Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1924-04-04, Page 7• y • "' • . , 1.4 gt.4 e fi s agersk s:,‘ar 6 t. •' po' 4a. themI- 400g4! of the' -Cenni DIS 0,11'1- ' x'• cold& gat„: 4L teL litrierxi, 'att. • 4004°,' t4).;°14er'. cf. the Ace 'Pri, 4st eih,sils;501snaf. 04 Y°41Yll • T1 A a.• ....yheys; .u..v..141..Z.414a4tuteatr,a,.. 41: g 6 g : t 4,0 b ;c1, u094-,ccom ,,, P4*.40,4,aoinb q4 114: jitpdit' ko'‘,6010',-. anCy leke V" ran„ at herP11'let 4hc ill laniik,S94, An 1,4a:gnsii, ; , ,• IA I. tbeY pal ' tiepck stint a1wai Ms' i* to -night, 1 g - 4t:ixiti-' 'Va ,the -leng int,.'-' ii...040:44R, kY 1.'1400. lii ihMiSant4Or his:e7 tJi • 4 had tirse: ta, grab-, thetn'im'," lieferq -i. kill' him. 'Vail ' said h : 'the apps hat illnit last itthi'oX:Pc1'1,Nye:'thooi:41:,6:.om:ltiiirwIrehcitaw:c:ostaiplia,:dnyivnhnaign'aietecikssesbgyh:oaerraeine:±:: 640:Std leavS thern, . 4 it Ntqw, .,11,11,I' festoeity. ' hat -'appalleiriner. "I: could dure! When.. I' think of to -night—, that brute darling to touch her with his swine's month -4—I---" HiS face was convulsed; but after a moinent's fierce struggle‘ the dis- ciplined spirit conquered. . "NO; there's been enough trouble for Iter without -that, so they're safe from me, the both a them. I would not do anything to imperil her happis ness to save .my, own life: .She was born to be hal:TT—and she's going to have her chance.. III see to that, Mary Virginia!" . : - The mensapemed 'to grow; to ' Pand, to. tower giant-like before me. Nett to the white heat. of this lava- floy. of Isere feeling, all other -loves lavished upon Mary Virginia during - her fortunate life seemed dwarfed and ,petty. 'Beside it 'Inglesby's furious desire shrunk into a loathsome thing, small and crawling; and nay own af- fection Was on ik an old priest's; and even the strong and faithful love of Laurence appeared pale and boyish in the light of this Majestic passion which gave all and in return asked only the right to serve and to save. 'et me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine artn; for love is strong:as death. .• . • "Many waters cannot quench love; neither can the floods' drown it: if a, man would give all the' substance of his house for love, it -would' utterly be Condemned.'S : , Trying desperatety• to cling to such rags aridstatters •of common sense as I could lay hold upon: "There is. your duty to Yourself, I managed to ay. "Yes, yes, one weft a great 'duty - to oneself and 'one's work, JAL Yeuare risking too much —name, - friend, honor, work; free- dotn. 'For God's sake, • John, do not underestimate the ,danger. You- have not had time to consider it." ' • "Ho! Listen to the parson preach- ing self-interest!" he mocked. "He's a fine one to do that—at this hour of his life!" "I tell you. you endanger every- thing," -I insisted. I might bringthat package, but at least he shouldn't rush, upon the knife unwiftneci. • "I know that—I'm no fool. And I tell you it's worth while. To -night makes me and my, whole life worth while, the good and the bad of it to- gether. Risks ? 'I'll take all that's coming. You stay here and say some prayers for me, parson, if it makes you feel any better. As tor me, .I'm off." At that 1 lost my every last shred of commonplace everyday sanity, and let mYself swing without further re- serve into the wild current of the night. , "Oft, very well!" said 1 shrilly. "You will take chances, you will run risks, hein? My friend, you do not stir out of this house this night with- out me!" He stared, as well he might, but 1 folded my arms and star- ed back. Let him leave me, bent on such an errand ? I to sit at home idly, awaiting the issue, whatever it might be? . "I mean it, John Flint. I am go- ingswith you. Was it itqt 1, then, who saved those toots and had them ready to your hand:? Whatever happens to you now happens to me as well. It is quite useless for you to argue, to scowl, to grind the teeth, to swear like that. And it will be dangerous to try te trick me: -1 am. going!" For he' was protesting, violently and profanely. •His profanity was so sin- cere, so earnest, so heartfelt, that it mounted intb heights of real eloqu- ence. Also, he did everything but knock me down and lock me indoors. "Whatever happens to you happens to me," 1 repeated doggedly, and I was not to lid moved. I had a hazy notion that somehow thy being with him might protect him in case of any untoward happening, and minirnite his risks. 