The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-04-03
CHAPTER IX-Continued

il
snow, look here, old fellow" said
lGeoffrey, "I'm not going to take any
sides till know where am. want
Ito hear your story from first to last.
Don't leave out any details. This shows
;bung full of detail, and details count"
1 plucked at the grass.
II don't know that l care to tell you"
"Take your time," said Godfrey.
~'But we don't leave here till you do"
81 don't know that 1 want to leave
mere"
mo more do l." said Godfrey. "It's
a very attractive spot, and I'm glad of
q change"
lay back and stared at the sky.
I felt a curious detachment from all
Efhat ten hours ago had been my life.
Looking back, seemed to be looking
across some unbridgeable depth.
I think the truth is that my interest
lin Helena Yorick had suddenly died,
land since that had filled my being, for
the moment my life was empty as
never before. I did not regret the lady
II was neither happy nor sad. I sim
ply had no material upon which my
emotions could work. The bitterness
I had shown Godfrey was that of a
savage critic-not of an injured man.
I was impersonal.
+! So much for the state Of mind which
my abrupt disillusion had brought
about. Helena Yorick had deceived me.
Nell had looked into my eyes and
fooled me to the top Of my bent. The
utterly impossible had happened. The
ideal had carved out of marble had
crumb1ed away.
There was only one thing to be done
the game must go on and from now
would play my own hand.
sat up and looked at my cousin.
IT suppose I may as well tell you,"
] said.
ST suppose So" said Godfrey, yawn-
ling. TO-,
/ "Where shall start?"
'From where left you at Villaeh,
| Just over q week ago."
! A full half hour went by before I
had done.
"Pve got to digest this" he said. 81
shan't be long"
While he strolled, I lay fiat once
more and stared at the sky, and though
I would gladly have stopped them, my
thoughts ramped back to the antics
which I had lately performed.
Helena Yorick had piped, and I had
danced. That was as much as 1t came
to. But had trusted the piper, and
the piper had played me false.
My cousin was standing before me,
regarding his watch.
"From what you tell me-" he said,
"the countryside appears to be lit
tered with cars; our immediate vicin-
ity, however, seems to have been neg
lected. We must, therefore, wait for
Barley. He's job of work to Go and
he won't be here for another hour
and half. Still, that'll give us time
to settle two or three points. And be-
tween you and me, it's as well that
you had that sleep, for unless I'm
much mistaken, you won't have time
for sleep for the next few hours.
"With regard to the promise Lady
Helena gave to Pharaoh. If you
hadn't been overweight, like to be-
lieve that your reason would have told
you that from every point of view that
promise was no more binding than a
bucket Of Glauber's salt. For one thing,
1t was exacted-she promised under
duress. For another, let's quote his
own words. because you have scru-
pies you are weighted clean out of this
race. I am not so embarrassed-I
never am" He makes that arresting
statement, and then within five min
Eutes he has the blasted effrontery to
prove it up to the hilt. No wonder he
left the room quickly; he was prob
ably worried to death that Dewdrop
would burst out laughing before he
could get him outside. If you must
have another reason, Pharaoh let you
both go because he was stuck. AS
long as you two sat there, he could
not move. More. The warden's sus-
picions were aroused and the house
was full Of your men; his only chance
was to take up the role he asked for
the role of the Countess guest.
i $50 much for the promise to Pha-
raoh. Now for the Count. He must,
of course be held till Pharaoh is dead.
Barley's attending to that. Last night,
at the Reaping Hook, he very properly
held his tongue, but he knew just as
well as you what valuable prize you'd
made. Like guest, like host, you know.
In fact, to be honest, we'd been hoping
to make it ourselves. You mustn't
think we've been idle. We've watched
and listened and learned a whale of a
lot. And the Counts removal stood
very high on our list. Well, as say,
Barley's attending to that. That's the
Job he's on now-shunting the Count.
rand now for you. I'm not going to
labor the point, because you seem so
sore, but suppose you realize that
you were-er-evacuated In order to
save your life. / mean, you can't really
believe that Pharaoh, If he can help II,
IL going to let you live"
Il haven't really thought about It."