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Show H EY7fOPSIS. Bf Elbert Carstalrs, estranged from his wife and 11 tenting for the eight of his daughter, Mary, engages HI Urry Varney and Toter Maglnnls to tako Uo Car- 1 Ualrs yacht, the Cyprlanl, to Huuston-on-tlfo-IIudson, Hl there to kidnap Mary. Ou arrival In Hunston. Vnr- 1 ney and Maglnnls ns a blind enlist with tho reform fll element to throw out tho political grafter who nro Hl running the town. By accident, Vomer learns that Hl Mary Carstalrs Is not a 12 year old girl, but a HIJ heautlful young woman. Varney's close resemblance Hl to Ferris Stanhope, nn ntithor of pink tea literature, Hl who has got himself into bad grnco In Hunston Hfl through affairs with girl", makes Varney'a presenco Hl In the town hazardous. Tho political can, working HV under the direction of Boa Ryan nnd through Collgny Hl Smith, editor of tho llunston Garctte. uk tho lever Hl of Varney'a resemblance to Stanhope to balk Vnr- 1 ncy's help In tho reform rnoTcment. A scurrilous Hl article about Stnnbopo ond a plcturo finish Varncy HS in the eyes of tho townspeople. Jlomniorton. a local U reporter who Is correspondent for tho New York H Press, by a ruso loarns that Varney's real mission N to llunston Is to kidnap Mary. Maglnnls buys out tho 1 Gazette and thus steals a march "i Bran, nnd ho and B Varnoy win Haramcrton over by making hlra editor B of tho paper. On pretext of giving a tea, Varney M gets Mary aboard tho yacht Intending to tako her H; to her father, but ho loses heart nnd turns back. H He learns that the engine of tho yacht hns been 1 dam need by the skipper. H SIXTEENTH INSTALLMENT. b Varney Has io Pay a Price. THE young man descended tho stops In a state of tho flattest depression. Dls- appointment, ho reflected bitterly, H crowded upon the heels of disappointment on H this antl-cllmactlc afternoon, which yet HE should have been, In a bigger sense, so glo- Hl rlously climactic Ho had missed his train, H and with It his honorable confession to Mr. H .Carstalrs; missed Hlgginson: lost, and worst H of all It Boemed to him now that this was Hl all that mattered in tho least he had missed Hl Miss Carstalrs. In sooth, the world was all H awry. H But at tho gate a thought camo to him, H radiant as a heavenly messenger. Miss H Carstalrs was at her seamstress' on tho M Remsen road. Had she not told him with fl her own Hp3 'that she was to be there at H this hour? M He made a " To Deum " of the click of tho H gate and turned northward a faco which H bore record of an inner splendor. B He had set out to see Miss Carstalrs In H order to ask of her If she knew the whero- H p bouts, In Hunston or New York, of the Hr" fair spoken yet elusive Hlgginson. But with H every step ho found tho force of this errand H weakening within him. Tho momory of H that gentleman's villainy, so burning a mo- H ment since, grew steadily fainter and moro Hr Inconsequential. Palling to locato him, he H would, of course, make a precautionary H round of the newspaper ofllces in Now York H that night. At the worst, ho told himself H with tho swift fading of his anger, there H was only a remote risk of any unpleasant JJH aftermath. Why, the thing was over and H done with let bygones be bygones. As for H those other matters supposed to bo upon H his mind hints of approaching trouble for y'mself, and tho knowledge of Mr. Carstalrs' Hk "" "r disappointment over the collapse of Hf all but triumphant schome ho could m not for tho life of him give them any at- H tenlion whatevor. KL A far nearer and moro vital matter was H pressing upon his mind and heart. H To toll her everything at the moment H when the yacht had swung back and ho H had thrown up his commission forevor had H been his first strong impulse. He had H crushed it down only because he saw that H to speak then was to take her at an ungen- H erous disadvantage. Now fortuno had sent H him this new meeting, to be untrammcled H by any such restraints. No grim duty gov-' H erned his movements now; no consciousness H of secret chicanery any longer enfolded him H like a pall. Already the thought of what H ho had meant to do came back to him H hazily, like the plot of a half forgotten play. Hj The hobgoblins in a nightmare seemed not Hl more unreal to him now. His heart sang Hl with tho knowlcdgo that he was to seo her H again, this tlmo with no shadow between. H Two nights' rain had left tho road dust- H less; it was silent and empty. All about H him fell the pleasant evening noises