Charlevoix county herald., 1921-05-06


a body-guard. I'd look well, wouldn't
L? But what do you mean by the plan
the enemy Is now tryingT'
She hesitated little. and then said:
IL shall make no charges, because /
have no proof. But / read the news
papers, and Mr.. Van Britt tells me
something, now and then. You are
having a terrible lot of wrecks"
"That is merely bad luck" he re-
joined easily.
freshness is no part Of true cour-
age" she interpolated, calmly "As
private individual you might say that
your life is your own, and that you
have a perfect right to risk & as you
please. But as the general manager
of the railroad, with a lot of your
friends holding Office under you, you
can't say that. Besides, you are fight
ing for cause, and that cause win
stand or fall with YOU"
"You ought to be member of this
new reform legislature that some of
our good friends think Is coming up
the pike" he chuckled but she ignored
the good-natured gibe and made him
listen.
81 was visiting a day or two at the
capital last week, and there are in
fiuences at work that you don't know
about. If the opposition can't make
your administration a failure, ii won't
hesitate to get rid of you in the easiest
,,,ov tbot offarsn
There was silence In the majors
den for minute or so. and then the
boss said:
"As usual. you know more than you
are willing to tell me-"
Perhaps not" was the prompt an
swer. perhaps / am only the on
lOoker-who can usually see things
rather better than the persons actual
ly involved. Hitherto / have urged
you to be bold, and then again to be
bold. Now l am begging you to be
prudent"
"In what way?"
Careful for yourself. For example !:
you walked out here this evening {;
don't do that any more. Come i'm a
falkland don't come alone"
/ couldn't see his frOwn of disagree
nent. but l knew well enough it was
there.
"There spoke the woman I'm YOU"
he said. IF l should show the white
feather that way, they'd have some ex-
cuse for potting me-"
There was a silence again. and
got up quietly and crossed the dining
room to the big recessed window where
l stood looking out into the darkness
of the tree-shaded lawn. 1t was pretty
evident that Mrs. Sheila knew heap
more than she was telling the boss,
just as he had said, and l couldn't
help wondering how she came to know
It, What she said about the increased
number of wrecks looked like pointer
Was she in touch with the enemy in
some way?
Then my mind went back I'm flash
TO what Maisie Ann had told me. Was
the husband who ought TO be dead, and
wasn't, mixed up in it in any way?
Could it be possible that he was one
of those who were i'm the fight on the
other side, and that she was still keep
ing in touch with him?
Pretty soon / heard the murmur of
their voices again, but now l was so
far away from the bamboo-screened
door that l couldn't hear what they
were saying / wished they would
break it off so the boss could go. 1t
was getting late. and there had been
enough said to make me wish we
were both safely back in the hotel.
It's that way sometimes, you know, in
spite of all you can do. You hear
talk, and you can't help reading be-
tween the lines. / knew, as well as
l knew that / was alive, that Mrs.
Sheila meant more than she had said:
perhaps more than she had dared to
say.
1t was while | was standing there
in the big window that l saw the man
on the lawn. At first / thought ii was
Tarbell, who was never very far out
Of reach when the boss was running
loose. But the next minute i saw
was mistaken. The man under the
trees had on long travelling coat
that came nearly to his heels, and his
cap was the kind that has two visors.
one in front and the other behind.
(TO BE CONTINUED)