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-r- tv v The Barnwell People-Sentinel, Barnwell. S. Thursday. April 9, 1936 Storm Music rj ■ By Doralord Tales Copyright by Minton. Batch * Co. WXU Sarvlce. CHAPTER IX—Continued "Now, look ,here, old fellow.” said Geoffrey. ‘Tin not g<d.Og to take any sides till 1 know where I am. I want to hear your story from first to last. Don’t leave out any details. This show’s bung full of detail, and details count." I plucked at the grass. “I don’t know that I care to tell you." "Take your time,” said Geoffrey. “Rut \>e don't leave here till you do." "I don't know that I want to leave here." “No more do I," said Geoffrey. “It’s a very attractive spot, and I’m glad of a change." I lay back and stared at the sky. I felt a curious detachment from all that ten hours ago had been my life. Looking back. I seemed to be looking across some unbridgeable depth. I think the truth Is that rhv Interest In Helena Yorlck had suddenly died, and since that had filled my being, for the moment my life was empty as never before. I did not regret the lady —I was neither happy nor sad. I sim ply hud no material upon which my emotions could work. The bitterness I had shown Geoffrey was that of a savage critic—not of an Injured man. 1 was impersonal. So much for the state of mind which my abrupt disillusion had brought about. Helena Yorlck bad deceived me. Nell had looked Into my eyes and fooled me to the top of my bent. The utterly Impossible had happened. The Ideal I bad carved out of marble had crumbled away. There was only one thing to be done --•the game must go on and from now' I would play my own hand. I sat up and looked at my cousin. “I suppose I may as well tell you," I said. “I suppose so," said Geoffrey, yawn ing. “Where shall I start?" “From where I left you at VUlach, Just over a week ago.” A full half hour went by before I bad done. “I’ve got to digest this," he sold. “I shan't be long." While he strolled, I lay flat once more and stared at the sky, and though I would gladly have stopped them, my thoughts ramped back to the antics which I bad lately performed. Helena Yorlck had piped, and I had danced. That was as much as It came to. Hut I had trusted the piper, and the piper had played me false. My cousin was standing before me, regarding Ids watch. “From what you tell me,” be said, “the countryside appears to be lit tered with cars; our Immediate vicin ity, however, seems to have been neg lected. We must, therefore, wait for Harley. He's a job of work to do and he won’t be here for another hour and a half. Still, that’ll give us time to settle two or three points. And be tween you and me. it's as well that you had that sleep, for unless I'm much mistaken, you won't have time for sleep for the next few hours. “With regard to the promise Lady Helena gave to Pharaoh. ... If you hadn’t been overwrought, I like to be lieve that your reason would have told you that from every point of view that promise was no more binding than a bucket of Glauber's salt. For one thing, It was exacted—she promised under duress. For another, let’s quote his own words. “Hecause you have scru ples you are weighted clean out of this race. I am not so embarrassed—I never am." He makes that arresting statement, and then within five min utes he has the blasted effrontery to prove it up to the hilt. No wonder he left the room quickly; he was prob ably worried to death that l)«wdrop would burst out laughing before he could get him outside. If you must have another reason, Pharaoh let you both go because he was stuck. As long as you two sat there, he could not move. More. The Warden’s sus- pljdeus we r e aroused and the house was full of your men; his only chance was to take up the role he asked fer tile role of the Countess’ guest. “So much for the promise to Pha raoh. Now for the Count. He must, of course, he held till Pharaoh Is dead. Harley’s attending to that. Last night, at the Heaping Hook, he very properly held his tongue, but he knew Just ns well as you what a valuable prize you’d made. Like guest, like host, you know. In fact, to be honest, we’d been hoping to make It ourselves. You mustn't think we’ve been Idle. We’ve watched and listened and learned a whale of a lot. And the Count’s removal stood very high on our list. Well, ns I say, Harley’s attending to that. That’s the Job he’s on now—shunting the Count. “And now for-you. I’m not going to , la'bor the point, because you seem so sore, but I suppose you realise that you were—er—evacuated In order to save your life. I mean, you can’t really believe that Pharaoh, If he can help It, la going to let you l!ve. n M I haven’t really thought about It," said I. "He’s certainly tried to kill me and If he gets the chance I imagine hfi’U' try again.” “Don’t Imagine,” said Geoffrey. "Be lieve. Relieve that he’ll go on trying for the rest of his life. Your death- warrant was signed that morning at Annabel, 10 -days ago. As long as you're useful, he’ll use you—be sure of that. He meant to squeeze the Coun tess through you. But when he had got what he wanted, you were to die. "And that brings us to her ladyship. This appears to be delicate ground, so I won’t say much. But. If you please, ask yourself this. Why didn’t she leave with you last night, as she did five nights ago? A possible answer Is that she may have thought ybu'd prove mulish—jib at breaking her promise to the rottenest swine that ever toolc a girl by the throat. But the great ptohablllty is that she wanted to do a deal. She meaAt to see Pharaoh and ask him the price of your life. Thanks to Helena Yorlck’s efforts, you’re still alive, -though why she should bother about you is more than I can conceive. “Now this Is what I propose. As soon as Barley returns we make at once for Plumage and close down Bugle—not Rush.