The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-08
CHAPTER FOUR

When 1 heard those surprising
words, She's here to help on that
book! l can't drive her away,
Horace" spoken in Miss Althea's
harsh accents, my ears strained In
the direction of her voice.
To whom was Miss Althea
speaking? Who vas this Horace,
plainly in sympathy with her at
tempt to prevent the writing Of
the genealogy? And where a S
Miss Althea, that 1, by some law OF
acoustics, could so distinctly hear
her speak?
1 had no hesitation in li~'ening
to what might be said. After my
experience with her barely an hour
ago, I felt justified in learning
whatever 1 could wasn't caves
dropping-I was still sitting where
Cary left me.
The voice which answered was
deep and u%nctuous, yet, to my
ears, it held a note of apprehen-
sion.
You have done all you can do,
Althea. Leave the rest to me-"
But, Horace, we can't have her
going over those records. Oh, if 1
could have gotten them years
ago!"
BE thankful your father didn't
go over them. That is what l have
feared all this time"
But what are we to do about
this girl? We must get rid of her
some way"
"I'lI take care of that. You find
out her home address, and I'll dig
up something which will make the
old captain send her flying. You
know what these stenographers
are His puritanical tendencies will
come in handy for once"
And at that I nearly laughed
aloud. Let them dig, and the deep
er they dug the better I would be
satisfied. There was nothing in my
past to which the most puritanical
person could take exception. l
blessed Miss Gleason for whatever
she had been fit to write about me.
There was nothing which at least
some members of the family did
not know.
I rose from the desk, took a
handful of the papers and went to
the other end of the long loom.
: There 1 seated myself in a COM
Portable chair before the open fire.
I wanted Cary to find me away
from the desk when he returned.
1t was just as well that he did moi
learn that 1 had heard a conversa-
ton not intended for my ears.
But it was Janet ana Kaye, who
entered the room. Cary would be
detained for some time, they said,
and had sent them to me. 1t was
growing late by that time, and aft
er some trivial conversation we
went up to bed.
The first thing I did when I was
alone was to examine my door.
There wasn't a lock; instead. a
strong bolt was fixed just above
the knob. That pleased me better
than an ordinary lock would have
done; I had no desire for a mid
night visit from Miss Althea, if
such took her fancy.
When l aWoke in the morning, it
was to find a shadowy world. At
first l thought it was still showing,
but when I went to the window l
found that the gray light, instead
of snow was fog which left a film
of moisture when it blew against
my cheek.
The ground was lightly carpeted
with snow, and the tree branches
bore cottony looking burdens
which ere continually slipping,
with a soft slithery sound, to the
earth.
Were having a snow-eater,"
Janet told me when she came to
my door to escort me to break
fast. Mark must have kept h S
word, because for some time one
or the other of the girls always
seemed to be at hand whenever l
must walk through the halls alone.
The ground will all be bare by
tonight" she went on. Its our
famous Cape w~eather-all the
pleasure and beauty of a snow
storm, but the snow rarely lasting
long enough to be a nuisance"
After breakfast, before Cary
and l went to the library to work,
l was shown over the house. Be-
You'd the library was a smaller
room which I was told was Miss
Althea's sitting room. That must
have been where she was last
night!
She glared at me when Cary
opened the door and told her he
was showing me the house before
settling to work.
Work." she snorted. "a fine lot
of work you'll do shut up in a
room together"
Cary's lips frightened into a dis
gusted line, and I felt the hot color
flame into my cheeks, but KAYE
and Mark, who were with us.
merely tossed her a ieering
glance. I found that they both re.
garded her as a pest to be en-
dured, laughed at and disregarded.
while Janet and Cary seemed to
feel for her and her peevish ut
terances an active dislike and
loathing.
The house, built by Captain Cary
Essex I, was a great square build
ing of the type made familiar bv
the sea captains of the clipper shin
era. -"Square-rigged" were the
ships they sailed and square" the
--->---- L--- I'LL
will outlast many a generation to