Passing swiftly and resolutely from under the gloomy cedars through the smart. highly ornamented gate into the broad public road, with its fringe of grass and weeds, gray with dust, she turned her face westward. She was going to the Spillman cottage. Miss Malvina must tell her what her moth- er meant about ï¬nding and losing pa- pers that belonged to Tom Broxton. She would not let Miss Malvina know :about the awful things that “poor old ~crazy woman" had said to her father. Those were words that must never ï¬nd utterance a second time. They *were too dreadful. too cruel. too false. :absolutely false! And yet they haunt- ed her. Some sleek black and white .cows ï¬led past her, wending their way homeward for the night. Their gener- -ous udders hung heavy with the prom- ise of a rich yield. All of the black .and white kine used to belong to Colo- nel Broxton. No one else had their like. She could distinctly remember hearing the old colonel discourse upon the superiority of his imported Hol- ‘steins and being rallied by her father on his extravagance in keeping such a fancy breed. She wondered who the black and white cows belonged to now "Poor papa-to think of my not pro- rtectiug him better!†Dr. Govan pushed her .20me towarll the (1001'. "There, them. child, go. “-. w; are working yourself up into a condi- 70011 of absolute uselessness.†van '3†"Not unless they are a little touched themselves." â€"’l‘om. of course. The thud of rapid {hoof beats on the road behind her :made her draw still farther aside into the dusty grass and weeds. .She felt Jike hiding. “Why?†she asked herself .petuiantly. With long, clean strides. dra wing a light sulky after her as ensi- Jy as if it were a baby’s perambulator. the coionel‘s black mare sped past her. A stranger was in the sulky. A man she had never seen was driving the mare Winnie. She wondered who she :belunged to nowâ€"Tom, of course. Sick at heart. sore frightened, hating herself for even remembering that “crazy old woman’s†terrible words, she reached the Spillman gate â€and He had no difï¬culty in tracing her meaning. It was a piteous plea for faith in her father. Westover had told him of the scene he had invaded With- out revealing his own part in the pro- ceeding. But. knowing as we" as he did the old woman’s manin. :1“.- doctor had no difï¬culty in mugging the de- tails. "Oh. that will never do! I must not become useless while father needs me. I will go for a walk.†"That's right. You are a good child. See that your walk means something. 1 will be back about 10.†Ollie moved up very close to the old man and put her clasped hands on hie heart as she said pleadingly, “She is :=. lunatic. isn’t she. Dr. Govan '2†“Mad as a March hare.†“And nobody ever thinks of believing what lunatics say, do they, Dr. Go- "About that old lunatic’s visit last night? Of course he did. I saw her today. She is properly punished, poor old imbecileâ€"not punished, for she did not know what she was about. She’s about done for herself, coming up here in those thin house shoes. Malvina is pretty well broken up about it all.†She had listened to him restlessly. with a haggard look in her childish \eyes, which had great black rings around them. “Speak again? Oh, yes! He has spoken. I promise you he shall scold you roundly for those White cheeks and staring eyes before bedtime.†She waved one hand impatiently. “He must speak, doctor. There is something he must tell me beforeâ€"be- fore"â€" She gasped and added in a choked voice, “Did Clarence tell you ?†“Her distress was agitating to the patient," the old doctor had said, with paternal kindness, adding. “Since you can do no good in there, my dear,†with a grave nod toward the sickroom, “you had better brace yourself by a long walk.†"Will father ever speak again, Dr. Govan ‘2†she asked sharply. CHAPTER XIV. Stsmcxox Is CATCHING. The next day’s sun had run its course. its last friendly service being to giid with transient glory the top- most branches of the ancient cedars that flanked the front gate of the Mat- thews cottage on either side. They were wrapt in twilight gloom when Olivia opened the gate between them and stood staring down the road with unseeing eyes. Dr. Goran had just passed out of sight. He had spent nearly the Whole day with her father. She had been rigidly excluded from the sickroom. They had broken her heart by telling her that it was her fa- ther’s Wish. "He is dying. dying. and you have killed him! Father. don’t die before you have answered her! Don’t go with her awful words ringing in my ears! I know they are false, all false. father, but I want to hear you say so! Silence her yourself. rather! Sneak to me only once! Speak. papa!†“He cannot.†said the old woman mercilessly. "The Lord has stricxen his false and deceitful tongue. It is paralyzed.