Evening star., 1925-04-19

He found the door of the Brewster
suite unlocked, which at any other
time would have struck him as un-
usual, but tonight he was In no frame
of mind to notice these trivialities
He went in, and, finding the room
dark and no one at home, sat down,
too absorbed in his thoughts to switch
on the lights, and gave himself up
to dreamy meditation.
There are certain moods in which
one loses count of time, and Archie
could not have said how long he had
been sitting in the deep armchair near
the window when he first became
aware that he was not alone in the
room. lie had closed his eyes, the
better to mediate, so had not seen any
one enter. Nor had he heard the door
open. The first intimation he had that
somebody had come In was when some
hard substance knocked against some
other hard object, producing a sharp
sound, which brought him back to
earth with jerk
He sat up silently. The fact that
the room was still in darkness made
1t obvious that something nefarious
was afoot. He stared into the black.
ness, and as his eyes grew accustomed
TO it was presently able to see an in
distinct form bending over something
on the floor. The sound of rather
stentorious breathing came from him.
Archie had many defects, but lack
or courage was not one of them.
Archie was man of action, and he
was out of his chair and sailing in the
direction of the back of the intruder's
neck before wiser man would have
completed his plan of campaign. The
miscreant collapsed under him with a
squashy sound, like the wind going
out of pair of bellows, and Archie,
taking firm seat on his spine, rubbed
the others face in the carpet and
awaited the progress of events.
At the end of half a minute it be-
came apparent that there was going
TO be no counter attack. The dashing
sWiftness OF the assault had appar-
emily had the effect of depriving the
marauder of his entire stock of breath.
He was gurgling to himself in a panied
sort of way and making no effort to
rise. Archie, feeling that 1t would be
safe TO get up and switch on the light,
did so, and, turning after completing
this maneuver, was greeted by the
spectacle of his father-in-law seated
on the floor in breathless and dishev-
eled condition, blinking at the sudden
illumination. On the carpet beside
Mr.. Brewster lay a long knife, and
beside the knife lay the handsomely
framed masterpiece of j. b. Wheeler's
fiancee. Miss Alice Wigmore. Archie
stared at this collection dumbly.
''Oh. what no." he observed at
length, feebly.
A distinct chill manifested itself in
the region of Arches spine. This
could mean only one thing. His fears
had been realized. The strain of mod
ern life with all its hustle and excite
ment had at last proved too much for
Mr.. Brewster. Crushed by the thou
sand and one anxieties and worries Of
a millionaire's existence, Daniel Brew
ster had gone off his onion.
!: = =
A RICHIE was nonplused. This was
L \ his first experience of this kind
of thing. What, he asked himself,
was the proper procedure in situa-
ton of this sort? What was the local
rule? Where, in a word, did he go
from here? He was still musing in
an embarrassed and baff1ed way, hav
ing taken the precaution of kicking
the knife under the sofa, when Mr..
Brewster spoke. And there was in
both the words and the method of
their delivery so much Of his old ia
miliar self that Archie felt quite re.
lieved.
80, it's you-is it?-you wretched
blight, you miserable weed" said Mr..
Brewster, having recovered enough
breath to so on with. II might have
expected it. If / was at the North
Pole. could count on you butting in"
Shall l get you drink of water?"
said Archie.
What" demanded Mr.. Brewster,
do you imagine 1 want with a
drink of water?"
We'll" = Archie hesitated delicately
II had a sort of idea that you had
been feeling the strain a bit. / mean
to say, rush of modern life and all
that sort of thing
What are you doing in my room?"
said Mr.. Brewster, changing the sub
ject.
well, I came to tell you something,
and l came in here and was waiting