of the H wood, but he did not hear them. As he H walked his mind was rehearsing tho wholo H story of his coming to Hunston, as ho was H now free to confess it to Uncle Elbert's H daughter. That sho would forgive him ho Hl never entertained a doubt. For ho would H throw himself wholly on her mercy telling M her everything, painting hlmBelf as blackly H as he could and suing for pardon only bo- Hl cause he had failed. H But when suddenly ho saw her, sooner H than he had expected, ;.; polished and elab- H orate phrases dropped from his mind as H cleanly as had tho recollection of tho H roguery of Hlgginson. H It was at that hour when the skies ro- H member ic set sun in a gold and pink H glow. A llttlo kin!: in tho road straightened out under his s vlft feet, and a small cot- Hi tago in a fair sized lawn jumped out of the Hl woods into vision, almost upon him. On H the small quaro porch, her back to tho H road, stood Miss Carstalrs, talking through Hl v.ho open window to somo one in the room H beyond. H Varncy, having stopped short at tho first H suJden sight of her, walked on very slowly. H Her voice came to him distinctly, and now Hl and then he caught scattering words of Hl what she was saying. She wore her blue drcas of tho luncheon and tho hat which Mrs. Marne and others had so admired; and sho gave him tho odd impression of being somehow older than sho had evor Beemcd before. Yot sho was ten yeurs his junior, and three days ago, at thl3 yory hour, he had nover so much as laid eyes upon her. " I'll como Saturday morning, thon," sho was saying, " and you'll certainly havo them ready for mo, won't you? Good-by." Sho turned from tho window, camo toward tho steps. At tho top of them, Hho saw Varney standing ot tho gate, not twenty yards away, and stopped dead. Thon sho camo on down tho stairs, down tho gravolod walk toward him. " I'm going away at 8 o'clook," ho began, without greeting, striving to make his voico casual. "I wont to your houao first and " "You followed mo hero?" " Yes," ho said, unsmiling. " I had to seo you beforo I went on matters of business busi-ness and " Sho was nearer to him now; for tho first time ho could seo her eyes. In them lay a faint shadowiness like the memory of shed tears; but sweeping over that and blotting it out ho saw a look which struck him like a blow. " There is nothing for you to soo mo about, I think any more," sho said, with a llttlo laugh. " Tho game is up isn't that what they say in melodrama? My mother has told mo all about It." "Your mother has told you!" ho cchood, stupidly, as one to whom tho words conveyed con-veyed no meaning. " She had not expected to see me so soon again, when I went off to lunch on my father's yacht- Tho surprise ;nsa llttlo too much for her. You nust try to forgivo her," said Mary, and punctuated tho observation obser-vation with a small, final bow. ""Will you cpon the gate for me?" " No," said Varney, pulling himself sharply sharp-ly together. " Not like that." Tho shock of her voice and look, even more than her words, had been stunning in their first unexpectedness. But now he remembered, re-membered, with lnnnlto relief, that of course sho did not understand the matter at all; of course sho would speak and look very differently when ho had made his explanation. explana-tion. " You think," Varnoy said, " that I mind ycur knowing about our poor llttlo plot that I am fsund out and my plans aro all upset? Ho on earth could you think that? Why, that's all like something In another life. Don't you know what my being hero at this moment means? Tho thing is all over. Miss Carstalrs all past and done with an hour beforo you ever saw your mother. I gave It up voluntarily. "When the tlmo came, just now on the yacht, I found out that it was impossible unthinkable unthink-able I couldn't do It- Tho gamo was up then. That is one thing that your mother could not tell you, and it was to tell you this, and all the rest of It, that I followed you hero." She stood on the other side of tho gate, hardly an arm's length from him, looking at him; a figure so pretty, so dainty, so extremely ex-tremely decorative that sho seemed ln-capablo ln-capablo of giving anything but pleasure. But In the eyes that met his own so unwaveringly un-waveringly ho read at onco tho contradiction contradic-tion of this. " Yes, I suppose that would always bo the way, wouldn't it that whenever I found out you were Just going to tell mo?