The Holly chieftain., 1923-04-05
CHAPTER XVIII
Pursuit.


bedroom swiftly down into the study
again; what she was going to do there
she did not definitely know. She
heard, as she descended the stairs, the
steward in the hall outside the study
calling up the police stations of the
neighboring villages and giving news
Of what had happened and instruc-
tions to watch the roads; but as she
reached the foot of the stairs, serv-
ant closed the study doors. The great,
curtained room in Its terrifying dis
order was brightly lighted, empty, alb
solutely still. She had given direc-
tions that, except for the removal Of
Blatchford's body, all must be left as
1t was in the room till the arrival of
the police. She stood an instant with
hands pressed against her breast, star
ing down at the spots upon the floor.
Was ono of them Eaton's?
Something within her told her that
1t was, and the fierce desire to 90 to
him, to help him, was all she felt just
now. 1t was Donald Avery's and her
fathers accusation of Eaton that had
made her feel like this. She had been
feeling, the moment before Donald
had spoken, that Philip Eaton had
played upon her that evening in max
ing her take him to his confederate
In the ravine in order to plan and con-
summate something here. Above her
grief and horror at the killing of her
cousin and the danger to her father,
had risen the anguish of her guilt
with Eaton, the agony of her betrayal
But their accusation that Eaton had
killed Wallace Blatchford, seeing him,
knowing HMM the light-had swept
all that away; all there was of her
seemed to have risen in denial Of that.
Before her eyes, half shut, she saw
again the body of her cousin Wallace
lying in Its blood on the floor, with her
father kneeling beside 1t, his blind
eyes raised in helplessness to the
light; but she saw now another body
too-Eaton's-not here-lying some
where in the bare, wind-swept woods,
shot down by those pursuing him.
She looked at the face Of the clock
and then down to the pendulum to see
whether 1t had stopped; but the pen
dulum was swinging. The hands stood
at half past one o'clock; now she re-
called that, in her first wild gaze about
the room when she rushed In with
the others, she had seen the hands
showing minute or SO short of
twenty minutes past one. Not quite
quarter Of an hour had passed since
the alarm! The pursuit could not
have moved far away. She reopened
the window through which the pur-
suers had passed and stepped out onto
the dark lawn. A half mile down the
beach she heard shouts and shot |;
she saw dimly through the night in
that direction a boat without lights
moving swiftly out upon the lake.
Her hands clenched and pressed
against her breast; she stood strain
ing at the sounds Of the man-hunt. 1t
had turned west, 1t seemed; it was
coming back her way, but to the west
Of the house. She crossed the lawn
toward the garage. A light suddenly
shone out there, and she went on.
The wide door at the car driveway
was pushed open, and someone was
within working over a car. His back
was toward her, and he was bent over
the engine, but, at the glance, she
knew him and recoiled, gasping. 1t
was Eaton. He turned at the same
instant and saw her.
"Oh; it's you'll" he cried to her.
Her heart, which almost had ceased
to beat, raced her pulses again. At
the sound she had made on the drive
way, he had turned to her as a hunted
thing, cornered, desperate, certain that
whoever came must be against him.
His cry to her had recognized her as
the only one who could come and not
be against him; 1t had hailed her with
relief as bringing him help. He could
not have cried out so at that instant
at sight Of her II he had been guilty
Of what they had accused. Now she
saw too, as he faced her, blood flow
Ing over his face; blood soaked
shoulder Of his coat, and his left arm
dangling at his side; but now, as he
threw back his head and Strengthened
In his relief at finding 1t was she who
had surprised him, she saw In him
an exultation and excitement she had
never seen before-something which
her presence alone could not have
caused. Tonight, she sensed vaguely,
something had happened to him which
had changed his attitude toward her
and everything else.
ayes; It's II" she cried quickly and
rushed to him. ITS 1! It's l." wildly
she reassured him. you're hurtl"
She touched his shoulder. you're
hurtl knew you were!"
He pushed her back with his right
hand and held her away from him.
did they hurt your father7"
Hurt Father7 No."
"But Mr.. Blatchford--"
Dead" she answered duly.
''They killed him, then!'
"Yes; they" She iterated. He