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Show I'lusirafcd by Irwirviyer' Copynghi byGecvge HDoranCb "We are Indebted." said Isohel, a chill and unkind restraint. Thea sha sru! led and said : i "Good night, doctor. If I am liiccn- j siderate nt tiny tim". put it down to a . naturally had temper." j , ! Jed had taken a small shotgun and ! said that he was going after rabbits, which were unusually numerous and threatened to be damaging to the young brush about the place. It was an October afternoon with a warm sun. An hour or two after Jed had pone, I went out for a walk, going down by the pool. I was in the brush for fifteen minutes, min-utes, and it happened that while I was there I saw from a little prominence the figure of Jed on ahead with hla shotgun. He was some distance away, but I could see that he was going stealthily from tree to tree In an odd fashion for one hunting for rabbits. It was as if he were stalking something rather than trying to kick rabbits up out of the brush. I went on toward the pool. Once again I saw Jed ahead of me. I came out on the path and went on to the river bank, where I sat down. Whenever I saw n piece of drift In the pool and watched its mcwements, I thought of the body of the slain brother. It had been whirled out into the current and had been carried down stream. On the bank had been found a few torn bits of clothing the sleeve would be unjust don't you see It would be unjust? to make ' a point against him of behavior that Mr. Sidney Sid-ney causes. Please never mention it." She was very much In earnest and was not satisfied until she had my promise that I never would speak to Mr. Sidney of Jed until I had her consent. con-sent. She then showed relief, and I felt more distressed. Jed had some hold on this resolute lady that I should have liked to break. Jed's attitude toward me was a thing to drive distracted a person who cared what it was. I did not. He could be Interesting, and then I was Interested In him. lie could be stupid, and I avoided him. He could be surly, and I ignored him. He could be quarrelsome, quar-relsome, and I fought him back. It seldom was a matter of sobriety or insobriety with him. He was best nalired to me at times when he was most Intoxicated. He was surliest at times when he was perfectly sober. At other times he quite reversed this. One never knew from his physical condition condi-tion what his disposition migltf be at the time. He served at dinner when Mrs. Sidney, Sid-ney, Isobel and I, more ceremoniously than we cared to, dined. Certain domestic do-mestic ceremonies pleased Mr. Sidney and he liked to know that In some respects re-spects the baronial character of his place wus being maintained as he would have maintained it If he had been active. When Jed was In good nature, he frequently sought me out for talks, and when he was in good nature, I encouraged en-couraged him. I did not want to open up any secrets the house might have, merely to learn what they were, but I knew Mrs. Sidney needed help, and I thought I might give It if I knew how. I also thought that Jed some evening when pleasantly and good naturedly drunk and garrulous might say more than he Intended. There were many opportunities, but he never did. One night this was In September I was walking about the place with the mastiffs at my side. I stood a while at the edge of the woods looking at the house. In its shadowy bulk It seemed fit container of mystery. Only a few windows were illuminated. It was the river side , of the house that was bright at night. I walked slowly across the lawn toward the side where Mrs. Sidney's rooms were. A small balcony opened off her sitting room. I could hear her talking to some one on this balcony. The person she was talking to, as I heard In another moment, was Jed. I was then almost under the balcony. "I am a resolute man," Jed was saying. say-ing. "I'll have my own way. I'll have what I want. I'll make you glad to come to terms. I'm a reasonable man, too. Now, admit that I've been considerate." con-siderate." I started to get out of hearing as quietly and rapidly as I could, but I hear; Mrs. Sidney, her voice vibrant with indignation, say: "I ought to have you whipped." "That is silly, unreasonable passion," said Jed. "I shnjl not hesitate to kill you," said Mrs Sidney. - Then I went out of earshot. The fact that Jed could threaten Mrs. Sidney Sid-ney In