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sir3 * ifci'v >'••','.^'C>vi§ '?&$ ' . . . . . » »^. A'; • wfcjkL# . .'•f ft <3 Barr M°Cutcheon cafyxvcffz/*** er ction&ZAJM j*rect/7CMWr • carrAw/z/pa &y POOD,/?£*&&+ CQMfitftfr • ^ S i'. 1 »:-:- 8YNOPSI& CbiQi Wrandall ia found murdend In A roAfl TioWSP near New York. Mrs. Wran- j/daii is summoned from the city and iden­ tifies the body. A young woman who ac- •icompanied Wrandall to the Inn and sub­ sequently disappeared, is suspected. .Mrs. Wrandall starts back for New York ?ln an auto during a blinding snow storm. On the way she meets a young woman in 'the road who proves to be the woman •who killed Wrandall. Feeling that the (girl had done her & service in ridding her •of the man who though she loved him •deeply, had caused her great sorrow. Mrs. Wrandall determines to shield her and takes her to her own home. Mrs. "Wrandall hears the story Of Hetty Cas- tleton's life, except that portion that re­ lates to Wrandall. This sjid the story of tl;e tragedy she forbids the girl ever to tell. She offers Hetty a home, friendship mvl security from peril on account of tne ' tragedy. Sara Wrandall and Hetty re­ turn to New York after an absence of a year in,Europe. Ix-.«lle Wrandall. brother of Chaflis, becomes greatly Interested m Hetty. Sara sees In Leslie's inf.^un.lon possibility for revenge on the Wrandans end reparation for the wrongat she sur- Ifered at the hands ol ChraJlls Wranda" tnaixj'ing his murderess Into the ramuy. iLeslie. in company with his friend "r?n" <flon Booth, „fi.n artist, visits Sara at her country place. Leslie confesses to g8-™ that he is madlv in love with Hetty. Sara arranges with Booth to paint a Picture or Hetty. Booth has a haunting feeling that lie has seen Hetty before. Looking through a portfolio of pictures by an un­ known English artist he °i51»2£ Hetty. He speaks to her about it. Hetty declares it must be a picture of Hetty Olvnn. an English tctress. who resembles her very much. Much to his chagrin I,eslie is refused by Hetty. Booth and Hetty confess their Ictc for cach other, but the latter declares that she can never • tnarry as there Is an Insurmountable lpar- Tier In the way. Hetty admits to Sara that she loves Booth. Sara declares that Hetty must mam* Leslie, who must Be made to pay his brother's debt to the girl. Hetty again attempts to tell tne real story of the tragedy and Sara threat - ens to strangle her if she says a wora. Bara Insult? Hetty by revealing that all this time she has believed Hetty tohave pinned in her relations with Challls Wran-' flail. Later she realises that Hetty is in­ nocent. Leslie a train proposes to Hetty And Is relected. Hetty prepares to leave Bara, declaring that after what has hap- Kw'*5>$»£ pened she can remain no longer. Hetty is tarts for Europe. At sea she receives a *' message from Booth that he has startea .i,-'.• . *•"fcn a faster steamer and will be waiting •- ' tor her on the other side. Booth meets •.. ••••[•".,:•. fier and accompanies her to London. In 4*" 4m attempt to escape from him Hetty ^S'l. j-'.'r F'-* - jjBtarts for Paris, but finds Booth on tne ' '5* ' ifcatne boat. She persists In her refusal to Eife «*' -ft?"' tell him the secret which keeps them ' '••,:.'• tipart. She declares that Sara alone can tell hln\. Booth leave* for America de- • A Wmlned to get the story from Sara. CHAPTER XVI.--Continued. ! The weeks slipped by. He was with I"- a^moBt daily. Other people came to her house, some for rather protract- ft y <ed visits, others in quest of pillage at fa P}. f+i&V •ifw '? % " jthe nightly bridge table, but he was •ft*.,;••••&?<£• fueldom miming. There were times ' I**1611 thought he detected a ten- y „ .^dency to waver, but each cunning at- fev vfcempt on his part to encourage the Jj$|-' Impulse Invariably brought a certain ' ? knocking light Into her eyes and he 1^%'* ̂ ^"jreered off In defeat Something kept "•"K , telling him, however, that the hour |?s-&s bound to come •when she would alter in her resolution; when frank- ess would meet frankness, and the the veil be lifted. There were no letters from Hetty, y 'fco word of any description. If Sara V Jinew anything of the girl's movements - tshe did not take Booth into her confi- i f e - ^ e n c e - 1 Leslie Wrandall went abroad In Au- fe'V;- ri^-'-jsUol, uMsnsibiy to attend the aviation ||\;jfcaeeta in France and England. His v. . •" piother and slater sailed in September, i not before the entire colony tft "&%C Vi; T |whlch they were a part had begun to .