The Wingham Times, 1913-08-21, Page 7The Siege
of the
Seven Suitors
By
MEREDITH NiCHOLSON
Copyright. 1910. by Meredith Nichoisom
through fire Thole buituess. But to
save the feelings of the rest of them,
who went to England till it was all
over. be changed his name. There's no
mention of him in the war records any-
where. I've had experts working on
it, but they, can't find any trace of him.
He was greatly embittered by the es-
traugeweut from bis people, and though
he had a form in this very neighbor-
hood somewhere—I've thought some
time I'd look It up and try to get hold
of !t—he never mentioned his military
experiences even to his own children.
Usually ?1iss Hollister changes front if
you give her time. I've heard her say
that we'd have been better off if we'd
•never broken with England, but she
persists in prodding that weak place
in my armor."
"From what you say Cecilia pas not
repelled you. On the other hand, she
bas frankly given yon to understand
that you [oust not press your suit at
this time for reasons she sees fit to
withhold. A little more patience, a
little calm deliberation and less vio-
lent language, and in due course the
girl is yours. Now, what do you fan-
,ey is the cause of Cecilia's abrupt
change of uttitude?"
He refused to meet my eyes, but
• turned away as though to couceal an
embarrassment whose cause I could
not surmise. When he spoke it was in
.a voice husky with emotion.
".1st I a cad? Sm 1 beneath the
contempt of decent people?"
"It's possible, Wiggy, that yon are.
•Go on with it."
"\Veil, yon know," he began ditl-
•deutly, "Ceeilla has n sister."
I grinned. but bis scowl brought me
to myself again.
"Yes. And her name is Hezeldah.
The name pleases rue."
"She was with Miss Octavio in her
gallop over Europe, so 1 saw a good
deal of her necessarily. She is young-
er than Cecilia. She's a good deal of
a kid—that sort that never grows up,
you. know."
r/at "Just like her Aunt Octavia."
"Bah! Don't mention that woman.
Hezekiah is a very pretty girl, and L
suppose—well, when you are thrown
with a girl that way, seeing her con•
stantly"—
I clapped my hand on his knee as
the light began to dawn upon me.
"You old rascal! Yon don't need to
add a single word. I dare say you are
guilty. I can see it in your eye. After
waiting till you reached years of dis-
cretion before beginning an attack
upon womankind you began mowing
Chem down in platoons. So they come
running now that you've got a start..
Oh, Wiggyl And I believed you lin-
mune! And you're trying to drive 'em
tandem.
"That, you shameless wretch, would
be a sufficient reason for Miss Octavia's
aloofness—your double faced dealing
With her nieces. You confirm my im-
pression. that she is a wise woman.
And •Cecilia, I take it, may be deeply
embarrassed by her sister's infatuation
:for you. You certainly have made a
tangle of things, you heart wrecker,
you conscienceless deceiver! But where,
may I ask, does this Hezekiah keep
herself?"
"Oh, she's with her father. They
have a bungalow over the bills there;
[leveret miles from Hopefield Manor."
"Well, .l hope you are no.longer toy-
ding with her affections. Of course you
adon't see her any more?"
"Well," he mumbled, "I did see her
this morning. But I couldn't help its
It was the merest chance. I uiet her
In the road when I was out talking a
walk. She's always turning up. She's
the most unaccountable young person..'",
Varicose Veins
and Itching Piles
Usually Arise From Same Cause—
Helier on,ri ('alae Effected by Dr.
Chase's Piot-sent,
'Nearly everyho.:y knows of Dr,
Chase's Ointment as the most effective
treatment f,e• riles or hemorrhoids
that medl'a' •.•1en•'e hen 1 een able to
compound. : o ;ouch see -In^,• • nd
misery ,arises fr•:m thi• a"rrent that
one it not 1.. i, 01E., • h:s friends
when he has re -n(1 ii', rr•tna1 tone.
This account- 'f - the (•'• rrt ors sales
of Dr. Chase.: .',imine t.
