Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Advocate, 1913-4-24, Page 6nc of the Garrison; Or, 'A Mysterious Affair 'Wk'14mpa t o1%'tlob ,ivvosi►"4,46iw l iroi► i!i1F'eAr 6ivi4 inks' 4 CHAPTER IV.- (Continued). Miss Heattherstono waved her hand to me with a bright ;snane; rind. tripped off up the avenue, while her brother unbolted the gate, and, !arising through, closed it again, loeking it ii.pcn the outside. "I'll have a stroll down the road with you, if;yroti have no objection, Have a manilla.'" He drew e cou- ple of cheroots from his pocket and handed one to ane, "You'll 'find they are not bad," he said. "I be- came a connoisseur in tobacco when I was in India, Are you lie? I hope I am not interfering with your business in coming along with you." "Not at .all,," I answered.- "I am very glad to have your com- pany." "I'll tell yolk a secret," said lies^ companion, "This is. the first time that I have been outside the grounds since we have been. down here." "And your sister!" "She has never heen out either," he answered. "I have given the governor the slip to -day, but he wouldn't ". half like it ifhe knew. It's a whim of his that we should keep ourselves entirely to our- selves. At least some people would call it a whim; for nay own part I have reason to believe that he has • solid grounds for all that he does— though perhaps in this matter he may be a little too exacting," "You must surely find it very lonely," :said L "Couldn't you manage to slip down. at tames and have a smoke with me? That house over yonder is Branksoane." "Indeed, you are very kind," he answered, with sparkling eyes. "I should dearly like to run over now and again. With the exception of Israel Stakes, our old coachman and -gardener, I have not a soul that 1 can speak to." "And your sister, she must feel it even more," said I, thinking in my heart that my new acquaintance made rather tea much of his own troubles and too little of those of his .companion. "Yes; poor Gabriel feels it, no doubt," he answered earelessly "but it's a more unnatural thing for a young man of n'iy age to be cooped up in this way than for a woman. Look at die now. I am human intervention. It is none the three -and -twenty next lifstech, and yet I have never been to a univer- sity, nor to a school for that.' mat- ter. I am as, complete an ignora- muses any of these clodhoppers. It seems ;strange to you, no 'doubt! and yet ..it is co. Now, don't you think I deserve a better fate " He stopped as he spoke, and faced round to me, throwing his palms forward in appeal. As I looked at him, with the sun shining upon his face, he certainly did seem a strange bird to be coop- ed up in such a cage. Tall and mus- cular, with .a keen dark face, and sharp, finely cut features, he might have stepped out of the canvas of Murillo or Velasquez. There was latent energy and power in his farm - set mouth. his square eyebrows, and the whole pose of his elaatio well -knit figure. "There is the learning to be got from books and the learning to be got from experience," said L sen- tentiously. "If you have less of your share of the one, perhaps you have more of the other. I cannot believe that you have spent all your life in. mere idleness and pleasure.". "Pleasure !" he cried. "Plea- sure 1 Look at this." He pulled off his hat, and I saw that his black hair was all flecked and dashed with streaks of gray. "Do you imagine that this came from pleasure!" he asked, with a bitter laugh. "You must have had 'some great shack," I said, astonished at the sight; "some terrible illness in your youth. Or perhaps it .arises.from a more chronic cause --a constant gnawing anxiety. I have known men as young as you whose hair was as gray." "Poo•r devils!" he muttered, "I pity them." "If you can manage to slip down to Branksome at times," said I, "perhaps you could bring . Miss Ifeatherstone with,: you. I know filet my father and my sister' would be delighted to eeee• her, and a change, if only for an hour er two, might doher good;'." "It would be rather hard for us both to get away together," he an- swered, "However, if I see a clianoe I shall bring her down. It night be managed sone afternoon, ;perhaps; for the old pian indulges in,. -a siesta occasionally." We: had reached the head of the winding lane which branches off from the highroad and leads up to the laird's house, so my ooanpanion pulled up. t'I must go back," he said, "or they will miss nae. It's very kind of you, West, to take this interest in us. I'm very gratefulto you., and so will Gabriel be when she hears of your kind invitation. It's a real heaping of coals of Are after that infernal placard of nay fa- ther's." He shook my hand and set off down the road, buthe cavae run- ning after inc presently, calling me to stop, "I was just thinking," he said, thae you must consider us a great mystery up there a•t C'loom- ber, I dare say you have come to look upon it as a private lunatic asylum, and I can't blame you. If youare interested in the matter, I feel it is unfriendly upon any part not to satisfy your curiosity, but I have promised my father to be sil- ent about it. And indeed if I were to tell you all that I know you might not be very ni.uch the wiser after all. I