<'i- v' ( .^discuss Sara and Booth with $>, >' t - & .< y,* 'Mm relish v>";^ithat was obviously distasteful to the M ^randalls. , Where there Is smoke there Is fire, •,'L-- •" ̂ fcald all the gossips, and forthwith pro- j fceeded to carry faggots. v'- " _5' . A week or so before sailing, Mrs. ^ 'jRedmond Wrandall had Booth la for ^•V. fl/- ' idlpner. I think she eaid en famille. \ ̂ -'•A-t any rate, Sara was not asked, v* v S'-H "which Is proof enough that she was ,jbent on making it a family affair. fefC. viT»> * After dinner, Booth sat In the 4' .' ecreened upper balcony with Vivian, fer \ '!w'r-"J^e liked her. She was a keen-witted, ^' ̂'Iplain-epoken young woman, with few % * . \l. ; ifalse ideals and no subtlety. She was snobbish than arrogant Of all ' £' ":fthe Wrandails, she was the least self- l&C'fc1' '^-jcentered. Leslie never quite under- s »tood her for the paradoxical reason •<i-£ Lv - ^.v^ithat she thoroughly understood him. tii "You know, Brandon," she said. r - ir §W- I'ji'ly'v I' " " i- M kiti . v:. ?, • ur"' i i': Heavens, Viv!" He Cried, Un­ comfortably. after a Jong silence between them, "they've been setting my cap for you for a long, long time." She blew thin stream of cigarette smoke toward the moon. He started. It was a bolt from a clear sky. "The deuce!" "Yes," she went on in the moet cas ual tone, "mother's had her heart set on it for months. You were supposed to be mine at first sight, I believe. Please don't look so uneaBy. I'm not going to propose to you." She laughed her little ironic laugh. "So that is the way things stood, e£?" he said, BtUl a little amazed by her candor. "Yee. And what 1b more to the point, I am quite sure I should have said yes if you had asked me. Sounds od<|, dpeni't'K? . gather amusing, too. heing fcWo to divcuss li so uhreserved- f&v.- •" I ' 1 , •% j, ^•C."'^- "Good heavens, Viv!" he cried un­ comfortably. "I--I had no Idea yoa cared--" "Cared!" she cried, as he paused. "I dont care two pine for you In that way. But I would have married you, Just the same, because you are worth marrying. I'd very much rather have you for a husband than any man I know, but as for loving you! Pooh! I'd love you in just the way mother loves father, and I wouldn't have been a bit more trouble to you than she Is to him." "Gad, you dont mind what you say!" "Failing to nab you. Brandy, I dare say 111 have to come down to a duke or, who knows? maybe a mere prince. It isn't very enterprising, Is It? And certainly It isn't & gay prospect. Real­ ly, I had hoped you would have me. I flatter myself, I suppose, but, hon­ estly now, we would have made a rather nice looking couple, wouldn't we?" "Yon flatter me," he said. "But," she resumed, calmly exhal­ ing, "you Very foolishly fell In love with some one else, and it wasn't necessary for me to pretend that I was In love with yon--which I should have done, believe me, if you bad given me the chance. You fell in love, first with Hetty Castleton." "First?" he cried, frowning. "And now you are heels over head In love with my beautiful sieter-in-law. Which all goes to prove that I would have made just the kind of wife you need, considering your tendency to fluctuate. But how dreadful it would have been for a sentimental, loving girl like Hetty!" He sat holt upright and stared hard at her. "See here, Viv, what the dickens are you driving at? I'm not in love with Sara--not in the least--and--" He checked himself sharply. "What an ass I am! You're guying me." "In any event, I am right about Het­ ty," she said, leaning forward, her man­ ner quite serious. "If it will ease you mind," he said stiffly, "i plead guilty with all my- he^rt." She favored him with a alight Crown of annoyance. "And you deny the fluctuating charge?" "Most positively. I can afford to be honest with yon, Viv. Ton are a corker. I love Hetty Castleton with all my soul." She leaned back in her chair. "Then why don't you dignify your sool by be­ ing honest with her?" "What do you mean?" For a half-minute she waa sileat **Are you and I of the same stripe, after all? Would you marry Sara without loving her, as I would have done by you? It doesnt seem like you, Brandon." 