This letter t•' ; cf r 1°• f from the
Bufferin- a f ' n: ' ••ems"..r t y the use
of Dr. Cha:sr". a'intm'--t. \tune suffer
from this trent le not knowing the
comfort, to be obtained by the use Of
this ~rent seething ointment.
Mrs. It. .1, Evans, 1S2 Munro street,
Toronto, writes: "We have used Dr.
Chase's OI,atment for years. I have
been troubled with varicose veins, and
Rind it the •only thing that gives re-
lief. For every purpose when a
:soothing, healing ointment is needed
there is nothing so good as Dr.
Chase's •Ointment,' 60 cents a box,
all dealers, or Edmanson, Batel
& Co., Limited', Toronto,
F (x1411 A h1 11 N N'S, A IGUNT 21 l;.
ems. '11
•
HEZEIC1AH
13e rose anis fung lip his at ms de.
spairingly. It was much easier to laugh
at Wiggins than to be angry at him,
but I delivered the message which Ce=
cilia hod intrusted to me, and this, I
thought, might give him some comfort.
-She told you to see ate?"
"She certainly did. i confess that
my message doesn't seem luminous,
but I have a feeling that she meant to
be kind. It may be that she is giv-
ing you time to disentangle yourself
from the delectable 1lezeltiah's meshes,
1 enn't chug late. I merely convey in=
formation. Hut answer honestly if you
run, has Crehlia ever refused you?"
"No." he replied grimly; "she's never
given Inc the chance!"
CHAPTER VII. _ "
1 Meet Hezekiah.
IGGINS asked me to lunch-
eon, and on the way back to
the inn, after inquiring my
plans for returning to town,
he proposed that I delay my departure
until the following day. What he
wanted, and he put it bluntly, was a
friend at court, and as I had seeming-
ly satisfied him of my entire good faith
and of my devotion to his interests he
begged that I prolong my stay In Miss
Hollister's house, giving as my excuse
the condition of the chimneys of Hope -
field. Manor. He brushed aside my
plea. of other engagements and appeal-
ed to our old friendship. He was tak-
ing
ak
ing his troubles bard, and I felt that
be Jeally needed counsel and support
In the involved state of bis affairs. I
did not see how my continued pres-
ence under Miss Hollister's roof could
materially assist him, and the thought
of remaining there when there was no
work to be done was repugnant to my
sense of professional honor, but he was
so persistent that I finally yielded.
While we ate luncheon I sought by
every means to divert his thoughts to
other channels. After we were seated
in the dining room four other men fol-
lowed, exercising considerable care in
placing themselves as far from one an-
other as possible. A few momenta. lat-
er a motor bummed into the driveway,
and we heard its owner ordering his
chauffeur to return to town and hold
himself subject to telephone call. This
latest arrival appeared shortly in the
dining room and, surveying the rest of
us with a disdainful air, sought a ta-
ble in the remotest corner of the room.
Others appeared, until eight in .all had
entered. The presence of these men at
this hour, their air of aloofness and
the care they exercised in isolating
themselves interested me. They ap-
peared to be gentlemen. They were,
Indeed, suggestive of the ampler met-
ropolitan world, and one of them was
unmistakably a foreigner.
While Wiggins appeared to Ignore
them, 1 was conscious that he reviewed
the successive arrivals with every
manifestation of contempt One of
these glum gentlemen seemed familiar.
I could not at once recall him, but
something in his manner teased my
memory for a moment before 1 placed
him.. Then it dawned upon me that
he was the third man I had met in
the field overhanging the garden niter
my eavesdropping experience the day
before. 1 thought it as well, however,
not to mention this tact. or to speak of
the loan I had seen so grimly posted 1n
the midst or the corntield, 1 was an
observer, a looker on, :at liopelield, and
my Immediate business was the col-
lecting of information.
"Will you kindly tell tire, Wiggy. who
these strange gentlemen are and ,lust
what has brought them here of this
hour?"
"1 know them—!they Are guests of tate
Inn. Most of them trete more or less
companions in our procession arrow
Europe last summer. The one 111 the
tarn stilt is ilendersou—yon must halve
heard of him. '1 lie short dock chap of
atrahilions PonuteIuIIO is John Stew-
art flick, who pretends to be a philoso
per. As for the others" -
11e dismissed theta with a jerk of the
head. My wits struggled with his ex•
planation. It is my, wish to reduce in
formation to plaint terms.
