Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1919-06-26
SYNOPSIS.

lEIN mn
wealthy New Yorker, on. a walking trip
through New England, Is caught IN a
storm miles from his destination. Ats
same plight. While they discuss the sit
alton an automobile, sent to meet tine
girl, arrives and Barnes is given a lft 70
on to her destination, which she tells
Barnes is a place called Green Fancy.
CHAPTER Hat the tavern Barnes
la11s IF %i'n actors sssA"f headed BY Lyndon
Rushcroft, and becomes interested In
Them.
CHAPTER IIT-As the storm grows,
Barnes finds himself worrying over the
safety of the girl, travelling over the
mountain roads at what he considers dan
Fancy is something of a house of mys-
terry. Two mounted men leave the tavern
in a manner which arouses Barnes Curl
osity.
CHAPTER IV-He meets "Niss Thack-
cray" leading lady of the stranded theat-
rical troupe, who is acting as chamber
maid. hat night he is aroused by the
bringing of a dying man to the tavern,
one Of, the two who had ridden away, a
dead body of the other man.. Both had
been shot.
CHAPTER V-The wounded man, regis
IeTcu Ut TIC tdNtIU dS ftIIuIGW Idul, ultS,
and Barnes is informed he must not leave
until after the inquest. O'Dowd and De
Soto, guests at Green Fancy, visit the
tavern, apparently much mystitied over
CHAPTER VI-Barnes advances Rush
croft money sufficient to release the COM
Thereby becoming its Official hacker. He
visits Green Fancy, and in the grounds
meets his acquaintance of the night be-
FORE. finding her a girl of surprising
beauty.
CHAPTER vII-She seems not to be
DESTROYS Of recognizing him. and turns
way. 'O'Dowd appears and in apparently
friendly fashion escorts Barnes (who feels
he is unwelcome) from the grounds.
CHAPTER VIII-Miss Thackeray warns
Barnes that a man stopping at the tav-
ern, ostensibly a book agent, had searched
his baggage in his absence. O'Dowd
comes to the tavern and with Barnes and
others goes over the scene OF the previous
nights shooting. Barnes is invited to
dinner at Green Fancy.
CHAPTER Kills acquaintance of the
storm is introduced as Miss Cameron.
The makeup of the house party, particu-
larly a man introduced to him as Loeb
and the numbe of menservants about the
place, somewhat astonishes Barnes.
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 s%allies, and
marveled at the ease and composure
with which she met the witty Irish
man on ven terms
Not until the very close of the eve
ming, and when he had resigned him
self to. hopelessness, did the oppOrtu-
nifty come for him to speak with her
alone. She caught his eye, and, to his
amaZement, made a slight movement
of her head, unobserved by the others
but curiously imperative to him. There
was no installing the meaning of the
direct, intense look that she gave him.
She was appealing to him as a
~friend,-as one on whom she could de-
pend!
The spirit of chivalry took possess
sion of him. His blood leaned +" ~
call. She needed him and he would
not fail her. And it was with diff
Guilty that he cOntrived to hide the
exaltation that might have ruined ev-
erything!
While he was trying to invent a pre-
text for drawing her apart from the
others she calmly ordered Van Dyke
to %relinquish his place on the couch
beside her to Barnes.
Come and sit beside me, Mr..
Barnes" she called out gayly. II will
not bite you or scratch you or harm
you in any way. Ask Mr.. O'Dowd,
and he will tell you that l am quite
docile. I don't bite, do I, Mr.. O'DowdY
"You do" said O'Dowd promptly.
"You do more than that. You devour.
Bedad l have to look in a mirror to
convince mesclf that you haven't swal-
lowed me whole. That's another way
of telling you, Barnes, that she'll alb
sOrb you entirely"
For a few minutes she chided him
for his unseemly aversion. He was
beginning to think that he had been
mistaken in her motive, and that after
all she was merely satisfying her van.
ity. Suddenly, and as she smiled into
his eyes, she said, lowering her voice
slightly:
DO not appear surprised at any
thing I may say to you. Smile as If
we were uttering the silliest nonsense.
So much depends upon it, Mr.. Barnes"