The Washington times., 1919-06-08
CHAPTER ".
Paul Dabney.
TT Ii be glad to get at this kitchen"
said Mary, when we went down

promptu Iabors; those old women were
abominably careless. Why, they lefI
enough food about and wasted enough Ia
feed an army. I wouldn't wonder, miss, II
some Of them blacks from outside come
ia here and make a fine meal OF Of pick
ms They could easy enough. and Mrs
Brane never miss It."
Il dare say" said /, inspecting the bright
cheerful place with real pleasure, but q
any rate, Della was q clean old soul Every
things as bright as a new pin"
Mary begrudged Della this compliment
toutside. miss" she said, ''but it's whitet
'sepoOlcur.' Look in here a moment
There's q closet that's just a scandal"
She threw open q low door in
the far end Of the kitchen and,
bending, / peered in.
why" said, Its been used as
a storehouse for old Junk. One
end is just heap Of broRen-down
furniture and old machinery. II
would be q Job to clear out, too,
heavy as lead. doubt II woman
could move most of 1t. I think
Della tried, for see that things
have been pushed to one side. Let
me have a candle. You go on with
your bread-making while / get TO
work in here. I might do q little
to stralghten things out"
Mary LIT q candle and handed It
to me, and went poking about
among q clutter Of broken imple-
ments, pots and kettles, old garden
tools, even hand mower, and came
against a great mass Of iron which
turned out to be q lawn roller.
However did II get in here and
Why was It put here? ! gave IT
push and found that It rolled pom
derously but very silently aside. In
the effort lost my balance . little
and put my hand out to the wall.
It went into damp darkness and
fell. There was no Wan ct the
narrow, low end of the closet under the
stairs, but hole.
-soh, miss" called Mary, coming to the
door, her hands covered with -four, MRS.
BraneS says she wants you, please, to take
tea up to the drawing room. There's COM
pany, fancy, and my hands are in the
dough"
came out, Q little Jared by my fall, .
little puzzled by that closet, with its dark
open end so carefully protected by mass
Of heavy things. Then, for the first time,
/ began really to suspect that something
was not quite right at The Pines. / said
nothing to Mary. Her steady, cheerful
sanity was invaluable. Hastily / washed
my rusty, dusty hands, smoothed my hair,
prepared the tea tray and went upstairs.
Mrs. Brane was entertaining two men in
the drawing room.
/ came in and set the tray down on the
little table at Mrs. Brane's elbow. AS
did so ! glanced at the two men. One
was a large, stout man, with gray hair and
a gray beard and a bullying manner, be-
lied by the kindly expression Of his eyes
liked him at once. The other, for some
reason, impressed me much less favorably
He had an air Of lazy indifference, large
demure eyes, black hair very sleekly
groomed, clothes which even my ignorance
of such matters proclaimed themselves
lust what was most appropriate for an
afternoon visit to a Southern country
house, and a low, deprecatory, pleasant
voice
He gave me q casual look when Mrs
Brane very pleasantly introduced me
she made much more Of q guest OF me
than of a housekeeper-and dropped his
eyes again on the cup between his long
slim hands. He dropped them, however
not before ! had time to notice that his
pupils had grown suddenly large. Other
wise HIS expression did not change-in'
deed. why should it?-but this inexplicable
look in his eyes gave me an unpleasant
little shock.
,."Mr. Dabney," Mrs Brane was saying
"has been sent over by Mrs. Rodman, one
Of our distant neighbors, to enliVen our
duIlness. He wants to study my husbands
Russian library, and. as my husband made
fl an especial request that his books
should not be lent, this means that we
shall see Mr.. Dabney very often. Dr.
HaYerstock has been looking Robbie over
The poor, little fellows nerves are in q
pretty bad condition"
You'll let me see him. won't your" muir
INJURED young Dabney. Il rather adore
young children"
~Oh," laughed the big doctor, in his
noisy way. anybody who hasn't red hair
may see Robbie. hear he has q violent
objection to red hair. Ell, Miss Gale? Very
pretty red hair, too"
OF course 1t was friendly teasing. but It
angered me unreasonAbly. and felt the
color rising to my conspicuous crop. Is
peciaIIy as Mr.. Dabney looked at me with
an air Of mildly increasing interest.
How very odd!" he said.
Would you mind taking Mr.. Dabney to
the bOok-room when he's finished his tea
Miss Caller" asked Mrs. Brane in her sweet