The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, November 24, 1927, Image 7
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1927
THE CLINTON CHRONICLE, CLINTON. S. C.
XStf Meredith Nicholson
CX)PYF1GHT CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS - RELEASED THRU PUBLISHERS AUTOOVSTER SiRVICE
'^NVUvi,
INTRODUCTION . - yisafe and sound
Archibald Bennett, wealthy bathe- gratitude.”
lor, travels constantly in the interest
of his health. He meets Isabel Perry,
who recommends a life of Crime, ad
venture, romance and excitement as a
cure for his nerves. Archie goes to
Bailey Harbor to investigate a sum
mer house for his sister. A heavy
storm forces him to spend the night
there. During the night he is awaken
ed by footsteps, and in an encounter
;with the intruder, who sees Archie’s
figure reflected in the ^ mirror- and
shoots. Archie fires injeturn, wound
ing the intruder, wfio makes his es
cape. Archie plans flight to evade
publicity. He starts cross-country
afoot in the night.
At dawn he is stopped bn a lonely
country road by ‘The Governor,”
master-mind criminal who mistakes
him for a fellow criminal.- Archie,
fleeing, is afraid to tell the truth—
falls in with “The Governor,” is whisk
ed across country in a stolen car. Sees
story in newspaper of killing at Bai
ley Harbor and, frightened, decides to
say nothing but stick with his strange
friend and await developments. At
Comford, N. H., Archie comes upon
Isabel Perry; at the hotel desk but she
refuses, to recognize him. The Gover
nor, by a clever plan, switches stolen
money for good money. ^rcj{ie used
as decoy—making love to niece of
agent sent to meet eccentrfc Congdon
here next day. Archie and the Gover
nor drive away without creating sus
picion and speed across state to deliv
er the $60,000 to train-robber Leary
at Walker’s farm, where Archie gets
new insight into the workings of the | course l should take after she told me
criminal world. At the first opportu-J her story.. The marriage was in prop-
nity Walker’s daughter appeals to Ar- er form and I haven’t a single regret!"
chie to help her elope with a young “What you did, Archie,” the Gover-
farmhand. .He decides to assist, cut-i nor resumed paternally,
ting away from the Governor and tak-
fills my neart with signs drawn on the margin of a
newspaper where the Governor had
He flung down his cap and linen neglected to erase them; but he was
duster, chose a chair by the window astounded to find that he was in the
and seated himself with a little-sigh, company of a man who took counsel
“I hope,” Archie ventured timidly, of the stars.
“that you came alone?” “Ne sous une mauvaise etoile! You
“Oh, yes; I’m alone! Trust me for catch the sense admirably. When you
that; but my friend Walker was not see me scribbling I am calculating the
easily shaken. And h^ provocation! ; potency of the dark fate that over-
Oh my boy, his provocation to justi- hangs me and trying to estimate when-
fiable homicide and all that sort of if ever the cloud will pass. Don’t
thing!” » , trouble your head with those fancies;
“Well, I only did vthat I thought leave them to me. Hope is buoyed in
was right,” Archie declared doggedly.
“I wasn’t weighing the consequences.”
“Splendid^ my dear Archie, to see
how beautifully you arose to the sit
uation—a situation that" spoke power
fully to your generous heart! If there
has been any error it is mine. I should
have known from the way ypu played
up to the Seebrook girl that you were
far too susceptible to be trusted with
women. The error is mine; not yours,
Archie; I don’t blame you a particle.
Sally is'a w-insome lass; she has a way
with her, that girl!”
“If you don’t mind,” said Archie
with dignity, “we’ll stop talking non
sense. What happened?”
“Just a little curious, are‘yoli, as
to what followed your amazing breach
of hospitality? Ran away with,a pret
me .by the fact that never yet have
my^figures erred.”
“To return *to practical affairs, we
shall abandon Collins’ machine and I’ll
wdre Kim where to pick it up. Then
weTPentrain at our leisure."
