The Centre reporter. (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, September 09, 1920, Image 3

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    Copyright by George H. Doran Co.
CLIFFORD S.
RAYMOND
Illustrated by
a SO Soe,
ALCOTT'S STORY.
Synopsis. — Dr. John Michelson,
just beginning his career, becomes
resident physician and companion
of Homer Sidney at Hartley house.
Mr. Sidney is an American, & seml-
Tuvalid, old and rich and very de-
sirous to live. Mrs. Sidney Is a
Spanish woman, dignified and reti-
cent. Jed, the butler, acts like a
privileged member of the family.
Hartley house is a fine old isolated
country place, with a murder story,
a “haunted pool," and many watch-
dogs, and an atmosphere of mys-
tery. The “haunted pool” Is where
Richard Dobson, son of a former
owner of Hartley house, had killed
his brother, Arthur Dobson. Jed
begins operations by locking the
doctor in his room the very first
night. Docter John fixes his door
so he can't be locked in. He meets
Isobel, daughter of the house, and
falls in love at first sight, In the
night he finds the butler drunk and
holding Mrs. Sidney by the wrist
He interferes, Mrs. Sidney makes
light of it. John buys a revolver.
overhears Jed telling Mrs.
Sidney he will have his way. In
reply she says she will not hesitate
to kill him. Mrs. Sidney asks John
to consent to the announcement of
his engagement to Isobel The
young people consent to the make-
believe engagement. Later they
find it is to head off Jed, who
would marry Isobel. Jed tries to
kill John, but the matter Is
smoothed over. John, though “en-
gaged" to Isobel, conceals his love.
Mr. Sidney visits a prison
and has Dobson, the nurderer,
pointed out. Jed tells the story of
the Dobson murder. The family go
south for the winter and John ls
lonesome,
John
near
CHAPTER VIi—Continued.
— —
Dr. Brownell suggested
trip to the South.
ity needed careful nursing, It was im-
portant to protect him from
rigors, even as they could be modified
in a sickroom. The doctor said
himself felt the need of a change,
prescribed one for both
and himself.
the arrangements,
Isobel were to go,
Arrangements
and a sense of
within me.
accounting.
the winter
he
He
his patient
Mrs. Sidney
went ahead rapidly,
desolation increased
Romantic folly came to its
lived happily ever after.”
The yacht cam ip to its mooring
and lay the landing a :
while the provisior r was being eared
for. Hundreds of of Mr. §
ney's fine wines put
for the unspeakable Jed
by wi
on board--
were
Isobel was eagerly
Sidney, 1
be resigned,
thought,
with
Doctor Brownell
ing me an Ir
I =}
thought It import
ne Yov:
did not go
but he
ave heen
efficiency that he conserve his strength
a ale ol
ISKOG
over the winter, and be
act as one of his as<istants
That was flattery. It
to be so.
Mrs. Sidney the
fered me the real balm.
“John” she “we shall want
vou with us. We shall miss you."
“Don't you think, Sidney,” 1
suggested, “that now we ean consider
this fiction terminared?”
“You mean your engagement to Iso-
bel 7
“Surely.”
“No, please” she said. “On the
boat there will be.no problems. The
commutity 1s too compact and must
be considerate. But
back. I'll need you just as hefore.”
Isobel sald:
*“Good-hy, John.
when we return.
person I want
I ought not to have heen so diseon-
These were falr portents, but
fn portent does little to console a loss,
was intended
was one who of:
said,
Mrs,
when we come
Be nt the landing
You'll be the first
to see”
solnte,
the river.
below
down
disappeared
the yacht
when (it
go
had
world wae sad and life had no
pects to give It value
Charles drove me to the city. I was
a hit of human driftwood for a week,
It did not matter that they were com-
ing back. They were gone; that was
the disaster. It was in the present;
the future lz ton ainbiguous for conso-
lation or comfort,
I went through a winter of ecstatic
distress, trying to be efficient in my
discharge of professional Juties for
Doctor Brownell and to be profession.
ally composed in aspect and mind. 1]
had an anguished delight in my experi-
ences. My loneliness was my moot
acute pain and my most cherighed
comfort. 1 did not want to profane
the emotional solemnity of so much
unhappiness by subjecting it frequent.
ly to the banal touch of sociable life
in the ordinary, It was a joy to be
profoundly unhappy.