- Rush is ripe for se cession; rats leave a sinking ship. He may have something to tell us. If not, we proceed to the castle—complete with Rush. We use the tunnel and footbridge and Rush can unlock the doors. Then we get hold of the war den and put him wise. From him we can learn—V '«-• And there he stopped dead, with his eyes on the foliage behind me and his pipe halfway to his mouth. As I turned to follow his gaze. Sabre leaped out of the beechwood and over the brook. For a moment the great dog nosed me. moving his tall, and then, before “I Don’t Know That I Want to Leave Here." I could think, he was gone the way he had come. I was Just In time to see Sabre pass over a shoulder and flash out of view. Heavily I made for the spot. Some where beyond his point of disappear ance Helena Yorlck was moving, look ing for me. As first I could not see Sabre. Then I saw him leaving the valley to climb Its opposite side. And then I saw his mistress, standing above in the sun light, with one of her hands to her throat. As I saw her she waved, and I an swered. Then with one consent we began to go down to the valley that lay between. Helena was regarding me straltly. “Is this your greeting, John?" I stood very still. “Yes," I said. "I’m sorry." I pulled out the note she had written and looked her full In the eyes. “I know," she said. *T„did it hecause I Joved you." 1 tore the note to pieces and let them fall. “You’ve done that to my faith," I said. “I see," saiil Helena, slowly. ‘“For whosoever will save his life shall lose It.’’’ I shrugged my shoulders. "I suppose so," I said. “I don’t know. You’re so much more clever than me.' But something inside me’s broken. I can’t pretend.” “I know you can’t, but I can. Every woman can. But I only pretended, John, to save your life." “I know, I know,” I said. “And I’m —much obliged. But I can’t get a$ far as your motive. If I hadn’t been mad about you, you couldn’t have had me on." Helena lifted her head. “And so I’m damned,’’ she said. “I shouldn't think so," I said help lessly. “But It means we speak dif ferent tongue*. Oh, can’t you see what I mean? I thought it was I that In duced the light In your eyes, but now you’ve shown me that yon can switch It on.” “Is it any good my saying I can’t? That when It came It was you that- brought It there?” There was a little silence. At last she lifted her head. "I can still care," she said slowly. “I have the power of being sorry—or glad. And I’m glad this has happened —thankful, and that's the truth. It’s • Jolt in a way, of course; but although we don’t speak the same tongue, I think you’ll get what I mean. It’s very much better that this should have hap pened now than in six months’ time. And now J’m going to speak plainly. Don’t think I’m pleading my catoe. That’a not my way. Nothing on earth would Induce me to mgrry you now. You're the one man on earth I can't .marry—get hold of that. But I want to show you your trouble, because— well, I owe you something and perhapi one day It’ll save you from making thf same mistake. “You’re an Idealist, John. THat’s one of the reasons wpy you appealed to me. I love Idealists. I’m one my self, But Idealists must live—and, what Is still more Important, they’ve got to let live. An Idealist must be human, must keep his feet on the ground. If not, he becomes a nuisance —he carries his Joke too far. You can’t see that Just now; you can’t translate what I say; but I thfhk you’ll be able to one day, and then you'll re member my words. “You ‘can’t get as far as my motive’ -that’s what you said. What you really mean Is that you cannot see toy motive, because you are looking too high; but my motive Is natural and human and belongs to the earth. It’s a pity you ‘can’t get as far,’ for the motive counts. “You see, If I had deceived you— and, of course, I don’t deny that I did, I laid mysejf out to deceive you. I used every art that I knew—well. If I^had deceived you with any shame ful object . . . let’s say to smooth my path to some other man, then your estimate would be true, for by using our Understanding to let’ you down I should have committed a sin which not even an angel from heaven could ever forgive. But we both of us know that what I did I did because I loved you. And when you come down to earth, as I think you will, you’ll-see that that makes a difference. And something more you’ll see, when you lower your eyes. You’ll see what It cost me to do it. I debased our lovely coinage to save your life. “Some people would £all you a foof, but I know better than that. You see, I know you so well. You’re so very simple and downright, and Honesty is your god. That worship and your un bridled Idealism are, as It were, the lenses through which you see. And so what I did looks monstrous. .. . It’s be cause of that that I’m neither angry nor hurt—only thankful. If you had weighed me and had dared to find me wanting. . . .’’ Something was stirring within me. The challenge had stabbed some emo tion that was not dead. “Finish the sentence,” I said. ‘‘That’s Just what I’ve done.” For a moment she regarded me curi ously. Then— “No, you haven’t,” she said. “You think you have, but you haven’t. If- you could speak my language, you’d understand what I mean. But that’s by the way. As I said Just now, I—am— thankful that this has happened. . . . To be honest, I knew It might happen. I saw Its shadow while I was writ ing that note. And I very nearly added: ‘Don’t let him know I’ve done this.’ And then I thought ‘No,’ because that was a coward’s way. I wasn’t pre pared to deceive you to save myself." With a sudden air of pleasure she looked about. “And now where’s your cousin?” she said. “I fancy the game’s nearly over. But I’d like him to hear my news and then we can settle the best way to go In and win.” As once before, the three of us sat on the Jurf, and Helena Yorlck was speaking with my cousin’s eyes on her face. But mine were upon the ground, j “If I had to give my story a title, 1 I should call it ‘How Pharaoh was hoist with his own petard.” But that would not be strictly correct, because, as you’ll hear. It was the Infallible Dew- drop that let him down. "As John has told you, I saw him oi^t of Yorlck Just about twenty past three. Then I went straight to bed, and after a little I managed to get to sleep. At half-past six I was awak ened by the most awful din. Sabre was harking like mad and the fire- alarm of the castle was going all out. Then I heard men running and voices, and I’d hardly got my dressing gown round me before old Florin was speak ing and knocking upon my door. “Well, you’ll never guess what had happened. A watchman had found blood on the terrace—a trail of blood that led him up to John’s room.” She paused there and turned to me. "I’d no Idea that Dewdrop had stabbed you so deep.” I said nothing and at once she re-* sumed her tale. “Tlu» moment I heard the news I saw the Infinite value aL. holding my tongue., I knew whose blood It was and why It was there, but I felt that, left to itself,^hat bjood would cry out with an eloquence which I could never approach. Dewdrop .had stirred np a regular hornets’ nest; It seemed to me more than likely that with a very lit tle direction the hornets would turn their attention to Pharaoh and him. “I told the warden to rouse you and, If he could get no answer, to break down the door. Very wisely, you'd left this unbarred—I shouldn’t have thought of that. Of course, your room was empty, but I went In myself and looked carefully around. You see, I was sure that you must have stanched the wound and I.wanted to see If you’d left any traces of this. But, again, you’d been very careful. And so I was free to give the hornets a tip. “I turned to the warden. “ ‘Where does this trail lead to?* “Poor Florin stared. “ ‘But It leads to this chamber,* he said. “‘Nonsense,’ said I. ‘It leads from here. Some hurt has been done Mr. Spencer and he has been taken away.’ “The truth of the fiction was obvi ous. The hornets saw It at once. Four or five servants rushed off to study the end of the trail. ** ‘Who was aware,’ I demanded, tlflt Mr. Spencer waa to be lodged la this room?’ (TO BE CONTINUED* TALL TALES 8 As Told to: FRANK E. HAGAN and ELMO SCOTT WATSON The Double Tragedy A FEW years group of forty Chicago andj|>^|waukee newspa per men were gulgra^ of the Milwau kee railroad and lujky Wolfe, now a widely known radio sport commenta tor, on a week-end outing In Manl- towlsh, WIs. Among the extraordinary sights of the resort town were live porcupines strolling about a nine-hole golf course played by the scribes and a mother hawk, whose broad back and spread wings were used by three baby hawks as a landing stage, high above ground. A dormant appreciation of Nature having been awakened In the minds of the visiting city folks, they were treated by Wolfe to the prize story of -the vicinity. v A Manltowlsh hunter, according to Rocky, reported that he had shot a fox which had a dead porcupine In its mouth. The fox was already dead when shot, for the spines of the porcupine had killed it. Ht, was learned later, Rocky averred, that the porcupine had been a pet which earned a living by carrying fruit on Its back from Its owner’s orchard to the cider mill. "And I am ashamed to report, gen tlemen,” Wolfe concluded, "that both animals were intoxicated when the double tragedy occurred.” The Colorado Cinder Beetle W HEN the Santa Fe railroad was built Into Colorado, Its coming brought rejoicing to the residents of the rich Arkansas River valley. It meant an outlet for their -crops and prosperity. But that lasted only a little while. Then disaster swept* down upon them. , Every night a large section of the roadbed disappeared. Something was taking away the cinder ballast. Train schedules were disrupted and there were endless delays until the damage could be repaired. In several cases freight trains were wrecked or de railed. Santa Fe officials were frantic, for no one could discover what was car rying away the ballast. Finally a newspaper man, Charley Blakesley of the Kansas City Star, suggested that possibly the Colorado cinder beetle was eating up the ballast and his sur mise proved correct. How to check the ravages of the In sects was the next problem. That was solved when It was