___THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG We had been shooting cock pheas- ants all day with considerable success, and were stretched out in deep chairs round . Mallison's gun-room fire with the immediate prospect of some of his very pre-war whiskey, followed by {an excellent dinner and more excellent Bridge after that. In fact, an ideal THE TENTH WOMAN By Dell Leigh. 3 "Fred keeps a diary (dam bad habit), and writes a_ fearful lot of hot air in it every night of his life before turning | pi in, it seems--imagine! He had settled down to the diary business when he found he had left his fountain pen in the library. Cursed, and toddied off to | get it. There is a big square hall at Christmas holiday lay ahead of us, and | Highmoor, you'll see; you lean over 1 for one was blissfully content--we all | the banisters and watch the revelry in were. Especially Heagerty, the young- ster of the party, doubtléss because there were some charming women, as Je put it, "knocking about the coun- tryside." It was he, of course, who brought up the subject of the women folk after a few moments pipe-sucking silence. An impressionable lad. *. "1 my, Mally, what an absolute fizzer Mrs. Ainslie is. What d'you call her--Cushla? Funny name. Rather nice thotgh . . . by J-o-v-e!l" His voice trailed off into beatific reflection a8 he gazed into the roaring fire. We had all observed her carefully: naturally. Who wouldn't? The wife of a man whose shoot marched next '0 our host's, she had been out with the guns all day, and bringing them 'own by the head every time. One of Je handsomest women I had seen for some time, and as sporting as a ter- rier. Did everything very well, ascord- _ ing to all accounts. Young Heagerty Was quite right. We confirmed his op- inion with acquiescing grunts, we old "Oh, the Tenth Woman," said "Mally, "Yes, she's a class apart, is Cushla. - That's her real name. Suits her, somehow, don't you think?" - We did. But why the Tenth Wo- man? What was the idea? Mallison laughed. "There's a pret- "ty little story hanging to that. You may as well hear it, you fellows. We are all dining over at Ainslie's after his on Bank Holiday; it'll be a affair, mark my words. He's some superb 'bubbly. It is sure 10 Be referred to, "cos it's the anniver- sary of the business, .this Christmas; But you'll only get a garbled, rotten 'account if she puts in her oar. She's as . 'modes! as she is pretty, and you can't _ say thatof all women, But I'was stay- ing there last Christmas when it. hap- ; the Missis was recovering from # on the Riviera, and this house was like a mausoleum in consequence. So can give it you more or less first "You don't know Highmoor, any of you? A great barrack of a place com- to this. You'll see. But Fred does you remarkably well and : fills the house with riotous liv- ers at Christmas for the shooting. He's $trémely well off, as you may have ieard, But he lived a bit of a hermit's after his first wife left him, and Thaned up the place pri ly #t L Yes; the adame ie walked off with a still richer nk of their acquaintance. He simply to divorce her on account of the name and the entail, and one and another. We needn't go into She was a drea iy opinion. Fred was ds as hell about it for sonie.years--not sur- prising. Se ' "But fast Christmas some of his cousins and nieces and people id the house all right for him; in- of it; said he was moping: dare hie was. Cushla Fane (as was was among 'ent; brought down hue Phillips, cousin of Fred's; was at Rodean with her; great kg that at dinner on t 1 a Poe Cushla, who was sitt ly. | followed het jnstinctively '1 realised what the next move was. S| dful woman, in pl the arena below. Fred looked over in- to the hall and saw that all the lights were 'on in the library. Cursed Parker, the butler, for his carelessness and padded downstairs saying things to himself. They make their own light, of course, and Fred hates wasting the juice. "He walked through the. open door of the library without a sound in his bedroom - slippers, and, much to his surprise. saw Cushla at-one of the bookcases. He said 'Hullo!" jatnty- like, don't you know, and she swung round with a gasp of breath and a scared expression. 'Oh, it's you!" and then she looked 'immensely relieved. Fred said the sight of her standing there against the dark brown back- ground of bboks ini 4 kla¢ silk dressing gown, with that wonderful ripe-corn hair of hers in a great ship's cable plait was a very pleasant sight. He was no longer annoyed with her; distinctly interested, in fact. " "What's the game?' he asked pleas- -antly. 