 1t been of a nature that sc
angered and worried him that he
could keep silent no longer?
1 could picture his walking along
the country roads with Hugh, talk
ing perhaps as he hdd talked to me
or the day when he had given me
his boyish confidence, when he had
told me of his fathers second mar
riage, and of how the husband had
FORGOTTEN the first wife. the woman
who had been Toms mother.
I stopped in the center of my
room, smitten by thought. If Tom
had taken Hugh Parker Into his
confidence in this affair, what must
he and Hugh think or feel on finding
me with Brewster Norton. my hand
in his, he telling me goodnight in
that intimate fashion?
could have cried out against
the false position in which 1 had
been placed. Why must this have
happened? Had that strange tele-
phone message started into motion
the happenings Of tonight?
IT was all mysterious. and l could
rot unravel the mystery. I did not
feel able to cope with the situation.
My employer loved me-or, at least,
wanted to marry me-had declared
that he would marry me. Hugh
loved me, and I loved him. Hugh
must suspect now that 1 was en-
gagged to one man while he must
also know that 1 cared for him
Hugh Parker. Tom must think that
was willing to be his fathers third
wife!
All Grotesquc
Tt was all incongruous, gro-
tesQue. I had an inclination to laugh
and scream at the same time.
I must calm myself and be rea-
sonable. Undressing, I put on a
wrapper, and sat down deliberately
to think of something that would
soothe me.
And what / thought about was
Hugh and his love. That seemed
to me the one stable thing on which
my mind could rest. I told myself
over and over that he loved me
that appearances had not made him
doubt me, and that loved him bet