Show I 1 xa ad A ATAL R Q V ja d ST 0 R 71 F tr 0 U V N P D OUT U T ifil by A L harris author of mine own familiar friend Frlan tl etc copyright a P V r i g A 9 ass 1 r 1 by vassell U m i I 1 I 1 publishing company cop a P y r il ig g h I 1 t i 0 t 0 9 b y S I 1 tr r t f 9 it S smi m t t A I 1 CHAPTER IV continued my dear janies james interrupted mr air burritt hastily you yon must know very well that jt it isn lent t that but the truth of the matter la Is I 1 ve a gibat gi eat aversion to firearms still it if yoi yo i will nill asslie me that the weapon isn t loaded III HI III assure you yott of hat 01 it anything else that will ft add to your peace of mind was tile the somewhat equivocal reply at any rate it isn t loaded now and what Is more I 1 m will III also give you my orl that I 1 will not at tempt to blow out my brains timing dining tho the journey or I 1 lie he added as a bort of afterthought anyone else ele s when mr budritt and his friend ar rived at the station the latter took a considerable amount of trouble to insure a separate compartment to themselves ies in tact fact mr air burritt rather fancied lie he saw him give ghe something to the guard who abo thereupon locked the door upon them thein and consigned them to solitude the carriage in question it may be worth remembering mas as the fourth from tile the engine 1 I 1 wonder aonder thought mr burritt to himself as the train steamed out of the station which Is the pocket lie he carries the relves ina then his thoughts wandered away amay from the actual present I 1 suppose I 1 shall find them all right at home dear dear anyone ancone would think I 1 had been away a month what an old I 1 in get ting by tile the by I 1 wonder what james Is thinking he looks runcorn inon 1 gloomy I 1 w m ish lied he d say some thing instead of staring out of tho the w window in stony silence somehow jpe t like the notion of riding alone with a man who aho has shed another mans man s blood especially N when hell he carries a re volNer I 1 wonder aonder whether hether lies thinking of that of 01 what I 1 it if mr burritt could hane hae i lead ead what it t was passing in his companions companion s mind he would have been amaded to find pealing to her son I 1 suppose there a no mistake about the day 9 your atour dear father didn dida t mean to met mairow row her son the tf tilt legrain gram which he had about him and the contents contenta aloud am ie turning today by the 4 30 train shall be home hoine to dinner friend me well I 1 in m buie bine I 1 don t know what to do about it exclaimed the poor lady almost wringing tier her hands bands llada hadn t 3 oil better go and speak to cook yourself said her son making the proposal without the slightest comprehension of what hat it involved I 1 sui rut pose I 1 had murmured his mother very well jane ou oil can say I 1 m coming coining and she left the roo room m leaving the young oung people together aron arem t ou oil tiled filed of standing may 1 I ay asked tier her brother addressing the gir who aho had bad scarcely varied her attitude an inch in the last halt half houi bout I 1 ired I 1 she exclaimed halt tinn ing round what has that got to to do with mith it I 1 want to be the firt first to see them then she added tell me hie what you meant to eay bay a little while hile ago when sou began I 1 wish and stopped wily why he answered gloomily I 1 was mas going to say aay I 1 wish the governor hd had never started on this journey journe though he added in a hurry of course ties he s all right missed the train or else tb there ere a a block on tb the e line or something only lie he broke ott off without bringing his sentence to a conclusion con luelon and asked was that what you wished bed it I 1 she exclaimed I 1 wish ish that and more I 1 wish lie had never bad that letter I 1 wish hla his friend who ever he Is had never nener come back from where he was as oh come no now was the would be comforting response now you re go lug ins ahead too far of course its it s vex I ing ig g ant all that but after all tho the on only ly thing that hat will really suffer will be the dinner and that wont be fit I 1 R started to hit his feet with a cry that of dwelling upon the past he was vias merely repeating over and over to himself the words which the former had spoken only a few hours before the secret lies be tween us ua two the secret lies between us two V the 4 30 train dinner at magnolia lodge had been ordered for a quarter to eight in or der to suit the convenience of the tray trav elers who were expected to arrive at bout about that hour As the time drew ou on mrs burritt suddenly became troubled again in her m mind ind concerning the soap dish I 1 do wish after all I 1 had ordered the best spare bedroom to be got ready though lye I 1 ve generally consid ered the second best good enough tor for a single gentleman and I 1 suppose he be Is a single gentleman dut but tor for all that I 1 here they arel are suddenly cried her daughter may alay who was watching from the window well it a too late to make any change now sighed her patent halt half relieved at having tha th matter 1 sum I 1 1 in marily settled and perhaps he be well wont t notice the crack I 1 do hope my cap call I 1 Is on straight the said cap was as usual consid conald drably out of the perpendicular but as it happened its lack of rectitude wa was R in this instance of no particular consequence for the alarm proved false and the cab which had at first appeared as though about to dra draw up before the house resumed its snail like crawl and gradually disappeared then came another spell of waiting alting they must haie hae missed their train a bt t london bridge said ted bunlot I 1 perhaps the other one was late I 1 ve looked in bradshaw Drad shaw and see that