Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1919-07-30

.An0 1rlgnteneO you, ne bdiu )
''whereupon you vanished like the
mushroom that il gobbled up by tho
predatory glutton."
Tie had thrilled at the sound Of her
voice. It was the low, deliberate voice
of the woman of the crossroads, and.
as before, he cdught the almost i'm
perceptible7 accent. The red CLEAN
from the blazing logs fell upon her
shining hair; 1T glistened like gold.
She wore simple evening gown of
white, softened over the. shoulders and
neck with a fall OF rare yalenciennes
lace.l There was no -jewelry-not even
ring on her slender, tapering fingers.
Mrs. Collier, the hostess, was an ell
derg, heavy.featured woman, decid.
edly overdressed. Mrs. Van Dyke,
her daughter, was a woman Of thirty.
tall. dark and handsome In q bold.
dashing sort Of way. The lackadaisi.
cal gentleman with the mustache
turned out to be her husband.
my brother is' unable to be with
us tonight. Mr.. Barnes" explained
Mrs. Collier. "Mr. O'Dowd may have
told you that he is an invalid. Quits
rarely is he well enough to leave his
room. He has begged me to present
his apologies and regrets to'yOu. An.
other time, perhaps. you will give him
the pleasure he Is missing tonight
q De Soto's cocktails came In. Miss
Cameron did not taKs one. ODowd
proposed toast.
ITO the rascals who went cunning
for the other rascals. But for them
We should be short at least one mem
Der Of this agreeable COMPANY.
It was rather startling. Barnes
glass stopped half way to his lips. Al
instant later he drained 1t. He ac-
cepted the toast as compliment from
the whilom Irishman, and not as q
tribute to the proves Of those mys
terious marksmen-
The table in the spacious dining
room was one Of those long. narrow
Italian boards, Enthusiastically antique
and equally rare. >Sixteen or eighteen
people could have. been seated with
out crowding, and when the seven took
their places wide intervals separated
them. No effort had been made by the
hostess to bring her guests close to-
gether as might have been done by
using zone end or the center Of the
table. The serving plates were Of sill
yer. Especially beautiful were the
long-stemmed water goblets and the
graceful champagne glasses. They
were blue and white and Of a design
and quality no longer dbtainable ex-
cept at great cost. The esthetic
Barnes was not slow to appreciate the
rarity Of the glassware and the chaste
beauty Of the serving plates.
The man Nicholas was evidently the
butler, despite his Seventh avenue
manner. He was assisted in serving
by two stalwart and amazingly clumsy
footmen, of similar ilk and nationality.
On seeing these additional men serv-
ants Barnes Began fguratively to
count onihis fingers the retainers he
had SO far encountered on the place.
Already he had seen six. all Of them
powerful. rugged fellows. It struck
him as extraordinary. and In q way
significant, that there should be 50
many men at Green Fancy.
Much to his disappointment he was
not placed near Miss Cameron at
table. Indeed she was seated as far
away from him as possible. There was
a place set between him and De Soto,
for symmetr 's sake. Barnes con-
cluded. In this he was mistaken
they had barely seated themselves
when Mrs. Collier remarked:
"Mr. Curtis secretary usually Joins
MS here for coffee. He has his dinner
with my brother, and then, poor man
comes in for brief period Of relaxa-
ton. When my brother is in one Of
his bad spells poor Mr.. Loeb doesn't
have much time to himself"
Loeb, the private secretary. came In
for coffee. He was tall. spare man
Of thirty. pallidly handsome, with
dark, studiotis eyes and features of an
Enthusiastically Hebraic cast, as his
name might have foretold. His teeth
were marvelously white and his slow
smile attractive. More than once dur
ing the hour that Loeb spent with
them Barnes formed and dismissed a
stubborn overcoming opinion that
the man was not Jew. Certainly he
was not an American Jew. HIS voice,
his.manner Of speech. his every action
stamped him as one born and bred In
q land far from Broadway and Its
counterparts. If a Jew he was of the
east as 1t Is measured from Rome
the Jew Of the carnal Orient.
And as the evening wore on there
came to Barnes the singular fancy
that this man was the master and not
the servant Of the house! He could
not put the ridiculous idea out Of his
mind.
He was to depart at ten. The hour
drew near and he had had no opportu-
nifty for detached conversation with
Miss Cameron. He had listened to her
bright retorts to O'Dowd's sallies, and
marveled at the ease and composure
with which she met the witty Irish.
man on even terms
Not until the very close Of the eve,
ming, and when he had resigned him.
self to hopelessness, did the opp0rtu-
nifty come for him to speak with her
alone. She caught his eye, and, to his
amazement, made slight movement
Of her head, unobserved by the others