Show sylva bylvia a of the die minute by HELEN R MARTIN by dod codi wead mca A ox IX continued 21 rou lou try to bluff me mar aln binl his father frowned 1 I know til itil about it youe come here to keap nn an appointment with this young birnman I 1 1 I was riot not aware of it I 1 1 I 1 tu tell you tits his father indignantly insisted you try to humbug met del I 1 caught her in the very act of 0 waiting for you marvin looked cd perplexed well tt if you did why on earth should you apparently be blaming me for that when I 1 show you what I 1 have hare hert here but as his fattier father snatched from his breast pocket a folded paper efly broke ln in now that you are here mr B marvin martin larvin lartin will you be so kind as to drive me to the nearest telegraph office ive got to wire some money to my needy parents and its pressing im at your service Bl arvin looking more and more bewildered responded spon pond ded cd taking her coat from a hook on the wall as she started to reach for or it and holding it while she slipped d into it B but ills his father stammered lushing flushing very red miss 1 your promise this paper youve signed yes tes she inquired what about tt what about it I 1 your signed promise to make no demands on my son but I 1 suppose my asking him to take me to the express office to cable telegraph to my family a bit of money ive acquired would come under the demands referred to in that paper would it in the very hour of your signing this paper and accepting that money 3 yon ou dare to go off driving with my eon on I 1 what on earth asked alalvin their heir demeanor and conversation not only rily not bearing out oue his supposition but suggesting a very different state of things gnok at this his fattier father exclaimed thrusting the paper at him read thail and then decide cheth ayou want to go off driving with that earl gitl r marvan feeling dizy read the th few sentences on the paper signed amelia PArnella ton but what in gods name Is it all about what sort of demands Is she swearing not to make on me lie ile stopped short a staggering idea lashing flashing upon him you roust must mean SL crotsl Crol sl rie ile turned to the girl does this refer to st croix 1 I 1 decint knowl know you dont know cried sir mr crelghton why he exclaimed are you both trying to saddle st croix with a thing he has nothing to do with As if id yer have to buy ott off a girl from marrying him freyou are you buying off iriss Sch werick tion from marrying me laughed maryin martin and as he spoke he tore the paper into bits and scattered them on the floor what makes you think fattier father that such desperate measures as this are necessary for my protection against even so dangerous a person as miss ton and anyway the girl spoke in tin im resigning please ilease find a teacher sir marvin for my school will youa you for im leaving tonight Tat father berl why on earth are yu d riving driving tier away theres absolutely nothing between us and dangerous person Is right marvin and no exaggeration 1 I 1 have just given that girl live thousand dollars for the signed promise which you so imprudently destroyed 1 I 1 dont believe it cried sharply miss ton will iou show him I 1 the he roll of bills ive just given you ile he might tear them up as he did your piece of paper she demurred showing no least embarrassment or its not a bribe mr air mariln she ehe explained its a loan which I 1 shall pay back as soon as ive earned it at hollywood your father seemed so BO anxious to believe that I 1 was luring you to your ruin and so eager to buy me oft off you that I 1 the heart to disappoint him film especially as im in desperate need of money and it Is nice of father to give the amerl ameri can screen a chance to be elevated elevate dl so im oft to hollywood and before sillier either marvin or his father could coul r i mie lio had seized tier her hat and fled the e room marvin marv in mad madi a daish to follow but AN ahli fattier father interposed slamming the door ant aal tending against it dont make inake a d a tool fool of yourself marvial running after a girl who takes tabes a bribe I 1 no worse than your giving her a bribe marvin panted you can thank me for or saying saving you from taken in by an unprincipled annay stop calling tier her names youre entirely wrong about berl her I 1 what mat would you call a girl who accepts five thousand dollars to drop you cold you heard her sayac wa was borrowing it to it an c to lo hollywood ashes per 1 factly right too she needs it II and you dont youve too much money and she enough you held it out to her and she grabbed it I 1 dont blame her I 1 what started you on such a wild chase as tills this what on earth put it into your head that I 1 was courting her surely she claim I 1 was wast tier her accepting the bribe was an admission of it I 1 it if aoud marry a girl that would tal tale take e a bribe you thrust it on oer ler she needed it desperately po do you deny being in love with her 1 I sure until just bowl now rut put a girl with pluck enough to cheek you father and grab while the grabbing was good oh well marvin drew a long iong breath and turned away ills face ace suddenly ly gloomy and sullen suite n you corryl worry I 1 marry an actress too temporary id prefer a permanent arrangement in fa marriage let me out please mariln rv in I 1 nig ills fat fathers tiers tone was suddenly gentle give up this tool fool job of yours and come home your mother la Is unhappy having you away and ot of course I 1 want aou ou back too hesitated 1 I cant turn down tills this job until my term of office is over and it if my living tit at home means ae got to sell ray my manhood to you father ill not interfere with you iven if I 1 decide to marry a county teacher we can deal with that