1 ran into his bedroom and clapped his best hat on my head, leaving my, biretta on his bed; and I put on his new dark overcoat over my cassock, Both the ,borecivred garments were too hig•for me, the hat coming down over my earsthe coat -Sleeves over my hands. f bqing as thin as a peeled willow -viand, and the clothes hanging upon me as on a clothes -rack, I dare say' I cat a sad and ludicrous figure enough': Flint, standing Watching no with his burglarious bundle under his arm, gave, an irrepressible chuckle and his eyes crinkled. "Parson," said he' solemnly, "I've seen all sorts and site's and colors and conditions of crooks, up and duktrn he line, in my time and generation; but take it from me you're a libel and an outrage on the ,Whole prefese Anti. Why, you crazy he,!.afigel, yhted break their hearts junt to' look �t youl" And he grinned. At a room-, ents like that, he grinned, with e aort Of, gay • and light-hearted. diablerie. er :tare . baffling and inexplieabla It t the Trish. I suppose God loves 4'e t a „Ideals° Ile doesn't iltallit: '„, 1St to taki fn."' '44 4 •,. .,',,,, ,'' -•"'' ' ' ',ott r ,a/Ca t 4 a ta. 4 • • y„; yk •ya,P4 4 r -4 • g 4 " sae' 4. ' 4 / 44 46' a :4 4 444 r ltW , 11 4 4. 44 6 , Mee' 2:041r4„: ..itit.thWagi4g*"..acitAainiht,Isind 114-44' vii4ct• Nvixio :.•gfue§,v 4.1 Aas `ruffAIP; .L*P' ,;-.111M- • 1441:1044'. OfteP 1414 „ • rti,* anni .ne"4 Pt4ft; n,sPOet t -n1 n,, "and 'net- aMity a happy 't ad leatlierreove „.4 ad,,vet, 'OillerfOtk:*0* the Plitt,gig* Wail• ,P4*A4IA1 4e44' ta,litiptinefer.Sula" aad 4nighttind ed mrhig ng a life.„-slecl afap; bat 'of,Ont, Owen paey. ,Atmed:up*r- pertrait .oft/..vglesby"kmself, *Jr* 10 "think *ee et,leaa':fopiddithl then The artst' had 4rAis sitter atsran ha,;fre b.eent thehlack roaarY uPenWhieh my hand jutice-one Might 6011 the result' -r couldn't ah.4,tightlY, A±Mand 'Rane tribution; and osiS,'•kuidered Ingles7 f91 -her t arid tentlinan walked forth by lealized hoW'vrimensely revealing hidden thein with Slippy McGee in those hours it. wits.. " Re turned When deep sleep falls upon the spirit fuL inf mad with sort of :brutal There ;ht. dit, solid ,succegs- ;1444 'of man, for to akl and. encourage and eoifsm, at nOr gives quarter. In abet and assist and connive at, noth- despite of a *leen-rent deterntinatioa Mg more nor less than burglary. to look pleasant his smile was so muCh more of e eat than a proznise that one could *lab for his own sake he had scoWled .instead. is a throaty man, is Inglesby; and this, with an uncomPromming squareness', of forehead, a staffneSs of hair, and,a hard hint of 'White in the eyes, but him a loweriag likenes-, to an, un-' pedigreed bull. John Flint cast upon this charming likeness' one • brie and pregnant glance. 'Regular old 'Durham shorthotn, isn't he?" he coininented in a low voice. ,"Wants \to charge right out of his frame and trample. Take a look. at that nose, parson -like a cluble- barrele& shotgun, for all the world! Beautiful brutIngleslay. Makes you think of that rainotaur sideshow they used to put over on the Greelcs." In view of Laurence -and of Mary Virginia, I saw th, rsemblance. Mr. Hunter's office was less -formal than Mr. Inglesby's, and furnished with an exact and Critical taste alien to Appleboro, where many a worthy citizen's office trappings consist Of an alpaca coat, a chair and a pine table, three or four fly-secked calendars and shabby leers, and a box of saw dust: To these may sometimes. be added a pot of paste with a dead cockroach in it, or a hound dogs either sCratching fleas br snapping at flies. Hers the square .of carpet was brown asfallen pine -needles in Octo- br, the walls were a soft tan, the ceiling and .woodworic iory-toned. One saw between thewindows a book case filled with handsomely bound books, and on top of It a few pieces of such old china as woeld enrapture my mother. The White marble man- tel held one or two aigned