The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-05-01
CHAPTER xIv-continued

Il
the trunk there was no reason why she
shouldn't have gone to work this morn
ing as usual, although it had been fun
to pretend to be asleep while Babe
was making all sorts of sudden and
calamitous noises In her effort to get
dressed and get her breakfast in per-
feet silence, and really to fall asleep
again for another twenty minutes after
the studio door had slammed behind
her. But by half past nine she'd fin
ished her own breakfast, washed the
dishes, put the studio to rights and,
dressed for the street, was wishing that
Martin had set his hour earlier. He
had said ten o'clock, hadn't he?
When ten o'clock passed without
bringing him, she began getting cross.
Had he just gone off to work as usual
and forgotten all about her? At half
past ten she stopped being cross and
began to be frightened. Had Uncle
William done some horrible thing to
him to get him out Of the way? Or
Claire, with pearl handled revolver,
this time in her little wristbag? Or
Max Lewis, or Conley? He's been
making formidable enemies in her
cause, hand over fist, during the last
twenty-four hours.N
When finally few minutes after
eleven she heard a step she thought
was his come bounding up the. studio
stairs and had darted to the door and
flung 1t open, she was so glad to see
him intact that her eyes filled up with
silly tears again and she was in his
arms before she knew it.
BY and by, over on the dlvan, Mar
tin made confession. sid fully made
up my mind" he told her, shat I'd be
very calm and brotherly this morning
and at least give you chance to
think, If you wanted to, that the whole
thing had been bluff for Uncle Will
liam's benefit. / told myself I'd be a
dog to take advantage Of you. It
wasn't the money minded so much-I
mean the chance that you're going to
be horribly rich. That was what was
worrying Uncle William, of course.
But / reminded myself that you'd only
known me about a week, and you were
mere child and probably didn't know
what love was about, and how much
nobler it would be If showed you
wasn't just greedy and was willing to
wait. And I will wait; I'll wait seven
years If you want me to. But do you
think that could make you any surer?'
81 think" she told him, that If
you'd said that first night at the AL
hambra, will you marry meY instead
of DO you want to be rescued?' I'd
have nodded my head at you just the
same. Anyhow, I've known since
then"
well, them" he said. "that's set
tied, anyhow" and he let go one of her
hands to fish a ring out Of his waist
coat pocket and slip it on her finger.
It was a blindingly beautiful thing,
and she sat gazing at it, spellbound,
for about minute, trying to realize
what it was and what it meant. But
when she turned back to Martin to
thank him with kiss, she caught him
in the act Of looking at his watch.
Even without that she could have told
from the way his kiss felt that he had
something on his mind.
"What is it?" she asked. 'Are you
thinking about that old trunk? Does
it matter If we don't get it this morn
ing? Does anything matter?"
there's only one thing that mat
ters," he said. getting up and moving
away little to put himself out of
temptation, land that's your father.
think perhaps we can do something If
we strike while the iron is hot.
haven't got it clear enough to talk
quite good sense about 1t, but it's q
little like the old woman and the pig
that wouldn't get over the stile. Do
you remember, Stick won't beat dog,
dog won't bite pig? You see, the only
person who can set your fathers MEM
DRY right before the university world
and that's the only world he cared
1DOuJ-iS OASiC WAhAduit wiz 10 pTcSl-
dent of the board OF trustees out there.
Uncle Williams the pig. all right. He
knows the facts and I think he be-
lieves them. But he won't get over
the stile until somebody bites him on
the Leg"
"Who's going to bite him?" she asked
But when he answered, Forster" she
echoed the name in simple astonish-
ment.
II can't guess what it Is, darling"
he told her, 'but there's something in
that little trunk of yours that Forster
thinks he can't live without. l want
to find out what 1t is and hurl it at
him while he's still frightened. He is
frightened half out of his wits. He's
making Max marry that Cleveland
woman. saw them, this morning,
down at the city hall, she with her
face all bandaged up and Max looking
as glum as if he was waiting to be
sentenced to a term In the peniten-
tiary, with Conley on guard to see that
he didn't do a holt waiting for tho