“If you don’t mind my asking, I’d
like to know where we’re bound for?”
“New York, my dear boy; but you
needn’t be alarmed. It will be hot
there and we’ll only pause for a day
or so. We both need to freshen up our
wardrobe a bit.”
Archie shook his head stubbornly.
“I have told you this, but I’m sup
posed to Ke in the Canadian Rockies.
It would be a risky business for me
to show up in town!”
“You are a frightful egotist, Archie!
This is a lajge world and man’s mem
my retainers repay my hospitality by
keeping me in touch with their com
rades everywhere.”
“I suppose, I suppose,” Archie tim
idly ventured, “you’ve told them about
. me?” '
“Not a word! You will act exactly
as though you were a visitor in the
house of an old friend. And now I
'must go through this mail—I’ve got
a chap who collects my stuff from one
of^the unofficial post-offices up-stale.
The first room to the right is yours.”
“You’ve* got to admit the service in
this bouse is excellenti, If you don’t
mind we’ll dress for dinner,” remarked
the Governor loungirig in the door
way. “I forgot to say that there’s a
lady dining with us—
“A lady!” demanded Archie with
a frown. _ '
The Governor crossed the room,
stared at the floor for a moment, and
then said from the door:
“The lady, my dear boy, is my sis
ter.”
“Julia is usually very prompt but'
she is motoring from Southampton
and we must allow her. the usual mar- j
gin,” the Governor remarked when
they met in the drawing-room.
The clock had struck the three-quar
ters when they heard the annunciator
tinkle followed by the opening of the
front door. The Governor left the
room with a bound and Archie heard
distinctly his hearty greetings and a
woman’s subdued replies.
“I’m sorry to be late, but we had to
change a tire. No, I’ll leave my wraps
here.”
“Won’t you be more comfortable
without your hat?” ^
“No, I’ll keep it; thanks!”
The door framed for a moment a
young woman who in her instant’s
pause on the threshold seemed like a
portrait figure suddenly come to life.
She was taller than the Governor and
carried herself with a suggestion of
his authoratative bearing. Her face
was a feminized version of the Gover
nor’s, exquisitely modeled and illumi
nated by dark eyes that swept Archie
with a hasty inquiry from under the
brim of a black picture hat.
“Julia, this is my friend, Mr. Com-
ly.”
Her “very glad, I’m sure,” was ut
tered with reservations, but she smil
ing the couple across state in a wild
night ride. Seeing Sally onto the train
—he is rewarded with a fond farewell
kiss—and he turns lo find Isabel Per- the girl to a crook !
ry had witnessed the whole scene.
Now^ead on:
ty girl, assisted in marrying her to an |ory is short. If you see any old friends
undesirable son-in-law, and now you I beg of you do not attempt to dodge
want to know how the old folks take*them; shake one and all heartily by
it! * Oh, Archie, for sheer innocence the hand. Weil pretend that our black
you are a wonder!” wool is white as the drifted snow, and
“Walker had no right to force a girl no one will run after us shouting, e d>^ a Quick sad little smile,
like Sally to marry an old curmudgeon ‘Blacksheep, blacksheep!’
she hated. I never hesitated as to the j * * ♦ *
At the station gates a man in gray
livery stepped up and touched his cap
to the Governor.
“Ah, Tom; glad to see you again!”
“Thank you, sir; is this all the lug
gage?”
“That’s all, Tom'. Drive directly
home, please.
“We may wander to our hearts’ con
tent, Archie, but thdre’s no place like
“One of the smoothest in the game! ^home, particularly when it’s little old t0 time, that she was trying to ac-
And Sally knew he was a Crook! I New York,” remarked the Governor, count for him, and her manner he
was to mar
ry Sally, the incomparable, Sally the
divine, to Pete Barney, the diamond
th%f.”
. “You mean—you mean I _ married
gasped Archie.