"Are these gentlemen, then, your rt•
vats for the hand of Miss Cecilia Hol-
lister? It so, they are a solemn haunt
of suitors, 1 must confess."
"You have hit it, Ames. They are
Suitors, assembled from all parts of the
World."
"Nice looking fellows, except the
chap with the monocle, who has just
ordered rather more liquor than a gen-
ileman should at this hour.."
"That is Lord Arrowood. I have
feared at times that Miss Octavia fa-
vored him."
"Possibly, but not likely. But how
long is this thing going to last? If
you fellows are going to hang on here
until Miss -Cecilia Hollister has chosen
one of you for her husband I shud-
der for your nerves. I imagine that
any one of these gentlemen is likely to
begin shooting across Ws plate at any
minute. Such a situation would be-
come intolerable very quickly if I were
in the game and forced to lodge here."
"I hope," replied Wiggins with beat,
"that you don't imagine these fellows
can crowd me out. I've paid for a
month's lodging in advance, and if you
will stand by me I'm going to win."
"Spokep like a man, my dear Wig-
gins! You may count on me to the
sweet or bitter end, even if I pull down
all the superb chimneys with which
pepperton adorned that house up yon-
der,"
He silently clasped my hand. A lit-
tle later I telephoned from the inn to
my office explaining my absence and
instructing my assistant to visit sev-
ere; pressing clients, and I instructed
the valet at the Hare and Tortoise to
send me a week's supply of linen and
an odd suit or two.
At about 3 o'clock I left Wiggins in
first rate spirits and set out on my re-
turn to Hopefield Manor.
I made a wrong turn on leaving the
Prescott Arms, and I came out pres-
ently near Eatonah village. I got my
bearings of a shopkeeper and started
again for Hopefield Manor, but the
midafternoon was warm, and the hills
Were steep, and as Miss Hollister's ad-
mirable cob showed signs of weariness,
I drove into a fence corner and loosen•
ed the mare's check. On a sunny slope
several hundred yards above the high-
way lay an orchard, advertised to the
larcenous eye by the ruddiest of red
apples. Not in many years bad I rob-
bed an orchard, and I felt irresistibly
drawn toward the gnarled trees, which
were still, in their old age, abundantly
fruitful.
I drew down a bough and plucked
my first apple, tasted and found it
good. At my palate's first responsive
titillation something whizzed past my
car, and, following the flight of the
missile, I saw an apple of goodly size
fall and roll away into the grass. I
had imagined myself utterly alone,
and even now as I looked guiltily
around no one was in sight The ap•
ple had passed my ear swiftly and at
an angle quite un -Newtonian. It had
been fairly aimed at my head, and the
law of gravitation did not account for
it. As I continued my scrutiny of the
landscape I was addressed by a voice
whose accents were not objurgatory.
Rather, the tone was good natured
and indulgent if not indeed a trifle
patronizing. The words were these;
Soup of the evening, beautiful soup!
It was then that, lifting my eyes, I
beheld, sitting lengthwise of the wall,
with her feet drawn comfortably un-
der her, a girl in a white sweater,
bareheaded, munching an apple. There
was no question of identity. It was
the girl whose head behind the cash-
ier's grill of the Asolando had inter-
ested me on the occasion of my sec-
ond visit to the tea room. In soliciting
my attention by reciting a line of
verse she had merely followed the
rule of the tea room in like circum-
stances. The casting of the apple at
my bead possessed the virtue of nov-
elty. While I tried to think of some-
thing to say I pecked at my own ap-
ple, but kept an eye on her. She con-
cluded her repast calmly and flung
away the core.
"I mentioned soup," she remarked.
"The courses are mixed. We have
partaken of fruit Are you fish, flesh,
fowl or good red herring?"
"Daughter of Eve, I will be any-
thing you like. I'm obliged for the ap-
ple, and I apologize for having enter-
ed Eden uninvited."