this fashion was inexplicable. It could not be explained by his serviceability serv-iceability to Kr. Sidney, great as that "I hope It Is to ask me to take Jed In hand," I said. "No; it Is to ask you to permit me to announce the engagement of my daughter Isobel to you. Don't be alarmed. It shall not make any difference dif-ference In your life. It Is a desperate expedient I am using out of a difficulty." diffi-culty." I felt as If I were In a spiritual fog. "Is that the only way I can help you out'.'" I asked. "The only one." she said. "I have thought of everything." "Has It to do with Jed again?" I asked. "With things I cannot possibly explain. ex-plain. Is there any one who would he distressed by such an announcement?" "Not a soul," I said, " except Miss Sidney." "I would not cause pain," said Mrs. Sidney. "Are you sure there Is no one?" "Mrs. Sidney," I said, "you are the only lady who ever has given me a thought since I knew my mother. I am merely wondering what Miss Sidney Sid-ney will think of me In such a role. Will she understand why I take It? I am not hesitating. I hope I do not seem to be, but I know I suspect that your decision is sudden." "Isobel's affection for us is greater than her demand for independence," said Mrs. Sidney. "If she knows that I asked you to consent to this announcement, an-nouncement, she will think of you as a proved friend." I had suggested all the precautions that were reasonable. "You certainly may make any use of me yon want to," I said. She thanked me and said good night. Isobel's view of our engagement was purely comic. She may have had a second of spiritual revolt, but comedy and consideration for her mother asserted as-serted themselves. Mrs. Sidney, when she told Isobel of the engagement, had me present. The mother was really embarrassed, almost flustered, but she was determined. Isobel was greatly amused. It may be Imagined that I was not heroic. I might better have been a wax figure taken from a display window. win-dow. I felt like one, a thing with a wax smile and no animation. "It is merely precautionary," said Mrs. Sidney uneasily. "It is quite impossible im-possible to explain. You will have to accept my judgment, Isobel. Dr. John" an odd halfway house toward intimacy inti-macy she reached and stopped at "Dr. John has been kind enough to do as I asked him. I need and want the support of my children in what I am doing." I felt a touch of emotion at that. Unconsciously, intent upon her main point, she had Included me at the fireside fire-side and had spoken of her "children." "Anything you do or have done Is all right, mother," said Isobel, recovering recov-ering from her sense of humor. "Dr. John will not be unhappy I am sure will you, doctor? And I mother I'll get an advantage of you in this- see if I don't." "You mustn't try to, Isobel," said 1 Mrs. Sidney anxiously. "I am doing the best I can." Later in the evening I saw Isobel, finding her alone in the library, where she was reading. I went In to get a book before going to bed. She was by a lamp near the fireplace, und she looked very beautiful. "I want to talk to you," she said when she saw me. "Do you know the explanation of this?" "No," I said. "You are not quite honest," she said. "A man engaged to a girl he never asked to marry' him might suspect that something was out of the ordinary." "Of course, something Is extraordinary," extraordi-nary," I said. "Do you know what it. is?" VNo, I don't," she said. "Why don't i you sit down?" WlTha soifUsyM-AsiT of. femininity she pervaueu and glorified the room, but she was peremptory. I was not sullen, but I felt defiant. "Because I don't want to sit down," I said. Isobel smiled indulgently at me. "Oh, sit down, Dr. John," she said, "I want to talk to you. We are engaged, en-gaged, you know, and engaged people ought to have a talk after the event, if not before." "You understand how this happened," hap-pened," I suggested. "I do," she said. "My mother is frightened. Jed has been trying to marry me." "What can give him the privilege of such insolence !" I exclaimed. "I imagine he is enamored," she said serenely. "It may seem impossible to you." "Has this man approached you directly?" di-rectly?" I asked. "He has been gallant, amorous, suggestive, sug-gestive, tender, soulful, aggressive, pleading, threatening, subservient and - I think that Is ail but only In manner." man-ner." "I don't