photographs in silver frames, a pair of old gandle- sticks of quaint and pleasing design, and it dull pottery vase full of Jap- ense quince. There were a few good pictures on the walls—a, gay impu- dent Detaille Lancer voliose hardy fees; of a figbting Frencinitisri warm- ed one's heart; • tome sketches signed with „notable American mines; and above the mantel a female form cloth- ed only in the ambient air, her long hair swept back from her shoulders, and a pearl -colored dove alighting up- on her outstretched finger. I suppose one might call -iite whole room beautiful, for even the desk was of that perfection of simplicity whose nest is as rubies. It was not, how- ever, a womanish room; there was no slightest hint of femininity in its un- cluttered, sane, forceful orderliness. It was rather like Hunter himself— polished, perfect, with a note of fin- ality and of fitness upon it like a hall mark. Nothing out of keeping, noth- ing overdone. Even the red petal fallen' from the pottery vase. on the white marble mantel was a last note of perfection. • Flint glanced about him with the falcon-glnce that nothing escapes. For a moment the light stayed upon the nude figure over the Mantel—the one real nude in all A pplaboro, which cherishes family portraitS of rake- helly old colonials in vvis, •chokers, and tight -fitting small, and: lolloping ladies with very low necks and six- teen petticoat, but where scandalized church -goers, have been known to truss up a little plaster copy of the inane Greek Slave in a podket-hand- kerchief, by way of needful drapery. _ "What I want to know Is, why a lady should have to strip to the buff jtist to play with a pigeon?" breathed John Fint, and' his tune was captious. It did not strike nu, as being to the last degree *hirrt.sica I. improbable, al- together absurd, that such a man should pause at such a time to com- irnant upon art as he thinks it isn't. On the contrary it was a consistent and coherent feature of that astounding nightmare in which we figured. The absurd and the impossible • always happen' in dreams. I am sure that if the dove on the wenian's finger had opened its painted bill and Spoken, say about the binomial theerem, or the Effect of Too Much culture upon Wo- trien's Clubs, I should have listened with equal gravity and the same abysmal absence of surprise. I pat- tered , platitudinously: "The greatest of the toreeks con- sidered the body divine hi •Ittaelf, niy son and so their noblest art was nude. Some moderns hare Us -Ought there is 110 real art that is tot nude. Truth itself is naked."• . "Aha!" said my son, :darkly. "I see! You take off yonr •pants when you go out to feed your chlalens, say, end you're not bughouse. You're art. Well, if Truth is naked, thank God • Ma tha;;Ittall for the:skyline, ThAY dealt need. anythiag 'Mit :Tab- salas elbow ;swat be a snug berth„,: I' Wish I- had some juice, thotighSt • • "Juice?' J\ "Nitreglyserine," very gently, as to - a Child. "It does notmake very much . noise'and it saves time When you're in a htuT•---as you generally are, in this business," he smiled at me quizzical- ly.-"ot, that One cant get along 'without it.f' The swift fingers paus- ' ed for a fraction of a second to give a steel drill. an affectionate• pat. "I used to know one of the best ever; who never fused anything bue a Particular drill, a pet it, and his ear. Come - body shitehed though, so the last I heard of hire waa doing a twenty- year streth: Pity;„ too., lie was an artist in lie,' that , And bis taste inneckties 1 have neveriseen equaled." The Buitterfly Man's. voice, s evenly Pitched , and pleasantly modu- •' lated, a cultivated voice, was quite casual. He gabhered his tools :togethr an replaced them in the old worn case. "Wonder if. that safe is a sidebolt?" he mused. ."Mot likely., .1 dare say it's only the average combiaation:, A one-armed yegg could open most of the boxes ins, this town with a tin button -hook. Anyhow, it would have to be a new -laid logic I couldn't open. • If he's left the letters in the safe We are alright ---o here's hoping he has. I certainly don't want to go to his room unless I have to. Hunter's not the sort to sit'on