6 The Mystery OF Carney-Croft By JOSEPH BROWN COOKE (Copyright, 1907, bj Story-Press Corporation.) CHAPTER XlV.—Continued. "Under an awning, back of a venti lator, making voilent love to Miss Car ney of Carney-Croft!" gurgled Miss Weston in a tone of waggish softness. How are we to address you in the future, my dear: 'The Rev. Mrs. Simp kins,' or 'Mrs. Rev. Simpkins,' or what, pray?" "Wasn't he awful, Nan!" cried Miss Carney, laughing heartily. "And did you hear him saying good-by to the steward as we were coming into the dock?" Turning to me she explained. "The chief steward was quite deaf and the reverend gentleman grasped him fer vently by the hand and, rolling his eyea to heaven, said earnestly: 'Good-by, steward, good-by! 1 hope we may meet again; if not on earth perhaps in the home above!' 'Eh! eh!' cried the steward, putting his fiand to his ear. 'Wot line are ye goin' by?' "How sailors do dislike to have cler gymen on shipboard!" said Mrs. Ran dolph, in a conventionally apologetical tone as if, in her character of chape rone, she must be properly shocked at the levity of Miss Carney's narrative; but our merriment was too real to be subdued by a look, and at length she gave up entirely and laughed as heart ily as the rest at the cleverly told lit tle anecdote. "There must be some reason for it," said Miss Weston with a chuckle, and (hen she added roguishly: "The cap tain said we were lucky to get home at all with such a 'delegation of dom inies' on board to enrage the ele ments and drive the officers to sui cide!" By this time the customs inspector had finished with the hand luggage and Miss Carney, foMowed by the others, made her way to the end of the pier to the carriage I had provided for their use, leaving her maid to look after the trunks and heavier pieces of baggage. "You must come, too," she insisted, as I was about to close the door of the brougham. "You know, Martha was born and brought up in New York and she can attend to the trunks and find her way to the hotel tvithout the slightest difficulty. Besides," she con tinued, as I obediently took the vacant place opposite her, "I want to see you, and talk to you, and hear some good 'United States' spoken again." Her eyes fairly sparkled and her expression of vivacity made her face radiant. "There are so many things I want to ask," she went on, "that I don't know where to begin, except that you must tell me the very earliest minute that we can start for home." "Any minute you wish," I replied, laughing. "The place is ready and waiting for its mistress." • "Why, how did you ever manage to do it all so soon?" she exclaimed in unfeigned delight. Then, turning to Mrs. Randolph, she continued: "Mr. Ware is one of the most wonderful men in the world! He must be descended from the genii of old, for I can hardly express a wish to him before it is ful filled. How did you do it, Mr. Ware?" "It wasn't a very difficult task, Miss Carney," 1 replied, with becoming mod esty. "You see, being on the spot, as I was, I could direct the work to so much better advantage, and —" "Why! were you there yourself?" she exclaimed in amazement; and then, turning her face away, a faint flush, scarcely visible at first, crept slowly up from her cheeks until it was lost under the little ringlets of soft brown hair that nestled about her ears and forehead. My heart seemed to rise in my throat for an instant, and then began to beat so violently that its throbblngs became somewhat audible as I said, somewhat sheepishly: "Yes, 1 was there all the time. I went expecting to stay only a day or 80, but there were so many things to be attended to that I stayed on and let the time goto my vacation." "It couldn't have been much of a vacation," she exclaimed, regaining her composure in an instant, "and I don't intend that you shall be treated so shabbily. Mrs. Randolph, won't you please ask Mr. Ware to visit us at Carney-Croft for a fortnight after we got settled? If he makes any excuses I will order him to come in his profes sional capacity. You see, you can't escape us if ycu would," she laughed, and the matter was settled. When we reached the hotel Miss Carney insisted on my ramaining to luncheon, explaining that she wished to talk over some business matters with me in the afternoon. It was a merry quartette that as sembled around the table in the din ing-room of Miss Carney's apartments, and my memory naturally carried me hack to my first luncheon with her, over three years before. The anxious, tearful expression of the past had given way to a countenance beaming with vivacity, health and peace with all the world, aud her soft, ruddy com pfextrm, brightened by the voyage across the Atlantic, enhanced, if such a thins were possible, the glorious beauty of her face. We chattered in a delightfully un conventional way until luncheon was over and then Mrs. Randolph tactfully left us to ourselves to discuss business matters in the sitting-room, while Miss Weston, who was the very antithesis of Miss Carney by reason of her ill health and frail constitution, retired for her usual afternoon nap. The moment we were alone Miss Carney's levity and frivolity left her, and, motioning me