The Governor had introduced her as
Julia, carelessly, as though of course
Archie knew the rest of it. The Gov
ernor asked perfunctorily about her
drive into town, and whether it had
been hot in the country. Dinner was
announced immediately and they sat
down at a round table whose center-
piece of sweet peas brought a cool
ness into the room.
It seemed to Archie as he met a
puzzled look in Julia’s eyes from time
ex-
CHAPTER IX
“You were on that train!” he
claimed—the most fatuous of ques
tions and the poorest possible opening
for a conversation. *
“I thought I had made it sifficient-
ly plain »at Portsmouth that I resent
' your following me! The meeting there
might hfcve been by accident, but see
ing you here I am convinced—I
suppose.it was the diamonds that sinking back contentedly,
fetched her. If you’d looked at his The car crossed to the Avenue and
hands you would have noticed that he. bore north.
hadn’t the paws' of an honest Green
Mountain farmer. Pick-pocket origi
nally and marvelously deft; but prec
ious stones are his true metier. .The
trifling little necklace he had on his
person when he struck Walker’s is
worth a cool hundred thousand. He’li
ani have to break it up and sell ’em in the
convinced that you are*..spying upon
me!” ,
“But, Miss Perry—”
“I should think,” she interrupted,!
“that knowing or suspecting what l
am trying to do you would show me
some consideration!” 1 * girl would have deceived me!”
"ButI can explain; really I can ex- “We never know when they are go-
usual way and it will take time.”
'Archie sank upon the bed; he had
dyne a horrible thing, hardly second town;
to murder, and his penitence weighed
heavily upon him.
‘*It doesn’t seem possible .that the
The Governor had not warned him
to avoid marking the route, which was
as familiar to Archie as the palm of
his hand, but somewhere in the sev
enties he did for a moment lose track
east, stopped midway of a block of
of the streets, and the car, swinging
handsome residences. There was still
the chance that this was all by-play,
a trick for concealing their arrival in
but the footman was already
thought slowly changed. Her first de
fensive hostility yielded to something
much more amiable. It was as though
she had reached a decisiownotjwholly
unflattering and might be a little sor
ry for her earlier attitude.
“Julia, if you brought those docu
ments \Vith you I’ll take them up to
my room and look them over. It’s only
a matter of my signature, isn’t it?
“Very well; you will find them in
my bag in the hall: I must start home
I’ll be down at bnce.” .
very soon, you know.”
m
ing to deceive us, Archie! Sally hated
the farm and was crazy to escape. She
lifted a couple of hundred dollars the
old man kept under a plank in the par
lor floor—an emergency fund in case
he ever , had to run for it. A nasty
trick, I call it; most unfilial on Sally’s
part. The Walkers are crushed by hef
conduct. And I had vouched for. you
at the Walkers; it’s almost as bad as
ii you will give me a moment!”
iderstand perfectly that but for
* me you wouldn’t be loitering here!
And you practically acknowledged at
Portsmouth that you were interesting
yourself in the affairs of the Cong-
dons!”
“We are playing at cco^s^ptirposes
quite^. unnecessarily,” protested Ar
chie. “Why not confessjust what your
interest is in that family? I told you
quite plainly nt Portsmouth that I had
reason to believe I had shot Putney
Congdon at Bailey Harbor, But for
the courage you put in my heart I
should, never have done that!”
“If you did that you have ruined ev
erything! A -dastardly act for which
I hope you Mil.pay the full penalty
of the law!” ( •
“You seem to forget that' you ad
vised me to flout the law; ta do just
the things I have been doing, roving
the world, shooting and plundering!”
