| Show the by margaret THE returning to london practically penniless after an unsuccessful trip sir george Sand lson dinner with his widowed ep hla old nurse p did not approve of her mar alace to his father but her explanation satisfies him little Is left of the estate and lady san flon proposes that they so to the states to visit her brother robert macbeth wealthy contractor sir george agrees mac ettel lives on an island estate with hl daughter roberta who longs tor city life lIa cBeth la a victim of arthritis and almost helpless Is glad to see his sister anil asks the two to stay roberta Is keeping a date with jack na arro about whom she knows lit tie macbeth arranges tor his als ter to take charge of the house bold and george to act as secretary roberta does not approve of the arrangement she tells her father he is not interested in georce while the young man takes n air of indifference to her CHAPTER IV continued 9 quite a watchdog observed rob arta scornfully but she swung to her feet and went to the doorway and looked out yes it was jack what was he doing here she had written bin that she could not meet him until text monday want to send him a message it lean be done 0 o said roberta feeling instantly hat he thought she was afraid her father might see her and ask ques alons 1 I can manage my own affairs thanks absolutely agreed sir george and moved away to her astonishment he went through the doorway and toward the house roberta was so amazed that the could not make even the faintest move to stop him she was annoyed she was quite unused to such treat nent here was she the only girl he hew apparently tills side of the atlantic any way the only girl he knew in this place and instead of am proving the shining hour he came to her and delivered his message as casually as though they were two schoolboys and then walked oft and left herl roberta walked slowly toward the beach and the bridge jack had seen ler now he moed toward her he looked worried was he afraid of her father why he come directly to the island and asked for her like any other boy she knew the sunlight struck across his face and showed her lines she had never seen before why he was much older than she had thought he was not a boy he was a man jack stood his ground near a tall and a thicket of sumac which screened him he beckoned to her eagerly why he meet her in the open robert macbeth was frowning when sir george joined him he looked up as the younger man came toward him yon like to try a bit of exercise sir george asked sup lose you take my arm maybe id better macbeth agreed reluctantly though I 1 m dashed unwilling to stir well once around if you re bent for exercise once around it Is sir george told alm ilm encouragingly well have you lancing in no time it would give the girl a chance sir ceorge thought to himself his eyes locking the path to the bridge yes there she went it might be that the wisest course would be to warn the father but he could not bring himself to do it the girl was plucky she lad not asked him to keep quiet or of that kind he could either keep his mouth shut or go to blayer or all of her well be would keep a mouth shut slowly and painfully leaning heavily tn the strong young arm that supported him robert macbeth made his ay along the terrace when they reached his chaise tongue again he mixed gratefully as the younger man helped him to a comfortable position t arranged his pillows there was a short silence sir george lit a cigarette and leaned the wicker chair he intended to slide into in a moment he could tot see the girl now and the car had appeared robert macbeth had taken up a etter he had laid down just before la promenade he handed it to his wre tary what do you think of that it was a typewritten letter addressed robt macbeth and said dear sir do yon know the man aror daughter is meeting at different orta on the lincoln highway many facts in your life are known to the artter of this which you would not wt to find public property it you t to know all the writer knows rd letter to the P 0 box given bew and wait for telegram appointing sting place all will be told you 11 as unsigned merely the number 01 the post office box in a small city being given w george handed it back id w it in the fire oben macbeth grasped the letter V that s where you would be S such letters should be kept na used to trap the writer or writers tend it to a detective agency it by irwia copyright by margaret Turn buH W N U service isn t scandal I 1 m afraid ot I 1 ve never done anything to be blackmailed for and neither has roberta then why should sou bother macbeth turned an honestly worried face to alie lounger man im pretty sure that the writer of this letter has some connection with the difficulty ive beeri having with my payroll roll but I 1 cant convince the police ll sir george looked at him in astonishment do ou mean the payroll for sour employees in the city robert macbeth shook bis head ot the office A much bigger thing the money for the men on the con job you will clely laugh at the idea that this has anything to do with it but though I 1 ve tried to somehow I 1 cant succeed in laughing very hard I 1 have a feeling these letters have some connection with a ging of men who mean to have a try for that payroll again if they can t get at roe and my money this way lie shook the letter but surely you ve taken alons why not pay the men by check robert macbeth made a wholly con gesture with his hand which still held the letter use your head I 1 cant laborers by check lots of the foreigners don t know what to do with checks iso weve got to make and keep things safe ourselves he looked at sir george and lean ing toward him and in a low tone said its all right in rew york I 1 can get protection