†9†“Papers! What papers ?" Olivia stooped and kissed the plain face lmnulsively. Miss Malvi-na turned her tear dim~ med eyes away from the dead old face to the pallid young one with startling suddenness. “I know, I know. More than once has she left you asleep and wandered out into the night. I heard her tell about it last night. Oh, it she had only lived long enough to tell me some- thing more about those papers! Why cannot I get her dreadful words out of my head?†“Yes, she knows better now. You poor.little girlâ€"to think I should have faiten so dead asleep that she could leave the house without my knowing it! I begin to suspect that she has been deceiving me for a long time. You know the in~people in her ï¬x are dreadfully sly. I did not know she had been out of the house for years. I can’t beg your pardon often enough for let- ting her worry Mr. Matthews. I knew she had a sort of unreasoning grudge against, him. Sometimes. you know. dear, theyâ€"I might as well out with it," she added in a sort of desperation, “insane folks often pick out their best friends to yilify." Miss Malvina forgot her own he- reavement in pity for the desolate young face bent over her mother's bed. She turned comforter. “Oh, no! I Wish I had! I wish 1 bad! But she was up there. I cannot tell you what she said to papa. I thought then I could never forgive her. but she knows better now, and 1 ex- pect if she could she would ask his pardon and mine too. She knows now that my dear father did not ruin Thomas Broxton. She knows that he is a good and true man. I can forgive her now. I have forgiven her.†3'“; .‘ tun-ina's shoulder, her eyes ï¬xed a N4 the dead woman’s face. She did not catch her friend’s look of startled astonishment. Her voice was drearily calm. “Yes, I know. It is very good of you. It is just like you not to want anybody to know how she talked about father. She said such dreadful things to him last night.†“Mother up to your house last night! My dear, you must have dreamed it." “I’d rather have had it so,†she said. “I wanted nobody about. Poor dear! She has not been herself for so long. She talked queerly sometimes, and I wanted no gossips about.†Olivia bowed her head in sad com- prehension. “You mean about my fa- ther.†She stood resting one hand on The lonely woman lifted her dull red eyes to Olivia’s. The girl felt a quick rush of sympathy. She wound her arms about the mourner. “Dead. and you here alone!†Miss Malviua turned and smoothed the thin gray hairs back from the mar- ble cold face on the pillows. "M11 P“ "-’ Nina, there are no papers.†With considerate caution she made her way toward the right. She did not want to disturb “the poor old lunatic.†but she must have speech with Miss Malvina. She could not rest that night without it. Yes, she found them in there. mother and daughter, the one quiet. motionless, at rest. with her long, gaunt hands lying stretched peacefully upon the white coverlet, the other sitting by the bedside weeping in noiseless resignation to the expected, weeping for her dead. Olivia swept swiftly forward and laid a hand on Miss Malvina’s arm. “Is she sick? Is she asleep ‘2†“She is dead,†said Malvina quietly. “She went very peacefully just ï¬ve minutes ago.†There was no one in the little sitting room. The great Chintz covered easy chair which she had never before seen vacant had been pushed back against the wall. Miss Malvina’s sewing ma- chine was closed, and its oilcloth cover was spread over it. The books on the table in the center of the room were rigidly correct in their stiff arrange- ment. A lamp burned dimly in the midst of them. There was a. certain air of decorous repose about the entire room which smote upon Olivia’s nerves ominously. The door to the adjoining room was ajar. A dim light shone through it. Perhaps she would ï¬nd them in there. 01' course she would. Dr. Govan had said “Mother†Spill- !nan was sick. She had forgotten it. passed timidl‘y through it and up the broken brick walk. between Miss Mal- vina’s two rows of gayly blossoming annuals, into the cottage. without knocking, for the door stood wide open. If she knocked, “Mother†Spill- man might answer. With a touch of exhausted patience Miss Malvina asked, “And the ques- tlon?†“Where are those papers ?" “How should she know. child? What “Yes." she said slowly. “she looks as lt she had found rest. I would give my life. though. to bring her back to answer me one question. There would be no guesswork about. it now. She knows. and. O dear Lord. I want to know! Just one question 1 want to ask.†Olivia was standing. with meekly folded hands. looking down upon the dead woman. How strange it all was! Less than 12 hours ago that quiet form had quivered with passion as it towered over her father’s sickbed. and those sealed lipslhnd hurled terrible accusations at him almost with their last activity. Now. if she should ofl’er up her own vigorous young life in ex- change for a single word she could not purchase it. Miss Malvina sighed wearlly and turned her eyes toward the cold. still form on the bed. There was a note of pride in her voice when she said: “Mother was always one of the terri- bly earnest sort. I used to tell her she must have some of the blood of the old Covenanters in her veins. Mother burnt out. She didn’t rust out. Poor dear! How glad she must be to have done with It allâ€"this fuming and fret- ting. I mean. Mother‘s wasn’t a happy nature. at least not here below. I hope she is now. I've told you all I know. Olivia.