Show l THE FATAL REQUEST OR FOUND OUT I By A L Harris Author of Mine Own Familiar Friend etc UopvriU1IC 0 V r g A 181 6V ass Pubii Afn9 com onvT 1902 f r < J a in I t A CHAPTER IVContlnued My dear James Interrupted Mr Uurrltt hastily you must know very well that It Isnt that Hut tho truth of the matter Is Ive a great aversion to firearms Still If you will assure mo that the weapon Isnt loaded 111 Ill assuro you of that or anything else that will add to your peace of mind was the somewhat equivocal reply At any rate It isnt loaded now and what Is more I will also give you my word that I will not attempt at-tempt to blow out my brains during the Journey or ho added as a sort of afterthought anyone elses When Mr Btirrltt and his friend arrived ar-rived at tho station tho latter took a considerable amount of trouble to insure a separate compartment to themselvesIn fact Mr Burrltt rather i fancied ho saw him give something to I the guard who thereupon locked tho door upon them and consigned them to solitude The carriage In question It may be worth remembering was the fourth from the engine I wonder thought Mr Burrltt to himself as tho train steamed out of I the station which Is tho pocket ho carries the revolver In Then his thoughts wandered away from tho actual present I suppose I shall find thorn all right nt home Dear dear anyone would think I had been away a month What an old fogey Im getting get-ting Bythoby I wonder what James is thinking about ho looks uncommonly uncom-monly gloomy 1 wish hed say something some-thing Instead of staring out of the window in stony silence Somehow one doesnt like the notion of riding alone with a man who has shed another mans blood especially when he carries a revolver I wonder whether hes thinking of that or what It Mr Burrltt could have read what was passing in his companions mind he would have been amazed to find pealing to her son I suppose theres no mistake about tho day Your dear I father didnt mean tomorrow I Her son produced the telegram I which ho had about him and repeated tho contents aloud Am returning today by the 430 train Shall bo homo to dinner Friend accompanies mo Well Im sure I dont know what to do about It exclaimed tho poor lady almost wringing her hands Hadnt you better go and speak to cook yourself said her son making time proposal without the slightest comprehension of what It Involved I suppose I had murmured his mother very well Jane you can say Im coming And she left the room leaving the young people together Arent you tired of standing May asked her brother addressing the girl who had scarcely varied her attitude an Inch In tho last half hour Tired she exclaimed half turning turn-Ing round What has that got to do with It I want to be tho first to seo them Then sho added Tell mo what you meant to say a little while ago when you began I wish and stopped Why ho answered gloomily I was going to say 1 wish tho governor had never started on this journey though ho added In a hurry of course lies all right missed tho train or else theres a block on tho line or something only He broke off without bringing his sentence to a conclusion and asked Was that what you wished too I she exclaimed I wish that and more I wish ho had never had that letter I wish his friend whoever who-ever he Is had never come back from where he was Oh come now was the wouldbo comforting response now youre goIng go-Ing ahead too far Of course Its vox Ing and all that but after all tho only thing that will really suffer will bo the dinner and that wont be fit Ui 1 L h Ii Started to his I feet with a cry that instead of dwelling upon the past ho was merely repeating over and over to himself the words which tho former had spoken only a few hours before The secret lies between be-tween us two The secret lies between be-tween us two CHAPTER V The 430 Train Dinner at Magnolia Lodge had been ordered for a quarter to eight In order or-der to suit the convenience of tho travelers trav-elers who were expected to arrive at about that hour I As tho time drew on Mrs Burrltt suddenly became troubled again In her mind concerning tho soap dish I do wish after all I had ordered the best spare bedroom to bo got ready though Ive generally considered consid-ered the second best good enough for a single gentleman and I suppose he is a single gentleman But for all thnt Hero they are suddenly cried her daughter May who was watching from the window Well Its too late to make any chango now sighed her parent half relieved at having tho matter summarily sum-marily settled and perhaps he wont notice the crack I do hope my cap Is on straight The said cap was as usual considerably consid-erably out of the perpendicular but as It happened Its lack of rectitude was in this Instance of no particular consequence for tho alarm proved false and tho cab which had at first appeared as though about to draw up before tho house resumed Its snaillike snail-like crawl and gradually disappeared Then came another spell of waiting They must have missed their train nt London Bridge said Ted Burrltt Perhaps tho other ono was late Ive looked In Bradshaw and see that Its due in town at seven oclock If so I they ought to bo hero by this time The next halfhour slowly