Evening star., 1918-06-23
M Asst Err DIET B

tne hour OF my return have not let
nm eat or drink single thing with
goes to him and eating more of IL
after 1t has gone to him. But there
IS no erect In my case. Nothing does
he touch with his hand that l do not
touch after him; but the disease never
attacks me. yet all the while he grows
worse and worse and the end keeps
creeping on. There! that's the case
Mr.. Cleek. For Gods sake, get at the
bottom Of 1t and save my father If
you can."
Cleek did not reply for a moment
Putting out his hands suddenly, he
began to drum thoughtful tatto
upon the post O. the lych gate, his
eyes fixed on the ground, and a deep
rldge between his puckered brows.
But, of sudden:
..rhesa nela Gns,oss me something" he said.
yoH for suspecting them?"
They're half-castes, for one thing,
aast anG-wen' you can't trust q half
caste at any time"
that, eh? Just a natural dislike? And
your Aunt Ruth: what Of her?"
On Just the regulation prim old
mald-sour as a lemon and as useful.
=. good sort, though. Fond of the
pater. careful as mother of him,
temper 1ea1 like like file. and heart a good
aeat aest pigger than you'd believe at
mrst blush. Do anything in the
world for me, bless her"
even to the point of putting up q
iraend aW OF yours for a couple of days?"
v,ie,s lies! n l had one in these parts.
never count your chickens-you
Know the rest" said Cleek. with a
smile. "A fellow you met out in In
aia, a Fellow named George Head
iano, Observation-Disclosures the name,
please' has just turned up in these
eedly. and If you want to get at the
uottom or this case, take him along
win you and get your, Aunt Ruth to
~put nm up for a day or two"
oh, Mr.. Cleekw
,,,George Headland, If you please,
MISS Lorne. There's a great deal in a
name, Shakespeare or anybody else
to the contrary"
1t was 2 o'clock in the afternoon,
when, after lunching with Cleek at
the inn of "The Three Desires" Lieut..
Bridewell turned up at the divided
house with his friend. George Head
land,' and introduced him to the vari-
Gus occupants thereof; and forthwith
"Mr. George Headland" proceeded to
make himself as agreeable to all par
ties as he knew how to do. He found
Aunt Ruth the very duplicate of what
young, Bridewell had prepared him to
find, namely, veritable Dorcas; the
very embodiment of thrift, energy,
punctffiousness, with the graceful fig
ure or ramrod and the martial step
of a grenadier; and he decided forth
with that, be she monument of all
r1, sv,rt tNn II RI
or woman from whom he would fly
TO the ends of the earth rather than
live with for one short week. In brief,
he did not like Miss Ruth Sutcliff. and
Miss Ruth Sutcliff did not like him.
or the two Cordovas he found the girl
Lucretia a mere walking vanity bag
idle, shiftless, eager for compliments
and without two ideas in her vain
little head. whoever is at the bottom
of the affair. she isn't" was his mem
tai comment. "She Is just gadfly,
just a gaudy, useless insect. born
without sting or the spirit to use
one IL she had it,"
Her brother Paul was not much bet
ter. "a mere lizard, content to bask
in the sunshine and caring not who
pays for the privilege SO long as he
gets it. I can see plainly enough why
dislike the pair Of them, and even
distrust and suspect them, too, but,
unless am woefully mistaken, they
can be counted out Of the case entire
ly. Who. then, is in it? Or is there
really any case at all? Is the old cap
tain's malady natural one, in spite
of all these suspicious? I'll know that
when see him."
When he did see him, about an hour
after his arrival at the divided house,
he did not know it, and decided forth
with, whatever the mysterious cause,
foul play was there beyond the ques-
tion Of a doubt. Somebody had a Sc
cret reason for destroying this old
mans life, and that somebody was
how? BY what means? Not by poison.
that was certain, for no poison could
nave this purely local effect and con-
fine itself to the right side of the
body,>the right hand, the right arm,
the right shoulder. spread to no other
part and simply corrode the flesh and
destroy the bone there as lime or
wholly unblemished, entirely without
attack. Wholly unlike the case of old
Mr.. Bawdrey, in the affair of the
"Ninefingered Skeleton" this could
be no poison that was administered by
touch injected into the blood through
the pores of the skin; for whatsoever
Capt Bridewell touched, his son touch.
ed after him, and no evil came of it to
him. Then, too, there was no tempta-
tion of wealth to inherit, as in old
Bawdrey's case, for the little that
Capt. Bridewell possessed would die
with him. He had no expectations; ne
stood in no ones way to an inheri-
tance. Why, then, was he being done
to death?-and how?
A dear, kindly. lovable old fellow,
with heart as big as an ox's, hand