'Good heaven, I'm not to marry Sara!" he blurted out. "It's never entered my head.*' "Perhaps it has entered hers." "Nonsense! She isn't going to marry anybody. And she knows how I feel toward Hetty. If it came to the point where I decided to marry with­ out love, 'pon my soul, Viv, I believe Td pick you out as the victim." Wonderful combination!" she said with a frank laugh. "The quintes­ sence of 'no love lost' But to resume! Do you know that people are Baying you are to be married before the win­ ter Is over?" "Let 'em say it," he Bald gruffly. "Oh, well,' she said, dispatching it all with a gesture, "if that's the way you feel about It, ttt^re's no more to be said." He was ashamed. *"1 beg your par- don.^1 shouldn't have said that." You see," she went on, reverting to the original topic, "people whd know Sara are iikeiy to credit her with mo­ tives you appear to be totally Ignorant of. She set her heart on my brother Challis, when she was a great deal younger than she 1B now, and she got him. If age and experience count for anything, how capable she must he by this time." He was too wise to venture an opin­ ion. "I assure you she has no designs on me." "Perhaps not But I fancy that even you could not escape as St Anthony did. She is most alluring." "You don't like her." "Obviously. And yet I dont dislike her. She has the virtue of consist­ ency, if one may use the expression. She loved my brother. Leslie says she should have hated him. We have tried to like her. I think I have come nearer to it than any of the others, not excepting Leslie, who has always been her champion.' I suppose you know that he was your rival at one time." "He mentioned it," said Booth drily. "I should have been very much dis­ appointed In her If she had accepted him," - -- "Indeed V "I sometimes wonder If Sara spiked Leslie's guns for him." "I can tell you something you don't know, Vivian." said he. "Sara was rather keen about making a match there." Vivian's smile was slow but trium­ phant. "That is Just what I thought There you are! Doesnt that explain 8ara?" In a measure, yes. But, you see. It developed that Hetty cared for some one else, and that put a stop to every­ thing." "Am I to take It that you* are the some one else?" "Yes," he said soberly. "Then, may I ask why she went away so suddenly?" TT "You may ask, but I can't answer." •Do you want my opinion? She went away because Sara, failing In her plan to marry her off to Leslie, decided that it would be fatal to a cer* tain project of her own if she re mained on the field of action. M)o I make myself clear?" "Oh, you are away off in your con­ clusions, Viv." "Time will teO,** was here cabalistic rejoinder. Her father appeared on the lawn below and called up to them. "You are wanted at the telephone, Brandon. I've just be«n talking to Sara." J "Did she call you up, father?" asked Vivian, leaning over the rail. "Yes. About nothing in particular, however." She turned upon Booth with a mock­ ing smile. He felt the color rush to his face, and was angry with himself. He went to the telephone. Almost her first words were these: "What has Vivian been telling you about me, Brandon?" He actually gasped. "Good heavens, Sara!" He heard her low laugh. "So she has been saying things, has she?" she aeked. "I thought so, I've had it in my bones tonight." He was at a loss for words. It was positively uncanny. As he stood there, Her lyes Were Moody, Her Vole* Rather Lifeless. trying to think of a trivial remark, her laugh came to him again over the wire, followed by a drawling "good night," and then the soughing of the wind over the "open" wire.