his hands, and I'M not feeling what you'd call real ami- able." A glance -at hie face with- glintingstievil-lightd shining at ,bac , in his.eyea; 'set me to hablistgs "Oh, no, u�44 no, ne, that -would never do! God forbid that you should go tO his romoe He must have left them. in tile safe! had to leave them in, the, safei" "Sr die's left them, in the safe. Slipping' into his gray overcoat, he pulled on his felt hat, thrust his hands into his wellworn dogskin gloves, and picked up the package. Nobody in the Work/IS-Vet' looked- less like -a criminal than this brdwn-faced, keen - eyed Man with his pleasant bearing. Why, this was John Flin, the kindly bug -hunter all Appleboto loved, "that good and kind and Christian man, oar brother John Flint, sometinies known as the Butterfly Man:" "Now, don't you worry any at all, parson," he was saying.' "There's nothing to be afraid of take care of nsyself, and I'll get those let - =Less if theyre in existence. I've got to get them. What else was I born for, I'd like to know?" • The question caaght me like a lash across the face. "You were born," I said violently, "to viin an name, to do a work of inestimable value. And you are deliberately and quixotically risk- ing it, and I allow you to risk •it, be- cause a girl's happiness hangs in, the balaace! If ytitfare detected 'it means your own ruin, for you , could never explain away those tools. Yes! You are facing possible ruin and disgrace. You might have to give up your work for years—haVe you considered that? Oh, Jdhn Flint, stop a moment, and reflet! There is nothing in this for you, ran; nothing. but danger. No, there's nOthing in it for you, ex- ' eept,---" • "It He held up his band, with a gesture of dignity and reproach. "—except that I get my big chance to step in and save the girl I happen to love from persecution and wretch- edness, if net worse," said he simply. "If I can do that, what the devil does It matter what happens to me? You talk about name and career! Man, Man, what could anything- be worth to me if had to know she w -as un- happy?" . The titles of emotion rushed over Ihini and flooded his face into a shin- ing-yed passion nakedly unashamed nd beautiful. And I had thought laim casual, careleitly accepting , a Sisk! 'Parson,'he wondered, "didn't you know? No,. 1 suppose it wouldn't occur VI anybody that a man of nty wit should love a girl of hers. But 1 do., think I did the first time I O'er Itiid 'eyes on her, and she a girl - kid id a red jacket, "with curls about her sitoulderS and a face like a little new rse, in the morning. Rem ember her bYea, pireon, how blueithey were? And** she looked at me, so friend - Mind you, as I was! And shellatadea me at Catocala moth, and Ars gave me Xerry. 'You're such a go- Man, . says she, and - • '44 ; •,„ Pita"- IA 1 11131Prik gt1 nares,:e, 514 44 • CHAPTER XIX. • THE FO IT OF SLIPPY McGEE The wind that preeedes the dawn was blowing a freakish aral impish wind though not a vicious one. One might imagine it animated by those sportive and capricious • nature -spirits an old Father of the church used to call the monkeys of God. Every now and then .a great deluge of piled up clouds broke into tossing billows :and went rolling and tumbling across the face of the sy, and in and out of: theseeswirling masses the high moon played hide-and-seek and the stars showed like ,pin -points. .Such street lights as we have being extinguished at midniht, the tree-shadedside- : elks •were in impenetrable shadow; the gardens that edged theist were de- batable gound, fill of grotesque Sil houettes, backgsounded by black bulks of silent houses all profoundly asleep. As for us, we also were shadow -s, whose feet were soundless on the sandy sidewalks. We moved in the dark like travellers in the City of. Dreadful Night. And so we came at :last to the red- brick bank, Approaching it by the long stretelh of the li/cCall garden which adjoins it. For years there have been battered "For Sale" signs tacked onto its trees and fences, but no one ever -came nearer purchasing the McCall property than asking the price. Folks ,say that MeCalls be- lieve that AnPleboro -is going to rival -New York some qf