†“But she was so terribly in earnest last night. Miss Maivina. There must have been something more than imagi- nation in it all. But there. now. That sounds as if I were helping her to cast discredit on father.†“I told her when I went back into the house all about it. Poor mother! 1 got into the way of repeating every- thing to her. It interested her. you know. and. being queer already. she got a twist in her head about those papers. I suppose. which there is no use trying to account for." “Yes, but of course he found them again. He said that morning that he presumed he must have left them In the study at the Hall, but it did not matter much. They could not have been very important.†“But Mrs. Spillmanâ€"wherc does she come into your story?" “He told me the next dayâ€"you re- member. it was when you brought him in your phaetonâ€"tlmt he missed some papers and thought they might have dropped out when he let his bag fall." “All of which.†said Olivia stonily. “goes to prove that some papers were lost.†“I will relieve your mind as far as lies in my power. Ollie. if you will only try to stop worrying over what can‘t be cured. I was standing at our trot?~ gate the night the colonel died. hoping somebody would happen by that I could question about him. When I heard a horseman coming. I rushed out into the road with very inconsider- ate speed. 1 frightened your father’s horse. and he dropped his bag. I picked it up myself and handed it back to him." Thus adjured, Miss Malvina made reluctant confession. “Think, Miss Malvlna. Try to re- member. Andâ€"~ah, do tell me the truth, the Whole truth, no matter how sorry you may feel for me. I can stand more than you think I can. But I shall never know what peace is until my mind is relieved about those pa- pers.†“Nor any one else? Father? Don‘t you remember that morning after Colo- nel Broxton died?†A subtle change swept over Miss Malvlna’s plain face. A frightened look came into her eyes. Miss Malvina fell back upon her only line of defense. “Mother was queer, Ollie. That was the reason 1 have shut our door to all the neighbors of late. She did not know what she was talking about. There areâ€â€" Olivia interrupted her impatiently. “But did you never hear her speak of those lost papersâ€"of her ï¬nding them, I mean?†“I wish I could let it go for naught, but I cannot. I know there were some papers lost. because I distinctly re- member father asklng you if you had seen any the night of Colonel Brox- ton's death. 1 know he could not wrong any one purposely. but losing those naners may have put him in a wrong position. Help me to ï¬nd them, Miss Malvina." Olivia got up on her feet. and, fold- ing her hands tightly upon her breast, she looked down on Miss Malvina With an inexorable purpose in her sad eyes. ...~ I' 1;“ aubu- “My child.01ivia,the1e are no pa- pers. Believe me, it was all the fancy of a disordered brain. Mother was queer for a long time back. 1 have known it for a year or two. HOW could there be any papers of impor. tance to any one in this little cabin and I not know about them? Forget what you heard her say, my child. Let it go for naught. As you say, she knows better now.†“Before fatherâ€"goesâ€"and cannot tell me what toâ€"doâ€"with them.†Miss Malvina gathered her into a motherly embrace. “Too late for what, my poor little Ollie?†“Oh. it seems such a monstrous thing to come here and accuse her of cruelty when she cannot say a word in self de- fense! But. then, no more could faâ€" ther last night. She said that some- body had brought her some papers that she meant to keep until Tom came back, but that she had lost them. She said that she could not look for them in the daytime because you watched her so closely.†Here the poor child dropped on her knees and clasped her trembling hands upon Miss Malvina’s lap. “Oh, What dreadful things she said to papa about those papers! Find them for me, Malvina. Help me to ï¬nd them before it is too late." “Never." THE WATCHMAN-WARDER: LINDSAY. ONT. “And you won’t be afraid to spend the night here all alone?" “Afraid? Haven’t I spent every night or the last 30 years right here?" “Yes, but notâ€â€" “Is it mother you are thinking about? You want to know if 1 am afraid to stay here alone with mother? Oh. not She and l amused to it." would rather have us go than stay?" "Quite sure. Mrs. Lyons.