“Everything has gone wrong,” she,
said, “and you may have all the satis-4-set any limit on your little affairs of
faction you can get out of your inter- f^e heart. But lets have no more
ference, your intrusion upon affairs foolishness.’
ringing the bell of a house whose fa- "I had hoped you would speqd^ the
cade was the most distinguished in night here,” said the Governor; “but
sight. The door was opened by a man- >f y° u won’t I’m ^grateful even for
servant, whose face expressed pleas- this little glimpse." „
ure as the Governor passed him with j The Governor left the room kd re
al! the* airs of incilmqstable proprie- appeared with a small satchel, took
torship. out several bundles of legal papers
; ‘I think we may as well go at once and glanced at their superscriptions.
to our rooms,” he, said. ‘ “You under
stand; Baring, that we dine at seven-
thirty—places for three?”
“Very good, sir; I received your tel
egram."
On the third floor, Archie surveyed
approvingly a lounging room, half li-
though I had betryaed them myseff. brary apd half office.
You will not, of course, make the se-j' He tottered toward a stand on which
rious error of knocking at the Walker decanters, syphons, and a silver bow.l | con t ac t with her gaze, which was bent
door again! That would be rubbing 0 f ice had been placed. He helped U p on him disconcertingly,
it in.” himself generously to Scotch; the Gov
In a moment they heard his quick
step on the stair.
“It. is no doubt clear to you,” Julia
remarked, “that, my. brother prefers
not to be alone with me.”
."I rather surmised that,” Archie re
plied with an ease he did not feel. He
turned to drop his cigarette into the
brass receiver at his elbow to avqjd
want you to think me un-
Archie stammered. “The
fool-of me; I see it all
a
“I don’t
grateful,”
girl made
now!”
“She made a fool •o^ you but you. in
turn made a foo^ of me! And while
I’m not cavarRpg, you will pardon
me, son, if I suggest that hereafter
you play square with me. I don’t mean
to curb your personal enteaufise, or
^, of the greatest delicacy, in which my
. assistance and my honor are pledged.
“I
self,’
haven’t a thing to say for my-
blurted -Archie, who was at the
I was weak, miserab-
no ide.a that any one
walk away from here as rapidly as (could lie as that girl'did. And it’s not
possible and not turn your head!” fair for me to stay oh with you. I
He di<^ not even confirm her state
That car standing yonder belongs to point of tears,
me and before I leave I want you to ly weak. I had
ernor contented himselfKith a glass
of mineral water—he neWr took any
thing else, he explained. _
"Odd,.but I’ve never used the stuff!
at all
on the subject. A Ad now, my. dear
Archie”—he closed the door and turn
ed on the fan—“you are my guest, in
every sense my guest. It may have
occurred, to you that I may be an inter
loper here, but such is not the case.
I own this house and the ground it
stands on and everything in it. You
are, of course, not a prisoner; not in
any sense, and there’s a telephone in
your room by which you can talk to
-no restric-
can’t ask you to trust me again.
ment aslo^he propinquity of the car,!better part company right here!” v
-hut i crossed the platform with the
crestfallea.air of a child in disgrace.
He~knew nothing save that he was
enormously tired nad he went to the
.hotel and crawled wearily into bed.
* * ♦ •*
"Vv* - ** «►
; He was silting on the edge of the
bed when a gently insinuating knock
caused him to start. 1 ‘
"Come!”
The door opened slowly, wide
enough to permit a man’s head to be sketching
thrust in. A face wearing an amused
smile, a,fan¥tliar face but the last he
expected to see, met hrs gaze.
' “Hist?”
The Governor widened the opening
in the door and squeezed through.
