The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1939-11-30


aware that your conduct is creating
a deal of talk in the district?"
Autumn smiled. You're not both
ering your head, Da, over what the
gossips have to say about"
I'm bothering my head about
you, my girl he interrupted her.
"Do you know that your name was
the center of a scandalous brawl in
the back room of a dive in Kam-
loops the other night?"
"We've heard all about it, d."
Autumn replied. 1T was simply
absurd"
''But piquant," Linda put in.
"Belfort is a beast" Autumn went
on.
"A girl with any respect for her
self doesn't give beast any excuse
for talking" her father observed.
Autumn checked her rising anger.
s'There were four of us in the par
ty-Lin and I, and Florian and a
friend of his" she explained 1--WE
were coming home along the high
way from Ashcroft. We got started
later than we had intended and when
we got as far as Belfort's ranch the
car broke down. While the boys
worked on the car, Lin and I went
to sleep in a haystack close to the
road. Belfort towed us to a garage
about seven o'clock in the morning."
"Or we should have been there
STILL" Linda added.
"And that's all there is to the
story" Autumn concluded.
81 accept your account on its mer-
it's" Jarvis Dean said, "but it ex-
plains nothing. The whole esca-
pade was scandal and an out
rage, whether Belfort had anything
to do with it or not. There'll be
no repetition of the like, my girl,
if you are to remain in my house!"
Hector Cardigan remained silent,
but every now and then a profound
sigh escaped him which was to Au-
tumn singularly audible above the
deep and vehement tones of her IA
theirs voice.
Linda Parr had turned large and
wondering eyes upon the Laird. "It's
probably not my place to speak, Mr..
Dean," she ventured, "but the whole
affair was quite accidental and we
regret it quite as much as you do.
We probably regret it more, since
it was we who had to sleep out. On
the other hand, young people are
quite capable of taking care of
themselves nowadays"
Autumn was amazed at Linda S
sudden garrulity. At the quick glare
of the old mans eyes, however, the
girl ceased abruptly, and biting her
lip, looked rather hopelessly toward
| Autumn.
''I'll not have my daughters rame
banded about the country as though
she were common strumpet!" the
Laird roared, and brought his hands
down resoundingly upon the arms
| of his chair.
Linda got to her feet with char
acteristic languor, and begging to
be excused, left the room and went
upstairs. Autumn surmised, with a
cynical affection for the girl, that it
| was the desire for cigarette that
sent her off, rather than any marked
distaste for the scene.
"You are carrying on quite un-
necessarily, Father" Autumn OBJ
served quietly when Linda had gone.
ut isn't good for you-and I'm sur
prised that you should treat such a
simple situation so seriously"
Simple? Simpler" Jarvis was al
most inarticulate. "Have you no
sense of decency, girl? You put
yourself in position where men en-
! gage in brawl over you in a gam
bling dive-and you call that SIM
| plei"
81 have tried to explain to you,
Father, that it was an accident" !"
| Autumn persisted. 1--WE were miles
from anywhere. What on earth
were we to do, at three o'clock in
| the morning.
The Laird drew himself up and
his nostrils f1ared in the magnifi-
cence of his indignation. "You had
no business being there-or any
where else but in your bed at three
o'clock in the morning. And I'll
have no more of it"
Autumn's eyes narrowed. She
glanced sharply at Hector, who was
slumped YEARLY in his chair. "Wha'
do you propose to do, Father?" she
asked finally in a cold voice. 'Keer
me under lock and key?"
A dull flush lay like sultry shad
ow on the old mans cheekbones
Autumn knew that her words hac
started the ripples of an old anc
cruel memory in the depths of his
consciousness, and for a moment
she was sorry for what she hat
| said