I had letters from the enchanted
party in the South. Mrs. Sidney wrote
twice a week with great affection, Mr,
Sidney once a week dictated to Jed a
letter. cordial and jocular, for me, Ocl
ecacionnlly Jed added a sheet for him.
self, kindly or rusping as the mood
had him at the time,
fgobel also wrote, but with the great.
eccentricity. While they were at
1m Beach I had a letter a day from
.
pros.
her for four days. Then I had none
for two weeks, although they remained
at Palm Beach, She made the post-
man a rragedian for me.
In one letter this virginal imp wrote
as If I were her lover, and that letter
was ns the song of the meadow lark
from a snow-covered fleld in March,
as the odor of lilaés on a warm night
in May.
The Sidneys went to the Bahamas,
but did not remain there, They wrote
me that Mr. Sidney was well. Doctor
Brownell was convinced that all were
the better, himself included, for thelr
experiment and that Mr, Sidney's com
dition would permit a longer voyage in
his pleasant circumstances. Conse.
guently they were going on to South
America. Mr, Sidney wanted to revisit
Montevideo.
From Montevideo I had a letter from
Jed In a different tone from his sarcas-
tic banter and taunting. I thought It
was the letter of a man who had suf-
tered a shock. I could not say why I
thought so, but I thought something
had disturbed him, I gathered the
view of life.
Early in March came letters saying
that my folks shortly would be on their
way home, to arrive after our uncer-
tain spring had resolved itself securely
temperatures. I then felt invogorated,
as by a promise in March of hepatica.
My winter was breaking up.
I met an old-time acquaintance, a
South America. His name was Alcott,
Henry Alcotl.
Alcott and I never had been Intimate
or affectionate, but we greeted each
other with ardor. I was lonesome, Al-
There Is a lone-
gomeness associated with a return to
you and
receives you as an alien.
We had dinner together and enjoyed
our meeting. There was furtively, at
dinner, a reminiscent In
his conversation, It suggested that he
amativeness
might relate If his restraints were
broken down.
He had a talent
stories. They gained
nality in his tellis f them. 1
record of half the
erica
for merely carnal
additional car-
Alcot
for
oat
gusto,
two years,
The one
As he tol
trying to convey
venture
his own gdventu
A man named
but it
yvthing
ig be
America,
and merely told the story because
it was a standardized episode-—this
man Sinclair, an Englishman or a man
from the States, a fairly young man,
anyway, find attractive, had fallen In
love with a most charming young woin-
an of excellent family.
Alcott could not remember whether
this little episode had been staged in
Rio or Vaiparaiso or Buenos Aires or
where,
“It might have been in Montevideo,”
he sald. He did not emphasize the re.
mark. but the remark subsequently em-
phasized the story for me,
Sinclair—Alcott thought we might as
well agreg upon Sinclair as a name—
had come out of somewhere or
where and had made a great deal of
money, When he fell in love, he was
an advantageous match. The parents
accepted him gladly.
Sinclair and the young lady were
married, but he did not have the Latin
genius for isolating and guarding a
Neither did he have the
genius for completely Interesting and
absorbing a woman, He was in the
shipping business, He was a very prac.
in South
he
no-
woman,
cott had heard, a genial and jovial man
nevertheless,
Lovers came, as lovers will. The
lady was too charming and had too
much freedom, She was innocent and
guileless, but her husband was not the
barrier needed. Alcott sald he thought
she was of noble sort and was betrayed
by her idea that human beings had
character.
He was not precise as to the dilem-
ma she had entered, how or why she
entered it. A man of reputation for
discreet gallantry, a handsome man of
attractive culture, was encouraged by
her frank and unchilled attitude to-
ward him to try a desperate measure,
There was a designing servant in the
house, The lover corrupted the serv-
ant and was introduced into the house.
