Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-06-12
"wen, I'm tremendously relieved, :

"Well, I'm tremendously relieved"
said Barnes slowly.
"And so am T." said ODowd with
conviction. 81 have seen the heroine
of our busted romance. She's good
looking girl. I'm not surprised that
she kept her veil down. If you were
to leave it to me- though, I'd say
that it's sin to carry discretion so
far as all that. You see what L mean,
don't you? His rich laugh came over
the wire.
Perfectly. Thank you for letting
me know. My mind is at rest. Cool
by" AS he hung up the receiver he
said to himself, you are a most af-
fable, convincing chap, Mr.. O'Dowd,
but l don't believe word you say.
That woman is no ladys maid, and
you've known all the time that she
was there"
| At four o'clock he set out alone for
| tramp up the mountain roae in
which the two men had been shot
down. His mind was quite clear.
Room and Paul were not ordinary rob-
| bers. They were, no doubt, honest
| men. He would have said that they
were thieves bent on burglarizing
Green Fancy were it not for the dis
closures of Miss Thackeray and the
very convincing proof that they were
| not shot by the same man.
| 1t was not beyond reason-indeed.
| 1t was quite probable-that they were
| trying to cross the border; in that
event their real operations would be
confined to the Canadian side of the
| line. He could not free himself of the
suspicion that Green Fancy possessed
the key to the situation. Room and his
companion could not have had the
slightest interest in his movements up
to the instant he encountered the
young woman at the crossroads. His
busy brain suddenly suffered the shock
of distinct conclusion. Was she a
| fellow conspirator? Was she the in.
side worker at Green Fancy in a we'll
| laid plan to rifle the place?
| Could it be possible that she was
the confederate of these painstaking
| agents who lurked with sinister pa
thence outside the very gates of the
place called Green Fancy?
His ramble carried him far beyond
the spot where Rooms body was found
and where young Conley had come
upon the tethered horses. His eager,
curious gaze swept the forest to the
| left of the road in search of Green
| Fancy. Overcome by a rash, daring
| impulse, he climbed over the stake
and rider fence and sauntered among
| the big trees which so far had OBJ
scured the house from view. The trees
grew very thickly on the slope, and
| they were unusually large. He pro-
crossed deeper into the wood. AT the
| end of what must have been a mile
| he halted There was no sign of habi-
| tation, no indication that man had
ever penetrated so far into the forest.
AS he was on the point Of retrnotng
| his steps toward the road his gaze
fell upon huge moss-covered rock
| less than a hundred yards away. He
stared and gradually it began to take
on angles and planes and. recesses of
| the most astounding symmetry I'm
der his widening gaze it was trans
formed into a substantial object of
cubes and gables and-yes, windows
He was looking upon the strange
home of the even stranger Mr.. Cur
tis-Green Fancy.
Now he understood why it was
called Green Fancy. Its surroundings
were no greener than itself; it seemed
to melt into the foliage, to become a
part of the natural landscape. Noun
tain ivy literally enveloped it, Ex-
posed sections of the house were paint
ed green; the doors were green; the
leafy porches and their columns, the
chimney pots, the window hangings-
all were the color of the unchanging
forest. And it was place of huge
dimensions, low and long and ram
bling.
"'Gad," he said to himself, "what
manner of crank is he who would
bury himself like this? OF all the
crazy ideas | ever
His reflections ended there. A WON.
an crossed his vision; woman STROLL