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Show 8 I I I i mystery of CDS- H i.i Al. i" L e,y .11 jsJ Illustrated by S t IRWIN MYERS b J' Copyright by Csoffft H. Dorwn Co. ' ' ' 0 to continue to lean on me for support, a thins t!:at I perceived in n' Kernels t and with a s.-i:e of uiivonh!tie4 an J unreliability. Isobel was as wholesome whole-some as the air. lu the must i,:cuaut circumstances life was resumed at Hartley h,,ue. Jed had nut wholly lnt his truou-lence truou-lence and his occasional Hashes of malevolence. li:t he was subdued. 1 thought he seemed furtive. I a-ked Mrs. Sidney if she hail observe, ob-serve, a chaise. She said it had not oeeurreil to her to ihinl; of it as a change, hut there hail boon a difference differ-ence for whieh she was grateful. She , ALCOVT'S STOilY. Sm.o.n.-lir. Jol.n M. be! n, Jn:,t ,.:.;,, ,,ir ; bis car. -I', I,,-' i lo-.-i rc-j.l.jLt pi . y ,,tn .- r i t ' or,,, i loon of I I orner .Salm-y at ; I., r'l I. y b e. M r. l-.loio-y In an A rncrl' a ri, a .s.-atl-Irrall.l, (,1,1 and rich and liy dell! de-ll! ro i: to Mrs. HI la, ' i a Sj. .inlnh .v.!i,!in. 1 1 ( 1 1 ( I i and reticent. reti-cent. Jed, the bull.-r, act lll;e 1 Jul cl Ico-d riK-rnber fit tlie facilly. I : . . ( 1 1 .-v Imu.Hii Is it tine old Isel.-it.M ((ainrry t; , e, Willi a innnn-r (Cory, a "buunt- d i,,),l." and many watcb-(I'i'M, watcb-(I'i'M, and an at m , (,! a-re (if lnyn-tci lnyn-tci '. Tb: "In, lint, -d Is wia-Kf ita h ard imbsuu, nun of a foi inta-owner inta-owner of Hartley hon. had killed U.i bndbcr, Allhnr llobsoa. Jed bc.'InH i,' rations by locking th do, l,r In bl.s room tluj very hist lilKhb biic.lur Jolui l!o;H his door 8u J i 9 (ain't be hejned In. lie mcels lMob(d, dauKhter ((f the hourai, and falls In love at lirst Hitfht. In the lilKbt he llnd.H tlai butb-r drnnU and boblln. Mrs. .Sidney by the wrist. He Interferes. Mrs. .Sidney maes IlKbt of H. John buyH a revolvt i. John ov(:rb(,ars Jed telling Mrs. Sidney be will have his way. In reply she says she will not hesitate to 1(111 hiin. Mrs. Kidney asks Jolin to consent to the announcement of his erorafra-ment to Isobel. The ymin people consent to the mal.e-belleve mal.e-belleve eiiKaKemcn t. latter tiiey Ibul It la to head off Jed. who would marry Isobel. Jed tries to kill John, but the matter Is smoothed over. John, though "tin-naKed" "tin-naKed" to Isobel, conceals bis love. Mr. Sidney visits u nearby prison and has Dobson, the murderer, pointed out Jod tells the story of the obson murder. The family go south for the winter and John ia lonesonio. her for . four da; s. Then f had none lor two ueel.s, al:h',i;-h they remained at I'alm la.ich. She made I he postman post-man a t ra ha n fin- me. In one I. -tier this vir;.;inal Imp wrote ;,s If I w,-re her lover, ami that letter was as the .,n of the meadow lark from a Mne.v-covcred held In Mar, 1, as I he odor of lilacs on a warm nilit In May. The Sidneys wont to the I'.ahatims, hut did not remain there. They wrote me that Mr. Sidney was well. Doctor I'.ro'.vtmll was convinced that all were the heller, himself included, for their experiment and that Mr. Kidney's condition con-dition would permit a longer voyage in his pleasant circumstances. Consequently Conse-quently they were jroin on to South America. Mr. Sidney wanted to revisit Monl evideo. From Montevideo I had a letter from Jed in n different tone from his sarcastic sarcas-tic hauler and taunting. I thought it was tht) letter of a man who had suffered suf-fered a shock. I could not say why I thought so, but I thought something had disturbed him. I gathered the idea that something had changed Jed's view of life. Karly In March came letters saying that my folks shortly would be on their way home, to arrive after our uncertain uncer-tain spring had resolved itself securely into weather safe for a feeble man who had accustomed himself to luxurious temperatures. I then felt invogorated, as by a promise in March of hepatica. My w inter was braaking up. I met an old-time acquaintance, a dentist who had been several yeard in phoi.e. The other men were m:s;iccess-fi.l m:s;iccess-fi.l in their attempt to detain the husband. hus-band. The friend began a race with I he bus!, and to reach the house. Unluckily Un-luckily for him. th.