The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1919-07-10
CHAPTER IX.s

to the door and tapped.
You're not asleep yet. are you
jean she called. James just want
ed me 80 asB il there was any posi-
bility that some OF those papers were
anything happen where one might
have slipped out? He thinks that two
most important one are missing"
Not while they were in my pos.
session, Eleanor said Jean positively,
feeling a return of her annoyance at
her brothers manner. She opened
the door and stood framed in the
doorway, looking adorable in her little
pale blue kimono, with her hair tum.
bling about her shoulders. The elder
sister lei! on her neck ana kissed her
~affectionately.
"Ycu poor little girl, how tired you
look. Get to bed quickly. II was a
shame to trouble you any more about
those h0rrid papers. There, good
night, dear. This is positively my
last appearance" and she closed the
door and went downstairs.
Five minutes later Jean turned to
put out the light and saw, lying on the
floor on the farther side OF the little
bed stand, u slip OF paper folded once
across, and about the size OF the val
let which she had given her %bro.nerin-
law. She pounced upon it and took it
nearer the light. Ii looked more like
All old letter that might nave slipped
from her trunk tray than q business
paner.
As she openad the paper the name
of Jasper Holt caught her eye, and
her interest was at ono enlisted. How
came a paper bearing that name in
house? 1t could not POSSIBILITY have
come through her. Nothing of his
could have caught in her garments,
there VAS no place for anything to
catch, and no way that his possessions
could get into her bag. 1t could not,
OF course, be the. missing paper from
the wallet, since it bore his hated
name. Yet, her brother had spoken of
diaaSreeable business relations. Would
this paper, perhaps, by any chance.
explain to her the animosity that had
prung up between the two men? She
cit she had the right to know. She
glareed quickly down the page
/ was q simple contract, the grant
Of certain water rights 10 Jasper Holt
In consideration OF payment received,
and to tho veriest child who could read
at all it would be patent that the pa
per must be the private property Of
Jasper Holt himself. How came it
here in the house OF his enemy?
She rsad the few lines over many
times, until she knew them thorough
ly: and slowly there grew in her
heart q conviction shat something was
wrong somewhere. Tier first Impulse
to call her sister and consult her, she
could not bring herself to follow. 1t
seemed, somehow, that here was some
thing sne must min GU. ior ileT-
self.
uowayer and whatever her brother
and sister felt, she owed q loyalty to
JagrtuN Holt. She might do u wrong,
cvcG inadvertently, to him who saved
her life and cared for her so tenderly.
II he were here she would unquestion-
ingly have put the paper into his hands
and asked him what to do about 1t.
She had promised to trust him, and
si.n felt such great confidence in him,
from what she already knew about
him that she was convinced he would
s0a,i The paper back to Harrington il
II belonged to the latter.
TsGt Holt was not here, and the
rroh,em Of the future was still
b,snded in difficulty. Would she
ever sec him to consult? Was this,
ierha,s, II of the missing papers
Jassos wanted, and why did she not
trust James to give it back to Holt as
quickly as she would have trusted
Holt To give it to James? The ques-
tiua brought a look Of trouble to her
brow. and a flush to her cheek. Did
she mistrust her ~brotherinlaw Just a
little bit? Had she always done SO.
without knowing it, Or wax 1t Just a
prejudice because he seemed not quite
sc fine in Lis nature as her beloved
sistes? Besides. james was prcsudiced
against Holt. It might he hard for
him tc be generous and true under
those circumstances. Yet her heart.
rsilnked her for the thought
She stood uncertainty holdllsg the
bit " paper for a long time, and
finally put out the light and went and
sal by the open window, trying to
clear her mental vision and under.
stand what she ought to do.
S9FzS hit on the. lawn the shadows were
dark under the great tree where she