The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-10-09

tnat you SNAIL HOT iUbo u bluBio
minute more than Is necessary OF
my charming company. Besides, /
can't 20 and sit In the drawing
room all alone ana talk to myself
like a jibbering idiot. can l. Mr..
Manders 7" @
Z He laughed.
And SO the irony OF light, mean
ingless conversation, as so often IN
life, but seldom quite so tensely,
was kept up to cover the volcano
below that might boil over at any
moment.
As the clock struck haif.past nine
Ann rose.
"Time all good little girls were in
bed" she said, making littis mock
curtsey. Goodnight, gentlemen;
will leave you to your business
Burgess held the door open for
her and kissed her as she passed
out into the hall. Then, he turned
round to US.
"Yes. and now TO business" he
said very gravely. "You can per-
I haps imagine how painfully anxious
] am to hear what you have to tell
and what plans you have evolved
to meet the exigencies Of the cir.
cumstances. Let us 60 straight into
the library"
On the table there were cigars,
decanters and glasses, with a couple
Of syphons In coolers, and Burgess
rang the bell as We seated our
selves.
:, I'VE do not want to be inter
rupted on any account. Jevons," he
said when his man appeared; that
is, unless anything urgent should
arise.
Then Burgess faced round to me
almost abruptly, with his under Jaw
, pushed out bit In a way know
well.
Nov, Line" he said, '1et me
hear everything. have waited
long enough"
Sod knows you have. dear old
friend" answered with no little
response and feeling in my voice,
taking my seat opposite to him at
the far end OF the table, with Blen-
kinsopp on my right and Manders
on my left.
81 have felt II as acutely as you,
can assure you, and God knows,
whatever may happen in these
strange times we chance toN have
fallen upon. I shall never forget IL
or cease to be thankful that Il fell
to my lot, at the greatest crisis Of
my life. to have such a white man
and such a friend to deal with. Both
Manders and Blenkinsopp know
everything and appreciate your
magnanimity, your big abnegation.
as much as I do"
They both nodded, pulling hard
! at their cigars-some OF the big
Ramon AlIones had brought Bur
CESS partly as q present, partly as
an apology. At times OF tenseness
and crisis II Is always the small
and immaterial manners that catch
ones eye, as though the mind we're
seeking to catch at straws Of out
side relief.
But there has been, as you may
imagine. Burge, old chap" ] Went
on. speaking with a big grip on
myself, "a very sound and sufficient
reason for It all. In the first place,
II was to save you unnecessary per-
sonal pain and anxiety while very
lurid and sensational theory was.
to say the least of Il, under sus-
picion; and Il would have been I'M
! fair to suggest the most terrible pos
sibilities, involving persons you are
In way interested in, without an
atom of proof However. viii not
labor the point" %.
Burgess looked me straight in
the face.
"Of course, you mean that You
consider that Professor Wolf IL
concerned IN these CHASTITY. affairsf"'
he said, coming straight to the
point in his blunt, morally surgical
fashion. .
I nodded.
So did Manders and Bienkinsopp.
Again the immaterial and frivolous
would obtrude itself upon my taut-
ened mind, and II suggested Chi
hese mandarins In comic opera.
"Yes," I said, determined not to
mince matters in view Of what was,
coming, "and he involves Dorothy"
Burgess flushed, that deeper DIFF.
ference between a man and wo-
man, and I thought Of AIMS blush
only short while before.
II was his turn to nod-curtly.
Had It only been the professor"
I went on, II would gladly have
.risked the improbability Of my ap-