Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1926-07-23

compliments against the day when
you behold me in my somber black
for l shall need them then Again,
good night"
Good night" he returned, bowling
stifay and in high dudgeon.
Eliza, In hurrying past, had snatched
one Of the candlesticks from the man.
tel, and now stood holding the bed
room door open for the queenly young
| parsonage. A moment later the door
closed behind them.
Gwynne was still scOwling at the
inoffensive door when Striker came
clustering into the room.
"Where are the women?" he de,
manded, stopping short.
A jerk Of the thumb was his an.
swer
"Gone to bed?"
II believe So" replied Gwynne care
lessly, as he sat down In the despised
locker and stretched his long legs
'ut to the fire. 81 fancy we are safe
to smoke now, Striker. We have tho
parlOr all to ourselves. The ladies
have deserted u.s."
Striker took the tobacco pouch
from the peg on the mantel and hand
ed it to his guest.
"Fill up," he said shortly, and then
walked over to the bedroom door. He
raped timorously on one of the thick
boards. "Want me fer anything?" he
inquired softly, as his wife opened
the door an inch or two.
"No. Go to bed when you're ready
an don't ferget to smother that fire."
"Good night, Phineas," called cut
another voice merrily.
"Good night" responded Striker,
with dubious shake Of his head. He
returned to the fireplace.
women are funny things" said he,
dragging up another chair. Then he
set forth his views at great length.
Throughout the dissertation Gwynne
had sat with bis moody gaze fixed
upon the. fiaring logs, which Striker
had kicked into renewed life with the
heel of one of his ponderous boots,
disdaining the stout charred poker
that leaned against the chimney wall.
He was pulling dreamily at the corn
cob pipe. His thoughts were of the
perplexing girl who eagerly gave him
her confidence in one moment and
shrank into the icieSt seticence the
next. Her unreserved revelations con-
cerning her own father, uttered with
all the franknesS of an intimate, and
the childish ingenuousness with which
she accounted for her raiment, fol-
lowed so closely, so abruptly by the
most insolent display of bad manners
he had ever known, gave him ample
excuse for reflection. He was debat-
ing within himself the advisability of
asking his host few direct and point
ed questions. A fine regard for Strik-
er's position deferred him.
This is admirable tobacco" he
said. "Do you cure it yourself or
does 1t come up the river from Ken
tucky?"
Comes from Kentucky. We don't
have much luck tryin' to raise ter
baccer in these parts"
Whereupon Mr.. Striker went into
long and intelligent lecture upon
the products Of the soil In that Sec
ton of Indiana.
"Whenever you feel like goin' to
bed, Jlst say so," he said at last
II have been doing little surmis-
ing, Mr.. Striker" said the other. Il
am wondering where you and are to
dispose ourselves"
II reckon I'll have to make up q
bed here in front Of the fireplace fer
myself, an let you go up to the at
tic. We got "a"
II was afraid of this, Mr.. Striker.
You are putting yourselves out ter
ribly On my account. I can't allow 1t,
sir. 1t Is too much to ask"
"Now, don't you worry about us.
You aint putin us out at all. There's
spare tick up in the attic what we
use fer strangers when they happen
along, an Zachariah has put your
blankets right here by the dOor-an'
your pistols, too, / see-sO whenever
you're ready, I'll lead the way up the
ladder an show you where you're to
rOoSt.
They stepped outside the cabin, In
to the fresh, brisk gale that was blow
ing. Striker pointed off into the night.
"Lafayette's off in yam direction.
There's a big stretch Of open prairie
in between, once you git out'n these
woods, an further on there's more
timber. The towns down in sort
of valley, shaped somethln' like a
saucer, with hills on all sides an the
river cuttin' straight through the mid
die. Considerable buildin' goin' on
this spring But you'll see all this
fer yourself when you git there"
1t was a few minutes past nine
when Kenneth followed his host up
the ladder and through the trapdoor
into the stuffy attic.
"Pll leave the ladder here" said
Striker, depos'ting the candlestick on
the floor. "So's I en- stick my head
In here In the mornin' an rouse you