"It's not my Eden. Nobody invited
me.
Butit's sno
not too much to say that
these apples are grand."
" I'm glad we're both in the same
boat I'm a trespasser myself. I don't
even know the name of the owner.
But if you have had only one apple
two more are coming to you if you fol-
low Atalaota's precedent"
"I don't follow precedents, and I've
forgotten the name of the boy who
threw the apples in the race. It
doesn't matter, though. Nothing mat-
ters very much."
Her bands clasped her knees. Her
skirt was short, and I was conscioug
that she wore tan shoes. She con-
tinued to regard me with lazy curi-
osity. She seemed younger than at
the Asolando. Not more than eight-
een times had apples reddened on the
bough in her lifetime. She was even
slenderer and more youthful in her
sweater than in the snowy vegtments
Of the Asolando. Her hair, which in
the glow of the lamp at Asolando cash
desk had been golden, was today bur -
ebbed copper and was brushed straight
back from her forehead and tied with
a black ribbon.
"I quite agree with your philosophy.
Nothing Is of great importance."
"So it's not your orchard?' she asked.
"The thought flatters me. I own no
lands nor ships at sea. I'm a chim-
ney doctor, and if necessary I'll apolo-
gize for it"
"You needn't submit testimonials. I
take the swallows out of my own
chimneys."
"That requires a deft band, and I'm
sure' you're 2onsiderate of the swel-
lows."
"You may come tip here and sit on
the wall if you care to. Y saw you
driving in a trap. 1 hope your hbl'he
isn't afraid of motors. Motors speed
scandalously on that road."
"I am not in the least vrorried about
my horse. It's borrowed. As you re -
Marked, this is a nice orchard. T like
t here,"
TE WORDS
Lawyer Received S10,000
For "Stop! Look! Listen!"
By .HOLLAND.
W(.1111 IS are wonderful
things A ('hirago pub.
Usher riisplfys In bis win-
dow, the legend. "Words are
the euiy things that live for-
ever."
A to wyer was once asked by
the president of a railroad to
suggest n sign that could be
posted at railroad crossings—
something that would pre-
vent accidents and would also
be effective in defending
damage sults when accidents
occurred.
He suggested the three
words, "Stop! Look! Listen!"
He received a fee of $10,000,
and his suggestion was worth
it because those words, post-
ed at grade crossings, pre-
vented many accidents.
Do you believe in signs?
And do you obey them when
you see them? Do you stop,
look and listen? You ought
to, because by watching these
warnings as they appear in
our advertising columns you
can
AVOID BEING
SWINDLED BY
SUBSTITUTES.
Every advertisement Is a
warning sign. It suggests
that you stop, look and listen
before proceeding. In other
words, investigate and there-
by avoid the shoddy, the im-
pure, the worthless.
"If you are going to be silly you will
find me little inclined to nonsense."
"Shall we talk of the Asolando? I
haven't been back since I saw you
. there, and yet—let me see, isn't this
your clay there?"
She seemed greatly amnsed, and
her laughter rose with a fountain-
like spontaneity and fell, a splash of
musical sound, on the mellow air of
the orchard. She had changed her po-
sition as I joined her, sitting erect and
kicking her heels lazily against the
wall.
"Mr. Chimney Man, something terri-
ble happened just after you left that
I afternoon. l was bounced, fired—I lost
toy job."
"Incredible! I'm sure it was not for
any good cause. I can testify that you
were a model of attention—you were
surpassingly discreet. You repelled me
in the most delicate manner wben I
Intimated that I should come often on
the days that you made the change."
"The sad part of it was that that
was not only my last day, but my first!
I had never been there before, except
for a nibble now and then wben I was
in town. But I couldn't stand it. It
was like being in jail—in fact, I think
jail would be preferable. But I'm glad
I spent that one day there. They dis-
pensed with my company because i re-
marked to one of the silly girls who
are making the Asolando their lifework
that I thought the English pre-Ra-
phaelites bad carried the dish face
rather too far. The girl to whom i ut-
tered this heresy was so shocked she
dropped a teacup—you know bow brit-
tle everything is in there—and I came
home. You were really the only ad-
venture I got out of my day there.