- cab he look not only was pulled by the faster horse, hut, he being conscious that it was a race and the husband being unconscious uncon-scious of it, his driver had reasons given him for speed. It was unfortunate for the friend, because there was a tragedy later, and he whs its victim. lie arrived in time to warn the lover. The lady, appalled by the appearance of the lover, aghast to consider that she had been thought so unworihy as to attract these attentions, atten-tions, and suffering from a confusion which blunted her judgment, had not called her servants, hut had endeavored endeav-ored with a dignity consciously self-compromised self-compromised to assert her self-respect and recall her lover's reason. In a turmoil of abasing emotions she was engaged in this effort of self-control and assertion of dignity when the friend destroyed all composure hy his announcement. The lover went instantly in-stantly out of a window. The friend, having his own dignity of innocence, would not compromise his self-respect in this fashion. The husband arrived upon a scene which could not be explained. ex-plained. His wife, in spite of her efforts ef-forts at control, was in hysteria. The friend's presence was inexplicable. Arrangements were made to satisfy honor. The friend was killed in a fashion fash-ion satisfactory to the police and wholly whol-ly satisfactory to the outraged husband. remembered that w hen they were naik- ing their visit to Montevideo .led had ' gone down t-o the docks and had come back obviously disturbed. She had oh- ! served the fact without giving much j thought to it. She was not sure hut that there had been an amelioration of led since then. She had regarded the event as insl-nilieant. It might have had it meaning, hut if so. It was obscured. ob-scured. Our days were of pleasant routine, hut nevertheless, for reasons which I have tried to make perceptible if not explicit, the expectation was touched by dread. We had, for several sev-eral months, no outstanding incident or disturbing happening. Mr. Sidney's Sid-ney's health remained exceptionally good. He created a new Interest In his life: he had not forgotten his visit to the penitentiary, and he was eager to do what he could for the convicts. Evidently he thought of his restricted restrict-ed life as something not wholly alien, except for its comforts, to theirs. The most that he could do was to send books and occasionally to prepare a Sunday afternoon program of music to he given by a small orchestra which he bad brought out from the city. He never went back to the penitentiary, but once a week Jed or I drove over, and he was Interested in our accounts. Jed was beginning to wear off the fine aspects of his good behavior. Some restless ambition tortured this man. and some power he had not completely com-pletely used invited him to make full use of it. I had implored Mrs. Sidney to In- i tiere was tne situation: an innocent man dead, a wronged husband satisfied, satis-fied, the wife absolved by the romantic, lying statement of the man wdio sacrificed sacri-ficed himself, that in the transaction he CHAPTER VI Continued. Dr. I'.rownell suggested the wdnter trip to the South. Mr. Sidney's vitality vital-ity needed careful nursing. It was important im-portant to protect him from winter rigors, even us they could he modified In a sickroom. The doctor said he himself felt the need of a change, lie prescribed one for both his patient and himself. lie and Mr. Sidney made the arrangements. Mrs. Sidney and Isobel were to go. Arrangements went ahead rapidly, and a sense of desolation increased within me. Romantic folly came to its nccounllng. The fairy story was to be ended without youth's necessary "They lived happily ever after." The yacht came up to its mooring and lay by the landing for a week while the provisioning was being cured for. Hundreds of bottles of Mr. Sidney's Sid-ney's fine wines were put on board for (lie unspeakable Jed. Isobel was eagerly anticipatory. Mrs. Sidney, I thought, seemed merely to be resigned, with trepidation. Doctor Brownell said he was depriving depriv-ing me of an Interesting voyage. If he did uot go, I should have been needed, but ho thought it important for his efficiency that he conserve his strength isouui .America, mis naiue us ntcuti, Henry Alcott. Alcott and I never had been intimate or affectionate, but we greeted each other wilh ardor. I was lonesome. Alcott Al-cott may have been. There is a lone-someness lone-someness associated with a return to a place which has forgotten you and receives you as an alien. We had dinner together and enjoyed our meeting. There was furtively, at dinner, a reminiscent amntiveness in his conversation. It suggested that he was smirking over exploits which he might relate If his restraints were broken down. He had a talent for merely carnal stories. They gained additional carnality car-nality in his telling of them. I must have been given the record of half the amatory experiences of South America for two years. Alcott told them with gusto. The one that fascinated me he did not emphasize more than the others. oth-ers. As he told these stories he was trying to convey the charm of sex-adventure in Latin America. I think he wanted, by other instances, to suggest hfs own adventures. A man named Sinclair that was as Alcott remembered the name, but it might, he said, have been St. John or Southgrove or Sergeant or anything