The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1922-09-27

and an observer would know that 1
was talking. / ride well, and / have
not been In the saddle since / came
here. Can We not ride? We would
be alone that way"
Harvard made still another sug-
gestion, however.
III you will walk slowly to the
gate at the lodge" he said, 81. will
pass there soon in one of the road
sters. I will invite you to go with
me. Then we can talk"
She nodded, murmured a very
good, Mr.. Harvard" and started away.
Ten minutes later he picked her up
at the lodge gate, and they drove
away side by side.
Two small Incidents happened as
they did so: one was that Roberta,
believing that nobody was near, spoke
to Harvard in her natural voice as she
climbed into the seat beside him; the
other one was thab Katherine, who
had entered the unused lodge for
some reason a few moments earlier,
heard the car and her husbands voice
and went quickly toward the door to
inquire where he was bound. She
stepped into the open doorway just
as Roberta was in the act of getting
into the car, and at the very instant
when she used her sweetly melodious
voice in addressing Bing.
Katherine stepped swiftly back
again out of sight.
Utter amazement is the only ade-
quate manner in which to describe
her sensations; not because Roberta
happened to be at the lodge gate
when Harvard was driving out, and
that he should ask her to ride with
him, but that Roberta should speak
10 him in a perfectly natural man.
ner, inducing no surprise on his part
that she used her voice (she who was
supposed to be without voice., but
precisely as if he had known from
the beginning of things that she could
| talk.
Katherine walked very slowly on
her return to the house. She had
much to think about.
What Roberta Had to Tell.
Harvard did not speak again fol
some time after Roberta was seated
beside him. He drove the car in ST.
lence, guiding it at the forst oppor-
tunity out of the main highway into
less ~frequented thoroughfares. After
a time he slowed down until they made
less than ten miles an hour.
"Mr. Harvard" Roberta began
there is so much that l must tel
to you, and so much that l SHOULD
leave unsaid for others to inform yoI
about, that | shall ask you to heal
me through 10 the end of what l have
to say, with as little interruption al
is possible"
81 will interrupt you, senorita," h
replied, "only when a question that
regard as important seems neces
sary."
"In that case" she said, 81 will be
gin by making a statement that vii
amaze you, perhaps, more than any
thing else l will have to say"
"The entire situation is sufficient
ly amazing" he replied. "But VIVA
is the statement you refer to-"
"This: The man whom you knoN
l as Conrad Belknap IS my husband.
have been his wife for ten years.
was married to him when l was ser
5 enteen. When | was ninsteen-soms
what less than two years after on
marriage left him, and hid myse
away where l hoped he would neve
: find me 1t was not until pearl
: five years after that when,he did fin
: me. | was in the far wes-in EdaL
! teaching school; and l had secure
a divorce from him three years b.
{ fore he discovered me-"
"Then you are not his wFfe-uuie'
: you remarked Did you?"
mo. l used the present tensa
e referring to the subject for the sal
of directnezs and to be expliciEs
have never been his wife SINCE [ lie
o him more than eight years ago, b
| have BEEN more or less closely a
ISOLATED with him and his evil wa
d ever since he discovered me- in>Idal
n between three and four years .ag
. He has compelled that-has fomc
)t me to do what l have done; to SEE
to condone. his criminalitiesy' tO
st scciate with crooks and criminals
I'd sometimes go the length of artI
Id participation in his crOokedness Tor
n, seemingly to do so)-he has co
PEELED that much of complacenre
my part by holding over ms a tin
if. which, until now, 1 have not had
W. courage TO defy"
r. zone moment, please. Why ul
h now?'"
of 81 will reply to that question a
ice b~iguously, and explain more fl
when l get to it. Something h
Inf pened Saturday night which was
7 tablished to my satisfaction on S
HE day, and which | became puSltiV
assured of only last night, that
made it both possible and logical
me to defy the man known as Coz
Belknap."
ST see. You will explain that p
later, you say. But you have t
used the expression, "therman L k
ne as Belknap.' Am / to- undexs'
.ars that the persons right. name is
Conrad Belknap?"
eyes. His name is
red
t it
g q -