The husband was supposed to be away
on a business trip. He came back
ahead of time, as husbands sometimes
do, and stopped at his club before he
went home,
A friend of the lover saw him and,
knowing what was being essayed at
the man's home, was aghast. He In-
duced other friends of the lover to try
to detain the husband on one jovial
pretext or another while he communi.
cated with the house, Ie was unsue-
cessful in his attempt to use the tele
a
phone. The other men were unsuccess-
ful in thelr attempt to detain the hus-
band, The friend began a race with
the husband to reach the house. Un-
luckily for him. the cab he took not
only was pulled by the faster horse,
but, he being conscious that it was a
race and the husband being uncon-
scious of {t, his driver had reasons
given him for speed.
It was unfortunate for the friend,
because there was a tragedy later, aud
he was its victim. He arrived in time
to warn the lover. The lady, appalled
by the appearance of the lover, aghast
to consider that she had been thought
so unworthy as to attract these atten-
tions, and suffering from a confusion
called her servants, but had
compromised to assert her self-respect
and recall her lover's reason,
In a turmoil of abasing emotions she
friend destroyed
announcement,
all composure by his
The lover went In
stantly out of a window. The friend.
having his own dignity of Innocence,
would not compromise his self-respect
in this fashion. The husband arrived
upon a scene which could not be ex-
plained,
forts nt control, was In hysteria
friend's presence was
Arrangements made
honor, The friend was
were to
ly satisfactory to the outraged h
band.
us-
man dead, a husband satis.
fled, the wife absolved by the romantic
wronged
ficed himself, that in the transaction he
Fg —— AY
—
if >
nn
As He Drank More He Made
Personal.
Them
entirely gulltiess—and the guilty lover
gone scot-free. * But the servant Knew,
Tremendous possibilities in this, Alcott
thought.
I felt sick.
incidental remark:
“It might have been Montevideo”
——
CHAPTER VIL
It may seem unreasonable that a
different acquaintance, bad started a
solvent at
am discussing, now, matters 1
Things at Hartley had insisted upon
an explanation which I did not want to
find or give,
I could not kill a curiosity, although
I was shamed by it. I felt indecent in
my almost involuntary conjectures re
garding Mrs. Sidney. Circumstances
did demand an explanation. No one
could perceive the strange facts of the
house and not speculate as to their
cause. It might be unpleasant to do
so, but it was Impossible not to do so,
The predominating fact, however, was
that my folks were coming home, and
I knew that my affection for Mrs, Sid.
ney had become a sacrament and my
affection for Isobel a tragedy,
The yacht brought these dear people
to the landing in the river at Hartley
house. I, in the city, was called on
the telephone by Ieobel. There was a
dynamic value in the Inspiration of her
volee. She was, in her greeting, cheery
and wholesome, It was a glad, clean
“Hullo "crisp and jovial
My people came home in May, and
the day after their arrival I went to
Hartley house with my belongings, re-
jolcing, In an ecstasy, to take the well
known ride into the wonderful world
of fancy and endeared companionship,
by the haunted pool and into the jovial
household,
Jed, 1 knew as soon as I saw him,
was changed-——not violently but In
some fashion and perceptibly. Mr, Bid.
ney was not. His geniality could not
change, He made me feel that he had
missed me and was rejoiced to see me
again. Mrs. Sidney seemed, spiritually,
to continue to lean on me for support,
an thing that 1 perceived in abasement
and with a sense of unworthiness and
unreliability, Isobel was as whole
some as the alr, In the most pleasant
circumstances life was resumed at
Hartley house,
Jed had not wholly lost his trucu.
lence and his occasional flashes of
malevolence, but he was subdued, 1
thought he seemed furtive,
I nsked Mrs, Sidney If she had ob.
served a change, She sald it Rad not
occurred to her to think of It as a
change, but there had been a differ-
ence for which she was grateful. She
remembered that when they were mak-
ing thelr visit to Montevideo Jed had
gone down to the docks and had come
back obviously disturbed. Bhe had ob-
served the fact without giving much
thought to it. She was not sure but
that there had been an amelioration of
Jed since then, She had regarded the
event as Insignificant. It might have
had a meaning, but if so, it was ob-
scured,
Our days were of pleasant routine,
but nevertheless, for reasons which
not explicit, the expectation was
touched by dread, We had, for sev-
eral months, no outstanding incident
or disturbing happening. Mr, Sid-
ney's health remained exceptionally
good, He ecrented a new Interest in
his life: he had not forgotten his visit
to do what he could for the convicts,
Evidently he thought of his restrict.
life as something not wholly allen,
except for its comforts, to theirs. The
he to send
occasionally to prepare a
Sunday afternoon program of music
to be given by a small orchestra which
he had brought out from the city. He
never back to penitentiary,
but once a week Jed or I drove over,
and he was Interested in our accounts.