†the mourner said. with ï¬rm lips. ed mortuary ministers to all defunct Mandevillians. stood drawing on their outdoor things with evident reluctance and inward resentment. It was the ï¬rst time in long years of service that they had been informed that they need not stay all night. It was unprece- dented. “You are quite sure. Malvlnn. you would rather have us go than stay?" THE TITLE DEED TO BROXTON HALL. Mr’s. Deb Lyons and Miss Laetitia Gaines. who were what might be cull- Could there be anything in all this talk about some lost papers? “Suspi- cion Is catch‘mg, I do believe.†“I am not afraid. I am coming back as soonâ€"as soon"â€" * “Yes. as soon as we have put mother away by father’s side in the little churchyard. But now go home.†She watched the small. graceful ï¬g- ure until it became invisible by reason of the twisted road and then closed her front door softly. So she said soothingly: “You can do just Whatever you choose with any- thing that is mine. Ollie. The old chair has served its purpose. I don‘t care if you pull it all to pieces. Mother. I am sure. would be the ï¬rst one to say ‘Humor her.’ Now go home. my dear. Your father may be calling for you. I Wish I hadn’t sent Jimmie Martin for Mrs. Lyons. I’ve got,no one to see you home. and it is a real dark night.†It was on Miss Malvina’s sorely tried heart to ask. “Are you. too. going daft over Thomas Broxton’s afl’airs?" but the girl's hot cheeks and shining eyes aroused her grave apprehensions. What If she should break down under the strain. with a greater ordeal ahead of her? “You don’t understand me.†Her eyes were burning feverishly. “I mean may I come back and examine that chair?†“I’ll be only too glad to have you come whenever you can spare a mo- ment from your own dear invalid.†“Thank you. my dear. for trying to be just to her.†Suddenly the girl’s eyes widened. “And that is the very chair. Promise me, Miss Malvina. promise me." she went on, with growing excitement. “that when it is all overâ€"I mean when there is nothing more to do for herâ€" you will let me come back here and"â€" “I have asked her to forgive me. I have told her that I forgive her. or course she did not know what she was saying." “Olivia, don’t you think, for my sake and yours, too. all this wild talk about a few lost papers may be dropped for the time being? It don’t seem quite respectful to her, lying there so still and helpless, with us questioning her meanings and criticising her acts. I am only asking you to wait a little while.†"Forgive me.†She slipped out of Miss Malvina's clasp and dropped on her knees by the bed. Malvina left her there. It would do her good to wrestle with herself alone. She passed into the desolate little sitting room and paused by the table with its burden of rarely used books. Ollie joined her there presently. Sobs shook the tired young frame. and Miss Malvina’s rising resentment was swept away on the tide of return- ing pity. She got up and put loving arms about the weeping girl. “Oh, now I can see you are getting angry With me! Think of it, Miss Mal- vinaâ€"my father may soon be as your mother is now. When they meet up yonder, she will know him as he is. All mistakes, all doubts, will be set to rest forever for them. But for meâ€"oh, help me to ï¬nd those papers before he leaves me! I must have them !†“Patting the chair? Mother some- times got very fervent in prayer.†“I don’t think I disturbed her,†said Ollie humbly. “I stole right away very quietly and left her patting the cLair an over with her hands outstretched." “Which I don’t doubt she was." said Miss Malvina coldly. “She was very devout. Mother prayed a great deal. I expect you disturbed her at her morn~ ing devotions.†“Ah, something else comes back to me! I feel like some one who has had a clew put into his hands, but it is so frail and delicate he is afraid to strain it for fear of losing it forever. It comes back to me when you speak of that chair. I remember one dayâ€"it was long before my garden partyâ€"I came here to see you about something. You were not here, and 1 was afraid of her. I have been afraid of her ever since I was a little child. I drew back when I saw you were not in the room and waited on the porch for you. ‘Mother’ Spillman was down on her knees before that big chair acting so queerly. I thought at ï¬rst she might be praying." Olivia drew in her breath with a quick gasp of excitement. She was too absorbed in the terrible mystery she was trying to unravel to take any note of the tired look on the plain face she was searching. would she be doing with papers that belonged to your father or to Thomas Broxton? She spent her whole waking time in that big chair. I never will be able to look at it Without bringing her back. How could she have found any papers? And, if she had, she would have. turned them over to the person they belonged to. Mother was too hon- est to trick her worst enemy. If I sound peevish and cross. child, bear in mind, that I, too, have gone through an ordeal.