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(Continued from Last Week.) rhat word of any sort had come from *Uncle Josetih was in a ieasure reassuring. but the air of perturbation and gloom was not noticeably re moved. The general impression might be sunned up in the words of his sister. "Nobody knows what that mnn'll do, when he deeldes to!" Aunt Carrie said nervously. "Letting Lne poor child stay up so latel She ought to be in bed this minute, even if it is Saturday night. Or else she ought to be here to listen to her own bad little cousin trying to put his terrible re sponsibility on her shoulders." 'One item of her description of him self the badgered Herbert couk1 not bear in silence, although he had just declared that since the truth was so ill-respected among his persecutors he would open his mouth no more until the next day. He passed over "bad," but furiously stated his height in feet, inches and fractions of inches. Aunt Fanny shook her head in mourning. "That may be, Herbert," she said gently, "But you must try to realize it can't bring poor young Mr. Dill back to his family." Again Herbert just looked at her. He had no indifference more profound than that upon which her strained conception of the relation between cause and effect seemed to touch; and, from his point of view, to be missing should be the lightest of calamities. It is true that he was concerned with the 'restoration of Noble Dill to the rest of the Dills so far as such an event might affect his own incompara ble n'isfortunes-but not otherwise. He regarded Noble and Noble's disap pearance merely as unfair damage to himself. He continued to look at this sorrowing great-aunt of his, and his thoughts made his strange gaze ap pear to her so hardened that she shook her head and looked away. "Podr young Mr. Dill I" she said. "If someone could only have been And Under That Light Sat Noble Dill. with him, and kept talking to him Un til ho got used to th~e ,idea ,a little I" Cousin Virginia nodlded comprehend. ingly. "Yes, it might have tided him over," she said. "lie wasn't handsome, -nor impressive, of course, nor any. * thing like that, but he always slpoke so nlicep; to people on the street. I'n sure he never harmed even a kittenb poor sour" "I'm sure he never did," Herbert's mother agreed, gently. "Not eyen a kitten. I do wonder where lie is now." ' But Aunt Fanny uttered a little cry .. of protest. "I'm afraid we may hear," she said, "Lany moment I" And the most tragic news of Noble Dill 'these sympathetic women could have heard would have surprised them little; they had unanimously set their expectation in so romantically pessi mistic a groove. But if the truth of his whereabouts could have been made 4nowvn to them, as they sat thus together at what was developing vir tually into his wake, with Herbert as a compulsory participant, they would have turned the session into a riot of amazement, Noble -was - in the very iaet place (they would have said, whien calmer) where anybody in the world codld have madly dreamed of looking for him I They would lieve beesm right about it. No .dne cou1de have expeeted to. dnd Noble 'tonight inside th~ old, four-square brick house of Mr, A. Awater, Senior, chief ef the Atwaters and father of the. dis turbing Julia. This was an old man of rIgiy liiiteA sympfthies; arid his dfpiion ot~Noble Dill had bieconte al mos nntnyinna e rt was na hasm of th's . ra on . t,1921- by Sj BlSmndicateInc refuge for t orn Roble needing sol ace, nor was his house for any moment IosPitaie with Julia out of it. More iver, Mr. H. I. Atwater, Senior, was not ait present I the house; he 'hin closed and locked it yesterday, giving the servants a week's vacation .and telling theim not to return till lie sent 'or them; and had then gone out cof town to look over a hominy mill he thought of buying. And yet, as 'the wake went on, there was a light in the house. and under that light sat Noble Dill. Returning home, after Florence fd piaced the shattering news within his iand. Noble had changed his shoes and his tie. He was but a mnechan Ismn; he had no motive. The shoes he put oi were no better than those he took off; the fresh tie was no loveller triam the one he had wern; nor had it even the lucidity to be n' purple one. as evidence of grief. No; his action was. if so viewed, "crazy," as Aunt Fanny haid called it. Agitation first took this form; that was