'Don't you modern ladies ever go to bed? Not that it matters, of course. Do what you like down here." She stared at him for a moment in a puzzled, searching sort of way without answering. Then she seemed to pull herself together with a jerk and laugh- ed. She was very white, Fred noticed. 'Yes,' she said, 'T was in bed. Couldn't sleep. I sleep rather badly, somelimes. I came down here to look for a book. Do you mind? All your books are so stuffy. This one has possibilities, paps. The Private Life of Louis XV. But haven't you got anything amusing? Do find me one' She walked over to Fred's writing-table with The Private Life of Louis XV and sat down. Fred began running his fingers along the shelves in search of light literature as a cure for insomnia. Directly his back was turned she pulled a sheet of note- paper out of the rack, picked up his pen and began scribbling with feverish 'haste. "Here you are," said Fred Tn a minute or so. Other Women's Men, by 'Disillusioned.' That ought to be 'about your mark--what?' He chuckled. 'Don't know who brought this down here--I didn't." "'Yes, let's have a look at it,' re- plied a detached voice. "Fred brought it across and sat down on the arm of a chair near the writing table, some rather fine pearls, and all the Christmas Box money for servants, keepers, etc. "That's what he's after," said Cush- la, 'and we'll have him as he comes through the window all to ourselves,' |; she laughed softly. 'Can we get out there round some other way? "'Yes, through the kitchen quarters ut you're not coming, Miss Intre- bi "'Rubbish! You can't rouse the house--I won't let you. Take some thing heavy and bow! him over as he crawls out. There's an eight-foot drop or something of that sort, isn't there? The last thing he'll be looking for will be you outside the window.' _ "Fred unhitched an old Chinese po- lice truncheon off the wall in the cor- ridor--handy sort of weapon--and she said, 'Splendid °°. "Fred said it was a malevolent sort of hiss the way she said it. And togeth- er they crept out through the back doors round the garden to the shrubs by the library window. A nite situa- tion for a fellow to find himself in on a dark night; but when you know Cus- hia a bit better you will realise there is no gainsaying her when her 'mind is made up. As Fred says, it was as if he had been dealing with a dasigerous sit- {ation with a man, and not with a wo- man at alk And to do the old boy jus- tice one must say he would tackle any two men barghanded at any time--he's a 'plucky devil. And he would, no doubt, bave shoved her out of the way if it had come to a mess-up. "Arrived outside the window, she pulled Fred's face down to her own and whispered: 'Lift me up; I want to see what he's doing.' "Obediently--he was now entirely under the spell of her, I'm certain; he prized her up on his sheulder. She hung on by the windowsill and looked in, "The brute had left 3 wee chink in the curtains when he went into the room again and got to work. She could see him moving about. But not when he was engaged on the safe. He was out of range there. All these details were whispered very quietly into Fred'f ear. She was thoroughly in her element; enjoying every moment of it. Fred wasn't. He was getting cramp, holding her up; but she made him lift het at intérvals--for her to report. "They think they must have lain in wait outside that window--~December, and she in her nightie, mark you---for best part of an hour. If never seemed to have occurred to either of them that the feller might have continued his depredations upstairs amongst the women's bedrooms. But he didn't. Cushla was in the act to be lifted up. for abput the twentieth time when she squirmed away like a rabbit going to ground, "The next thing he was aware of was a bag being dropped softly on to the grass out of the window. A leg was straddled over the sill. A head and She took i from him with her left | Cushia paper with her right se "Puzzled, be took it.and read: "There is # man, magked, behjnd the curtains, probably armed. Don't do anything silly. Follow my cue. Have a an.' "She immediately chipped in hur- riedly with: 'Oh, this book looks most amusing--yes--~Othér Women's that's the stuff for me. Thanks awfully, Well, I'm for bed. By the way, what did you come down for? Think I was a burglar or something? Another gay laugh. Meanwhile she was staring at him and motioning with her eyes to- wards the library door. "Fred's first impulse, of course, was to make a dash for the curtainéd récéss in the window, and he half rose. But she put a restralhing hand quickly up- on his sleeve, again nodding medn- ly towards the door. ood sense to see that she was right. 