its due in town at seven 0 clock it if so they ought to ie be here by this time the next half hour slowly ticked itself away without bringing any change in the position of affairs they were all i vacantly conscious of an increasing sense of anxiety and de pres slon within why did they not comp come surely it if they had miss missed ed one train there had been plenty of time to catch tte the next then the clock chimed the half hour and at the ohme moment an interruption took place the message ran it if you please m cook wants to know what ab she e la is to do about dinner mrs burritt started nervously im sure I 1 don t lauw jane I 1 then ap to eat it if they don t come directly As aa it if in answer to this remark mrs bunlot at that moment re reentered entered the room she ft as flushed and agitated and as was waa apparent to the most ob tuse observer on tile the verge of tears really cook has been most trying 11 she sighed as she bhe sank into the near eat chair I 1 she almost intimated that I 1 had done it on purpose she says she hils has never been used to such ruch ways and that flesh and blood wont won t stand it let alone logs legs of mutton she says she can give us another ten min utes but no more I 1 rhe ten minutes passed as the pre thirty had done and at the end or of that time three very dispirited people sat town down to theli theft spoilt dinner may foon noticed that her brother whose attention had bad been obviously wandering for some time past appear ed d to be listening to something from without at first her heart bounded could it be that they lad had arrived at lasta was it the cllrk click k ot of the gate that he was mas straining his ear to catch ll or the sound of footsteps upon the gravel drive without 9 so she too listened in her turn hoping to be able to distinguish one or the other of these welcome hut but long delayed big nals nala but the only thing till ng she could hear bear was the ahe faint sound of a voice which seemed to be shouting something in the distance may also perceived that the voice was vas di awing dialing gradually nearer and revolving reb itself into that of a peripatetic newsboy who was vending his wares and shouting out the most sensational headings at the top of ilia bis voice was that all still he be was not bet et near enough for her to distinguish the sense of the sounds which caught her car from time to time as she absen tl crumbled her bread and thought to herself over and over again if only father would come home bohnel mrs burritt as though the tha thought lad had set in motion some electric cur rent which connected conner ted the two brains remarked at this juncture I 1 sup bull pose they aro arn quite certain to be here some rome time tonight 9 almost before the word were out of her lips ills her son who was sitting on her right slatted to hla his feet with a cry what Is it oh what Is it ask ej his sister as a sense of something terrible about to happen fell ell upon her he made no reply but with jtb bilat ing eta stood thre with every dacut ty absorbed in the one effort then he raised one hand band the other clutched the edge of the he table 11 alfs ll ten ho h gasped and the voice without now close to their very ery gates gatea made itself plainly beard ai it shouted out ont the latest but bul letin he dishun deenin stand ard or lak railway bacci dent over I 1 twenty killed and the four aiom nover dover wrecked reeked by a down train caroln petiole petroleum peti oleum itin barrels itie line ou on lire fire artrena in ia details VI the search for a father happened after this no one eydi knew knea exactly deboie mrs ira bur ritt had begun to grasp tho the idea that N om ething as wrong her son had rushed from the loom after what hat sit an age of wait malt ing but was really a very choit t time he ret returned timed in his hand he held a copy of the newspaper newa which lie he had just bought mother he said put ing a strong ie upon himself I 1 am abiah has been an sect lent dent on oil the line you yell bo be alai claimed nied for though hough some people have been injured there li is no reason why my father should not hot have es ea at and very likly the affair has boen been greatly exa gyrated gc rated tid said his amster alster in a voice almost ORt as calm as his own though her face bin lost ever every particle of tolor and sit mod to have suddenly become years aldei let us know the moist anti and bhe held out tier her hand for the paper the worst lie he answered with a sound like a strangled sob bob in his voice chy hy should there be any worst and as foi the paper crump ling it up lip in his hand you can cant t place the slightest dependence upon ulion that I 1 ni I 1 in going up to toa town n by the next train so eo as to be on the spot and ile ho may be hurt in some way you yon know he added bowly hy by way of preparing their minds for whatever might be tho the result ile he may have hava come off with a broken log or some rome thing of that bort you can hardly expect him to have pot got olt off scot ecot free bitt whatever it Is lin going to find him out and bring him back home take care of mother this athla to ills his sti sig ter and he was mas gone but before he roul rani I 1 leave the house houie while fit le his land hand was yet it upon poll tile latch he found himself confronted by the girl good goodbye ba e she said slowly and sadly ily nou ou will do your hest but I 1 have no hope nonet none ile he caught a train which was on tile the ery point of starting ant into the first carriage lie ho came to 0 o then he took out the paper which lie he had kept so BO cai from tile the eight bight of those others at boine and began to study more ter ar nestly the brief but terrible announcement which it 11 con talked to lie bo continued |