contingency when it comps comes up all right then the two men left the schoolhouse together sir mr creighton tool took st cro croix irk to to task task for his misleading description ot the school teacher now ilow you ever got the idea that she was illiterate cornmon common but she Is we cant possibly be talking of the some same person I 1 the person im talking of Is miss the teacher of william peon penn school the niece of the farmer sam ton I 1 had doughnuts and coffee with tier her and sam ton and his wife in thel their ver yo kitchen the night my watch was taken from mel 1 I dont understand it at alli dilcom Icom his father r barring the tact fact that the girl accepted a bribe from me id call her a t thoroughbred borough bred I 1 the puzzle seemed insolvable meantime Ble antime clarvin was feeling byno by no means so lenient toward miss tons accepting that money from his fattier father as lie had pretended in spite how however evor of the sick alck recoil he felt from her for departing with that five thousand dollars the sight of tier her schoolhouse when he be drove past it now occupied by tier her efficient informed and uninteresting successor gave him a pang that every day grew sharper a restless ion longing ing that was in danger of increasing to an insatiable hunger st croix meantime had just about readied reached a stage where ho he was on oil the point of defying prudence and trying to see allely once mare more and marven was contemplating the probable folly and futility of his asking ills his board lor for a leave of absence to in go to hollywood when a cablegram which their mother received just at this time from in I ang n land diverted them somewhat from their absorption in their own misery miser y the cablegram was from mrs airs Creigh Crelghton tons 3 cousin sir jolin john st croix announcing that Us tits laughter daughter iaron ess silvia st croix would sail for america on the Beren garla on fan jani ary 2 tor for a short visit to tier her american cousins she could be identified rit nt the boat by a handkerchief tied en tier her left wilst tills this news threw the family into some excitement st croix volunteered to go to new york to meet the lie however demanded of ilar tar via that he be leave him a clear held field 1 I can at least safely promise you said marvin that ill keep out of 0 it t unless until he corrected himself slie she you down CHAPTER X As st croix longing tor for was never for or a moment associated in tits his mind with the idea of marriage it did not in tile the least dampen the zest with which lie he went to new york to meet as lie he confidentially hoped and believed his prospective bride this would be a marriage so exactly to his arste allied to an old english fam ily fly of rank administering a distinguished old estate that for generations had been in the family ills experience with girls gave him no reason to douht doubt that he would find favor with his noble kinswoman so it was with a complacent self conal dence that well groomed and clad in his smartest clothes he stood on the wharf on the afternoon of the arrival of the Beren garla and with tene expectation pec tation watched the passengers flip filp past him down the gangplank gang plank his hig eyes searching for a young girl with a handkerchief on her left wrist lie ile did hope she would be good god look loolu ing it would be an awful wet blanket it if she turned out to be ill favored though nothing short of an actual hump would stop him A man could of course seek his consolations outside his home it did not occur to him naturally that his wife might have need of consolations so and compensations looking for a wrist bound with a handkerchief proved to be rather a maddening business wrists could be examined only as the passengers passe passed close before him while faces could be scanned h halfway up the gangplank A procession of men and elderly women sent his gaze far up the plank in search of more young people wilen when suddenly his eye was caught by a lovely face at the top of the long slope which struck him as vaguely yet vet unfamiliar too in its viva vivacious clouss expression its intelligence its delicacy surely lie had seen thit that face somewhere before though the poise of an exquisite small head tile the general look and air of a thoroughbred the modish style of the young woman were not familiar why she looked like ille meely ton 1 flow strange and how absurd at least her features did extraordinarily like yet so widely different too with that vivid intelli intelligent countenance proudly little head graceful bearing and of course her neatly arranged hair stylish clothing but good G d how bow lire meely she looked am I 1 seeing things he wondered woud ired his heart libart beating thickly so close she passed him film by that tier her arm brushed ills his and her eyes looked for an instant straight into lits his but riot not the trembling of a lash nor tile beart quiver of her lips suggested that she had ever seen him before aj ag she walked on to mingle with the crowd leaving him bewildered confounded with a weird doubt and uncertainty when suddenly as his raze pare followed her she lifted her hand to straighten tier lier hat flat which la in the crowd had been pushed askew and he be saw with a wild bounding of ills heart that her wrist was tied up with a handkerchief in an instant he was at he her r side and hl seized tier her hand the confusion of his mind so great that all his hl usual self confidence was lost in a u floundering muddle ile he had been so sure of himself of ills his ability to impress favorably even a sophisticated english aristocrat with ills his ease and sang froid and be wat wag painfully aware that no country bumpkin could have been more awkward TO BE CONTINUED |