armored cirs if need be but ive a hunch there s trouble brewing for me and ive got a great many thousands of dollars to pay out on the big piece of construe alon work belna done up the river its how to get alic money there safely that Is puzzling me now he paused a moment and said quietly 1 I dont mind telling you that I 1 have the sum deposited in the nearest local bank im going to send some one down to collect it from the bank later and that some one may be yon he looked nt sir george yes of course but when and bow what I 1 want yon to tell me fd like you to go down with roberta today land and look over the lay of the j cant your man take me fair 0 george asked might find out more that way I 1 dont want the servants to know or suspect anything about it nor the people in the village in fact I 1 dont want anybody to know anything about it except possibly roberta must she know why drag a girl into this roberta won t be dragged in her father promised him but I 1 want her to take yon down the river to the sank and UP the river to show yon where the money Is to be taken by motor i ipg but yon surely let the girl drive it there was likelihood 0 S but yon could drive yourself once you knew the way rh ves we ll 11 go with her to the village and to he bank where she will cash a check and introduce yon 0 the cashier then tomorrow shell take yon up the river have you told her this t barely possible she may have made arrangements of jerown shell change that if I 1 ask her her father said easily george was not aware himself ottow much he put in that ah it was sufficient to make robert mac bebb arn srn his bead quickly young man having turned it he saw that the young mans eyes were on a spot of blue macbeth was I 1 able to observe that this wa a car on the high road over on e mainland and that opposite that r was a dim blur that bad a bronze ne remembered the color of se aress his daughter had been boar ng tha morning and the younger man might not e his face sir george continued to watch the bronze blur until it took shape and outline and began to look like roberta macbeth then he started aware that the silence had been long you were saying that tell roberta what I 1 want ns soon as she crosses the river or will you meet her and tell her I 1 want to see her and take yourself off for a time absolutely sir george sauntered toward the river and met the flushed and exultant looking girl spying ills look w is enough to make her feel ashamed of herself oh I 1 say she said that was unfair and I 1 dlan t really mein me in it sir george did not stop it matter he said stiffly your father Is waiting to see you the girt angrily kloud a rock off the towpath into the canal well if you want to be hateful be hateful he turned it ou would only get it into your pretty little head he told her not unkindly that I 1 m here because I 1 have to earn my ihling and your father has been good enough to give me a post that s eliat As for you and conr fi lends at the risk of being thought rude I 1 tell you thit I 1 don t give a tinker s d n whom you meet or where you meet him and that s all of that there had been a quickly drawn breath and then silence and he hid walked on over the canal bridge to the highway feeling completely ashamed of himself hy had he lost his temper ills remorse gaining on him he was about to turn once more when the sound of lying footsteps came to him he turned to confront an angry and flame checked cheeked girl who told him vehemently auve just got to know this you don t hate me one degree less or more than I 1 hate you well since we know its mutual said sir george ernly suppose we go on hating each other as much as we like in private and keep n smile to face the world ue smiled at her now oh you re hateful 1 the girl cried just when I 1 meant to be decent to you for fathers sake you make it impossible I 1 promise you do anything I 1 can to speed your return to bongle scotland ah returned the homesick sir george his heart in his voice if you only could the girl looked at him speechless a moment and yet she did not go he wondered why but almost before he had done wondering he suddenly saw the answer to his question the blue car was some little way ahead of him on the tree shaded cross road to the highway and its owner was struggling frantically to start it that was why she thought he was spying that was why she would not it she could help it leave him alone lie continued to walk toward the car and to speak so that the man whoever he was might hear surely sou dont want to annoy your father and have him question you do you As for the blue car and its owner he continued it Is hardly my affair the man at the car jerked his head up and nodded to the girl and then quickly turned his back and busied himself with the car again sir george waited for a moment surely any decent sort would be likely to come over and speak make it easy for the girl to introduce him the man however after that one look hurried back to work at the car his face resolutely turned from sir george the girl looking first at one and then at the other slowly turned and went toward her father s house sir george walked away past the car abat sort of cheap and awful person that little devil had elected as hero of her secret romance he now had a pretty fair idea the mans face though good looking in its way was an open book to sir george sir george wondered why the fellow had been so as to try to hide his face so anxious to avoid any speech with him he stopped dead in the middle of the road for a moment as the solution occurred to him it must have been that he was afraid since ho had seen sir george first of recognition then the fellow must be some one whom he himself would recognize he walked on thoughtfully TO BE CONTINUED |