'hand and pasted him a sheet of note-1, en; ij gloved, and carrying a foul little Colt utomatic, fully charged -- pleasant cimefr--what? "Fred broke the news to half a dozen The Highwayman My Oliver Madox Hueffer. 4 "Isn't it just too perfectly wonder- ful?" exclaimed Mrs. Ezra F. Grunzer, letting down the window of the post- chaise to gain a wider view over the snowscovered wolds. "Don't you feel thrilled to your very marrow, Angel face?" "I certainly do, Sweetie," agreed her husband. "Now say, haven't I-given you a sure nuff surprise of a bridal trip. We ought to be at the Baronial Hall inside of half-an-hour if these pampered steeds keep' going," he ad- ded, thoughtfully. Not the most exacting of American brides could, indeed, have asked more of her devoted husband than the offer- ings of Mr. Grunzer to his newly-wed wife (nee Theda Stubenheim of Peo- ria, TIL). N&f only had he purchased for her Walmsley Manor, one of the most perfect remaining examples of Tudor architecture in England, not only had he arranged; for triumphal arches and assorted loyal tenantry to greet her op arrival, not only were there to be Yuletide revels, waits, boars' heads, and the other appurten- ances to a mediaeval Christmas--their wedding happening at that festive per- iod. He had even arranged that the last stage of their journey, fronr Chid- yate Junction, should be carried out in an honest-to- goodness postchaise of the period, driven by postillions in ap- propriate uniform and immortalised at antl cinematograph operators. Never certainly was there a more considerate bridegroom than the young Gumshoe King of Sandusky, O. "You're sure there is nothing I've forgotten, Peachpoppet?" he enquired anxiously, capturing an errant hand. "There is just one thing, Duckalove. If you could have ad up for a high- wayman, on a wonderful black mare, like--~what was his name--Tom Tur- pin, to hold the chaise up, and insist-I should dance a minuet with him in the snow. It always,was done in the oM days, and it would havé made Mame Schnittberger just mad when she read about it. Mercy pn us--what it that?" Her husband had just conquered a smile of satisfaction at his own fore- thought when the chaise stopped sud- denly and a man thrust his head through the open window. It was crowned by a cloth cap wore motor- goggles instead of a black mask, but the gesture with which he thrust an "wutomatic into the face of Mr. Grunzer was all that the sternest realist could have desired, "Nah then," he barked. "Put them 'ands up, and keep 'em up. 'And oyer yer cash, and be nippy wif it. Tod bloomin® Gold to stand ere" Mrs. Grunser felt that she ought to fait. Being unicertain how to set about it she only half-closed her eyes, con- bles, even to his diamond bosc and Mads fio more protest than a mute tered, "Be careful with that, mind. It's valuable," when the high mandeéd the famous pearl nl formerly bleonging to. Marie Antoin- ette--~which adorned his wife's neck. Only when the marauder, satisfied with his haul, turned as if to depart, did the victim show signs of impatience. "Say you," he snapped. "You aren't through yer Sow about the dante with the ady?" emulator -of Tom---or Dick--Turpin. "You keép your math shut an' yi won' get "url. Nah then, Bill. W as | gbart it?" seemed so entirely seli-possessed || and practical and so completely in command of the situation that he had to the door and switched off the light béfore he pine | yeanwhile keeping up a fire of ° Bights and 'thanks so much,' and : they were in the hall shé piety, they, fairs > on talks Eg=- HH # 2% { ; = 3 : » o zis 2 A second mah, who was over-awing the postillions, a pistol in either hand, réjoined him, and together they leapt into a rge grey motar-car blocking the road in front of the chaise, and disappeared amid a whirlwind of snow. "Hullijee," muttered Mr. Grunzer be- ow his breath. "Who ever heard of ck Turpin in an automobile Makes me mad, that does" And without fur- ther comment he ordered the postil- lions to drive on. * So mad he séemed, indeed, that fora time his wile thought # wiser to say nothing. She was on the point of con- doling with him for the foolish ighor- ance of historic detail shown by Nis employees when again the chaise stop- A man on a tall black horse was it extending towards the win- dow