„ The next day he cs&ed her up on the telephone quite early. He knew her habits. She would be abroad in her gardens br eight o'clock. He re­ membered well that Leslie, in com­ menting on her absurdly early hofcrs, had once ,sald that her "early bird" habit was hereditary: she got it from Sebastian. "What put it into your head, Sara* tha) Vivian was saying anything un­ pleasant about you last night?" "Magic," she replied succinctly. "Rubbish!" "I have a magic tapestry that trans­ ports me, hither and thither, and by night I always carry Aladdin's lamp. So, you see, I see and hear everything" "Be sensible." "Very well. I will be eensible. If you intend to be influenced by what Vivian or her mother said to you last night, I think you'd be wise to avoid me from this time on." Prepared though he was, be blinked his eyes and said something she didn't quite catch. She went on: "Moreover, in addition to my attainments In the black art, I am quite as clever as Mr. 8herlock Holmes in some respects. I really do some splendid deducing. In the first place, you were asked there and I was not Why? Because I was tp b<^ discussed. You see--" "Marvelous!" he interrupted loudly. "You were to be told that i have cruel designs upon you." "Go on, please." "And all that sort of thing," she said sweepingly, and he could almost see the inclusive gesture with her free hand. He laughed but still marveled at the shrewdness of her perception#. "I'll come over this afternoon and show you wherein you are wrong," he began, but she interrupted him with a laugh. •». "I am starting for the city before noon, by motor, to be gone at least a fortnight" "What! This is the first I've heard of It" ' Again she laughed. "To be perfect­ ly frank with you, I hadn't heard of it myself until just now. I think I ehall go downJx> the. Homestead with, the CarrolhTtr*^t ' - ' ' "Hot Springs ?* "Virginia," she added explicitly. "I say, Sara, what does all this mean? You--" "And if you should follow me there, Vivian's estimate of us will not he so far out of the way as we'd like to make it." True to her word, she was gone when he drove over later on in the day. Somehow, he experienced a queer feeling of rellet Not that he was oppressed by the rather vivacious opinions of Vivian and her ilk, but because something told him that Sara was wavering in her determination to withhold the secret from him and fled for perfectly obvious reasons. He had two commissions among the rich summer colonists. One, a full length portrait of young Beardsley in shooting togs, was nearly finished. The other was to be a half-length of Mrs. Ravenscroft, who wanted one just like Hetty Castleton's, except for the eyes, which she admitted would have to be different Nothing was said pf the seventeen years' difference In their ages. Vivian had put off posing until Lent. The Wrandails departed for Scot­ land, and other friends of his began to desert the country for the city. The fortnight passed and another week besides. Mrs. Ravenscroft decided to go to Europe when the picture was half-finished. "You can finish It when I come back In December, Mr. Booth," she said. "Ill have several new gowns to choose from, too." "I shall he busy all winter, Mrs. Ra­ venscroft," he said coldly. "How annoying," she said calmly, and that was the end of it all. She bad made the unpleasant discovery that it wasn't goipg to be in the least like Hetty Castletonls, so why bother about It? Booth waited until Sara came out to superintend the closing of her house for the winter. He called at South- look on the day of her arrival. He was struck at once by the curious change In her appearance and manner. There was something bleak and deso­ late in the vividly brilliant face: the tired, wistful, harassed look of one who has begun to quail and yet fights on. "Will you go out with me tomorrow, Brandon, for an all-day trip in the car?" she aeked, as they stood to­ gether before the open fireplace on this late November afternoon. Her eyes were moody, her voice rather lifeless. WOULD MARK ALL CRIMINALS Woman's Suggestion to Mayor of New York Is to Have Them All Ap­ propriately Tattooed. Among the helpful letters daily re­ ceived by Mayor Mltchel came one the other day Blgned "Mme. Mercury," the New York Sun states. She wrote that since