understand it," I said tielp-lessly. tielp-lessly. "Neither io I," she said. "And I know just enough to know that I shall not understand it. I do not like to find a Romeo among the servants, but I have learned to accept some strange conditions here among them you." "Don't disturb yourself about me," I said. A jood deal ef my hurt pride must have found expression in that remark. "I am unjust." she said. "I know that you are doing what my mother wants done and that you are not considering con-sidering yourself. I shall be reasonable. reason-able. I want to make my mother's life as pleasant as it can be made. I cannot can-not understand everything that she needs of me. but I krc.v that vou ave dune everything that you could o for her. I do uot want to seem inconsiderate. inconsid-erate. " "I'd like to protect you and, your rot-Hher " I ssid 1 O "ENGAGED!" KynopniH. Dr. John Ml'-helaon, Just tf-Ki lining hla caroer, becmnen fHtrlunt phynlclan and companion of Homer Hldney at Hartley houwe. Mr Hldn-y Is an American, a nfttnl-ln nfttnl-ln valid, old and rich and very de-slrnuff de-slrnuff to live. M ra. Sidney 1 a HpnnlHh woman, dignified and reticent. reti-cent. Jed, the butler, acts like a prlvllew-d member of the family. Hartley houno Is a fine old Uolatud country plate, with a murder wtory, a "haunted pool," and many watchdogs, watch-dogs, and un atmoNphero of mystery. mys-tery. The. "haunted pool" la where Klcha rd Iiobnon, son of a former owntr of HarUc.y Iiouho, had killed his hroiher, Arthur Dobson. Jed bfliifl operations by locking the doc t or In Ids room the very flrat iiiKht. Doctor John t:a hln door so he can't be locked In. He meets IhoIh). daughter of the house and falls In love ut Hint flight. In the nlKht ho flndH the butler drunk and holding Mrs. Sidney by the wrist. He interferes. Mra. Sidney explains. ex-plains. John buys a revolver. o- -c CHAPTER II Continued. a The (.-Mrdener's mime was Williamson, William-son, lie hint been on the place almost from the tiine of Mr. Sidney's purchase of It. He was attached to It, proud of his work and fond of It and Its results. He had a neat little cottage beyond the gardens. His wfe was very pleasant pleas-ant and Ihonubt too much of my serv-foes. serv-foes. Williamson himself was a fine man, and 1 am Interested In gardening. Consequently, having to visit the family fam-ily every day or every other day, I formed a habit of talking with him. When, by chance, 1 spoke of the ghost story to Williamson, with no more purpose than I ever had had In these iiwniirics, I noticed that he was n bit embarrassed. "I take no slock In the stories about the pool," he said. "I'd just ns lief puss It at midnight as midday almost." al-most." "I'.e honest, Williamson," I suggested laughingly. "Almost, 1 said," he replied. "But I did see something at the pool." He was a straightforward, unimaginative unimag-inative sort of man. I was sure he was uot about to Indulge In romance. "I know something of these stories," he said. "I have not gossiped mine about I was coming from town late after midnight. It was the second year of our being here. It was lu the fall or late summer I do not remember. remem-ber. As I came along the rotul by the pool, I saw the figure of a man standing stand-ing by the edge of the river. It was light enough for me to see that the figure was leaning on a stick or cane. 1 stopped and was going to call out, but for some reason I don't know just why I fijjn't. The figure did not move..; I began t.e feel creepy and went on as gently as I could. Fifty feet farther, I heard a rustling iu the brush and 1 thought I saw a face. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I did. I know 1 heard a rustling. When I got out In the open, I ran the rest of the way home on the turf." "There was nothing very alarming about that," I suggested. My romance needed more substance. "You saw a man and heard a noise." "There was nothng In seeing a man and hearing a noise," said Williamson. "It was the effect." "That was due to the hour and the place." "No. I'm not superstitious. I was not thinking of the place. The man on the bank was different from a man. 1 could not see why. I didn't think he was a man. It was not because I was scared at first. I became scared as I looked at him. lie did not move, lie did not seem to be alive. When I felt shivers starting up and clown my back. I knew I was scared. Then