The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-06-20
CHAPTER Continued

SO-yOu III duuSe yOurSelI I'LL evening,
when I'll be back in good time for
dinner?"
"Of counsel" l agreed. "I'll be all
right. Don't bother about me-"
He thanked me, almost as if | had
been the first person to consider.
Presently, carrying stout stick, he
went out-and l noticed that just be-
fore leaving our sitting room he put
on pair of blue spectacles, with
some remark about the glare of the
sun. He went off in the direction
of the village, and l saw no more of
him until he turned up again just as
dinner was ready at seven o'clock. He
was very quiet and thoughtful during
dinner, and it was not until he was
half way through his after-dinner
cigar that he suddenly motioned me
TO draw my chair close alongside his
own.
Holt" he said, "Tve something to
tell you. And, man Its the Strang-
est tale you ever heard in your life !"
l suppose l gave him a wondering,
and perhaps half-uneasy stare, for
he nodded reassuringly as he drew his
chair still closer to mine.
Nothing to be frightened about,
Holt, my lad" he said. "Just IA
coil, as you might put it. But-a
bad one! And, as l said just now
as strange a tale as ever you heard
Anyway, one Of EN-"
6
self and other folk" he replied,
with a grim smile. "Other folk AYE,
there's the devil of it! If it were
only myself, now but there's more
than one affected"
He turned to the window and for a
moment or two sat staring fixedly and
in silence across the moor, stretching
away in the rapidly gathering twilight.
Curiosity got the better of me, and
/ broke in on his thoughts
Pm all in the dark, Mr.. Mazaroff,"
l said. Am / to listen?" He started
then gave an emphatic nod.
aver he answered. You're to
listen, Holt, for I've nobody else to
tell it to, and I'm wanting counsel on
it, and you're a sensible youngster.
It's just this-you saw the two ladies
that passed us by yesterday afternoon
when we were talking to the land
lord at his garden gate?"
/ nodded an affirmative.
AYE, we'll" he continued. "They
don't know 1t, and nobody knows it,
only me. But it's just this, Holt, my
lad-that's my wife and daughter!'
l was smoking one of Mr.. MaZa.
roff's prime cigars at the moment, and
when he said this l started so violent
ly that it jumped from between my
teeth and fell to the floor. 1t seemed
to me that whole AEGEAN con, if
you like-elapsed in the mere act of
STOPPING and recovering it. And
wondered at the calmness and banality
of my reply when l sat upright again,
looking at him.
"Musgrave," l said, quite steadily.
"Musgrave called the elder lady Mrs.
ElphinstOne, and the younger Miss
Merchison-Miss Sheila Merchison."
"Musgrave here, Musgrave there !"
ut IclOlIGu. Ilt hHoWS uO UcllCI
and no more. But Pm telling you that
that's my wife, laddie, and the lassie's
my daughter, and unless l see some
way out Of the complications there's
the devil and all to payr
There was pause between us then.
He sat twiddling his big thumbs, and,
as he had discarded the blue spec
tacles a slight cast in his eyes looked,
somehow, sinister. l began to sense
the mysterious in him, and to realize
that his was, to me, an unexplored
personality.
81 don't understand" l said at last.
"I'm going to make you understand,
Holt" he answered. "This is the way
of it-yon good-lOoking lassie'S name
is Merchison, sure enough. And
Elphinstone though she may call her.
self, and no doubt think she's right
to call herself-so is her mothers.
And-so's mine. Merchison''
mot Mazaroff, then?' l exclaimed.
''Pve a right to that, too," he said.
illegal right-all correct and proper.
It's been my legal name for many
years, and it'll remain so. But | was
born Merchison-and not so far from
here, too-and | was married Merch-
ison. And yon's Mrs. Merchison, for
all she's married to Elphinstone."
"And / don't understand any more
nowr'' said l.
well, Holt" he answered, "Tll
make il as plain as ! can, and maybe
it's not such a tangle as it seems when
you get hold of one end of the thread
and pull steadily at it. My father
and mother died when l was a mere
youngster, and after that lived with
my grandfather on his farm near Sell
kirk, across the border yonder. Then
he died, when was just about two
and-twenty, and he left me all he had,
a tidy lot of money, and that, put to
what my parents had left me, made
me a pretty rich man. And l was
headstrong and impetuous, and always
for having my own way, and there was
nobody to keep me from having it,
nor from INDUCING myself in any
whims that came into my head. And
/ came across high-mettled girl that
was pretty much like myself in that
respect and we got wed in more than
the usual haste, and began to repent
as soon as we'd done It'll"
"Why?" l asked.
"Man!" he answered. 1--WE hadn't
"a taste In commoHi We'd nothing In