would have you under- stand this, however,—that my fa- ther is es sane ae you or 1, and that, he has very good reasonsfor living the; life which he does. 1 may add that his wish to remain secluded does not arise from any unworthy or dishonorable motives, but merely from the instinct of self-preserva- tion." "He is in danger, then 1" I ejacu- lated, "Yes; he is in constant danger." "But why does he not apply to the magistrates for protection?" I asked. "If he is afraid of any one, he has only to name him and they will bind harm,- over to keep the peace." "My dear West," said young Heatherstone, "the danger with which my father is threatened is one that cannot be averted by any ‘44- 4t2 krikAiriae 11'6 the cteitent$Ts srmeeese,. n,,a me .'eosin DYS, one .enn tniy,,wt'hy'rou don't even have to knowwlint.ItaNb of !;loth your Conde ere nada Ntfitiixros aro Ttnpoenibaet ..: Send for Frio Color Card, Siory iaooklet, end tdonTslet t;Evi,in reoul to of "nYainq OFer Other e'alorlr. rho ro;<i>.rson.rttrr#Aosc H oo., x.lmtted, Nfontieel. Croatia, less very real, and possibly' very imminent." "You don't mean to assert that it is supernatural," I said, incred- ulously: "Well. hardly that, either," he answered with hesitation. "But, there," he continued, "1 have said rather more than I should, but I know that you will not abuse my confidence. Goodeby," He took to his heels and was soon out'of my sight round a curve inthe country road. A danger which was real a`!id im- minent, not to be averted by hu- man means and yet hardly super- natural—here wars a conundrum, in. - deed! I had come to look upon the inhabitants of the Hall, as mere ec- centrics, but after what young Mor daunt Heatherstone had just told me,. I could no longer doubt that. some dark and sinister meaning underlay all their actions. The more I pondered over the problem, the more unanswerable did it ap- pear, and ; yet I could not get the matter out of my thoughts. The lonely. isolated ` hall, and the strange, impending catasteephe which hung over its inmates, ap- pealed forcibly to my imagination. All that evening, and late intothe night, I sat moodily by the fire, pondering over all that I had heard, and revolving in my mind the vari- ous incidents which might furnish me with some clue to the mystery. CHAPTER V. I trust that my readers will not set tine down as an inquisitive busy- body when I -,say that as the days and weeks went'by I found my at- tention. and any thoughts more and more attracted to General Heather stone and the mystery which sur- rounded him. It Was in vain that Z' endeavored by hard week and a strict attention to the laird's . af- fairs to direct, my mind into eo1700 more healthy chrtnnel. Do what I would, on land er en. the water, 'I would still find myself pea, ling over this one question, until it obtained such a hold upon me that I felt that it was useless for me to attempt to apply mays.elf to anything until I had carne to some satisfactory solu- Mon of it. I could never pass the dark line of five-foot fencing and the great iron. gate, with. its mases sive lock, without pausing and racking -my brain as to what the secret' might be which was shut irf F. by that inscrutable barrier. Yet with all ,my conjectures and all my ob.ervations I :could never Dome to any conclusion which could for a moment be accepted as an expla- nation of the facts, My sister :bad been out for a stroll one night, visiting a sick ,peasant or performing ,some other of the mi- merous acts of obesity by which she "SALOP A MOH, IFI1AURl lin TEA OeyloreS Choicest Leaf and Buda; the Pinest the World Produce%t, SEALED PACKETS ONLY. 062 Black, Breen and l lrixed., had made herself beloved by, th whole countryside. "John," sh said when she returned, "have yo•i not observed Member Hall a night?" "No," I answered, laying dew Oorltbltti.ng Crop 1, ests. Conditions surrounding the agri- culturist to -day are very different from those of a generation ago. They are more complex, As a rule, the fanner or horticulturist must be a better posted roan in lois par- ticular line than formerly. To be this he must confine his attention to a few crops and know them thor, oughly, and, as a rule, he should cultivate thoroughly smaller • areas rather than large areas badly. Worn. soils in comparison with the virgin soils of pioneer days, resulting from. unwise farming, is one of the fac- e tors necessitating ;more intensive. e methods required to -day. Intimate knowledge of any crop to -day in- s eludes a degree of familiarity with the inore important insect enemies e and fungous diseases to which such the book which I was reading "Not since that memorable evenin when the general and Mr. McNeil caerie over to make their inspec- "Wel1, John, will you put you hat on and come a, little walk with me 1" I could see by her panne that something had agitated or frightened her, "Why, bless the bird.!" cried 1, boisterously, "what is the matter The old. Hall has not 'gone on fixe, surely? You look a,s grave as if. al1 Wigtown were in a, blaze." "Not quite so bad as that," she said, smiling. "But do coarse out, Jack. I. should very much- like you to see it." ' I had always refrained from say- ing anything which might alarm my sister, so