these days and. are holding their garden for sky; scraper sites. • ' I was vety •grateful to the McCall estimate of ' Appleboro's fsiture, fdr the long stretch shadowed by their overgrown shrubbery brdught us to the dotsii leading to the-upstair flees, withOut any possibledanger of detection. - • • The bank had been a Stately old. home before business seized upon it, tore out ibs whole lower floors, and convertedit into a strong and com- modious bank. •It is the one building in all 'Appletboro that keeps a light burning all night, a/proceeding some citizens regard as unnecessary and ex- travagank: for is not Old Man Jack- son there employed, as night watch- man? Old Man Jackson lost a finger arid a piece of an ear before Appom- attox, and the surrender deprived him. of all opportunity to repay in kind. It was his eltfrished hope that "sotne smartybus creoks'd tiy to git in my bank some uh these nights—an' / certainly hope to God they'll be Yan- kees, that's all." Somehow, they -hadn't tried. Per- hapsthey had heard of Old Man Jack- ses watchful waiting and knew he wasn't at all too proud to fight. His Oarless was a small room in the rear of the building, Which he shared with a huge gray tomcat named Mos- by. With those two on guard, Ap- pleboro knew its bank was an im- pregnable as Gibraltar. But as: rib - body could possibly gain entrance to the vaults from above, the upp'er par -- tion of the building, 'given over to office, was of course quite unguard- ed. One reached these upper offices • by a: long walled passageway to the left, where the sidewall of the bank ad- joins the McCall garden. The door leading to this stairway is not flush with the street, but ie set back some feet; this forms a sm:all alcove, which the light fliekering through the bank's barred windows does not quite reach. John Flint stepped into this smell cavern and 1 after him. As if by ma- gic the loeked -door opened, and we moved noiseleasly up the narrow stairs With tin signs tacked on them. At the head of the flight we paused while the flashlight gave us our bearings., Here a short passage opens into the wide central hall. Inglesby's offices are to the lft, with the windows op- ening upon the tangled wilderness of the McCall place. Right in front of us half a dozen Sets of false teeth, arranged ins a horrid circle around a cigar -box full of extracted molars such as made one cringe, grinned bi-ttingly out of a glass case before the dentist's office door. The effect was of a Unless and ghastly lauh. Before the next door a fatuously smiling pink -and -white boat simper- ed out of the Beauty Parlees.display. case a bust elaborately -coiffured with potinds of 'yello, hair In- Which glittered rhinestone buckes. ' Blair of every sort and shade and letigth was clustered about her,as if she were the presiding genius- of semi) barbarian scalping -cult; Seen .at that ,• hour, hi the pale luster albs -flash- OWT4 OF SEAVORTRE light, this sorry plunder of lostteeth and dead hair made ttion, One a mel.- helhan ty. It had scant me to raor. %alb% ,conl be i'ee Sr she isoinerre anchoIT impresson, ialOititaktiat Tl4DERS WANT tn ifil .alize on hair' ami teth oWevar,, tar Sm. of +a 14ov/1s of See qtb 43 1, Idondar. !lea.i,bitaa plat ot *hie pre'vo I4.:dottcyoa`, Iv op any eit itttG, T46: yigr had raiit VaS gtOPPing aim die gtiott4i.oia.1;4"ettstt43:, fruit „ t 404* 1;40 , • 444 41" • ‚4 a at ' x- sttooriljt milfti:4U:1!:108riciri-.1.,44 , , pfgefOnert*oitc000'.ta 0 14 • :4- 1:44 • . • • • • - •”, • nies 4`.4. ifvntt a lWer—tO, thn left, he, ordered; and with, stedy' Aage obeyed'. Be stood Atit ehnrPlY clear ovl—te "cleveet =crook ln an America" at work again, absorbed in his task, expert, a mind-orce pittbag itself against inanimate opposition. neThweastosomils ilianyg.heside him and quiet by instinct his band reached out for anything it needed. I think he could have done his work blindfolded. ()nee saw him lay his ear against the door, and thbught 1 heard a faint dick. A gnawing rat might have made something like the noise of the drill luting its way. With this ex- ception an appalling silence hung ov- er the room. I could hardly breathe in it. I gripped the rosary and told it, bead after bead. "Pray for us sinners now and at the,hour of our death—" There are momenta when time loses its power and ceases to be; before our hour we seeni to have stepped out ef it and into eternity, in which time does not exist, and wherein there can be no relation of time between'events- They stand still, or they stretch to indefinite and incredible lengths—all, _ _ • 44 • •`•••"rr s stes .4.4aaar, • ,4 ea: ,,, Your Grover or ft 0401 pachage NT. Very. =a...entatt- t1411f tiOn484en el24 ..