The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-05-21

@D|tf 0hat I'LL dpOh II
mantel with her face bent dowr
toward the freight, waited for sew
eral moments before she said, YEARLY,
Eyes, Peter-all."
"And others knew"
only Muri3 Benham,' she an
swffed. 1T was when / was i'll. ]
had fled from America. 1t was ghast-
ly there and / had the-what can /
say?@the instinct for flight. 1 went
to France. There was pneumonia,
and after that l found my little re-
treat in Beconshire. Muriel was kind.
She attended to my mail. l did not
expect a letter from Lanfrew-his law
ence toto both-to both.''
81 understand said Peter. "You
explained a little you had to-"
He walked up and down the rug,
touching the repetitions of the pattern
with the toes of his shoes.
"How long has 1t been since he
went?" he asked.
"Over three years."
"And no word?'
mo word Like the other-nothing
-complete-nothing."
Peter made a wry face as if the
phrases had made real to him the fact.
"There was no publicity?"
"No-almost none-a paragraph or
two. Less, perhaps, than there would
have been in London or Paris. In
New York we were unattached-just
people with a little money-making no
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS."
Peter nodded, rejecting that, after
all, there could be nowhere on earth
quite the obscurity of a man with a
million or two living ON his income In
New York.
what became of his money!" he
asked.
ut is there"
"UntouchedY'
"Untouched."
He scowled. He said 1.-THE house?"
Just as | left it-one October day.
Just as it was. Nothing changed, l
unprecedented, and left there. A
haunted place, Peter-a place where
one expects to find a poor murdered
creature lying face upward just be-
yond every door SILL. l fled. 1 ever
left the dog. l sent back a telegram
to a neighbor-the caretaker-and
gave him the beast"
you didn't speak of a dog"
81 forgot-a horror of a beast,
turned loose inside the walls at night
when the gate was closed. 1t was his
dog, bought a few months before-a
cross between a Great Dane and blood
hound-a thing with white fangs.
They had to shoot him, I've heard"
Peter, walking to the table, picked
UP a small bronze Buddha upon whose
face there was a satanic grin and with
great seriousness the man gazed back
at the heather thing for several min
utes.
What about Eisenhower it was
this symbol, half bird and half snake
Kuk-ul-can? You never found it
again?"
YES" said Brena.
"You found it?' He appeared un-
able to believe.
"Yes,' she said. 81 had kept the
purse. 1t belonged to my mother. 1
kept it. In the lining-last year,
found the scrap of paper"
ITS here?" asked Peter with a
marked eagerness.
Eyes" She got up again, brushed
the stray red-gold hair from her high
calm forehead and opened a box or
the ~bookshelves. When she gave the
torn bit to Peter, she did not follow it
with her glance; her gesture gave the
impression that she regarded the scrap
of paper as of little consequence.
Peter, however, was interested. He
threw his cigarette into the fire and,
walking to the window, examined the
crude drawing, looked at the two words
scrawled beneath and, pushing aside
the curtains, held the scrap up to the
gray light.
He was interrupted by Brena's
1t was filled with the tone of
agony, of WEAKNESS, of sickness Of
soul.
peter, be merciful."
He wheeled about. She had been
gazing at him.
Cant you see, Peter, that you must
good-by to me? Can't you see
hat it is torture not to say good-by?
Can't you see, Peter, that | want you
to go, that l want to go myself-back
to Beconshire, to Beconshire, to my
my books, the wide view owe
he sweep of open country? Can't you
see that | want the memory of these
lays to end with your kiss--that now
W. are only obliterating that menr
He came back toward her and, polk
ing the fire again, he laughed to him
self.
you don't think there is to be an
ending-now?" he asked after a mo-
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