that she knew -"nothing of the interest which our neighbor's doings had for me. At he request I took my hat andfollowed her out into the darkness. She led the way along a little footpath over the moor, which brought us to some ris- ing ground, from which we could look down upon the Hall without our view being obstructed by any of the fir -trees which had been planted round it. "Look at that," said 112.13r sister, pausing at the sum- mit of this little eminence. Cloomber lay beneath us in a, blaze of light. In the lower floors the ,shutters obscured, the illumina- tion, but above, from the broad windows of the second story to the thin Slits .at the suinmit of the tow- er, there was not a chink or an aperture which did not send forth a, stream of radianoe. So dazzling was the effect that for a, moment I was tpersuaded that the house was on fixe, but the steadiness and clearness of the light soon freed me from: that apprehension. It was clearly the result of many lamps placed 'systematically all over the. building. It added to . the strange aeffect that all these brilliantly illu- minated rooms were atpparently un- tenanted, and some of them, as far as we could judge. were not even furnished. Through the whole great house there was no sign of move- ment or of 'life — nothing but-. the clear, unwinking flood of yellow light. I was still lost inwonder at the eight when I heard a •short, quick sob at my side. What is it, Esther, dear 1" I asked, looking down .at my compan- ion. "I ' feel so frightened. Oh, John, John, take inc home; I feel so frigh- tened 1" She clung to my arm, ,and pulled .at any coat in a perfect frenzy of fear. "It's allsafe, darling," I said, soothingly. "There is nothing'. to fear. What has upset you so 1" "I am afraid of them, John; I am of. the Heatherstones. Why is their house lit up like this every night? I have heard from others thatit is always so, And why does the old man run like a frightened hare. if anyone comes upon him. There is something wrong about it, John, ;and it frightens me." pa I 'cified, her as well as I could,, and led her home with me, where I took care that,that,she 'should have some hot port negus before going to bed. (To be continued). • crops are liable; with the means of cheaply combattir.1 them, writes Ernest Walker, A, greet degreaseQ f the numbers. and, depredations of inseci.pests and plant diseases is incidental to the g r disturbing influences of advancing • civilization and to the extension of areas devoted `to special props. In sects abandon their wild food plants and develop a fondness for related g introduced species in. cultivation. The species- which previously was considered harmless may thus be- come a great pest. Under pioneer conditions abundance was easily produced and commonly the market value of ordinary farm products low. Insect damages, unless very extensive indeed, awakened in early, days comparatively little concern— 11 The family remedy for Coughs and' Colds. Shiloh costs so little and does so much!" A SA`J E A.NSWIM . "Can you lick Kelly?" "Does he belave in arbitration 1" "He does.,, "I kin.,, plenty _anyhow, ` The grower ex- pected it, and so long as he expect- ed it, that even under the .ohanged conditions of to -day he frequently continues to expect it as an inevit- able and unavoidable part of ,his labor. But as far as many pests are concerned there is No Need of Expecting It. That a large part of the damage done by insects and fungi .can be prevented at a comparatively small cost has been .settled, and in most sections of the country intelligent growers consider warfare" on crop pests as much a part of production as tillage or the preparation of the Iand for crops. The term spraying in its restrict- ed sense means the application of poisonous or fungicidal liquids or powders to plants in the form of a mist .or'cloud-like spray kr the pur- pose of preventing attack by injuri- ous organisms ,or to destroy those already present.. In a broader sense, however, the term may well be understood to include various other phases of warfare upon crop pests, such as destroying sources of infec- tion, crop remnants and other breeding places; maintenance of the vigor of crops by thorough cul - Oration ; ul-tivation; the use of manures and good care, generally, since, as it is well known, thrifty plants not only suffer less when attacked, but are less liable to diseases and insect pests than those weakened by neg- lect. Wild plants frequently har- bor the fungi. or insects which trou- ble the crops being cultivated.` The good grower seeks out and destroys such as exist in dangerous promi- mity to • his crops. Rotation of crops is a means of starving out certain pests and is of great value 1 Absorption into lasts systems of poisonous lsaoteria or (ler* STALLIONS DNAQ In the steel they often become so, devitalized thatthey w be given a long rest from such service. This is d'two to fk both contagious ,and sexual, in se'vnxs mares of all degrees °i l>real'th and Disease. There aro many of 1theee werme ver}} injurious tet tlae stwllion, To eounteraot. the growth of tieili'. 