all. Love and change of dress are closely allied; and in happi.er times when Noble came home from work and wouglf see Julin In the evening ,he usually changed his clothes. No doubt there is some faint tracery here, too indistinct to repay contemplation. . When lhe left the house he walked rapidly down-town, and toward the end of this one-mile journey lie rran ; but as lIe was then approaching the railwny station, no one thought him eccentiric. He was, however; for when he entered the station- he went to a bench and sat looking upward for more than ten minutes; then rose and went to a ticket-window and asked for a time-table. "What road?" the clerk inquired. "All points south," said Noble. He placed the time-table, still fold ed, in his pocket, rested an elbow on the brass apron of the window, and would have given himself up to re flections, though urged to move away. Several people wishing to buy tickets had formed a line behind him and they perceived that Noble had nothing more to say to the clerk. The latter encouraged their pi-otests, and even went so far as to exclaim, "For heaven's sake ! Can't you let thasa folks buy their tickets?" And since Noble still did not movh: "My gosh, haven't you got no feet?" "Feet? Oh, yes," said Noble gently. "I'm going away." And went back to his sent. After a while he sought to study his time-table. Ordinarily, his mind was one of those able to decipher and comprehend railway time-tables; he had fewv gifts, but this was one of them. It failed him; now~'; and lie wanndlered back to the ticket-windowv, anmd, after urgent coaching, eventually took his Place at the endi insteadl or at the head of the line that waited there. In his turn he came again to the win dow, andl departed from it after- a conversation with the clerk whieh left the latter in unconscious accordl with Aunt Fanny Atwater's commiserating adjective, though the clerk's own pity was expr-essed in ar'got. "Th'le poor nut !" he explained to his next client. "Wants to liuy a ticket on a train that don't pull out till ten thirty-flivo tonight ; and me filli' it all out, stampin' it and everything, what for! Turined out all his -pockets and couldn't come nearer'n eight doilliars short o' the price I Where you want to go?" Noble went back to his bench and sat there for a long time, though there was no time long or short for him. Heo was not yet consciously suffer'ing greatly; nor was he thinking at all. True, he hadl a dim, persistent impulse to action-or else why should he be at the station?-but for the clearest expression of his condition it is neces sary to borrow a culinary symbol; he was jelling. The state of shock was slowvly dispersing while a perception of anguish as slowly increased. He was beginning to swallow nothing at Intervals, and the intervals were grow ing shorter. Dusk was misting down, outdoors, when with "dragging steps he came out of the station. He looked 'hazily up and down the street, 'where the corner lamps and shop-windows now were lighted, and, after dreary hesitatiott, he wvent in search of a pawn-shop, and found one. The old man who operated it must 'have been a philanthropist, for Noble waes so fortunate as to secure a loan of nIne dollars upon his watch. Surpriwed At this, he 'returned to the statidhi, and wont back to the same old bench. A Iitte after a!: o'clock a clanging satd coin~motles) in the trajn-shed out. aide,' atteiding thes. arrival of a "theough. express," stird him from his' tgrpor. He walked-hoavily across the r'oovn to the sqme' ticket-window he had .blockced bef6ate, but there was. no queue attached to it now. lie rested his elbow Ont the apron and his chin tipon his hand1ant:,for some noo ienits the clerk itaited unill he silould atie hi wishes, ~3is was a newy ilerk, who had Jus reehlhie~~itieir "Well I Well I" he said at last. "I'll take it now,'' Noble responded, gently. "What'll you take now?" "That ticket I" "What ticket?" "The same one I wanted before," Noble sigbed. The clerk gave him a piercing look, glanced out of the window and saw that there were no other clients, then went to a desk at the further end of his compartment, and took up some clerical work lie had in hand. Noble ionned upon the apron of the window, waiting; arki if he thought anything, he thought the man was serving him. The high, resonant room became clamorous with voices and with the mingling echoes of footsteps on the tiled