when I heard the rustling, I went home as quickly and quietly as I could." CHAPTER III. Jed certainly was the most significant signifi-cant disagreeable fact in the house, and his Influence the most significant malignancy. He had been sobered by the discovery of his attack upon Mrs. Sidney, but as he began to recover from his discomfiture, and as the sense of caution began to lessen, he again j asserted, or suggested, control, par- j tlcularly when he was drunk. He never j allowed Mr. Sidney to know this. Iu j their strange association at Horatian wine feasts, Jed was tactful, respectful, respect-ful, considerate and jovial. To Mrs. Sidney be was at time courteous cour-teous and thoughtful, nt other times dlsrpcctful or even brutal. Sometimes Some-times he seemed to frighten himself.. When I saw that he was again begin-' uing to show disrespect for her, I was for putting an end to it. Mrs. Sidney v?os horrified when I said that Jed tould be brought to terms. She held tip her hands. "No, no," she said. "Not in any event ! Never, please, SDeak to Mr. 1 Sidney. I'lease never thlnl" of it. Jed - Is Invaluable to Mr. Sidney. He Is not 60 discourteous to me as you might think. lie is gruff, and drinking does cot make him better, but It is Mr. Sld-iiy'8 Sld-iiy'8 wUtrt Uiot he should driuk. It "I Do Not Like to Find a Romeo Among the Servant.." of a coat, a collar spotted with blood, a necktie and a piece of a white shirt. There also had been found a heavy walking stick, bloodied and with hair in the blood. I had not been fitting on the bank five minutes when I was startled by 5 shot from the nearby thickets, and a bullet hit within two feet of where I was sitting, knocking off the bark of a tree. The report was not that of a small shotgun such as Jed had carried. car-ried. It was the report of a rifle or pistol. The chipped bark showed that a bullet, bul-let, not shot, had hit the tree, and I was unpleasantly conscious of what had happened. Jed had shot at me, probably with a large caliber revolver. Ha could not have had a rifle, unles's he had one hidden in the brush. I had seen what he carried, uot only as ne left the house but as he was dodging dodg-ing through the thickets. It likely was a pistol or a revolver, and that was why he had missed me. I was stupefied for an instant, and I did not jump or start. I was motionless, motion-less, not even looking around, but I was thinking rapidly. A subconscious protective idea formed almost instantly, instant-ly, and whe.i the next moment another shot came from behind me, I fell forward for-ward on my face, rolled a couple of feet to a bush, turned my face in the direction from which the shot came, got out my pistol and lay still. After a minute or two which seemed a very long time, Jed's face came in view In the brush. He looked malevolent malevo-lent but seemed undetermined and cautious. 7 think he was uncertain whether to leave my body where it lay and have It diseoved, or throw it into the river and have my disappearance unexplained. His decision was given him by the noise of a farm wagon approaching ap-proaching on the road, and he disappeared. disap-peared. I was ready to shoot him if he came near me. I was young and had youth's confl-dev.ee, confl-dev.ee, but nevertheless this event would have sent me away from Hartley Hart-ley if it had uot been for Isobel and Mrs. Sidney. They needed even my small help and I had to remain. I had to remain, but I had also to protect myself. Another time Jed might not miss. On the way back to the house I thought out a plan which I believed would work. I Inquired for Jed and was told that he was with Mr. Sidney. I found him there drinking, and my entrance gave him a shock which he plainly indicated. His fright made him so ugly that he was comic. "After all, we are engaged." (TO BE CONTINUED.) kv ' I Might Better Have Been a Wax Figure Fig-ure Taken From a Display Window. was. I walked about for a while, distressed dis-tressed and depressed: then I patted the heads of the mastiffs, went indoors and to my room. An hour later I opened my door in response to a light rap. Mrs. Sidney was there. "May I come in a moment?" she asked. "Thank you. I have a request to aiake which you cannot help but think Is extraordinary preposterous." I placed a chair for her. She thanked ! me but remained standing. I thought she must be in an agony of iniad, hit she Kailled. |
