Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1919-08-21
A Puzzling
Case
BY A. w. PEACH
opyright. 1918. by the Mcclure News
paper Syndicate)

{ moment ne appeared AT MIS-. bates
/ boarding house From the first he
kept to himself; while uniformly cour
/ teous, he did not invite advances of any
/ kind. Next, 1t was discovered that he
/ spent many hours in the evening just
walking. zone of those physical cul-
ture bugs old Doctor Greene said
! grimly and the boarding house accept
ed his conclusion.
But Ruth Taylor, looking as she did
each day ut the strong but haggard
/ face, reached a different conclusion.
The gray eyes lifted to hers, as she
chatted in the familiar way of the
| house, were Swallowed. Each evening
4 after supper she saw him go out his
tall figure swinging away into the
night; and many times she heard him
| returning at midnight. And finally,
because her training as a nurse had
! helped her to look into human hearts,
| she knew that he was walking to for
/ get, hoping to leave behind somewhere
! in his lonely strolS memory that he
| wished to blot out
| ed him grow thinner and more bag
gard that she must take n hand in
! curing him. She decided she must
find out, first of all, what was wrong,
! and she decided to take a bold step If
necessary Her professional instinct
was aroused.
The next evening, as he stepped
from the door. she was waiting. Mr.
| HILL why don't you invite one of us
lonely females TO stroll with you some
EVENING"" She felt her cheeks glow
a bit with shame at the holiness OF
her request.
He looked down at her with grave
| eyes. 81 have noticed that you, at
least, have plenty of invitations from
Others" He added quickly as he saw
her vince, Il would like to have you
come, but / am afraid you would find
me poor company. But do come" He
smiled this time, and the smile won
! her.
| They started down the avenue and
| the adventure began. To find his trou-
BILE and to cure him was the task she
| had set for herself. She made little
progress that evening; but they chat
| ted and walked of the time in
silence. When they returned she had
made little gain in her attempt to solve
! him but she found some satisfaction
in his goodnight words
"You make "A good comrade. Please
join me If you can tomorrow. My
work has been changed, so I shall
| wander a bit in the afternoon"
LightneSs came into her feet as she
/ mounted the stair She had helped
him a bit to forget something-wh 1t
was she could not guess, unless it
| might be some wrongdoing that preyed
| upon him. but the clean strength of
his lean face, the grave kindness of his
eyes seemed to shut away all thought
OF crime.
The first link in the chain of mys-
terry was broken the next afternoon.
| They were strolling together down the
broad, sunny central path of the great
park when She saw coming toward
them graceful, pretty girl whose eyes
quckened with interest as she saw
them. She turned toward them.
Greetings, Albert" she said to him.
Ruth saw his face whten ana grow
stern, then take ON look OF hunger
that vanished as quickly rs it came.
And light began to dawn dimly upon
her.
He turned to her with a word of in
PRODUCTION, Miss DennlSon' The
girls appraising eyes swept her cooIly
and turned to him.
When they went on again Ruth was
aware that the mystery was nearing
solution The conversation dragged
though he made an evident effort to
keep II up; hut his mind and heart
was elsewhere
She determined TO use drastic meth
DDS for that night Mt the dining room
table he looked wearier and more de-
pressed than ever. The pity that his
hurt eyes bad first aroused i'm her was
doubled many fold She thought t'ver
a plan and decided 10 put II into action.
She drew him aside into the quiet of
the reception ROOM She was "A bit hes
liant Just how to begin, but she began,
anyway.
Listen, | want YOU 70 tell me some
thing and tell me truly. have decid-
ed to hire myself as your doctor. Any
way, YOU need a mother-or perhaps a
sister"
"The Lord knows I do he said
quietly.
"Then-here it Island forgive me-
bur did you love Miss peunison onceg'
He drew a long breath and sank huck
into the shadow of the corner She
WAS afraid he would not answer then
the words came, touched with pain
81 love her uow-that's the trouble.
He was silent for a little while; then
bis mans will broke and rhe whole
bitter tale came out--a story of mans
true love, given fully 10 a girl who took
IT and then when ii had gone so far as
D., ,,,nl~, r.aa,- a homo had haon f.s.-s.r,