-" If she had searched her mind for a way to strangle his headlong self-defense, she couldynot possibly have dono it moro effectually. ef-fectually. There followed a horrible pause. " You mean that you do not believe me?" " In the llttlo while that I havo known you, have you given mo much reason to?" " Can't you seo tha. that is exactly tho reason I wanted to tell you all the truth now?" " Why did you wait till now? Weren't there "chances to tell mo this afternoon on my father's yacht? But there's no uso to Hpeak of all this. It is enough that I know it now." Ho was aware that her volco had lost that hard and polished lightness with which sho had first struck at him; on this last 6entcnco ho thought that it trembled a llttlo; and in a flash ho saw the wholo matter mat-ter from her sldo of it, and for tho moment ceased to think about! himself. Ho leaned his arms upon the green panel of tho gato and looked down at her. " Don't think that I blame you for not taking my word. Probably I couldn't expect ex-pect it. Wo can't very well argue about that. And, of course. I havo known all along how you would feel about me, when you found out what I came hero to do. I was ready for that ready for you to be angry. But I don't seem to havo taken it In that you would be hurt. That makes it a good deal worse." Sho mado no reply. Sho had lowered her heavy fringed eyes; her slim, gloved hands wore busily furling and unfurling her white parasol. " There Is nothing in this that need hurt you. Bollovo mo In this, at any rate. Only thrco pcoplo aro concerned in It. You will have no doubt of your mother That sho told you shows how imposslblo it was to her, even with Uncle Elbert wanting you so much. You will not mind about your father not In any personal way. Ho is a stranger to you. That leaves only me." Still sho said nothing. It seemed to him that ho had never looked at so still a faco. " For me, I might make you angry as any acquaintance might any stranger. But that is all. It la not as if wo had boon friends." She raised her eyc3, and tho look in them Eecmed to give tho Ho to overy ord ho had said. , "What do you call aJxlond? Did I not trust you put mysolf in your power fall confidingly In with your hateful plot after I had been plainly warned not to? Oh, if I had only listened to Mr. Higglnson. I should not have, the humiliation of remembering that hour on tho yacht l" Tho namo stung him into Instant recollcc- right that ho should see you, since h wants to so much." All her sonso of the wrong ho had dono hor flarod up In anger at trfLt " Ho .r do ' you daro say what seems right between my father and mo? Ho Is breaking his heart for me, ho told you? Did ho mention to you that sho had broken hors for him? Don't you supposo that I havo had tlmo ar reasons to dccldo which of them I belong to?" "All this," ho said, "was beforo I know you." About them hung tho stillness of tho country coun-try and tho long empty road. Tho woods stirred, a bird called; a portly haro pokod his noso through tho brush oyer tho way, and suddenly scuttled off, his whlto brush up. In Mrs. Thurston's yard tho quiet was profound. pro-found. "All his life," said Mary Carstalrs, "my father has thought about nothing but hlm-solf. hlm-solf. I am sorry for him but ho must take tho consequences of that now. If ho la lono-ly lono-ly it Is his making. If my mother has beec lonely till it has almost killed her that is hi Orrick rose behind his stooping figure with upraised club. tlon. He sto taring at her, and his faco darkened. In tho first staggering rovclatlon of her look his subconscious mind had leaped Instantly In-stantly to tho conclusion that his cunning enemy, having found out his secret, had betrayed be-trayed it to Miss Carstalrs. Hor first words had disposed of that. It was the tortured mother, not tho professional snsak, who had been before him with his explanation. But now it rushed over him that ho had an infinitely deeper grudgo against the vanished van-ished spy. For It was HigglnBon, with his hribo money, who had broken down tho yacht; I"-"Vinson who would, in any case, have forced tho return to Hunston; Hlgginson Hlggin-son who had given this girl tho right to think, as sho did think, that sho owed her escnpe wholly to an " accident " to tho ma-..,.r.:ry. ma-..,.r.:ry. Ho had thought that ho had saved Undo Elbert's daughter from himself, and lo, his enemy had plucked tho honor from him. The world should not be big enough for this man to elude his vengeance. " You mention Mr. Hlgginson. Whero is he?" She glanced -t him, impersonally, struck by tho unconscious sternness of his voice. " I do not know, but I am most anxious to see him to thank him " " I am told that he left town at 4 o'clock. Perhaps you know his address in New York?" " I do not," she answered, coldly. " No doubt he went away hurriedly frightcnod of you because of his kindness to me." Sho came a stop forward to the gato. Instantly his thought veered back to her and his tense face softened. 