The Adair County news., 1922-12-12

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"GiVe Me a Three, If You Have one,"
He Requested of the Pullman Con-
ductor.
"Mr. Dorne would like to speak to
yOu," Avery said.
COnnery stopped beside the section.
where the man with the spectacles sat
with his daughter. DOrne looked up
at him.
"YOu are the train cOnductor?" he
asked.
eyes, sir" Connery replied.
DOrne fumbled in his inner pocket
and brought out a card-case, which
he opened, and produced a card. Con-
merry, glancing at the card while the
other still held 1t, saw that 1t was
President Jarvis visiting card. with
the presidents name in engraved
block letters; across its top was writ
ten briefly in Jarvis familiar hand.
''This is the passenger; and below,
1t was signed with the same scrawI
of initials which had been on the note
Connery had received that morning
"H. r. J."
COnnery'S hand shook as, while try
ing to recover himself, he took the
card and looked at it more closely,
and he felt within him the sinking
sensation which follows an escape
from danger. He saw that his too
ready and too assured assumption
that Eaton was the man to whom Jar
Wis note had referred had almost led
him into the sort of mistake which is
objectionable in "truSted" man; he
had come within an ace, he realized,
of speaking to Eaton and so betray-
ing the presence on the train of
traveller whose journey his superiOrs
were trying to keep secret.
you need, Of course, hold the train
no longer" Dorne said to COnnery.
'YeS, sir; 1 received word from Mr..
Jarvis about you, Mr.. Dorne. 1 shall
follow his instructions fully"
AS he went forward again after the
train was under way, COnnery tried
to recOllect how it was that he had
been led into such a mistake, and de-
Tending himself, he laid it all to old
Sammy. But old Sammy was not
often mistaken in his identificatiOns
If Eaton was not the person for whom
the train was held, might he be some
one else Of Importance? Now as he
studied Eaton, he could not imagine
what had made him accept this pas
senger as a person Of great position.
1t was only when he passed Eaton q
third time, half an hour later, when
the train had long left Seattle, that
the half-Shaped hazards and guesses
about the passenger suddenly sprang
into form. Allowing for a change of
clothes and a different way Of brush
Ing his hair, Eaton was exactly the
man whom Warden had expected at
his house and who had come there
and waited while Warden, away in his
car, was killed.
COnnery was walking back through
the train, absent-minded in trying to
decide whether he could be at all sure
of this; and trying to decide what he
should do If he felt sure, when Mr..
Dorne stopped him.
Conductor, do you happen to
know" he questioned, "whO the young
man is who took Section Three in the !
car fOrward?"
COnnery gaSped; but the question |
put to him the impOsSibility of his |
being sure of any recognition from the |
description. "He gave his name on
his ticket as Philip D. Eaton, sir" |
Connery replied.
us that all you know about himT
'Yes, SIR
"1f you find out anything about him,
let me know" Dorne bade.
''Yes, sir" Connery determined to |
let nothing interfere with. learning
more of Eaton; Dorne's request only
gave him added responsibility.
Dorne, however, was not depending |
upon Connery alone for further infor- |
nation. AS soon as the conductor |
had gone, he turned back to his |
daughter and Avery upon the seat op-
posite
avery" he said in tone of direc-
tion, II wish you to get in converse
tion with this Philip Eaton. 1t will |
probably be useful if you let Harriet !
talk with him too. She would get inn
pressions helpful to me which you
can't"
The girl started with surprise but |
recovered at once. ''Yes, Father" she |
said.
"What sirT Avery ventured to pro
test.