all other forms of punishment had failed she would suggest that each' criminal be tattooed with a suitable mark across his forehead or on the cheeks. "A pickpocket" she said, "should have a long fingered red hand grasp­ ing a purse tattooed on the cheek. A 'Black Hander' should have a black heart pierced with a red dagger, a gunman should be marked with a red hand grasping a gun, graftere with a hand grasping the long green, thugs marked with a blue hand grasp­ ing a blackjack, burglars marked with a doorlock and pick. "Please give this system a trial," she asked. "It is humane and will not require any extra expense. See how many gunmen, pickpockets, murderers and thieves the police can tattoo in the next 12 months, and yuu will real­ ize the old axiom of 'catching before hanging.' "This system would lower the cost of living, reduce the cost of maintain­ ing prisons and make all the poor and orlminals self-supporting, tax paying citizens. "The revolution that I suggest in the system of handling crime and crim­ inals will rotate the wheels of crime backward into oblivion in time." •The mayor received- Mme. Mercury's suggestions to late to Incorporate them in the Ooethale police bUls* . ,v -- J - . • Preserving the Verities. Star Actor -- "I must Insist, Sager, on having real food in the ban­ quet scene." Manager---"Very well, then; if you Insist on' that you will be , supplied with real poison in the death FOUND STONE AGE CEMETERY Recent Discovery In Italian Province Will Arouse Keen Interest Among Archeologlets. A burial place of the 3tone Age has just been found by Prof. Dall Osso of Ancona, in the Valle Vibrata (prov­ ince of Abruzzl). Italy. The bodies are not burled, but are all laid in small cabins containing from two to eight each, and are ranged on either side of these little huts on low platforms sloping toward the center. With a single exception the bodies all rest on one side, with the knees drawn up, and it is assumed that the dead were placed in thiB position to give them the attitude of prayer in their death chamber, for it has been established that the custom of praying on oneVknees was already in exist* ence in the Stone Age in Egypt.. In one of the cabins, almost in the center of the group, there are no bodies, but a big circular hearth, around which it is assumed, from the fragments of broken earthenware pots around it, the funeral banquets were held. The objects found in the cabins with the bodies have remarkable import­ ance from the archeological point of view, as they prove the existence of a degree of civilization, especially as regards vases and such utenBils, never hitherto observed In the Neolithic age. Ingenious Calculating Machine. A Hungarian citizen has invented an instrument jvhich shows instantly the amount of interest due on any given sum for any period at any given rate of interest. The instru­ ment made in the size and shape pf a watch, is of very simple construc­ tion and inexpensive. All that Is nec­ essary to operate it is to place the hands in the proper position on the dial (Hid the exact amount of interest is, ca£@ U indicated on the dlaL * •'"* • ' »• " -"ZV. •" M£M. •' • "Certainly." jhw aald. watching her closely. Was the break about to come? "I will stop for yoa at nine." After a short pause, Bhe looked ftp and said: "I suppose you Would> fckfejlo know where I am taking you." Wt doesn't; ma; "i want you to go with me itf Bur­ ton's inn." "Burton's inn." " .. 'That is the plaQfi where m> hus­ band *aa r ktUed," 'Jhe vsaift $5ite steadily. ~ ~ % He started. < "OR r ' 'Bdt-Mlo you think it best Sara, to open old wounds "I have thought ft all out Brandon. I want to go there--^-juat once. 1 want to go into that room again." CHAPTER XVlil Once More at Burton's Inn. Again Sara Wrandall found herself in that never-to-be-forgotten room at Burton's inn. On that grim night in March she had entered without fear-l^hrow was wet or trembling because she knew what was there; Now she quaked with a mighty chill of terror, for she knew riot what was there in the quiet, now sequestered room. Burton had told them on their arrival after a long drive across country