an old-fashioned hotse-pistol. He wore a steeple-crowned hat, a black es glittered with 3 start by a whole army of reporters' n "I don't want none of Bu lip," said "SHAVING TACKLE" SUITS MOST MEN Razors and Shaving Soaps, Etc., Come Useful at All Times. No man ever owned too many reli- able razors, and when Christmas comes around with unfailing regularity he naturally expects another addition of | the safety kind to his supply. They come in plush-lined metal boxes, ac- companied by a packet of blades. A man-sized bath sponge might well top the bulging sock, hanging by the fireplace 'beside a miscellaneous col- lection of small stockings. Outside of the fun it provides {or the family, a business-like bath sponge wopld be a welcome addition to the personal pos- sessions of any man. Shaving soap in one of those quaint few wooden bowls is a delight to use, A round wooden hid fits on the bowl when not in use. Military brushes make an acceptable gift, and come in good plain designs, fitted in a'festive box. Manicure sets, cither in travelling kits or in the more elaborate plush- lined boxes, are useful and appropri- ate as gifts. Most men prefer their toilet articles to be of ebony, and to his end fhe manufacturers have turn- out umerable designs in this wood. DISCORD FELL UPON EARS OF THE DEAF The Christmas waits were doing their best to create discord in the nei ghborhood when a stranger came up to the leader and said: "Come along with me, I'll 'put you on to a good thing. Come along with me." Six men followed him obediently. They stop- ped opposite a big house apparently occupied by a wealthy man. "Here is a mon who loves music," said the stranger. "If you play for an hour or so I am sure he will give hand- somely." The waits had played themselves al- most out of breath when a policeman approached and asked the leader of the band what they were doing. "What do you mean, sir?" asked the leader. "Why man," said the policeman, laughing louder, "don't you know you are playing in front of the Deaf and Dumb Institute?" The very high, pinched-in crowns of the winter seem to be passing, and now we have a crown that is creas od, but molded very closely to the shape of the head. Tomatoes once were thought to be poisonous. PRL 1 Buring Yale Log Was a Big Event "Those Who Kiss Beneath the Mistletoe Will Never Quarrel." Christmas in the old days teemed with spells and omens and if our an- cesters faithfully observed them all they certainly deserved to have the best of luck during the coming year. Embrace as many friefids as possible beneath the mistletoe for those who kiss. beneath the Christmas mistletoe will never, quarrel. man abou time will always bring bad luck. great event. The burning of the Yule log was a It was dragged in with songs and rejoicing and placed on the fire, the larger the better, for Yule log flames'out all memories of wrongs and anger, and brought peace and good- A flat-footed wo- house during Christmas TSE its heat. None was allowed to stir the fire for fear of breaking its beneficial influence; no squinting or barefooted person was allowed to enter the room while it: was burning for this brought poverty and poor sight to the house- hold. It was thought unlucky, too, for an odd nurhber of persons to be in the room at the same time and a charred piece of the log was carefully saved and preserved in the cellar during the following year; this was an tide security against all danger of fire. Plows by Wind Power. Brightlingsea, Eng., Dec. 11.--- Sails were introduced as su sid to plowing in a soil tillers' match near here. At times the salls caught the wind and speeded up the work of (tilling the ground. However, puffs of wind blew the plow from its straight course and caused irregular furrows. . The birth rate of the United States is decreasing. The Irish Free State has imposed will to all who warmed themselves in| ® tax on bachelors. » LES oo A NN NPP Npapy WY Season's Vy 7 Our Service BONDS OF ANY 'PHONE 708. KINGSTON Are You Fully Insured ? ' service to arrange all your needs. HOUSES, LOTS, BEST LOCATION AND Kingston Agencies, Limited J. 0. HUTTON, MANAGER Greetings Is at your J ISSUE FOR SALE 67 CLARENCE STREET, - ONT. \ AAAAAAAASARIAAIAA A Addi dh A dh A A A 6 8 4 4 4 4 4 4 A AA Ass Alas had hssn hd Add db 1] AG US A SON IS BORN, ILD 'IS GIVEN, LUNTOLS | pe £730) : Net yy Ta GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER AND HIS NAME BE "CALLED WONDERFUL, COUNSEL- LOR, THE MIGHTY GOD, EVER- LASTING F PEACE." 3 ATHER; THE PRINCE OF, » bo Sa