The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-06-03
GREEN
FANCY
Bv GEORGE BARR
McCUTCHEON
6usbo, Of -GRAUsTARK." THE
HOLLOW OF HER HAND"
PRINCE OF cRAUsTARK." ETC.
Cp,;eb. by Dsdd. Mod ssa Company. tas.

mo know. My mind is at rest Good
BY" As he hung up the receiver he
said to himself, You are most az
fable, convincing chap, Mr.. O'Dowd,
but don't believe a word you say.
That woman Is no lady's maid, and
you've known all the time that she
was there"
At four o'clock he set out alone for
q tramp up the mountain road In
which the two men had been shot
down. His mind was quite clear.
Room and Paul were not ordinary rob-
bers. They were, no doubt. honest
men. He would have said that they
were thieves bent on burglarizing
Green Fancy were 1t not for the dis
closures Of Miss Thackeray and the
very convincing proof that they were
not shot by the same man.
It was not beyond reason-indeed,
it was quite probable-that they were
trying to cross the border; in that
event their real operations would be
confined to the Canadian side Of the
lne. He conld not free himself Of the
suspicion that Green Fancy possessed
the key to the situation. Room and his
companion could not have had the
slightest interest in his movements up
to the instant he encountered the
young woman at the crossroads. his
busy brain suddenly suffered the shock
Of q distinct conclusion. Was she a
fellow conspirator? Was she the In
side worker at Green Fancy In we'll
laid plan to rifle the place?
Gould it be possible that she was
the confederate Of these painstaking
agents who lurked with sinister pa
tience outside the very gates Of the
place called Green Fancy7
His ramble carried him far beyond
the spot where Rooms body was found
and where young Conley had come
upon the tethered horses. His eager,
curious gaze swept the forest to the
left Of the road in search Of Green
Fancy. Overcome By a rash, daring
impulse, he climbed over the stake
and rider fence and sauntered among
the big trees which so far had OBJ
scured the house from view. The trees
grew very thickly on the slope, and
they were unusually large, He pro-
gressed deeper into the wood. At the
end Of what must have been mile
he halted. There was no sign Of habi-
tation, no indication that man had
ever penetrated SO far into the forest.
As he was on the point Of retracing
his steps toward the road his gaze
fell upon a huge moss-covered rock
less than a hundred yards away. He
stared, and gradually it began to take
on angles and planes and recesses' of
the most astounding symmetry. Un-
der his widening gaze 1t was trans
formed into a substantial object Of
cubes and gables and-yes, windows.
He was looking upon the strange
hone Of the even stranger Mr.. Cur
tisAGreen Fancy.
Now he understood why 1t was
called Green Fancy. Its surroundings
were no greener than itself; it seemed
to melt into the foliage, to become a
part Of the natural landscape. Noun
tain ivy literally enveloped 1t. Ex-
posed sections Of the house were paint
ed green; the doors were green; the
leafy porches and their columns, the
chimney pots, the window hangings-
IA were the color OF the unchangfng
ssarest: Agd It was q place Of huge
ss...:;:eeas'oaA Low and lsas and ram
bling.
"Gad," he said to himself, what
manner Of crank is he who would
bury himself like thisf OF all the
crazy ideas I ever"
His reflections ended there. A wom-
m crossed his vision; woman stroll
ing slowly toward him through the in.
tricate avenues Of the wildwood.