Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-05-17
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INN lAlIAl

but eNefA inns Wciiit Gii quite natu-
rally. He favored Miss Cameron with
an uncommonly self-possessed smile rs
she gave her hand TO him, and she in
turn responded with one family sug-
gestlve Of tolerance, although II GER
tainly would have been recorded by a
less sensitive person than Barnes as
'rlpplng"
In reply to his perfunctory delight
ed, Tn sure etc" she said quite cleaI
ly: "Oh, now | remember. | was sure
| had seen you before, Mr.. Barnes,
You are the magic gentleman who
sprang like mushroom ont Of the
earth early yesterday afternoon"
"And frightened youn he said;
"whereupon you vanished like the
mushroom that is gobbled up by the
predatory glutton."
He had thrilled at the sound Of her
voice. II was the low, deliberate voice
OF the woman Of the crossroads, and,
as before, he caught the almost i'm
perceptlble accent. The red CLEAN
from the blazing logs fell upon her
shining ,hair; 1t glIstened like gold,
She wore simple evening gown of
white, s0ftened over the shoulders and
neck with Il fall Of rare valencennes
lace. There was no jewelry-not even
a ring on her slender tapering fingers.
Mrs. Collier the hostess, was an el-
derly, heavy-featured woman. decld.
edly overdressed Mrs. Van Dyke,
her daughter was woman Of thirty,
tall, dark and handsome in bold,
dashlng sort of way. The lackadais-
cal gentleman with the mustache
turned out TO be her husband.
! "Aiy 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. Quite
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 viii give him
the pleasure he Is missing tonight"
DE Sotos cocktails came In. Miss
Cameron did not take 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.
ber Of this agreeable company"
II was rather startling. Barnes
glass stopped half way to his lips. An
instant later he drained It. He ac.
eepted the toast as a compliment from
the whllom Irlshman, and not as u
tribute to the prowess of those mys-
teriOus marksmcn.
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
ont crowdlng 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.
gciher, as might have been done by
using one end or the center Of the
table The serving plates were OF sill
yer. Especially beautiful were the
long-stemmed water gohlets aud the
graceful champagne glasses. They
were blue and white aud Of design
and quality no longer ohtainable ex-
cent at great cost. The estheilc
Barnes was not slow TO appreciate the
rarity OF the glassware and the ehaste
beauty Of the serving plates.
The man Nicholas was evidently the
butler despite his Seventh avenue
He was assisted In serving
by two stalwart and amazingly clumsy
foolmen, Of similar TX and nationality.
On seeing these additional men serv-
ants Barnes began fguratlvely to
eount on his fingers the retainers he
had 50 far encountered on the place. |
Alreaes- he hed seer .slx4 all Of them