'How can I blamo you," ho said, hurriedly, hur-riedly, " for thinking the worst of mo? I've been thinking badly enough of myself, God knows. But don't you know, can't you Imagine, that nothing could have held me to tho miserable business a singlo moment after I saw you, had I not boon bound by a solemn promise to your poor father?" " My father! Oh, if ho is tho sort of man to" plot a thing like this, and to bludgeon my mother into it, how could you endure to promise to do it for him?" " Because he is breaking his heart fo-you, fo-you, and you didn't know it. It seemed doing, too. For you there nover was any placo in this. As for me, I owe him nothing. Ho must beg my mother's forgiveness beforo ho shall ever get mine." She came forward another half step and laid her hand upon tho gato latch with a movement whose definltcness did not escapo him. " You may take back that answ.cr from mo if you wish. And so, good-by." " Not good-by," said Varney Instantly. " You must not say that." " I am quito sure that I havo nothing elso left to say." Her eyes wont past him over tho gato, out into the wood beyond. Dusk was falling about them; It shaded hor face, intangibly altered it, mado It for tho moment almost as ho had known it before. Sho looked very young and tired. This was tho plcturo of hor, and ho knew It thon as ho looked at her, that he would carry with him to tho longest day he lived. " Is it nothing to you," ho cried In a rush, " that when tho time came I couldn't do It? Tho yacht'! breaking down had nothing in the world to do with 1L I had already decided de-cided to turn back, to break my promise That the accident happened Just thon was only a wrotched chanco. I was going to put about at that moment." Sho hosltated almost Imporceptlbly, seemod for a brief second to waver. But perhaps Bho dared not let herself believe him now; perhaps tho strongest wish of hor heart was to hurt him as deoply as sho could. " To say the least," she said with a little deliberate movement of distaste, " your coincidences coin-cidences aro unfortunate. You won't mind if I go on being grateful to the gear?" Under that crowning taunt his self-restraint self-restraint snapped like an overstretched bowstring. bow-string. . "You shall not say that. You shall not Miss Carstalrs, you know I could have kept you on tho yacht If I had wanted to. You know how I gave tho order to put about and bring you back to Hunston. Did I look in tho least then like a man whose hopes and plan had been ruined? You know I did not. You lenow I said to you that I I was tho happiest man in America. Will you toll mo what on earth that could mean except that I had decided to give up a thing that has been a mlllstono around my-neck evor sinccj I met you?" ' Sho mado no reply, did not look at him. Tho dusk shadowed her oyes; and whother hor sllonco meant good or ill ho could not tell. "You cannot answer, you seo. We both know why. You will not be fair to mo, Miss Carstalrs. It is that night in tho Academy box ofllco over again. Becauso I had to de-colvo de-colvo you onco not for my own oako you will not look at tho plam facta. But in your heart Just like that other night I know you bcllevo me." Of course sho could not let that pass now. - " I do not 1" sho said. " I do not. I must ask you, please, not to kcop mo horo any longer. Varnoy's faco went a shade paler. Arguing Argu-ing about his own veracity was even less bearablo than ho had thought; his manner all at once became singularly quloi. "Tho merest moment, if you will. I can provo what I say," ho answerctl slowly, " but of course I won't do that. You must bollovo what I say, bollovo me. Nothing else matters mat-ters but that Don't you know that It took a very strong reason to make me break faith with my old friend, your father to make mo stand hero bogging to bo behoved like this? You havo only to look at me, I think. Don't you know that I couldn't possibly de-celvo de-celvo you now after what has happened to mo?" " I don't know what you mean. I don't understand. Don't tell mo. Nothing has happened." hap-pened." " Everything has happened," ho