Jed
fine
Some
ed
that
books and
most could do was
went the
was beginning
aspects
to wear off the
good behavior.
ambition tortured this
man, and some power he had not com-
pletely used invited him to make full
use of it.
I had
form
of his
restioss
Mrs. Sidney to
if he he
1 understood
implored
instantly
in-
me oh-
ame
how ime
of mind, but I thoughi{ 1 had the
hand of Jed-—although not
all—-and could
peace
i un-
120}
sued
that
ridiculous
el, knowing
by the
man, found am
found only moral
che was pur-
s cmbitions of
isement In it. 1
I eould
the
nausen.,
twice a week I was awakened by his
singing In the hallway as he came from
wns
expecting
something
something to |
but it
what 1 expe
the
ante + and
appen: ang
did, was certainly
not
a new phase of
{ine
Jed
is soher
was
but a perfect
was demanded
serious apd den
{
ht he between Je i AL
the matter lay |
8
wh ny HOW
1
ns servant and served, Jed
Therefore, no
stand
rning at an early he
d and me
was the servis
ter how thing
when, in the n
nt
s might with
gested, 1
my coffee, and he always did
It was my habit to
o'clock and be dressed and
by half-past seven, 1
read a book until Jed brought the cof.
paper. It
luxurious and restful experience
have this hour each day.
This morning in question I was read.
ing plucidly when looking out the win
I was startled to a strange
the lawn. He was
to the house, almost under my
window, and 1 even could see that he
He had a handkerchief
expected him to come
with
arise at seven
in this
usually
wos a
dow,
see
1 thought he was Span
and I thought he was a sailor,
ish,
He was
the
for me later.
was looking up at
interested but
one would
said, if the wholly unexpected nature
of his presence had not been in Itself
significant,
Men wearing were not so
common of sight ns fo allow one wear
mg them to Strangers
of kind ofr way.
him
and
in an
harmlessly,
identified
passiy ©
house
earrings
be unnoticed,
any geldom came
nary.
dowa
He was looking up at the win.
if he sought the answer
something that had interested if not
mystified him. 1 knew, In every in
stinet, that he had not come in by
chance but by design.
I was looking. leaning forward, at
this strange phenomenan on the lawn
as 0
china gave me n shock,
had not heard entering—had seen over
my shoulder the stranger on the lawn
and had dropped the coffee tray.
“You knew that man and you
wanted to kill him.”
(TO BE CONTINUBD.)
Don't Read When Drowsy.
To read or study when tired or
drowsy Is to strain the eyes to a dan.
gerons degree, writes W, M, Carhart
in Public Health, Avoid evening
study © henever possible, If you are
using your eyes by artificial light, be
sure the light does not shine directly
Into the eyes, and try to have it come
from behind and to the left side so as
to avoid the harmful glare
Pastel Shades for Warm Weath-
er—Pale Green Coolest.
A———
Colors Play Most Important Part in
Milady’'s Comfort on Hot Mid.
summer Days.
it 1s rather maddening to
told how cool we look on a hot
summer day, when we are feeling
quite the opposite, after the first In-
dignation has worn off the remark Is
ept to have a psychological effect that
| actually mokes us feel cooler, points
| out a fashion correspondent.
| And, after all, it is a very big com-
pliment to be told that we look cool
| when the weather makes such an ap-
| pearance almost Impossible, for what
| Is less attractive than any one who is
obviously hot?
