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

preached the glOwering old house.
I'm not well, madame" Paul said
But the Observation-Disclosures man
Mr.. Parmalee engaged to cover my
illness, ma'am-he left"
81 didn't know she said. "Mr. Par
malice engages all the employees, Paul
even the maids. He wishes to do so.
So I didn't know"
There's much that one doesn't
know, ma'am, isn't there?' he said in
an oily voice behind which was a
snarl.
What do you meanT'
For instance, the reason Marks
left"
what reason?'
well, ma'am, Mr.. Parmalee is sus-
picious of servants. You probably
don't know he requires a birth certif-
cate and all Of that. Getting a lob
here is just like getting a passport,
ma'am. And Marks he had one
forged he did not meaning any
harm. But Mr.. Parmalee found 1t out.
He wrote himself to the city clerk of
the place. And when he knew, there
was no tanning him, ma'am. He was
like a rat in a corner, if 1 may say
so-frothing like a mad dog"
If Paul had not occupied a position
from which nc insolence Of his own eyer
had dislodged him, Brena would have
dismissed him then and there. She
knew, however, that her husband
would reinstate him.
Paul is a handy man-with his
fists and perhaps with other weap-
ons," Parmalee had said. II feel that
he would be useful in an emergency"
Brena concluded that not only was
Compton living in terror himself, but
that now and then he yielded to the
temptation to communicate this terror
to her just as one who suffers from
a disease might have a degenerate de-
sire to spread its c%ontagion. She re
sisted this by pretending not to rec
ognize the existence of any abnormal
ity in their lives.
The third winter of their marriage
her husband began a practice of find
ing relief from that terror which had
crept in upon him at first but now had
begun to drive his nerves into a gallOp.
He who had conserved so carefully his
precious health, now undertook a new
burden.
Brena came down one morning when
the rain of a wild March day was
beating on the windows. The wind,
tearing up the leaves of the autumn
that had lain all winter beneath the
snow and ice Of the mournful, drip
ping garden, but was now released by
a thaw, was slapping wet refuse
against the great window panes be-
hind the menacing iron bars. 1t cast
rotten vegetation at this house as if
it were throwing r~iff-raff into the face
of an accursed personality.
Parmalee did not answer her call.
He was not at the breakfast table.
The servants could not find him in
his rooms. He was discovered finally
by his voice, which came in family
with the sound of the wind. Brena
without protection from the driving
rain ran out the great front door,
down the path which cut a diameter
in the circle Of the driveway, to the
massive iron gate.
Parmalee was there with his little
white hands grasping the upright bars
swaying backward and forward like
a Gagged animal, staring out with wild,
red eyes, at the high shores of the
distant river bank seen through the
haze, his bare head wet and dishev-
eled.
Come and get me, d-n your eyes y
he screamed. you've been waiting
long enough. Come and get me. I'm
not afraid of you all"
Brena looked over his shoulder up
and down the road beyond the gate.
Water was standing in the shallow
rnts and the shrubbery, whipped by
the wind, danced like 1.-THE devils
along The crest of the palisade. But
no living creature was in sight.
You better come into the house,
Compton" she said with a one of
authority.
She realized afterward hat she had
leaped rather joyfully toward the con
clusion that this moment explained
the menace which had hung over
them so long and that it promised a
definite end of her obligations. She
remembered of thinking how like an
angry, impotent little dog he was,
coward at heart, but barking behind
a gate at an empty road. She be-
lieved he had lost his mind.
Come into the house" she repeated.
He looked at her stupidity, his lower
jaw limp and hanging, his eyes watery
and looking into her face with the
troubled expression of one trying to
discover the surroundings after a loss
of consciousness.
"All right" he said hoarsely; "Im
all right, Brena."
He appeared weak. unable to carry
erect, and his breath wbeezed
az he followed her teebly