that patrons of the inn Invariably asked which room it was that had been the scene of the tragedy, and, on finding out, re­ fused point-blank to occupy it. In consequence he had been obliged to transform it into a sort of store and baggage room. Sara stood In the middle of the murky room, for the shutters had long been closed to the light of day, and looked about her in awe at the hetero­ geneous mass of boxes, trunks, bun­ dles and rubbish, scattered over the flotfr without care or eystem. She had closed the door behind her and was quite alone. Light sneaked in through the cracks in the shutters, but so meagerly that it only served to in­ crease the gloom. A dismantled bed- Btead stood heaped up in the corner. She did not have to be told what bed it was. The mattress was there too, rolled up and tied with a thick garden rope. She knew there were dull, ugly blood stains upon it Why the thrifty Burton had persevered in keeping this useless article of furniture, she could only surmise. Perhaps it was held as an Inducement to the morbidly curious who always seek out the grue­ some and gloat even as they shudder. For a long time she stood immov­ able just inside the door, recalling the horrid picture of another day. She tried to imagine the scene that had been enacted there with gentle, lov­ able Hetty Qlynn and her whilom husband as the principal characters. The girl had told the whole story of that ugly night. Sara tried to see it as it actually had transpired. For months this present enterprise had been in her mind: the desire to see the place again, to go there with old impressions which she could leave be­ hind when ready to emerge in a new frame of mind. It was true that she meant to shake off the shackles of a horrid dream, to purge herself of the last vestige of bitterness, to cleanee her mind of certain thoughts and mem­ ories. Downstairs Booth waited for bqr. He heard the story of the tragedy from the Innkeeper, who crossly maintained that hi^ business had been ruined. Booth was vaguely impressed, he knew not why, by Burton's description of the missing woman. "I'd say she was about the size ot Mrs. Wrandall her­ self, and much the same figger," he said, a^ he said a thousand timee before. "My wife noticed it the min­ ute she saw Mrs. Wrandall. Same height and everything." A bell rang sharply and Burton glanced over his shoulder at, the indi­ cator on the wall behind the desk. He gave a great start and his jaw sagged. Great Scott!" gasped. A curi­ ous graynees stole over his face. "It's --it's the bell in that very room. My soul, what can--" * Mrs. Wrandall Is up tbelM, iant she?" demanded fiooth. It ain't rung since the night he pushed the button for-- Oh, gee! You're right She Is up there. My. what a scare it gave me." He arlped his brow. Turning to a boy, he com­ manded him to answer the belt The boy went slowly, and as he went he removed his hands from his pockets. He came back an Instant later, more swiftly than he went, with the word that "the lady up there" wanted Mr. Booth to come upstairs. She was waiting for him in the open doorway. A shaft of bright sunlight from a window1' at the end of the hall fell upon her. Her face was colorless. haggard. He paused for an instant to contract her as she stood there in the pitiless light with the vivid creature he had put upon canvas so recently. She beckoned to him and turned back Into the room. He followed. "This is the room, Brandon, where my husband met the death he de­ served," she said quietly. "Deserved ? Good heavens, Sara, are you--" "I want you to look about you and try to picture how this place looked on"the night of the murder. You have a vivid imagination. None of this rubbish vyas here. Just a bed, a table and two chairs. There was a carpet on the floor. There were two people here, a man and a woman. The wom­ an had trusted the man. She trusted him until the hour In which he died. Then she found him out. She had come to this place, believing it was to be her wedding night. She found no minister here. The man laughed at her and scoffed. Then she knew. In horror, shame, desperation she tried to break away from him. He was strong. She was a good woman; a virtuous, honorable woman. 