New Britain herald., 1921-11-29

door, turning only to ask;
 You are sure?
 Absolutely Hurry I'll explain when you come back,"-
 Back to the Inn.
 He was gone but minute or two and when he returned there was a constraint in his manner which had not been there before.
 Hastings will get in touch with the men at the inn" he said, and l knew the reason for his manner.
 Capt. Hastings has told you that it was my own folly which warned him, ' I said.
 That is too strong a word" he re- piled with perfunctory courtesy.
 No, it isn't" I returned with a bitterness of spirit which I knew would long be with me. To think that had allowed the insolence of this Smith to goad me into so glaring an indiscrction
 My memory never played me a tricl: like that before," I went or futilely enough But his voice was so cleverly disguised--"
 He is one of the best mmics ir the world" Col Travers interrupted ''so don't blame yourself on tha' score. Your only slip was the little taunt you gave him, but that was { thoroughly feminine-and, therefore rgivable-proceedi
 He smiled indulgently, and I longet to slap him. I think he read my dis pleasure, for his face suddenly grew serious.
 Please don't let this trouble you Mrs. Graham" he said. He canno have gone far if he did start, and
 Capt. Tasting rushed through tho door which the colonel had left open
 Some thing has happened to the telephone out there" he said. '. can't get the inn"
 We must reach there as quickly a. possible, then" Col. Travers replied If" he looked at me, and I seized the look, interpreted it joyously.
 "I can drive you back in no time, I said My car is a splendid hil climber, and it has plenty of gas, oi and water.
 Where is Dicky? Good Hastings, you stay here tC see if Crowley recovers consciousness Get a full statement from him if he does-stressng the identification ot Smith. Come down there with il when you get it if I haven't given you different orders beforehand. Now Mrs. Graham, we'll pick up the mar who came with you. Mr,-"
 "CosgroVe," I replied. ,.
 "Ah, yes I didn't catch it before wen start at once if you don't mind
 Mind :" l calculated, and l think he understood the frantic wish whicf was mine for strenuous action tc atone for my folly in giving the warn. | ing, inadvertent though it was, tt | Smith. Thankful, indeed, was I on that re turn journey for the wonderful moon | light which made the road almost a safe to travel as daylight. Thankful also, that the hour gave us the wind ing thoroughfare to ourselves, Meth CT Col. Travers nor MT. Cosgrovt spoke at all, evidently fearing to dis l sent the big car along the road at { pace at which I would have shivereC at any other time
 Yet, concentrated as I was on tn management of the car, two thought obsessed me every inch of the way One was the keen humiliation I fel for my childish yielding to temper il the taunting of the man named Smith
 The other, no less vivid, was tn remembrance of Dicky's assiduous at tention to Bess Dean during the stir ring events at the inn. It was sh whom he was assiduously shielding from all discomfort all chance 0 rudeness, while T.
 The zest l had felt in playing a rol in the drama staged at the in changed to the dust and ashes whicl a Thespian failure knows most poig nantly.
 And then we had reached the inr to find an excited group of babblin people in front. Bess Dean, with Te and Fred, stood little apart, an when they saw the car they rushe forward. There was malicious littl gleam in the girls eyes which belle her apparent soicitude.
 "Oh. Madge :" she said, q don know how to tell you Dcky wen after the man named Smith to thras him for something he said to me, an