Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-30
BY Will Payne

much like the idea OF her going down there.
even in bread daylight, but she'd been once
and evidently intended going again. And.
after all. IL krom dictated the technical de.
scriptions to her that would he another
string TO his bow. He supposed it would be \
done in~the hotel parlor or writing room.
Unlike her going to the thcatcr. this madc
no pronounced impression upon him. lie
VAS really thinking OF something quite aside
from her going to the hotel.
They were walking UP the drive u Lincoln
park in crisp fall air that made exercise dc.
liShtful. Bcss had u special sort Of aware.
ness Of the house they were lmSsins-a FOR.
inidablc pile OF dun stone with Il good deal
OF plate glass in il. She knew that Mrs. Lett
liza Bclklap lived there, and She had received!
various more or less subtle limitations con.
corning Mrs. Ecllinap and Nathaniel liar.
WOOD. IhcSc lntilni.tiunS amounted To an
impression that she had, perhaps, supplantel
Mrs. Ec!knap in Harwood's resurd-nt least
that some friends of HARDWOOD and Mrs. Bel.
KNAPP had entertained romantic expectations
. regarding them. 1t was something tina, Bess
had concerned herself very little about. She
bad never mel Mrs. Belknip. but had seen
her twice, examining her appearance with d
curloSit! which was quite natural under the
circumstances. Probably The net impression
of all this upon her mind was that il Nat
had finally chosen her and nothing as against
Mrs. Bc!knap and ten millions his sincerity
could not be questioned. She looked at the
house with Il special sort OF awarencss as
they walked past ii. Naturally HARDWOOD had
his own awarencss of it.
But he was really thinking of something
clse-Which he brought into action after
luncheon ON Monday, brightly and pleas
antly, as he had brought up the subject Of
the lenses.
I'm going TO make Il clean sweep of this
now, Bessie" he said: {" find out exactly where
l stand and what l<ron's up to: ! want to
get us much material as possible for Prof.
kersten to work on, YOU sec. so he'll nc able
TO give me a sound opinion on what I've got.
Let's sec what's in that safe upstairs. l
meant I" have an expert come over and open
it; but If you've got the combination there's
no use in that"
Tic. WAS SO bright and niniablc about it,
taking il, 10 mucl, as Il matter Of course!
She felt the same confusion as, in tho case OF
Tho icns0s, oply even more sharply. Krom
WAS blind: he'd given her the combination
OF the safe in his hclplcssncss-in trust,
Surely Nat must sec that: She wished to
say. 80. Nat. | cant! That would be shame
fur" Yet the words wouldn't comc--tclting
him IL his face that he was shameful
We may as well make a clean sweep of
it, llarwood repcated-so pleasantly and
lightly as though nothing else were to be
thought of. handsomely smiling at her: "Of
course he added. quite gcnially, " il the ras.
cal is going straight with me. it can do him
no harm" He was on his feet, ready to go
upstairs. in that manner of brisk. engaging
competence. Confusedly she was following
him upstairs.
The roof room seemed to bring krom
c!oser-blind Sanson!
II cont know whether ! can remember
it,. she murnured, as she stopped to the
safe. She did, however, remember tho num-
bcrs perfectly: 81, 10, {. ~.
Turning the nickel plated disc OF the lock.
while he stood over her watching. she had
a sense of shame as though he were making
her do something that outraged her %n,odcsty.
She turned the disc to 81. 10. then TO "a,
instead of ~. The lock refused to release.
She tried it over again. Her face was rcd,
her eyes downcast..
"l'm afraid I've forgotten it," she said
alphabetically. 1T doesn't unlock" She
went through the numbers Of the cu1nbina
ton again. ending with "a instead of ~.
NO. | can't work it.-sorry,' she.announced,
in INK lrrasainent.
90, well, don't bother any more said Har-
wood che"rfully. 1T doesn't matter; let it
GO. Kind. cunsidcIatc. as always. III
have an expert come over and open it in the
morning" he added.
De. She Went downstairs. with downcast eyes.
and was much relieved when lnc> went or to
his room. leaving her alone in the cabinet.
This was one Of tho worst moments she had
vet cxpcricncrd. why did he. do it?" she
kept thinking. And why did I do that?"
Tor She knew we'll enough that the last nun1-
hcr of tho combination was AZ, not "a. ~
lied to him! This is Shameful Presently
II. question obscurcly occurred to her: The
lcnses-thisy business Of the conbina ton
deccit--lying-why hadn't she protested?
Was it, possibly, bcca use of q feeling that
a she had sold out to HARDWOOD?
A little before four, with notebook and
pencils in her handbag, she started for the
Peterborough hotel to take Krom's dicta.
ton. She was ashamed to meet him even
though his eyes were blindfoldcd.
Erom met her at the door as before, with
hsndaged eyes; but he had already turned on
the hooded lamp at the little writing desk
in the corner. He told her at considerable
length. quite cheerfully, that he'd managed
to get some sleep. The doctor had given him
something 10 take.
Il don't like taking dope much he con-
fessed, smiling below the black band. II got
other things in that line to worry me, with
out getting a dope habit. But sometimes
you can't stand it. The pain amt much
worse than just having nothing to do any.
how. You wouldn't think, now, that a man
would want 10 be hurt" he went on cheer.
fully, but being hurt kind of takes up your
mind. I make a kind of game, OF it--seeing
how long l can wait before l take anything"
He laughed over that; as pitiful a sound.
she thought, as she had ever heard. You
\ really shouldn't stay here!" she protested.
You ought to go into a hospital where you
can have proper attention. She had a poign-
ant sense of the big, blind fellow shut up
in this hole all day, with nothing to do but
play that dismal game-of seeing how much
pain he could stand. The doctor oughtn't
to leave you here!" she added indignantly.
If she'd had any place to take him., at the
moment. she would have ordered a. cab and
carried him of. <
Well. the doctor did want me to go to
a hospital" he replied soberly. But I was
in a hospital once with typhoid I hate 'em.
I told him I'd ratherlstick it out here. They
send, up my meals all right; that's about all
anybody can do, 1 guess. Just a case4of grin
and bear it, you see."'
They got down to work presently, but the
dictatinn WAS slow. His technical iargorn was