said still more quietly. " I'vo fallen crazily in love with you." Sho did not lift her eyes; neither moved nor spoko; gave no sign that she had hoard. He went on slowly: " This might be hard to bellovo, except that It must bo so easy to seo. I'vo known you less than three days, and I novor wanted to even like you. My ono Idea v.a.3 to think of you as my enemy. That was what Maglnnls Magln-nls and I agreed plotting together llko a pair of nihilists. It all seems so preposterous now. Everything was against mo from tho beginning. I wouldn't face It till today, thi3 afternoon. Then it all camo over me In a rush, and, of course, your happiness became a great deal moro to mo than your father's. So wo turned around, and it was thon that I told you how happy I was. Didn't you know thon what I meant? Of course It was becauso I had just found out . . . how you wore the ono person In tho world who mattored to mo." Thero was a long silence. It deepened, grew harder to break. Little Jenny Thurston, Thurs-ton, watching these two through an upstairs shutter, marveled what adults found to say to each other in theso Interminable colloquies. A young cock sparrow, piqued by their stillness, still-ness, alighted on tho fence nearby and studied them, oyo cocked inquisitively. " Of course, I'm not asking anything," said Varnoy. " About this. I mean. I am answerod, and overanswered, already. But ... do you bollovo now that I voluntarily volun-tarily gavo It up?" " O," said Mary, " you you must not ask mo "that. You must not talk to mo llko . this. I did trust you once fully when you were almost a stranger; last night and thon this afternoon " "Do you believe," said Varnoy, "or do you not?" Her lower Up was trembling slightly, and she sot her white tooth upon it. Tho sudden knowledge that sho was near to tears terrified her, goaded her to lengths. Sho gathored all her pride of opinion and young sonso of wrong and frightened feminine instinct for a final desperato stand, and so flung at him more passionately than sho knew: "How many times must I tell you? I do not! I do notl" Varney gavo her a last look, stamping her face upon his mind, and took a step backward from tho gate. ' " Then," said ho, " this is good-by, indeed." Presently Mary raised her eyes. Ho had turned southward, toward the town, but at a pace so awlft that ho was already far down tho road. A Jutting curve came soon and ho vanished behind it, out of hor sight. Dusk was falling fast on the wood now. Tho green of tho trees deepened and blackened, black-ened, turning Into a crooked smudge upon tho sky line. The road fell botwoen them llko a long gray ribbon. Nothing was to be soen upon it; nothing was to bo heard but tho rustlo of tho early night wind and the pleasant pleas-ant sounds of tho open road. Varnoy's mind as ho walked was a blank white walL He had forgotton Elbert Carstalrs, Car-stalrs, forgotten the train ho was to tako, forgotten even the unendurable injury that Higglnson had put upon him. His ono blind Instinct had been to got away as quickly and completely as possible. But now slowly it was borne in upon him that ho know this road, that he had walked it onco before like this, at the end of the day. His first night in Hunston he romembored it all very welL It must havo boon Just here or here that tho rain had caught him, and he had.gono on to meot her. Tho cottage which had sheltoroC them that night must be closo at hand. His oyes, which had beon upon tho ground, lifted and went off down tho road. They fell upon tho dark figure fig-ure of a man, shuffling slowly along in the-gloom, the-gloom, not twenty yards ahead of him. Ho was an old man, shambling and gray whiskered, and stooped as he walked. If he was awaro that another wayfarer followed closo behind -he ,gave noalgn. Suddenly he stopped Bhort with a feoble exclamation and began peering about tho ground at his feet Tho young man was up with him directly, and his vague Impression of recognition -suddenly becameifltted-fo-a .nama- "Orrick?" . ... The bowed form straiffhtenod and tarn M Through the thickening- twilight tho two rot M looked at each other. M M You wero not by any chance waiting for M me?". Tho darkness hid old Orrlok'B eyesj he 'fl shook his head slowly a number of times. fl " I passed you whon you was at Mlz Thure- ton's, sir. I can't walk fas' llko yon con." S And ho bont down over the road again. JE " What's the matter with you?" askod Var- r 2l ney. " Have you lost something?" " Los' my luck pieco." said tho other