And I didn't find you entirely satisfa-
tory."
"Thank you, Francesca, for these
confidences. And having lost your po-
sition you are now free to roam the
hills and dream onrch. .11
o 'tri walls.
Your scheme of life is to my liking. I
can see with half an eye that you were
born for the omen and that the_ wvalle.
LITTLE BOY
WAS SO StCii
Did Not Think He
Could Leve.
CHOLERA iNFANTUM WAS
THE CAUSE'.
This trouble is the most dangerous of
all the summer complaints of children.
It begins with a profuse diarrltcea, the
stomach becomes irritated, and the child
is soon reduced to great languor and
prostration.
Cholera Infantum can be speedily
cured by the use of DR. FOWLER's EX-
TRACT OC WILD STRAWBERRY.
MRS. JOHN PooTE, Hantsport, N.S.,
.vritcs: "I can recomnicnd DR. FOWLER'S
?:.?-TRACT or WILD STRAWBERRY for
Cholera Infantum. My little boy was
:o sick, I did not think lie could live, as
he was out of his mind, and did not know
my one. I gave him "Da. FowLi;R's,"
ted the first dose helped him, and one
oottle cured !aim. I reconnnended it to
z friend whose children were sick, and it
cured them too."
DR. 1 owLi3R's ExTRACT or• WILD
ai'RAwnrgnv is a remedy that has been
m the market for over sixty-five years
.nd has been used in thousands of fain -
lies during these years, so you are not
nakiug any experiment when you buy
t, but be sure and get "DR. FOWLER's"
vhen you ask for it, as there are many
ntitations of this to mous remedy on the
narket.
The price is 35c., and it is manufactured
only by the T. Milburn Co., Limited,
Toronto, Out.
of no prison house cru ever !IC -ad -TT
again."
She nodded a dreamy acquiesence.
Then she turned two very brown eye
full upon ate and demanded;
"What is your name, please?"
I mentioned it,
"And you doctor chimneys? Tha
sounds very amusing,"
"I'm glad you like It. Most people
think it absurd."
"What are you doing here? There'
not a chinmey in sight."
"Oh. 1 have a commission in th
neighborhood, Iiopetiekl. Manor. Yo
may have heard of Miss Hollister'
pia. e.
"Of course, every one knows of her.'
"Aid note that I think of it, it wa
site shout whole you asked in the Aso
laugh, that afternoon. You wanted t
know what ,he said about the tea
i•UOII1.
'•1 ren"vnber perfectly."
She was 1111111 101' a moment, then
she threw back her head and laughed
that rare laugh of hers. "You might
let the into the joke."
"It wouldn't mean anything to you.
I have at lot of private jokes that are
for my own consumptiuu."
"Your way of laughing is adorable.
I hope to hear more of it. In the Aso-
lando you repulsed ine in a manner
that won my admiration, but I venture
to say now that, 11 you roam these
pastures, ! am the grass beneath your
feet, and if yonder tuneful water be
sacred to you I sit beside the brook to
learn its song."
"You talk well, sir, but from your
tone I fear you can't forget that we
met first in the Asolando. That clay
of my life is past, and I ant by no
means what you might call an Asolan•
ded. I don't seem to impress you with
that fact. I'm a'hunaaul being, not to
be picked like as red apple. or trampled
upon like grass, or listened to as though
i were a foolish little brook. I'm great-
ly given to the highway, and 1 prefer
; macadam. 1 like asphalt pavements,
too. for the matter of that. 1 should
! love a motor, but Welting the coin I
pedal a bicycle. My wheel lies down
there in the bushes, You see. Air.
Chimney Man, 1 am a plain spoken
person and have no intention of deceiv-
ing you. My name was Francesca for
one day only. It may interest you to
know that my real name Is Hezelliah."
"Hezekiab! Then you are Cecilla's
sister and Miss Hollister's niece?"
::AAnd you live"—
"Over there somewhere beyond that
ridge." And she waved her hand
vaguely toward the village and laugh-
ed again,
"Pray tell me what this particular
joke Sa. It matt. be t:u.arensr•ly fun-
ny," I nrgeal, strugg1't,g with these new
facts.