†H CHAPTER XV. “The title deed to Broxton Hall. made out. I suppose. by that old Eng- lishman who built the Hall and opened up the place! Butâ€â€"she had unfolded a single small sheet of paper, yellow with age, covered with writing in the small. cramped letters in vogue in the days or her remote éncestorsâ€"“what on earth '2" “The inventories! Poor. dear moth- er! She always maintained that there were inventories of the Broxton plate and jewels that Tom ought to have. My, but what a lot of it there was! Then all that talk about papers that concerned Thomas Broxton had not been the fancy of a disordered mind! Her mother had been secreting papers that belonged to the Broxton estate! With never a thought as to the ethics of the case she spread out paper after naper. mastering the character of each document with a clear, practical in- sight for details which had been her most marked mental attribute always. She stooped to repair the mischien she had done. A package of papers had fallen out of the drawer. She was sure she had never seen them before. With a frightened cry she gathered them into a parceL A long envelope, soiled and unaddressed. had fallen out with the papers. Hastlly replacing the drawer and reverently folding the old cover away in the closet. she carried the package nearer to the lamp for ex- amination. With a strange sense of reluctance upon her she drew a chair up to the table and carefully manipu- lated the lamp. She was dallying with the moments. She was sure her moth- er had never made any use of that drawer. This package would prove to be a lot of worthless old papers left over from the days of her father's oc- cupancy. The ï¬rst paper which her trembling ï¬ngers unfolded settled that point forever. “To think I should have forgotten the old drawer! Mother must have crisscrossed someof these strings about It to keep it in place." With a skillful jerk she drew the cover from~its loosened moorings. A loud noise accompanied the act. It startled her. coming so unexpectedly upon the solemn stillness. The old drawer had fallen out once more. Later, when the Rev. Mr. Spillman had been transferred to a world where there was neither writing nor preach- ing of sermons. the chair had become identiï¬ed completely with her mother. But the drawer, which had been voted a family nuisance when subject to careless masculine handling. had never played any part in latter days. “Moth- er" Spillman had long ago carried into eï¬â€˜cct her threat to ï¬x it so it should cease from troublingâ€"how. Malvina had never thought to notice. “Yes." she said. rising to her feet after conquering the last knot. “I‘d rather never see this old slip cover again. Every flower in it would set me to thinking about mother. and that won't be good for me.†The old armchair was very intimate- ly associated with her life. As a child she had watched her father’s pen trav- eling patiently by the hour over the pa- per spread upon the little shelf attach- ed to its right arm. She had a vague recollection of a mysterious drawer. lo- cated somewhere under the ample seat, which had an inconsiderate habit of tumbling out of its socket at the 111051: unexpected moments. scattering its contents in the most unseemly fash- ion. Many a time had it compelled her to go down on her knees to recover the disjecta membra of the next Sunday’s sermon. Pushing all the, other papers aside. Kneeling before the old chair, she set about unti‘lng the numerous tapes that kept the slip cover in place. Many a knot was rendered all the more refrac- tory by the tears she dropped upon it. “I believe I’d rather have the plain black horsehair showing anyhow. It is more in keeping with a funeral,†she said and went to work. “I might as well do it now as at any other time. It will help me through with my lonely vigil. It is a simple act of justice to you, mother. I am go- ing to put that wild notion about those papers to rest. I can’t bear to have other hands searching among your things, though I did promise that poor unhappy child she might. You know it I: not I that am mlstrustlng you. moth- er, dear, and I think you are well pleased to have me clear your name from the suspicion of hiding papers that did not belong to you.†With this apology to her dead for what she was about to do she returned to the sitting room. The gay chintz covered chair had been pushed back against the wall. She advanced to- ward it resolutely. “I wanted to bring them myself,†she said, lifting heavy eyes to Miss Malvina, “so that you should feel very sure that all the hardness had gone out of my heart. 1 could not stay at home. Father still refuses to let me come into his room. I wanted some- thing to do, so I came.†Then she had flitted out into the darkness again. a lonely, pathetic ï¬gure. Malvina stood pondering, not the flowers, but the act she had resolved upon. After that there was nothing to do but to leave her alone with her dead. The clock was striking 10 as Miss Malvina turned the key in her front door, shutting out all intruders eï¬fec- tually. Lifting the lamp from the cen- ter table, she passed with it into her mother’s presence. Clasped in the fold- ed hands Were some flowers that Oliv- ia had come back to bring as a peace offering. “Yes; some things are different It is not a very far cry to your house or to Mrs. Lyons’ either, Letty, if I should need anybody, and you have both been awfully kind.