The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1920-07-02

only necessary to whistle and one OF
the birmingham veterans would come
running.
In spite of the complete satisfaction
l had expressed to Terrence as to the
perfect integrity and honest intentions
of the two women, the curiosity of the
American state department and the
visit OF MOntani required elucidation
beyond my powers. At dinner they
We're in the merrieSt humOr. The per-
formanceS of the little army through
out the day had amused them greatly.
How delightfully."- feudal!" ey-
claimed Alice. Really we should have
a moa and ~drawbridge to make the
thing perfect. Constance and l are
the best protected women in the
world -
We extracted all the fun possible
from the idea that the estate was un-
der siege; that Alice was the chate-
laine of a beleaguered castle, and that
before help could reach us we were in
danger Of being starved out by the
enemy. They called into play the poe
try which had SO reused Antoine's
apprehensions, and their talk bristled
with quotations. Alice rose after the
salad and repeated at least a page Of
Mallory, and the Knights Of the
Round Table having thus been intro
duced, Mrs. Farnsworth recited sever
al sonorous passages from "The IdylS
of the King" They flung lines from
BrOwning's IN a Balcony at each
other as though they We're improvis-
ing. The befuddlement of Antoine and
the waiter who assisted him added to
the general joy. They were undoubt-
edly thought the two women quite out
of their heads, and it was plain that
/ suffered greatly in Antoine's estima-
ton by my encouragement of this fri
vOlity. Mrs. FarnswOrth walked majes-
tically round the table and addressed
to me the lines from Macbeth begin
ming:
Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and
What thou art promised.
while Antoine chung to the sideboard
listening with mouth open and eyes
rolling.
Later. in the living room, Alice sang
some old ballads. She was more ador-
able than ever at the piano. 1t was
a happiness beyond any in my expert
ence of women to watch her, to note
the play of light upon her golden
head, to yield to the spell of her voice.
Ballads had never been sung before
with the charm and feeling she put
into them; and after ending with
douglas, Douglas" she responded to
my importantly with ben Bolt" and
then dashed into a sparkling thing of
Chcpin's, played it brilliantly and
rose, laughingly mocking my applause.
l left the house like a man over
whom an enchantment has been
spoken and vas not pleased when An
tome blocked my path: pardon me,
sir"
Bother my pardon; what's trou-
bling you now?" l demanded.
Its nothing troubling me, sir; not
particularly. If you give me time, l
think I'll grow used to the poetry talk
and playing at being queens. It's like
children in a family l served once; an
English family, most respectable. But
in a widow, sir"
God knows we ought to be glad
when grownups have the heart to play
with it as beautifully as those women
do! What else is on your mind?'
It's about Elsie, sir" I groaned at
the mention Of Flynn's German wife.
I'm sorry, sir; but l thought l should
report it. 1t was a man who came to
see her this afternoon. You was out
for our walk, and Flynn had taken
the ladies for a drive, SO Elsie was
alone at the garage. This person rode
in on the grocer's truck from the viii
lage, which is how he got by the gate.
AS it happened, Pierre-he was a
waiter at the birmingham, a Swiss, who
understands German-had zone into
the garage for a nap; he's quite old,
sir, and has his snooze every after.
nOon."
He's entitled to IT," ! remarked
h must be a thousand years old"
"From what he heard Pierre thought
the man a spy, sir. He wanted Elsie
to steal something from the house, it
was a fan he wanted her to take most
particular, and 1t was to be done soon,
today If she could manage 1t was
for the love Of the Fatherland that he
wanted her to do it. Did you notice,
sir, that Mrs. Bashford didn't have
the fan tonight? Not that one she
carried last night"
kn+nino,c r,uard nnoLoo IN III