'My dear Archie!” he exclaimed as
How completely you misjudge me,
Archie! There’s a charm in you be- mv m ‘* ht ’ °* cour5e ;
of your very innocence and »“ rk ““'v for 1 W til ’ Ies ^ a " d
my family history is spreaa in the
a
gotten cf your very
helplessness, and I should be very un , . , , . iV . .
happy if we parted now. We’ve ««>'*• >>«» you see
about here are trained to curb their
ed some dangef'tbgether and in spite t -- - - i
of vour' weaknesses I’m fond of you. cunos.ty; I trust them just as 1 trust
And if I left you to your own devices : S’ ou - Th 'y »™ al > from under the
son,ethin K quite disastrous might hap- ‘’rust,-the man who met us -at
’ t ... : station is a daring housebreaker;
pen to you
The -Governor was unconcerneSly
of~the diagrams with
“We have but a moment, and we
must have a care not to seem to be
confidential. He didn’t cl^se.his door,
I think ”
The draperies at the end of the room
Bless you, no fanatical notions v. wa y et [ a little and Archie walked
back and glanced into the dining room.
He nodded reassuringly and she indi
cated a seat a Tittle nearer the one he
had left.
“Please don’t be alarmed, but it’s a
singular fact that I know you; we
met once, passingly, at a tea in Cam
bridge; it’s a good while ago and we
exchanged only a word, sordon’t try
to remember. I much prefer that you
shouldn’t.”
Archie didn’t remember; he had at-
teTided many teas at Cambridge dur
ing commencement festivities and had
always hated them.
“It was not unj.il we were at the
table that I placed yo’u tonight. I’m
relieved—infinitely relieved, to' know
that you "are with my brother. How it
came about'is none-of my affair. But
you are a gentleman riTTxthe strange
phase through which”—heV<Jips form
ed to speak a name but she caught
herself up sharply—“through . which
all the world quite freely,
tions whatsoever.
We’d '“My name is 'not Saulsbury,
course, but something quite different.
The servants in this house do not know
of
the
the
the'be is passing I’m gratified that he has
one
he locked the door, “how infinitely re- ! wntes -
lipved I am!' I was afraid some harm^ Archie
had befallen you, but to find you here
chauffeur is a second-story man; the' 11 *’ ,0 i ,t,sai,, is 1,,, ,,c , “* i ’
butler'is a hotel thief. Dowh’to the your companiqnship. .Once something
scullery maid, who was a clever shop- very \cruel happened to him; spme-^
which he. seemed to v.suahze his plans,. ljftwr; alI the s(?rvants are crook * [Ve : thing that greatly embittered him, a
Archie was startled now to hear his pic1(ed UJ) and instalk , d here until they very cruel, hard thing, indeed w»nl af-
can do what Leary’s doing, invest their ter the first shock of it - She turn-
ill-gotten gains i in some legilHTrate "rtt ber head slightly and her lips quiv-
bpsiness.. Baring'has enough rewards' ero d. ^
hanging over him to •ma'kg.^any one “That is all,” she said, and faced
rich who can telephone his where- him again witl^ her beautiful repose
abouts to police headquarters in any■ accentuated, her perfect self-control)
town in America. As all branches^ that touched him with an infinite pity.
(Continued next week.)
companion muttering to himself:
“Aries, the Lam, the Fishes! s For a
time I stumbled and walked in dark
ness, but the leading^Jight is clearer
now. / Tl)e moving fihger writes---
“Edmund Breese is right.
Luckies give complete enjoyment, ,,
says DeForest
The well-known trainer amt boxing
expert explains his preference to Evelyn
Hocy, Musical Comedy Star, as they
chat before the Buckingham Fountains
in Chicago. UL
You, too, will find that
LUCKY STRIKES give
the greatest pleasure—
Mild and Mellow, the
•finest cigarettes you
ever smoked. Madg of
the choicest tobaccos,
r
properly aged and
blended with great skill,
and there is an extra
process-nrS TOAST
ED”-—no harshness, not
abitof4^p.
-rWADB OF
nET »B?&“OP op
Edmund Breese,
Well-known Actor,
unites:
“We who act owe our au
diences perfect voices—we
must keep our throats in
condition. Like others, I
have solved the problem of
smoking by adopting Lucky
Strikes because they protect
the throat and give complete
enjoyment.**
t*
It’s toasted
No ThroatMiritation^No Cough,
glimpse
had. caught
of several of
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