†“Yes; but. Malvina, you know it is different now.†Miss Laetitia gave a little gasp and glanced toward the room for Whose passive tenant she and Mrs. Lyons had done everything decently and in or- der. “So then there were some hidc documents. Any importance, do I suppose?" .. In life she had helped the world to cast discredit upon her mother. To shield Horace Matthews she had Puâ€1 naught her mother‘s words. In dead] she would make reparation. so far 35 was possible. Westover turned an “n' comprehending stare from the old P" DEPS to the plain. twitching face 119°†which the lamp cast uncanny shade§-_ Miss Malvina flung back the lid 01 the big Bible and revealed the papers “There are the papers my mother spoke about.†“Spare yourself. Miss Spillmnn. ‘ beard every word she said to Mr. 113" thews last night.†“Yes, poor old lady! She was re unsparlng. dreadfully caustic. llu‘ course It went for nothing. We knew. don’t you know.†Miss Malvina stood with her hands resting reverently on the big Bible. He hoped she was not going to ask him to read a portion of Scripture with be!- That would be too much for his nerves As it direct contact with the book bf“? brought strength to her. Miss Mama? suddenly lost all that timid nervous- ness which possessed her whonew she came in contact with this elegant rather haughty young fellow. who made her “feel like a milkmaid f“ clumsiness.†This man as Oliv‘a‘s afï¬â€˜ anced husband and the owner of 31’0†ton Hall had a much better right w she had to know about that particuw paper. She entered abruptly upon the task she had set herself. “I don’t know that you ever heard 0‘ It. Mr. Clarence. but my poor mother had a mania" ' “Aboutâ€"aboutâ€"some papers things ?†“Certainly, anything I can do." he said. palitely enough. but he lookedi trifle bored. He was not devoid- of kindly feelings. but really the “queg old party who had just shufliod off $215 mortal coil and the unbeautiful spw ster upon whom he had intruded :3 search of Olivia" had never appefJef very strongly to the aesthetic side a him. “Don’t go yet. please. Mr. Clarena It looks as It Providence had sent 503 here on purpose tonight. I have a it vor to ask of you.†He added an incongruous featumm Miss Malvina’s decorous little si ' room with his high bred race and fast- iouable garb. As long as Olivia was not there to be fetched home be had better be going. He offered some can ready made condolences and turned to ward the door. Malvina stopped his with a pleading look. ‘Well. you see. it was this way: erything was so peaceful and quiet ' ï¬rst part of the night that I fell in sound sleep. When I waked up“ ï¬rst words I caught made me hes: to go In. I was afraid of making ters worse and supposed she would away without any harm coming of“ I was afraid of adding to Mr. 315:4 thews’ excitement by revealing '3 presence at that hour of the nig‘r. Things were considerably mixed 3;. you see.†it. “I am sorry you were not watch enough to keep her from annoying} Matthews the other night. I’m dre fully sorry. as much on Ollie's accm as anybody else’s." “Thank you. Mother was in] years, and she was ready to go.†“Yes, exactlyâ€"perfect Christian all that sort of thing, I suppose.†“Oh, it Is all right. I presumes: went home by the lane. and 1 mm her by coming around the 10:; “21 I suppose she has shut herself tpj her own room. The old man 5:115 fuses to admit her to his room. a: it made her restless. Reuben saidsi told him she was going to bring some flowers. I am awfully son-M you, Miss Malvina." “The title deed to Brorton Haw†Clarence Westover stood our Her ï¬rst thought was of the lam: “Why, Mr. Clarence, is be gone?†“I have come to take Olivia home “Olivia! Why, she isn’t here†“Not here? Then where?†He stepped inside with the mg, He was a young man who com resented being taken unawares. . . "‘“ unerq “Thls, then, 18 wha: meant when she said that BM Hall could not be sold; that 8h? going to put Tom in the Way or ting It back. Why, Mr. “795“)ng is not worth a shoe bUttoa 1% see it all now. She kept her‘ from me for fear I would mm papers straight to Mr. Matti which is just what I should do only"â€" A sudden knock on her from brought her to her feet With in She opened the big family Bib] the table and swept the papemh for concealment. “It was DCon‘ Mrs. Deb and Letty come bai spite of. her.†She opened the with an unwelcominz smile, “Yes. dreadfully mixed up. I knot‘ . iat ‘ der the lamp and, With homes! planted on the table, co 51‘ n ‘ every.taculty of her bmincen‘i Finally, with a deep sigh of attention, she leaned back in L re“ (To be continued.) But 0t iddeI ) 5'0.