floor, as pngsengers from the ex press hurried to the street, or more gally straggled through, shouting to friends who came to greet them; and among these moving groups there walked a youthful fine lady noticeably enlivenihg to the dullest eye. She. was preceded by .a brisk porter who car ried two traveling bags of a rich sort, as -well as :a sack of implements for the game of golf; and. she was warm in dark furs. agahist which the vasty cluip -uf violets she wore showed dewy gleamings of blue. At sight of Noble DIl1, more than ehnsive at the ticket-window, she hesi tnted, then stopped and observed him. ilere was a coincidence, in- a mild way, for, as It happened, -he was her self the most observed person in all that place. She was veiled In two veils. but -she had 'been seen In the train without these, and some of her fellow-travelers, though strangers to lier, were walking near her in a hypo critleal way, hoping still not to lose sight of lher,even veiled. And although the shroudings permitted the most meager infornation of her features, what they -did reveal was harmfully piquant; moreover, there was a sweet ness to the figure, a disturbing grace; and nothing -disguises such an air of wearing -that mnany violets as a daily perquisite and matter of course. It was -.fulia's fortune (though her father had other ideas concerning the matter) 'to 'he the possessor of a petr sonality distinotly pleasing to the amasculine -eye, .and, of this the fair Julia was probably aware. In any event she 'was quite conscious of the stir which her passage through ,the throng created. So the .coincidence came about that this observed lady stopped and ob served Noble, who in return observed her not at all, being but semiconscious. "Noble'l" -she said. le stared at her. His elbow sagged away from the window; the whole person of Noble Dill seemed near col. lapse. He shook, and had no voice. "I just 'this minute got off the train," Julia said. "Are you going away somewhere?" BIG F Saturd Come and Whe Get Your Lu *Don't I HOMI "No," he whispered ; then obtained ' command of a huskiness somewhat greater in volume. "I'm just standing here." "I told the porter to get Te a taxi cab," she said. "If you're going home for dinner I'll drop you tat your house."i "I- I'm- 1-" Ills articulation encountered unttsuriountable diflicil ties, but Julia had been with iitp; through nany such trials aforetimne. She said briskly. "I'm awfully hungry and I want to get home. Come on-It you like." lie walked waveringly at her side through Ithe station, and followed her Into the dim Interior of the cab, which became fragrant of violets-an emna nation alt once tinef1able and poisonous. "I'm so glad I happened to run across you," she said, as they began 1 to vibritte tremulously in unison with the ierce ilttle engine that drove the). "I V'e.* co hear all the news. Nobody knows I'm home. I didn't write or telegrnph to a soul: and I'll he a complete sutpriEe to father and every body-i don't know 4ow pleasant a onel You didn't seem so frightfully, glad to see me, Nobl'e I" "Am I?" 1he whispered. "I mean-I mean-I mean: Didn't I?" "Nol" she laughed. "You looked you looked shocked i It couldn't have been because I looked ill or anything, because I'm not; and if I were, you couldn't have told it, through two veils. Possibly I'd better take your expression as a compliment." She paused, then asked hesitatingly, "Shall I?" This was the style the Atwaters held JulIa responsible for; but they were mistaken: she was unable to con trol it. She at once went cheerily on: "l'erhaps not, as you don't answer. I shouldn't be so bold I Do you sup pose anybody'll be glad to see-me?" "I- 1-" Ile seemed to hope that words would come, nll in their own good time. "Noble l" she cried. "Don't be so glum I" And she touched his arm with her inuff, a fluffy contact causing within him a short convulsion, natural ly invisible. "Noble, aren't you going to tell me what's all the news?" "There's-some," he managed to in form her. "Some-some ne'ws." "What is it?" #:Never mind," she said soothingly. "Get your breath; I can wait. I hope nothing's wrong in your family, Noble." "No-oh, no." "It isn't just my turning up un expectedly that's upset you so, of course." she dared to say. "Naturally. I know better than to think such a thing as that." "Oh. JulIa I" he said. "Oh, Julia I" "What Is it, Noble?" "Noth-ing," he murmured, disjoint