8he sav^d .hsraelL" He was staring at,her with dilated eyes. Slowly the truth waa being borne in upon him. "The woman was--Hetty?" came hoarsely from his stiffening lips. "My God, Sara!" She came close to him ajad spokfe in a half-whJeper. "Now you know the Secret. Is it safe with you?" He opened his lips to Bpeak, but no words came forth. Paralysis seemed to have gripped not only his throat but his senses. He reeled. She grasped hie arm in a tense, fierce way, and whispered: "Be oareful! No one must hear what we are saying." She shot a glance down the deserted hall. "No one Is near. I made sure of that Don't speak! Think first--think well, ; Brandon Booth. It is what you have been seeking for months--the truth. You share the secret with us now. Again I aak, is it safe with you?" "My God!" he muttered again, and passed his hand over his eyes. His t He looked at his fin­ gers dumbly as if expecting to find them covered with blood. "Is it safe with you?" for the third time. "SafeT Safe?" he whispered, follow­ ing her example without knowing that he did so. "I--I can't believe you, Sara. It can't be true." "It is true." "You have known--all thi« -time?" "From that night when I stood where we are standing now.4' "And--and--she?" . "I had never seen her^'uhttl that night. I saved her." He dropped suddenly .upon the trunk that stood behind him, and buried his face in his hands. For a long time she stood over him, her interest divid­ ed between him and the hall, wherein lay their present peril. "Come," she said at last. "Pull your­ self together. We muet leave this place. If you are not careful they will suspect something downstairs." He looked up with haggard eyes* studying her face with curious intent- ness. » "What manner of woman are you, Sara?" he questioned, slowly, won- deringly. "I have Just discovered that I am very >much like other women, after all," she said. "For awhile I thought I was different, that I wae stronger than my sex. .But I am just as weak, just as much to be pitied, just as much to be scorned as any one of my sisters. I have spoiled a great act by stooping to do a mean one. God will bear witness that my thoughts were noble at the outset; my heart was soft But come! There is much more to tell that cannot be told here.7 You shall know everything." They went downstairs and out into the crisp autumn air. She gave direct tions to her chauffeur. They were to traverse for some distance the same road Bhe had taken on that ill-fated night a year and a half before, in course of time the motor approached a well-remembered railway crossing. "Slow down. Cole," die said. "ThM is a mean place--a very mean place." Turning to Booth, who had been sit­ ting grim and silent beside her for miles, she said, lowering her voice: "I remember that crossing yonder. There is a sharp curve beyond. This is the place. Midway between the two crossings, I should say. Please re­ member this part of the road, Bran­ don, when I come to the telling of that night's ride to town. Try to pic­ ture this spot--this smooth, straight road as it might be on a dark, freezing night in the very thick of a screaming blizzard, with all the world abed save --two women." In his mind he began to draw the picture, and to place the two women in the center of it without knowing the circumstances. There was some­ thing fascinating in the study he was making, something gruesome and full of sinister possibilities for the hand of a virile painter. He wondered how near his imagination was to placing He Dropped Suddenly Upon the Trunte. the central figures In the picture aa they actually appeared on that secret night . V • • • • • At sunset they went together to the, little pavilion at the end of the pier which extended far out into the sound. Here they were safe from the eaff of eavesdroppers. The boats had beoa stowed away for the winter. The wind that blew through the open pa­ vilion, now shorn of all its comforts and luxuries, was cold, raw and re^elr ling. No one would disturb them here. With her face Bet toward the sinking east, she leaned against one of the