Cool colors and cool fabrics go a
| long way toward making a cool sum-
| mer. This Is evidenced by the usual
| custom of dressing our rooms in their
| summer clothes If we are to
| them during the warm
Heavy velvet and brocade hangings
give way to cretonnes or silks In cool
i shades and formal
Though
he
elaborate
| Thick rugs are taken up, too, and nil
this is
| rooms look
done because it makes
cooler,
| ing ourselves, too, and pastel shades
in delleate fubrics rule our lives
summer if we are fortunate enough to
be out of town where such things are
| appropriate. But even among pastel
than others, and we t
take this Into consideration in
ing our Swiss and organdie
Pale green, the shade that has appro-
fire no
choos-
An outdooring frock with a skirt of
: kumsi.kumsa and overbiouse of printed
dew-kist, With it is worn a wide.
brimmed sailor, crown encircled with
double ruching of satin de luxe.
called "seafoam.”
priately heen afoam,
CHIC COAT FOR TRAVEL WEAR
SA
Here is shown a Parisian traveling
coat of soft undyed cloth with white
across the waist,
i
Shoes, Tam, Long Cane,
Among Requisites.
only
mmer
ou Biiy 1 ¢ dee
Bathing Is far from being the
even the :
y or
great
Ttere are
sport. Walking
votee of the m
many passionate
girls who are really not the
afraid of a ten-mile stroll in
forenoon.
Of
td
10
least little
the
Course, to
must be dresse
horoughly enjoy
rd
high
healthy
are
moun-
one d ace
ingly. No
heels, these woul
pleasure. Nowadays
1ane
ong
alipe "os
Dre
quite frequent]
They are
er!
ail
ot
tain climbing.
ever and the
ure—and me
than
ic fig.
p ROSS $f
aryl
A lov
sists of dark
coat
the botto
blouse
a Wind
a note of
rather
of bright tan
a heavy |
the eye.
{ chilly, and
tendencies.
low have
the same
and yel-
light, and
pale blue has
Shades of rose
warmth and
ors on a really
wearers will not
as they might.
sizzling their
look as comfortable
day
ain iy
rn over
taffeta—the organ
E
exceedin
looking like a
ana gly
mere
+ mist over the bright colored une
derdress,
Bloused Back Effect.
Predict! fall
the back
stitching and fulness which
for conts
offe
ns point to
Metallic
an does not
distand the sides are other character.
istics.
bloused
Short Sleeves for Fall
sleeves
Short
silk frocks for
are shown on
fall,
many
COLORS IN
Many Tints to Pick From, but Har.
mony Should Be the Watchword
for Cheerfuiness.
“This 18 the bine room,” so many
| people who are showing you their
homes will say to you, “or this is the
| pink room.” and the only thing you
| can think of is how could they think
it necessary to tell you, you couldn't
| possibly make a mistake, it certainly
! was blue~or pink, as the case may be,
| that every room needs of
| different colors to give it
aplotches
furniture and had the walls done in
pale pink and
| a darker rose border, roses ran riot
over the white curtains,
were upholstered in the same rose
nead of the bed. PEverything was love
ty, and yet she didn’t like it, but ske
Ain't know why, Her first guest was
an Imterior decorator and she was able
to put her finger on the difficulty from
the very start. She made her put the
rosy cretonne curtains In another
room, and get a black and white
striped material for the windows, hang
a stunning black Incquered mirror
over the low hoy, change the lamp
glade for a French blue one with roses
eolored trimmings and put a few
dashes of the French blue about in lit-
tle accessories, a quill pen on the
in 8 blue room, of course the hlne
if there isn’t any-
thing else but blue it is terribly cold
and gloomy. A very lonely blue living
room has chintz over-curtaing in blues, *
yellows and greens, there ix a yellow
ghade on the floor lamp with blue
bands, the rugs are in soft oriental
colorings, and there Is a great, glow-
ing Maxfield Parrish print over the
couch, which has a black cover and
blue and yellow cushions,
Black Lace Over White Satin,
Some of the black laces are made up
her pretty black lace worn in a popn-
lar picture. Metal cloths are lovely
undler either white or bluck Inces, and
the moving pleture ncotresses are very
much addicted to them for the renLon
they photograph so handsomely, There
is only one other material which is
as much favored by screen artists,
This is velvet,
But metal clothe are so very dressy
and so much associated with winter
costumes for evening that many like
the satin and taffeta foundations best
because they make a cooler looking
costume for summer wear,
Gray Trimmed With White.
Dotted Swiss frocks of gray are
piped with white organdie or Swiss
The dotted surface and the touch of
white are enough trimming for charm
ing frocke,