discovered that the cinders used for ballast were from soft coal. So hard coal cinders were substituted and the cinder beetles broke their Jaws trying to eat them. For some time. It Is said, passengers on the Santa Fe were kept awake at nights by the cinder beetles scream ing with the pain of their broken Jaws. s>n ihe milro.’ul sneeded UP the sched- ules of their passenger trains. They now went so fast that the passengers heard the moaning of the broken- Jawed cinder beetles merged into a symphony of sound, like the rustle of wind fhrough pine trees, that quickly lulled them to sleep. When a hardier rare of cinder beetles developed with Jaws capable of eating hard coal cinders, the Santa Fe was ready for them. They began using crushed rock and since that tim*i have had no trouble with the little pests. Massachusetts Melons T HE visitor from Georgia motoring through the Berkshires of Massachu setts looked rather scornfully at the crops In the fields along the road. “Why, I don’t see any melons up here,” he said to the farmer leaning on the fence. “Can't you raise them?" "No. we don’t seem to have any luck with melons," replied the Yankee. ‘I tried to raise some a while back- tried It year after year, but I couldn’t ever get a good crop somehow. * The trouble was that the soil was just 'too rich for ’em. “I’d plant my seeds, the vines would start growing, the blossoms would come out, and then they’d set and the melons would begin to form. Then the sun would get hotter and the nights would sprinkle our Berkshire dew on ’em. And that dew, I tell you, acts like magic. It makes things grow so. But I never could get any melons, though.’’ “Is that so?” exclaimed the South erner. "Why couldn’t you?"- "Well, I tell you,” answered the son of the Berkshires. “Those vines Just naturally grew so fast they dragged the melons all over the field. They just plumb wore ’em out before they had a chance to get ripe. So I Just had to give up try in’ to raise melons.” © Western Newspaper Union. Cross Stitch Kitchen Towels That Are Fun to Embroider—or Give Away Pattern 787 Just a bit—but a telling bit—of lecorution is all that’s needed today ‘o make our household linens smart. And so, simple cross stitch brings color and life to humble tea-towels which make dish doing a pleasure rather than a duty. These motifs of glassware and china—in cross stitch —are easy to embroider. This hal dozen makes flue pick-up work, and also a grand prize for a bridge party —or most acceptable for a fair dona tion. Pattern 787 comes to you with a •O' Ambulance Speeds Laundry but Siren Worries Driver The driver of a Baltimore laundry truck, bound downtown recently, was startled to hear a siren whine just behind him. He looked into the rear-vlslon mirror and saw a munici pal ambulance. Sensing an emer gency, he stepped on the ‘‘•gas,’’ and pulled to the side of the street, but the ambulance Isept dodging to the rear. After passing several Intersec tions, he decided to get out of the way completely and turned to the right at the next corner. The ambulance, with its siren go ing full-tilt, followed. A block farther he pulled to the side ami stopped. The ambulance drew up directly behind. “I tried to get you to stop,” a member of the ambulance •Tew said. “This hag of laundry dropped out.” transfer pattern of six motifs aver aging 4^ by Inches; details of all stitches used; and material ac quirements. Send 15 cents In stamps or coin* (coins preferred) -ttfrhe Sewing Cir cle, Needlecraft Dept, 82 Eighth Avenue, New York, N. Y. Specialist Would Commission Whistler to Paint His Door Whistler had a French poodle of which he was extravagantly fond. This poodle was seized with an af fection of the throat and Whistler had the audaclt?* to send for the great throat specialist. Sir Morell Mackenzie. The latter, when Jie dis covered that he had been called-to treat a dog. didn’t like It much. But he said nothing. He prescribed, pock eted a big fee and drove away. The next day Doctor Mackenzie sent post haste for Whistler, who, thinking he was summoned tyi some matter connected with his beloved dog, dropped his work and rushed like the wind to the Mackenzie home. On his arrival Sir Morell said, grave ly : “How do you do, Mr. Whistler. I wanted to eee you about having my front door painted.”—Kansas City Star. 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He was also given odd lengths of rope and all the junk accumulated during a voyage of many months. “Marine store dealer” was the man’s title, and he dealt with ships which sailed the Seven seas. Later there was little for the marine store dealer to do—the big shipping lines managed their own affairs. As his trade with ships went, the dealer started to buy rags, old bot tles and the like from houses In sea port towns. Now be has become the unromantlc rag-and-boue man—though still his official name la nsarlse store dealer.—Pearson's Weekly. ^ » FIRST QUART TEST Just drain and refill your crankcase with Quaker State. Note the mile age. Then see how far you go before yi& have to add a quart. See if it isn’t farther than you have ever gone on a single quart of any other oil. That means real oil economy; but still more important, remember that the oil that stands up best between refills is giving your motor the safest lubrication. 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