ticked Itself away without bringing any change In tho position of affairs They were all vacantly conscious of an Increasing sense of anxiety and depression de-pression within Why did they not come Surely If they had mlssod one train there had been plenty of time to catch tho next Then the clock chimed tho halfhour and at tho name moment an Interruption took place The message ran If you please m cook wants to I know what sho Is to do about dinner Mrs Burritt started nervously Im sure I dont know Jane Then ap to eat If they dont come directly As If in answer to this remark Mrs Burrltt at that moment reentered tho room She was flushed nnd agitated and as was apparent to tho most obtuse ob-tuse observer on tho verge of tears Really cook has been most trying she sighed as she sank Into tho nearest near-est chair She almost Intimated thaI tha-I had done it on purpose She says sho has never been used to such ways and that flesh and blood wont stand it let alone legs of mutton She says she can give us another ten mln utes but no more Tho ten minutes passed as the pro vlous thirty had done and at tho end or that time threo very dispirited pee pie sat down to their spoilt dinner May soon noticed that her brother whoso attention had been obviously wandering for some time past appear od to bo listening to sometnlng from without At first her heart bounded Could It bo that they had arrived at last Was it the click of tho gate that ho was straining his ear to catch or tho Buiuul of footsteps upon tho gravel drive without So she too listened in her turn hoping to bo able to distinguish one or tho other at these welcome but long delayed signals sig-nals But the only thing she could hear was the faint sound of a voice which seemed to be shouting something In the distance May also perceived that the voice was drawing gradually nearer and resolving Itself Into that of a peripatetic newsboy who was vending his wares and shouting out the most sensational headings at the top of his voice Was that all Still ho was not yet near enough for her to distinguish the sense of tho sounds which caught her ear from time to time as she absently crumbled her bread nnd thought to herself over andover and-over again If only father would come home Mrs Burrltt as though tho thought had set In motion some electric current cur-rent which connected the two brains remarked at this juncture I suppose sup-pose they are quite certain to be here some time tonight Almost beforo the words were out of her lips her son who was slttln on her right started to his feet with n cry cryWhat What Is it Oh what is 117 asked ask-ed his sister as a sense of something terrible about to happen fell upon her He made no reply but with dllal Ing eyes stood there with every faculty i ty absorbed In the one effort Then he raised one hand the other r retched tho edge of the table Llv ton ho gasped And tho voice without now closo to their very gates mado Itself plainly heard as It shouted out the latest bul otln Special hedlshun I Hcvonln Stand ard OrIble railway haccldent Over twenty killed and hlnjurcd Tho four thirty from Dover wrecked by a down rain carry In petroleum barrels The line on fire Horful scenes Artrend lu details CHAPTER VI The Search for a Father What happoned after this no one over knew exactly Before Mrs Bur rltt had begun to grasp tho Idea that something was wrong her son had rushed from tho room After what seemed an ago of wait Ing but was really a very short time 10 returned In Ills hand ho held a cop of tine newspaper which ho had just bought Mother ho said put ting a strong restraint upon himself I am afraid there has1 been an intel lent on the line You mustnt bo alarmed for though some people have been Injured there Is no reason why my father should not have escaped es-caped and very likely tho affair has boon greatly exaggerated Ted said his sister In a voice almost as calm as his own though her face had lost every particle of Color and seemed to have suddenly become years older Let us know the worst And she hell out her hand for the paper Tho worst I he answered with a sound like a strangled sob in his voice Why should there be any worst And as for the paper crumpling crump-ling It up In his hand you cant place the slightest dependence upon that ImIm going up to town by tho next train so as to bo on the spot and Ho may bo hurt In some way you know he added slowly by way of preparing their minds for whatever might bo tho result Ho may have come off with a broken leg or something some-thing of that sort You can hardly expect him to have got off scot free But whatever It Is Im going to find him out and bring him back home Take care of mother this to his sister sis-ter and he was gone But before he could leave tho house while his hand was yet upon tho latch he found himself confronted by tho girl Goodbye sho said slowly and sadly You will do your bestbut I have no hope none He caught a train which was on the very point of starting and leaped into the first carriage ho came to Then ho took out the paper which ho had kept so carefully from the sight of those others at home and bogan to study more earnestly tho brief but terrible announcement which it contained con-tained To bo continued |