"Ob, it's Aunt Octavia 1 She will be
the death of me yet. You know the
girl who waited on Aunt Wavle that
afternoon took all that artistic non-
sense as seriously as a funeral, and she
told me after you left, with the great-
est horror, that Aunt Octavia had
asked for a cocktail." That laugh rip-
pled off again to carry joy along the
planet trails above us. "But you
know," she resumed, '"that Aunt Oc-
tavia never drank a cocktail in her life
and wouldn't She doesn't know a'
cocktail from soothing sirup. She pines
for adventures. Site is just like a
boarding school girl who has read her
first romance of the young American
engineer in a South American repub-
lic shooting the insurgents full of
tortillas and marrying the president's
dark eyed daughter. She reads pirate
books and is crazy about buried chests
and pieces of eight. And they say I'm
just like her. She is the most perfect-
ly killing person in the world." Heze-
kiab laughed again.
a`
t
s
e
u
s
s
0
CHAPTER VIII.
Nine Silk Hats Cross a Stile.
0 this was the child whose devo-
tion had rendered Wiggins so
u thesister miserable and st f
o s
whom Cecilia Hollister and her
aunt bad spoken so strangely. I had
not suspected it She was as unlike
Cecilia as possible, and the difference
lay in her independent spirit and bub-
bling humor.
She jumped down from the wall, shook
three apples from a tree and sustained
them in the air with the deftness and
certainty of practiced jugglery. Her
absorption was complete, and when
she wearied of this sport she hung the
apples away, one after the other, with
a boy's free swing of the arm. Mer-
rick would have delighted in her, Dob-
son would have spun her bright hair
into a roudeau, but only Aldrich, with
a twinkle in his eye, could have brought
her up to date in a dozen chiming coup-
lets.
She had gone on up to the crest of
the orchard and stood clearly limned
against the sky, her hands thrust into
the pockets of her sweater. She ap-
peared to be intent upon something
that lay beyond and half turned her
head and summoned me by whistling.
1 liked this better than the quotation
method of address. It was a clear,
shrill pipe, that whistle, and she em-
phasized it further by a peremptory
ware of her arm, When 1 stood beside
her 1 was surprised to 8nd that the site
commanded a wide area, including the
unmistakable roofs and chimneys of
Hopefield Manor, half a mile distant.
"You will see something funny down
there in a minute. They are out of
sight how, but there's a stile, the kind
with steps, just beyond those trees.
It's in a path that leads from the
Prescott Arms to .Aunt Octavia's.
Look!" —
Children Cry
FOR FLETCHER'S
CASTORIA
7
Children Cry for Fletcher's
Tho ]find You Have Always Bought, and which has bees
in use for over 30 years, has borne the signature of
aemr-- and has been made under his perm
conal supervision since its infancy.
Allow no ono to deceive you in this.
All Counterfeits, Imitations and "Just -as -good " aro but
Experiments that trifle with and endanger the health of
Infants and Children—Experience against Experinnent.
What is CASTORIA
Castoria is a harmless substitute for Castor 011, Pare.,
goric, Drops and. Soothing Syrups. It is pleasant. It
contains neither Opium, Morphine nor other Narcotics
substance. Its age is its guarantee. It destroys Worms
and allays Feverishness. For more than thirty years it
has been in constant use for the relief of Constipation,
Flatulency, Wind Colic, all Teething Troubles and,
Diarrhoea. It regulates the Stomach and Bowelss
assimilates tate Food, giving healthy and natural sleep.
Tho Children's Panacea—The Mother's Friend.