else beginning with S ; it was long before be-fore Alcott's time in South America, form me instantly If he became obnoxious ob-noxious again. I understood how important im-portant It was to protect Mr. Sidney's peace of mind, but I thought I had the upper hand of Jed although not understanding un-derstanding his case at all and could manage him. Isobel, knowing that she was pursued pur-sued by the ridiculous ambitions of the man, found amusement In it. I found only moral nausea. I could see Jed's arrogance arising again, and twice a week I was awakened by his singing in the hallway as he came from drinking in Mr. Sidney's room. I was expecting something to happen ; and something did, but it was certainly not what I expected. It opened up a new phase of the mystery. One morning I was waiting for Jed to bring my coffee to the pleasant room which he early in our acquaintance acquaint-ance had recommended. Not the least curious thing about Jed was the fact that he seldom In his sober moments was anything but a perfect servant when service w-as demanded. It did not matter how serious and deadly tht) issue might be between Jed and me an men ; when the matter lay between Jed and me as servant and served, Jed was the servant. Therefore, no matter mat-ter how tilings might stand with us when, in the morni-ng at an early hour, I went to the room Jed orisrlnallv sne-- O v- n n ft Si i n over uie winter, aim ne asueu me to act as one of his assistants. That was flattery. If was intended to he so. Mrs. Sidney was the one who offered of-fered me the real balm. "John," she said, "we shall want you with us. We shall miss you." "Don't yon think, Mrs. Sidney." 1 suggested, "that now we can consider this fiction terminated ?" "Y"u mean your engagement to Isobel?" Iso-bel?" "Sr: rely." "No. please," she said. "On the boat there will be no problems. The community is too compact and must be considerate. But when we come back. I'll need you just as before." Isobel said : "('lootl-by. John. Be at the landing when we return. You'll be the first per-xon I want to see." I ought not to have been so disconsolate. discon-solate. These were fair portents, but a portent does little to console a loss. I stood on tiie little dock and watched the yacht' go down the river. And when it had disappeared below the point of land south of the pool, all the world was sad and life had no prospects pros-pects to give It value. Charles drove ::ie to the city. I was a bit of human driftwood for a week. It did not matter that they were coming com-ing back. They were gone; that was the disaster. It was in the present; the future is too ambiguous" for consolation conso-lation or comfort. T went through a winter of ecstatic distress, trying to be efficient in my discharge of professional duties for Doctor lirowiuil and to be professionally profession-ally composed in aspect and mind. I had an anguished delight in my experi-fnpo.s experi-fnpo.s ATv loneliness wns inv mnr and he merely told the story because It was a standardized episode this man Sinclair, an Englishman or a man from the States, a fairly young man, anyway, and attractive, had fallen in love with a most charming young woman wom-an of excellent family. Alcott could not remember whether this little episode had been staged in Rio or Valparaiso or Buenos Aires or where. "It might have been in Montevideo," be said. He did not emphasize the remark, re-mark, but the remark subsequently emphasized em-phasized the story for me. Sinclair Alcott thought we might as well agree upon Sinclair as a name had come out of somewhere or nowhere no-where and had made a great deal of money. When he fell in love, he was an advantageous match. The parents accepted hiiu gladly. Sinclair and the young lady were married, but lie did not have the Latin genius for isolating and guarding a woman. Neither did he have tb? genius for completely interesting and absorbing a woman. He was in the shipping business. He was a very practical prac-tical and business-ruled man. but, Alcott Al-cott had heard, a genial and jovial man nevertheless. Lovers came, as lovers will. The lady was too charming and had too much freedom. She was innocent and guileless, but her husband was not the barrier needed. Alcott said he thought she w as of noble sort and was betrayed by her idea that human beings had character. He was not precise as to the dilemma dilem-ma she had entered, how or why she entered it. A man of reputation for discreet gallantry, a handsome man of ntrracrive culture was eneournued bv As He Drank More He Made Them Personal. had been presumptuous and the wife entirely guiltless and the guilty lover gone scot-free. But the servant knew. ' Tremendous possibilities in this, Alcott thought. Then Alcott went to other stories. As he drank more, he made them personal. I felt sick. It was outrageous for my ' recollection to emphasize his merely incidental remark : "It might have been Montevideo." j CHAPTER VII. j It may seem unreasonable that a ; story by a man incidentally met. an Indifferent In-different acquaintance, had started a solvent at work on my mysteries. I am discussing, now, matters 1 had tried to keep out of my consciousness. Things at Hartley had insisted upon an explanation which I did not want to find or give. I could not kill a curiosity, although I was shamed hy it. I felt indecent in my almost involuntary conjectures regarding re-garding Mrs. Sidney. Circumstances did demand an explanation. No one could perceive the strange facts of the house and not speculate as to their cause. It might be unpleasant to do so, hut jt was impossible not to do so. Tle predominating fact, however, was that my folks were coming home, and I knew that my affection for Mrs. Sidney Sid-ney had become a sacrament and my affection for Isobel a tragedy. The yacht brought these dear people to the landing in the river at Hartley house. I, in the city, w-as called on the telephone by Isobel. There w-as a dvnamic value in the inspiration of her gested, I expected him to come with my coffee, and he always did. It was my habit to arise at seven o'clock and be dressed and in this room by half-past seven. I usually read a book until Jed brought the coffee cof-fee and the morning paper. If was a luxurious and restful experience to have this hour each day. This morning in question I was reading read-ing placidly when looking out the window. win-dow. I was startled to see a strange figure of a man on the lawn. He was close to the house, almost under my window, and I even could see that he wore earrings. He had a handkerchief around his neck. He was swarthy and black-haired. I thought he was Spanish, Span-ish, and I thought he was a sailor. These were only impressions, hut they identified him for me later. He was passive and was looking up at' the house in an interested but puzzled fashion, harmlessly, one would have said, if the wholly unexpected nature of his presence had not been in itself significant. Men wearing earrings were not so common of sight as to allow one wearing wear-ing them to be unnoticed. Strangers of any kind seldom came our way. Strangers of his kind were extraordinary. extraordi-nary. He was looking tip at the windows win-dows as if he sought the answer to something that had interested if not mystified him. I knew, in every instinct, in-stinct, that he had not come in by chance but by design. I was looking, leaning forward, at this strange phenomenon on the lawn when a crash of meral and breaking china gave me a shock. Jed whom I had not heard entering had seen over my shoulder the stranger on the lawn and had dropped the coffee tray. . i "You knew that man and you wanted to kill him." ITU BE CONTINUED.; I ecule pain av.d my most cherished comfort. I did not want to profane the emotional solemnity of so much Tar-happiness by subjecting it frequently frequent-ly to the banal touch of sociable life In the ordinary. It was a joy to be profoundly unhappy. I bad letters from the enchanted party In tre South. Mrs. Siurcy wrote twice a week with great affection. Mr. Sidney cvice a week dictated to Jed a letter, cordial and jocular, for me. Occasionally Oc-casionally Jed added a sheet for himself, him-self, kindly or rasping as the mood had him at the time. Ivnhcl also wrote, but' with the great-ft great-ft eccentricity. While they were at ftilm Beech I had a lottur a day from her frank and unehilled attitude toward to-ward him to try a desperate measure. There was a designing servant in the house. The lover corrupted the servant serv-ant and was introduced into the house. The husband was supposed to be away on a business trip. He came back ahead of time, as husbands sometimes do. and stopped at bis club before he went home. A friend of the lover saw him and. knowing what was being essayed at the man's home, was aghast. He induced in-duced other friends of the lover to try to detain the husband on one jovial pretext or another while he communicated communi-cated with the house. He was uusuc- cessful in his attempt to use the tele- J voice. She w as. in her greeting, cheerv and wholesome. It was a glad, clean "Hullo!" crisp and jovial. My people came home in May. and the day after their arrival I went to Hartley house with my belongings, rejoicing, re-joicing, in an ecstasy, to take the well-known well-known ride into the wonderful world of fancy and endeared companionship, by the haunted pool and into tne jovial household. Jed, I knew as soon as I saw him. was changed not violently but in some fashion and perceptibly. Mr. Sidney Sid-ney was not. His geniality could not change. He made me feel that he had missed me and was rejoiced to see me again. Mrs. Sidney seemed, spiritually, |