thick posts, and in a dull, emotionlese voice, laid bare the whole story of that' dreadful night and the days that fok ' lowed. She spared no details, skB spared not herself in the narration! T:i <XO SB CONBKUfiU»- ISiA TALE OF BESSIE, A com And the Mystery of It All Is, Wht- Gpod Boww'% Tail Off? WMI % WEARS A KIMONO NOW Feor Beast Had Nothing With Which to Fight Off the Troublesome Flies* , 'i'-k" Chicago^--Mrs. Emma My lie, wluM \7'*" owns several lots at North Sixty-sec^ ;/% 1 ond and West North avenues, recently ^ '*.,, ? pitched her tent on one. of them, planti"^>'Sr ed a vegetable and rose garden abou^.;;^! "1L it tethered Tom, her horse, and Bee»V^Jjj| sie, her cow, near by, and settled her-; ;f" self to spend a happy summer in theN'-^'. open, Bessie grazed away stolidlyr|,|;, and seemed to be perfectly conteute#^3 t! with life until a few nights ago, whejjg something dreadful happened, ji' That is why George A. H. Scott of f %••% the Illinois Humane society receive^ ; an anonymous telephone call .to the feet that it would be well to investli'v' v ^ gate a case of cruelty to animals in the vicinity of the Wesward Ho Golf club. Charles H. Brayne, an officer of the society, was dispatched to investigate*, Near Mrs. Mylie's tent he came full upon a vision of flaming yellow. At first he thought it was a brilliantly painted sign. Then he saw that it was alive. He approached fearfully. From one end of the yellow mass a pair ot horns protruded, from the other, alas! there emerged all of what was left ol • Bessie's once long and bushy tall. "It's--it's a cow, isn't it?" be asked* n pointing to the yellow object "Yes, that's BesBle," said Mrs. Mylle, "I had to make a yellow kimono for her, poor thing, she was so uncomfort* --" able. You see, she used to have a lonjfc- toil and whisked the flies away in i * manner that made old Tom over ther< $ envious. But the other night some { body slipped up and cut half her tail f* off." Brayne wondered against whom tho cruelty charge should be placed: "I guess I'll go and look for the rest Of her tail," he said. Just then Bessie shook her kimono in the breeze and old Tom, unaccus­ tomed to associating with any but kimono-less cows, snorted, kicked his* heels in the air, and scurried off to the far end of the field. At Sixty-fourth and wiest North av»> n a Vision of Flaming Yellow. nuee Brayne met a boy carrying a bushy object. "I found this in the grass there," he said. "I wonder what it belongs to." "See that big yellow thing jumping about," Brayne replied. "It's the other half of that." SIGN PAINTERS DAUB COWS Transformed Bovine Herd Into a Wild- Eyed Menagerie--Four of the Animals Died, f , • i - ' Grand Rapids, Mich.--Four dead cows have convinced a gang of Phila­ delphia sign painters, at work in a field near this city, that it takes more than a bucket of paint and a meek and lowly bOBSy to create the "swift and nervous zebra," and "gay and festive hyena," or the "cruel and cunning leopard." Incidentally, the four prac­ tical jokers may spend a considerable time in jail as a result of their "inno­ cent" amusement "For the fun of it," as the painters expressed it, they cornered five cattle. Paint of various hues was used upon the unsuspecting herd and when the painters completed their work, a. comical menagerie galloped about the field. The painters screeched with laugh-' ter at the antics of the animals as they kicked furiously and bellowed in terror at sight of each other. They ran about until exhausted. When the paint drying commenced to annoy the cows they administered a thorough tongue wash and ae a result three died, another was shot and the fifth was made very sick. A veterinarian performed a post mortem. Lead poisoning was his ver­ dict , Tims Hose on Husband. Chicago.--Mrs. John Hdffman tee- f , titled in the domestic relations court- that she turned a hose on HW husband § in an effort to break him of the habit i , r of playing pinochle in the back yard, after wUch Hoffman deserted her- } ': y' • 111 x Vt* ' * W 0wn » Freak Weatville, Conn.--Joseph Murray l» i i ^ the owner of a cat that has two^ J^t mouthy two noses and threq e^es. '