GENUINE CASTO R iA ALWAYS
Bears the Signature of
1
Tlie Kind You Have Always Bou
J
In Use For Over 30 Years
'THE CENTAUR COMPANY, 77 MURRAY STREET, NEW YORK CITY,
My eyes discovered the stile. It was
set in :a wall that was, she told me, the
buundnry dividing 1.1opetield Manor
from another estate neater our posi-
tion
Suddenly a silk hat bobbed in the
oath beyond the stile. It rose as its
owner mounted the steps, it paused an
Instant when the top of the stile was
reached, thea gtnekly descended and
carte toward us, a bia(1: blot above
a black coat. 1 was about to ask her
the meaning of this apparition when a
second sill: stat bobbed in the path and
then rose like its predecessor, descend-
ing and keeping on its way until hid-
den frotu our sight by shrubbery. A
third, fourth. fifth, sixth, seventh,
eighth and ninth followed. Niue gen-
tlemen In silk bats crossing a stile in
a lonely pasture between woodlands;
so much was plain to the eye from our
vantage ground. But 1 groped blindly
for au explanation of this spectacle.
The bobbing hats and dark coats sug-
gested
uegested wanderers from some dark Phi -
trillion cave, bent upon mischief to the
tipper world. Their step was jaunty—
they moved as though drilled to the
same cadence.
We waited a moment, expecting that
another figure might join the strange
procession, but nine was the correct
count. 1 looked down to find fleze-
klah checking them off on the fingers
of her slim brown band.
"Has there been a funeral, and are
they the returning pall bearers?" I in-
quired,
"Not yet," she replied.
Her face showed amusement The
twitching of her lips encouraged hope
that another of those delightful laughs
was imminent. She said:
"Those are Cecilia's suitors. They
have been to Aunt Octavia's to tea.
They're staying at the Prescott Arms
probably."
"They're terribly formal. I can't get
rid of the impression of somberness
created by those fellows. You'd hard-
ly expect them to tramp cross country
in those duds. Such grandeur should
go on wheels."
"Oh, they are afraid of Aunt Octa-
via. She won't allow a motor on her
grounds, and I suppose they're afraid
they might break some other rule if
they went on any kind of wheels.
She's rather exacting, you know, my
Aunt Octavia."
"I was at the Prescott for luncheon
today, and I must have seen these
gentlemen there."
"Ob, you were at the Prescott?"
Almost for the first time her manner
betrayed surprise, but mischief danced
in the brown eyes. With Wiggins'
confession as to the havoc he had
played with Hezeklab's confiding heart
fresh in my memory, I felt a delicacy
about telling her that it was to see
Wiggins that I had visited the inn.
But to my surprise she introduced the
subject of Wiggins immediately and
with laughter struggling for one of
those fountain -like splashes that were
so beguiling.
"Oh, Wiggy is staying there! Do
you know Wiggy?"
"Know Wiggy, Hezekiah? I know
no man better."
"Wiggy Is no end of fun, isn't he?
I've heard him speak of you. Yon are
his friend the chimney man. He was
the last mau over the stile. Did you
notice that ho lingered a moment long-
er at the top than the others? From
bis being the ninth man I imagine that
he was the last to leave the house, and
he probably felt that this set him apart
from the others. Wiggy is nothing if
not shy and retiring."
A heartbroken, lovelorn girl did not
speak here. She whistled softly to
herself as we descended. The alt was
cooling rapidly, and the west was hung
In scarlet and purple and gold. The
horse neigfied in the road below; and I
knewythat I must be on my Way to the
1
Nine Gentlemen in Silk Hats Crossing
a Stile,
Manor.
"Hezekiah," I said when 1 bad
drawn her bicycle from its biding
place, 'you'd better leave your wheel
here and let me drive yon home. It's
late, and there's frost in the air, I im-
ngine it's some distance to your
house."
"Thank you, Mr. Chimney Man; It is
much farther to Aunt Octavia's. But
Il mei
to th s.W t ha do you
think of
Wiggy's chances?"
"Of winning your sister? I should
say from my knowledge of Wiggins
that he is a man ninth given to stay -
Ing lu a game once the cards are shuf-
fled."
"Then you think he knows the
game?"
There seemed to be something be-
neath the surface meaning of her
words, but 1 answered:
"Wiggy's affairs have been few, and,
while he may not know the game in
ill its intricacies, he bas a shrewd if
-other slow mind. and, besides, he hag
risked lay help 111 the matter."
"Ono of these; speak for•yourself-
1,70 BE CONTINUEP.]
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