Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-04-13

soul. l began to feel creepy Scalp
began to prick. Then suddenly there
was old Sabre at the head of the
stairs.
We'll, he wasn't dead, anyway;
h a was something to go on with. /
took his hand and said, 'Hullo, Sabre.
How goes it. old man? Able to do
the stairs now, I see.'
Fine he said, shaking my hand.
Jolly nice Of you. You'll stay a bit.
Of course He went a bA along the
passage and called out, 'Efie, you
can scratch up a bit OF lunch for Mr.,
7 Hapgood?'
l., Il uppos she said Yes. Lunch'll
be on in about two minutes he came
back to me with,
Led me into the morning room
n we sat down and pretended to
talk. Very poor %pretence, I give you
my word.
Presently l heard the girls voice
outside, Lunch is ready
We jumped up like two school,
boys released from detention and
went along in. More mystery. Lunch
at Sabrc's place was always a beau
customed to. Well, there were
places laid for two only and a ram
shackle kind of cold picnic Ecattered
about the cloth. Everything there.
help yourself kind of show. Bit Of
cold meat. lump Of cheese, loaf of
bread, assortment Of plates. and SO
on.
"sabde said, oh, by, the way. my
wife's not here. She's away
Il murmured the polite thing. He
was staring at the two places, frown-
ing a bit. Half a minute he said
and hoped Oft on his old stick. Then
l heard him talking to this mysteri-
girl: At least I heard her voice
first: oh, I can't! I can't"
Then Sabre: Nonsense, Erie. You
must. You must. I insist. Don't
be silly
Presently in comes Sabre with the
girl. And the girl with the babv in
her arms. Sabre said tn his ordinary.
easy oice-This is a very retiring
young person, HapEood. Had to be
dragged in, Miss Bright. Her fathers
IN the office. Perhaps you've met
him. have you?"
We'll, I don't know what I said,
old man I know what I thought. /
thought just precisely what you're
thinking. Yes, l had a furiously vivid
shot OF recollection Of old Bright as
I'd seen him a couple Of hours be-
fore. OF his blazing look, Of his ges-
ture Of warning to hurl the Table Of
Stone at me-, and Of his extraordinary
remark about SABRE had that and
I did what you're doing: 1 put two
and two together and found the obvious
answer (same as you) and 1 jolly near
fell down dead, I did. Jolly near.
But Sabre was going on, pleasant
and natural as you please. Miss
Bright was here as companion to nv
wife while l was in France. Now
she's staying here a bit. Put the
baby on the sofa. I'd like you two
to be friends
THE meal wasn't precisely a ban
quet. We helped ourselves and
stacked up the soiled plates as We
used them. No servants, d'you. see?
That was pretty clear by now. No
nothing but old Bright's daughter
and old Bright's daughters baby
and-and-Sabre.
"Once the baby whimpered, and, she
got up and went to. it and stopped
over 1t the other side of the sofa
from me, so !; could see her face. BY
gad- II you could have seen her eyes
then! Motherhood! Lucky you weren't
there, ecaus II you've any idea of
ever painting q picture called Mother
hood, you'd ha' gone straight out and
cut your throat on the mat in despair.
Well, ANYWAY, the. banquet got
more and more aTIsward to endure
as it dragged on. and mighty glad I
was when at last the girl got up-
without a woodland picked up the
baby and left us. We were no more
chatty for being alone, I can promise
Then all Of q sudden he began.
He fished out some cigarets and
chucked me one and we smoked like
9 couple Of exhaust valves for about
two minutes and then he rid sHanI
good, why on earth should II have. to
explain all this to you? Why should,
= said. a tiny bit sharply was
getting a bit on edge. you Know
said, Well ! haven't asked any ques-
Sabre said. No, 4 know. you
haven't asked any, ana I'm Internal
y srateful to you. But know