Ing the word with a gulp. "How odd you happened to be there -at the station," she said; "just when AUCT ' 0: lay, Feb Have a Big ! ther You Exp FREE DRAWII icky Number an lilI Be Given Ai F'orget -the FUR! NEXT TO PC my train camte in You're ire you I weren't going away anywhere?" "No; oh, no." She was thoughtful, then laughed confidentialy. "You're the only per -i son iI town that knows 1,'m home1, Nobk" "I'm gind," he said, humebly. She laughed iga In. "I Cm11eu1 all o! a studden-on anl iImpulse. It's a lit tle idiotic. I'll teJl you ihout it, Noi'i. You see, ten or twelve days ago I wrote the family a more or less indis erect letter. That Is, I told them(il something I wanted thei to be i. erect about, and, of course, when I got. to thinking it over, I Imew the" wouldn't. You see, I wrote them 'onething I wanted thema to keep a secret, but the more I thought about It, the more I saw I'd better hurry back. Yesterday it got into my head that. I'd better hop on the next train for home." She paused, then added, "So I (1d! About ten or twelve days is long jis anybody has a right to expect the At water femily connection to keep the deadliest kind of a secret, Isn't it?" And as he did not respond, she ex plained, modestly, "Of course, it wasn't a very deadly secret; it was really shout sometting of only the least importance." k Thi4 was so frightful an imder statement that the jar of it restored Noble's voice to a startling loudness. "Only the least Importance!" he shouted. "With a man named Cruml" "Whatl" she cried. "Crum i" Noble Insisted. "That's exactly what it said his name was I" "What said his name was?" a '1 Julia, excitedly. "The North End Daily Oriole." "What in heaven's name is that?" "It's the children's paper, Herbert's and Florence's, your own niece and nephew, Julia I You don't mean you deny It, do you, Julia?" She was in great confusion: "Do I deny what?" "That his name is CrumlI" Noble said passionately. "That his name is Crum and that he's a widower ani he'r been divorced and's got nobody knows how many children i" Julia sought to collect herself. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said. "If you mean that I happened to meet a very charming man while I was away, and that his name happened to be Crum, I don't know why I should go to the trouble of denying it. But if Mr. Crum has bad the experiences you say he has, it is certainly news to me I I think someone told me he was only twenty six years old. He looked rather younger." (To be continued.) Usually a Dub. It is very seldom that the man who thinks he knows more than anybody else seems to profit by his informa tion. ION LM F . 18, 2 rime With t ect to Bid oi alG CONTEST d Win a Prize. vay at-the Stor< Time and IITURI ~ST OFFICE ASPIRIN Namc "Bayer" ol Genuine A RA nLsa Beware! Unless you see the namo "Dayor" On package or on tiblets youa are not getting genuine Aspirin pro ribed by physiclans orf twenty-onio years and prov-ed safe by millions. Take Aspirin only as told in the llayer package for Colds, IHeadache, Neural gin, Rheumatism, F'arache, Toothaclie, Lumbago and for Pain. Ilandy tin boxes of twelve Bayer Tablets of As pirin cost few cents. Druggists also sell larger packages. Aspirin is tho trade mark of Bayer Manufacturo of Monoaceticacidester of 8alieylIlaciid. 4+*++4*44* Says Calomel Salivates and Loosens Teeth The Very Next Dose of this Treacherous Drug may Start Trouble You know what calomel is. It's ier cury; quicksilver. Caloiel is dangerous, It crashes into sour bile like dynamite. cramping and sickening you. Caloniel attacks the bones and should never bo put into your system. If you feel bilious, headachy, consti pated and all knocked out, just go to your druggist and get a bottle of Dod son's Liver Tone for a few cents which is a liarmless vegetable substitute for dangerous calomnel. Take a spoonful and if it doesn't start your liver and straighten you up better and quicker than nasty caloinel and without making you sick, you just go back and get your nmoney. I)on't take calonel! It makes you sick the next day; it loses you a day's work. Dodson's Liver Tone straightens you right up and you feel great. No salts necessary. Give it to the children .because it is perfectly harmless and can not salivate. 666 will break a Cold, Fever and Grippe quicker than anything we know, pre* venting pneumonia. iALE P. M he Crowd 'Not Numbers Place Id'