„ les eternitlds passed between mutos The baShiShreater knows s,ontet of this terror of tip* and 1:See ' to, have! eaten haattish„that nig ,. eohld Still see hint en:Malang •14.; fere the lfe; and the while the, eternities- stretched and stretched op either side of us, inaaities' ennld only partly bridge over with Iffaii- marys% add Ourfathers. • , ' "And lead us net into temptation . . but deliver ua froth evil' . Although I watched him attentive ly,. being indeed unable to tear- m eyes away from him, and although held the light for him, with such a steady hand, really do not know' what he did, nor how hs forced that safe, ,I underatoed it took him a frac tion over fourteen minutes. "Here she Comes!" he breathed, and the heavy door was open, revealing the usual interior, with ledgers and a fairsized steel inoneyevault, which al- so came open a moment later. Flint glanced over the eontent.s, and singled out from other papers two, paceges of letters held together by stout elas- tic bands, and with pencil notations 44 get se: wt. aak, aa0 • t 44:44 •••• 42. 56. SJ 14 ;•11a." 44 -4 • evei" said g htmi, parson, it the habit or 'PaytIng-:" hUiches P114s4 it',ag" 4.'" 41:` how. Theyre inaixemeaMt4a, and It'd ito know thrust the packae:into the"F4 his arm- along witlf • The light wag earerallY flasbeck, er every inch of the, space traversed, to nlahe slfre slightest 1;aee ef our .presextee; lef. As .we walked tlirtih1ngega,::: by's office John Fiintironicafly ed the life..like potrait. We ntinued next 44 444 This charm you can keep Youthful radiance of complexion! Millions women have learned this simple way The fresh softness, the radiance of youthful slain need not be lost as the years accumulate. Clever women guard this charm—keep. it F. -today. . This simple method does that for millions of women. Now you may use it—and keep that schoc4- girl cotnplexion. You need only do this Cleanse the skin regularly, au- thorities say, to keep your corn-• prezion lovely, radiant, youthful. • Volume mid efficiency • produce 25c quality for 10C But beware of harsh cleansing methods. They injure skin. Wash thoroughly with Palmolve Soap—each might be- fore retiring. Rub the creamy, foamy lasher well into the tiny pores. Rinse—and repeat the washing. Then same again. Then—if skin is dry—apply a little nom cream. Thetis all. Skin so cared it,: is not injured by cos- metcs, by wind and sun, or bydirt. The simpk, correct umy You cannot find a more effec- „,';,A's five beauty treatment. Because Palmolive Soap is blended of rare palm and olive oils—farhous for mild but thofrough cleansing qualitiessince the days of Cleo- patra. And it is inexpensive. Be sure you get Palmolive — which is never sold unwrapped. All dealers have it,, For just, one week try this simple 'method and watch results. You will be aston- ished, delighted! Use Palmolive for the bath. too. Thousands do — it is so economical TH,E PALMOLIVE COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED ' Winnipeg Toronto Montreal MADS TN CANADA , Palm and olive oils -nothing the -give nature's green color to Palmolive Soap. 2403 ' 1 .• • A t:, 44 E have been appointed Exclusie Distributors in this distfict for , e 124 Season for the famous a i en will carry • 17” COM P-rv S les lege seek Let us book your order now for delivery in April or May. We will guarantee our present prices for Spring delivery if you place your rder once. Ames Holden Tires need no recommendation from us, All you need do is to "CitiMPA tit Safort,14's Leading Tiro Shoi.j., 44 THE tGIE 'Pi Gas—Aceigtoitas— t r 'A. • • 44 44 444 a.„ 44 • ^ - • - ^ ^ - • • . • 1 • „ 4444444444 ' • . .5 :24- ".4