to a seat by her side, she plunged at once into the con sideration of a mass of details con cerning Carney-Croft and its affairs. Suddenly she surprised me by asking pointedly: "Why did you remain at Carney- Croft longer than you had firs.t in tended? Was it solely to superintend the opening of the house or was it for gome other reason?" This question, put to me so ingen uously, could be answered only with the utmost frankness, and I said earn estly: "There was another reason, Miss Carney, and an important one." Then I told her the whole story, as far as its practical features were con cerned, but avoided, t as much as pos sible, the recital of any unnecessary details. "So you think this will all be stop ped, now that you know who the ring leaders are?" she asked, anxiously. "I am sure that it will," I replied, more positively than my true feelings warranted. "There has been no more of it since we learned who wrote the notes and it looks as if Jenks and this Druce woman were going to keep the affair entirely to themselves. Besides, thr new house the widow has is much better than the old one, and she has considerably more land than before. She ought to be perfectly satisfied "There Are So Many Things I Want to Ask." with her present situation and stop her performances, if only for her own sake." "But about their getting in and out of the house whenever they want to?" queried Miss Carney. "Don't you think it is rather dangerous to have any such mysteriously hidden entrance en tirely unknown to us? Might they not get in again, while we are there, and take things or do something of that sort?" "Oh, no!" I replied, reassuringly "You may be certain they won't do that. If they had wanted to steal they'd have done it long ago, when they had the place to themselves. I think they had a key that opened one of the doors, and I've had new locks put all over the house. They couldn't get in now if they tried." "What was said in the notes?" asked Miss Carney. "I wish you had saved them. I should have enjoyed seeing them, I know." "Oh, nothing of any consequence," I replied, hastily. "Just a few words warning me not to allow you to return and expressed in regulation penny dreadful style. The whole thing was crudely and awkwardly done and I am sure we have heard the last of it." "I hope we have," she rejoined, earnestly. "I am very, fond of Carney- Croft, aud, while I don't believe in ghosts, and shouldn't fear them if I did, 1 cannot say that 1 fancy the idea or having human prowlars about the place. I know that we can get rid of them sooner or later, but I trust they won't cause us any annoyance at all." "I said what I could to reassure her, and, as I was going away, she offered her hand and held mine while she said softly: "You have been very thoughtful of my Interests and happiness, Mr. Ware, and I appreciate it more than I can tell you." The pressure of her fingers tighten ed for an instant and made the blood course through my veins until my whole body tingled and my breath seeiucd to catch in my throat, i mum CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 1907. bled a commonplace reply, and pulled myself together with an effort in or der to avoid making my exit like a boy in his 'teens. Before I reached my office, however, I had convinced myself that Miss Car ney's behavior was due only to her .simple, unaffected, generosity or dis position, coupled with her delight at returning home, and that I was no more than a conceited ass in attach ing any other significance to it. CHAPTER XV. A New Victim. "Good morning, Mr. Ware!" ex claimed Miss Carney, as I made a somewhat tardy appearance at the breakfast table not long after my ar raival at Carney-Croft in acceptance of Mrs. Randolph's invitation. "What report has the bold Nirnrod to-day? Are wo to have game for dinner to morrow, sir?" "Not so much as the report of a gun," I replied, as I dropped into my seat. "I only flushed one bird and he flew straight Into foliage so dense that I couldn't get a ghost of a sight on him—" "We don't mind, so long as we don't get a sight of a ghost some dark night, do we, Nan?" laughed Miss Carney. "Besides. I've ordered some partridges from town and we won't be disappointed in our dinner, either! You should be very grateful to me for saving the day for you, sir!" "You might save my reputation, too, if you would only remark casually, as the game is served, that I have been out shooting every morning since I came," I suggested with a smile. "I believe you are to have guests to morrow." "Yes," she returned with provoking gravity, "but it's to be the rector and his wife. I would do a great deal for you, as you know, but in such highly moral company you are asking too much!" "Speaking of ghosts, Mr. Ware," said Miss Weston, whose assumption of interest and good spirits was scarce ly in keeping with her wanly glistening eyes and Ihe pale, emaciated, hectic ex pression of her face, "you seem to have these Carney-Croft wraiths most de cidedly under your control. You have laid them, in a word, haven't you?" "There certainly have been no un canny doings since wa've been here," cried Miss Carney in a bantering tone. "I don't really