slowly, not looking up. "I was carryln it in my hand 's I come along an" it Jounced out A 1S12 penny it was an vallyble." Ho cut rathor a pitiful figure, squatting down in tho dirt and squinting about with short sighted, old eyes; and Varnoy felt unaccountably un-accountably sorry for him. " I wouldn' los' my luck piece for nothln'," he added, dropping to his knees. "I'm a kind of a stoop'sltlous man, an' I alius was," "Perhaps I can help you; my oyes are good." Ho went back a step or two, bending down ' and scrutinizing tho brown earth. Orrick, presently announcing that tho coin might havo rolled, mado a slow way across tho road on his knees, patting the ground with his hand as ho moved. Near the edgo of it half In tlie woods, lay a thick piece of split firewood, long as a man's arm and stouter. The knotted old fingers stealthily closed on It "It couldn't have rolled far on this soft B jj road," said Varney presently. "Just where ff do you think you dropped it? " Sam Orrick rose behind hta stooping figure with upraised club, a blaze of triumph in his sodden old eyes. "Thero I" ho cried, with a senseless laugh. "It's thero, Stanhopol" Tho club fell with a thud, and Varnoy, meeting It as he straightened up, toppled over like a log, face downward. Old Orrick stared down at the prostrate figure, and presently touched it with his tattered foot It did not stir. His florce joy died. Ho looked about him apprehensively, apprehen-sively, and his eye fell at once upon a dim lit cottago off the road Just back of him. His cottage how had he forgotten that? Was that dark thing a man standing there at tho gate? Suddenly a great terror seised tho old man. Ho threw his stick Into tho woods and slunk away toward the town. ID A loud yell from behind brought his heart 1 to his throat, and he broke into a wild, lum- M bcrlng run. I In the new mado study of hi3 Remsen JetT road cottage, Ferris Stanhope, Hunston's W jfil returned celebrity', sat under a green shaded lamp and frowned down at a sheaf of his own neat manuscript. Behind him, in a corner, books and various knick-knacks knick-knacks lay spilled over the floor around an open trunk. The room was, in fact, in 'J the litter incident to getting to rights. But i this did not act as a stay on the great man's habit of Industry, which happened to be of 'j the most persistent variety. 1 The study blinds were drawn, and the rest of the houso was In darkness. Tho , author noted three emendations upon his manuscript made thrco more. Then, with ' , a muttered exclamation, he stripped off tho interlined sheet altogether, tor It Into j shreds, threw tho shreds on the floor, and reached for a pad of whlto paper. At that moment he became awaro of footsteps and heavy breathing in tho hall, and looked up Inquiringly. His man servant, Henry, was standing in the doorway, the long limp body of a man g in his arms. m Mr. Stanhopo sprang hurriedly to his feet. 0? In his faco the servant saw that same odd loolcof fleeting anxiety which ho had noted - there' when they descended from tho train that morning. " In tho name of heaven what havo you thero? " "Harskln' your pardon, sir," gasped Henry, staggering into the room, "I'm 1 honcertain whether 'e's kilt or not. Struck j down from behind by an old codger with long 'air and gray whiskers. HI was at ! the gate " "But what do you mean by hauling the carcass in here? Do you think I'm running a private morgue? " Henry, who had been In. his presont em- J Ployment a bare month, camo to a wobbly pause, surprised. The body grew very heavy in his stout arms. Now the man's head slid off Henry's shoulder and tumbled tum-bled backwards, hanging down in the full glow of the lamp. "HI thought, sir began the servant with panting dignity. " O, my God! " said the author suddenly. Henry, who had not had a look at his ,& burden, misunderstood. JT jj "Ghastly sight hain't it .r that bloody J gash on 'is 'ead?" "Quick! Put him on the sofa. 2w some water." The servant, whose limbs were mnnb from tho long carry, obeyed with alacrity. But returning hurriedly with the water he was mot at tho door by his perverse mas-tor mas-tor who took the glass from his hands with the curt announcement that that would do. Henry looked as displeased as bis sub- 1 servient position made advisable. "Hif you Please, sir, i have quite a and ninjnred, nnd " "He's only-stunned,- said his master tm- ! patiently. ru attenfl to Wm my3Qir. And he banged tho door in the servant' lace. IOoprria:ht:.BT Small. Maynas & Co,3 T C |