'ti, 1 germs in his syetem,'and keep liixn in sorxnal oandition'r ,tawtt le but one Germicide in rno ared form known and fit far int ternal S o h' to a use n d s I.I t I !atom ar l.pp Curesafe, i p tt ti is s simple a Pb p tt ours. Xt sets on the whole glandular sysleraz, i,�airulatos the vital forme, leaven the blood rich and reel. It will enable any stallion to go through a long stud iouoon; Mooning him vigorous and the not least danger %roan .any forte of distemper. Gilt pini a, dose of Spohn s every other day on his tongue or with bis bran or Oats.; A11, Druggists, SPOHN MsptcAL, CO.,' Chemists and BacterlotogIsts, !Goshen, Ind., U. S. A. BOO YOURt TOWN BY osaAt'UZiwo BRASS BAND Information on this Subject with printed instructions for ama- teur bands and a printed form of Constitution and By -Laws for bands, together with our big catalogue, will be mailed FREE ou request, Address Dept, nb." MANITOBA E LIMITED NTARIOWIINNIPEGITHWILLIAMSD., TORONTO in the case of short-lived crops, Or- chards beingp Perennial, however, offer special opportunity for the increase and destructiveness of in- sect pests and plant diseases unless careful attention " is given to the several means of holding them in check. Spraying alone, when pro- ferly done gives good results, but or the Lest success the term should always be associated in the mind of the grower with the several prat- tires above mentioned, Another Genera! Suggestion is the desirablility '`of 'co-operation among the growers of a given .lo- cality in fighting their common ene- mies. The spores of fungi readily fly through the air and insect pests readily fly from place to place as a rule. So while one grower is wag- ing commendable warfare upon erop pests and benefiting the neighbor- hood in various ways as well as in this, his less progressive or care- less neighbor who adheres to the old ideas and refuses to spray may be maintaining a breeding place for the pests, which not only injure hini, but his good neighbor to some extent in spite of his industry. Among those who have not fallen into line on the spray question there is still frequently met with a fear of poisons applied to fruits or other crops. Without going into detail on this matter which bas long since been threshed over and settled, I will only say such fears are ground - i less when the ordinary sprayingjdii realms are followed, both as to' humans eating the fruit or cattle, eating grass •under sprayed trees.) In .the use of vessels containing poisons, and in handling the poi -1 sons themselves, however, great care should be used. These should be kept out of the reach of chip' dren and marked or labeled distinct ly, Vessels in which the arsenites' have been: mixed should be used for no other purpose, The .main thing when the need arises is t.o spray, Know the life] anti habits of the insect' or fungus and apply the remedy. Be in ad vance. Be prompt, persistent, 1 thorough. Some diseases injure the foliage of fruiting plants, and as in' the case of apple scab, by the in-.; jury --clone the, foliage, and perhaps its premature shedding, red ice thes next year's crop, In the case ofi such plants we should spray even{: when there is no fruit on hand to' be ,protected. Tiineliness is half the battle. Those Bills. "Yes, indeed, it's astonishing how many people call to see me when I'm not at home, remarked Mree Trifle "It's always that way on the first' of the month," replied the ` lady from neat door with a very knowing smile. 10 IcT2 Gives a Quick, Brilliant Polish That Lasts 1 No Turpentine Easier to Use Better ;for , the. Shoes Sweet -Cream Wanted WE are now coittraotin for our Summer Sup- ply of Sweet Cream. If you have a good supply of ice, good stables, milkhouse, etc., and 'can ship 24 gallons of 32% cream a week, write us. WE buy on the buttes fat basis and ay on the iOth of each month. - WE can take your total output for 12 months of • the year. City Dairy Co., Limited, Toronto' HETHER for a silo, a milk - house, or a million bushel grain ,,: elevator, concrete is the a dost economical building material in use to- day. Concrete never requires repairs, and the saving in repair -expense alone makes the greater economy of using concrete more apparent every day. The cost of other building materials w constantly increasing. The cost of concrete is being reduced. Canada Cement which Canadian farmers use, with their own sand, stone and gravel to make concrete, is the only ingredient you have to buy. We have, by reason of ourlarge output and scientific methods, been able to bring the price of "Canada" Cement so low that it is within the reach of everyone. ` An increase in demand results in a greater economy of production, and when conditions have warranted it, we have, from time to time, shared this saving with the consumer by reduc•' ing the price of Canada Cement. This demand will, - continue to increase—as fast as farmers learn of con- crete's superiority over other materials. When you buy cement, see that you get ''Canada" f Cement; by so doing you will assure the complete success of all your concrete work. *pend a post card for our book "What the Farmer Can do With Concrete." It is free, `there is a Canada Cement dealer in your neighborhood. Canada Cement Company Limited If this lobelia not on every bag it is not Camilla Cement. Montreal r nee