believe that Mr. Ware ever laid a ghost in his life, my dear. He has just been trying to tease us all the time!" "I think Dr. MacArdel had more to do with it than I," I replied gravely. "He engineered the whole campaign against them and is entitled to all the credit of putting an end to their per formances." "Did you say that a woman was the leading spirit in all this niysterious af fair?" asked Miss Weston, with inter est. "Yes," I returne# "and a most mild mannered woman, too. You never would imagine that she could be cap able of originating such a startling plot. It really was quite exciting while it lasted." "I wonder if I saw her the other day," continued Miss Weston. "Was it the gentle-faced, motherly old soul who lives in the new house over by the orchard?" "The very one," I replied, laughing. "And this same motherly old soul, as you call her, can be as self-contained and tragic as you please when occasion requires. She ought to be 011 the stage, I assure you." "Why, what did she do that was so tragic?" they exclaimed in a breath, and Miss Carney continued, reproving ly: "You couldn't have told us the whole story, I'm sure. Please give us the tragic part of it at once, Mr. Ware." (TO BE CONTINUED.) MAKING TILE CEMENT. It Is Easy Work When the Knack Mai Been Learned. It is surprising how fast one may make tile when once the knack is learned. Make a half dozen little troughs two feet long inside and three Inches deep if you are to make a three-inch tile, and four Inches deep for four-inch tile. These are quickly nailed together and are begun like No. Forms for Making Cement TMe. 1 in the illustrations, and completed to look like No. 3. No. 2 shows a trough or mold that has a half inch of cement and sand laid over its in side and the tin form in place ready to cover with the same material. After the six are filled, the first one may be set hard enough to turn out on some straw to fill again, says Farm and Home. But the tin lining must not be withdrawn until it i 3 hard.v One needs a large number of the tins, which can be made out of second-hand tin roof or any tin or stovepipe. They must be Just two feet long so they will fit into the | troughs. To make them rapidly, "select a sound pole and saw off six feet of it where it is three inches thick. Then nail legs to one end and at a point two and one-half feet from the other end. This leaves a horse that has a horn projecting on which the tin may be readily malleted. Shave the horse flat on top between the legs, to work on. First cut the sheet two feet long and putting the edges together, mallet it together through the middle lengthwise. Then spring it open on the horn and round it over so it will lap well at the top. It must not be riveted because it is to be sprung to take it out when the tile is hard. The | tin is shown completed at No. 4 and , the horse at No. 5. The new tile must dry and season slowly so it will not check. To ac complish this sprinkle ocasionally with water. I prefer tile that is tri angular in shape inside as it runs a deep current of water when laid edge down and is less likely to clog and fill. If used in soil that works Into the tile a little form may be cast to place over each joint or flat stones may be used. CORN ROOT APHIS. Treatment Which Will Secure Protec tion Against the Pest. As a means of replying to very many requests received for full and precise directions for the treatment of seed corn as a protection against injury by the corn root aphis, the Illi nois state entomologist, Dr. S. A. Forbes, has prepared the following careful directions. The quantities mentioned are sufficient to treat the seed corn necessary to plant about 45 acres. If a larger or smaller acreage is to be planted, each can easily figure the necessary amount for himself. 1. Mix one pint of pure oil of lemon with one gallon of denatured alcohol or wood alcohol. 2. Put one bushel of seed corn into a tub or half a barrel, or similar vessel large enough to allow vigorous stir ring of the corn. 3. Measure out one and a half pints of the mixture of oil of lemon and alco hol. 4. Slowly sprinkle this mixture on the corn, at the same time stirring the latter vigorously with a stout paddle or stick. Do not let the oil collect at the bottom of the vessel for lack of stirring and thorough mixing. Stir vigorously until the oil is well distrib uted. It should not take five minutes to prepare a bushel of seed. 5. Put Ihe corn thus prepared into a grain sack and it is ready to take to the field for planting. Keep this sack in the shade. 6. Do not prepare more than can be planted in a half a day, unless it is convenient to return to the crib at noon. Certified Milk, Certified milk is as clean as it is possible to make it, it is free from objectionable bacteria in quantities sufficient to do any harm and it is of uniform quality. To produce certi fied milk the animals must be healthy nnd clean, the premises must bo clean, the utensils must be sterilized and every one who works with the milk must have clean hands &.no Improve at once, regained my twenty-live pounds of flesh and wont some beyond my usual weight. 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