“ Copyright by George H. Doran Co. CLIFFORD 8S. RAYMOND Illustrated by IRWIN MYERS X1V-—Continued, sone] Bens He paused and looked at ma as If to see whether he was reaching any hidden spring which if touched and sprung would open the secret, He did not believe 1 was truthful, “Mr. Sidney's life is open, honorable and full of nothing but good for fifty years back,” Morgan continued, “We have Investigated very thoroughly. But fifty years back, Mr. Sidney dis- appears, evaporates, There Is no Mr. Sidney that can be found. We find a young man of twenty, and nothing back of him. There we stop. It Is a blind aHey. You come to nothing but a wall. That stopped Investiga- tion, “Now, I go a good deal by hunches— call it Intuition, guessing, inspiration, It is not good detective method. 1 don't clalm it's good detective work. I never work on a hunch and neglect a rational method, but frequently when 1 do work on a bit of guessing we get results, “I've been working, around here, on a guess that was so wild when it first started that it seemed too preposter- ous even for me. I'll tell you that we are not Investigating Mr. Sidney any more. We are looking for another person, and I believe we are going to find him. Then we are going to find some one else. Doctor, 1 tell you, If you don't know it, as you say, it Is the strangest case 1 ever have known, It is one of hate. Mind, I'm only guessing.” That touch was so Impressive that 1 betfaved an emotion. He saw It “I had you there,” he sajd. “Mr. Morgan,” I said, “you will not believe me, and for that reason it is useless for me to say and. keep on say- ing that I know of nothing here 1 could help you on. You suggested something to me just now, and you saw that you had done so. But that was because of a coincidence Imma terial to what you call a case” “Yery well,” sald Morgan. “1 did not expect to get ahead by coming here, but 1 want to be fair and reason- able. You do not know anything, but 1 am not allowed to talk to any one who might know.” “You have talked to Jed” I said “You eannot reasonably expect to be allowed to annoy the ladies of the house or to flutter the servants. Mr. Sidney is very {ll and very weak Even you would refrain from Introduce ing your case to him if you saw him. If we seem to avoid Your Inquiries ft Is unfortunate. We have nothing to avold.” “1 follow my hunch,” said Morgan, getting to his feet. “If I am right, something will be revealed “hat even I could not compromise. I am afraid you must prepare yourself for some publicity.” “I have told you hefore that you must select your own course,” I re- plied, and Morgan took his leave, driv- ing away through the snow. . We had our Christmas eve In Mr, Sidney room. He was very feeble physically and could be raised on pil- lows in bed but nothing more. But he was the spirit of jJoviality. He Lund Jed sit in a great armchair by his bed, and early In the evening he had a bottle of claret opened for him. Nothing would do but Mrs. Sidney and Isobel should have a bottle of Madeira, and I had a whisky toddy. A great punch-bowl was brought in, and Jed mixed gallons of liguor and many spices in It. Four of the men servants came In with a great log for the fire, and had CHAPTER Mr, Sidney Evidently Was Determined to Corrupt the Whole Household. Inrge cups of punch before they went out. Mr, Sidney evidentiy=was, deter. mined to corrupt the whole household, I'll never be able to give an ade quate idea of the joviality of that Christmas eve In the sick-room. Mr. Sidney and Jed had conspired for some months to make a festival, Our dinner, served In Mr. Sidney's room, brought a boar's head, carried by a laughing mald. Wine was sent to the servants. Isobel found a pearl necklace in what had seemed to be a baked sweet potato. I found a gold watch in a box under a few leaves of lettuce, Mrs, Sidney found merely a note In a bunch of violets which was given her with ceremony. She read it and had difficulty to re- main wholly composed. She arose and his hands and putting an ann about his shoulders, Then she kissed him and stood a moment before the fire before she trusted herself to come back to the table, When the dinner was done and the covers were removed, more wine was brought in. A large Christinas tree was lighted, and all the servants were cafled. Eaeh founds valuable present in the tree; each had punch from the great bowl, and each, coming™o shake Mr. Sidney's hand, was given by Jed an envelope ‘which, 1 learned after ward, contained a hundred-dollar bill There was no constraint and no awkwardness such as might mark such proceedings: the people of the house knew Mr. Sidney. too well, One of the maids kissed him, and then we had them all doing It. I was fearful that the excitement would injure him, but he was placid, smiling and happy. When we were alone, we sat an hour by the fire, and then I dismissed every one peremptor- ily. Jed, who had been about his duties, returned, The fire was tended. An- had my last look at Mr. Sidney alive as I stood by the door giving Jed his final instructions for the night. Jed sat in the armchair. All the lights except one by Jed's chalr had been extinguished. The Persian cat was stretched by Mr. Sidney's side. The canaries were asleep perched on the head of his bed. The fire was “Good “Good ning.” “Good night, doctor,” sald Mr. Sid. ney. “Just a minute, boy. Come here.” He reached out his hand, “Good-bye,” he sald. CHAPTER XV. Mr. Sidney died between three and He passed so easily that Jed, sleeping in the lounge<chalr beside him, did not know that death had gone through the chamber until an hour after the event. Jed awakened me. In the case of such an expected happening as this, the perceptions start slowly. The fact that the benignity which so In perceptibly had dominated the house had ceased to exist took hours to as sert Itself, Jed was composed when he aronded me. Later, when the sun came up to make radiant all the white witchery the storm left, his sense of loss began to assert itself, and acute as was the grief In the house, none was deeper seated or more profound than that of the rascally old servant, Mrs. Sidney accepted the event with a serenity which 1 discovered after. ward was born of a leng-fixed resolu tion. For years her life had been a denial of her moral Instincts—happy, in spite of that, because of her great devotion to the wonderful man she loved. The chapters which he domi nated in her book were ended. With tenderness she laid them aside, Isobel did not permit herself In- dulgence in any weakness. What had happened was written In the contract of life. In later full knowledge of Isobel, 1 never ceased to admire the wonderful acceptivity with which she met her trials. Nothing came to her with eatastrophic shock. She had reality within her vision, and she per- night, Mr, night, Jed. Sidney.” 1 sald A pleasant eve- had been ecstatieally sq, My reason for being in Hartley house lay dead in Bed. ig 1 should look back, I knew, man times, as a struggling practitidfer, possibly in poorer districts, of the city, possibly In a small town, to the strange but beautiful time when I was at Hartley. This experience would he only an episode, remaining as the memory of a time when my life halted for a wonderful moment, satisfying, rich and joyful, and--having had this woment-—went on in the drab fashion ordained for it. An occasional kindly letter from Mrs, Sidney, or possibly from Isobel, might quicken the mem- ory, but 1 and this period would fade from thelr lives as It never conld from mine. 1 should be packing a pill case on late and unprofitable rounds in that souldestroying routine with its ceaseless Invasion of the Intimate ‘personal economics of uninteresting people, abnormally egoisiie in the pain of un small or large disorder—the cheerless life of a small physician, serving his useful purpose, I have no doubt, but how little serving his own! We got through Christmas day In a dazed fashion, The necessary offices for the dead compelled n routine which relieved the tension, although they contributed a dulled terror to the day-~those terrible, exacting practical details with which some one In the herenved family must occupy himself. Mortuary details are jocose to the pes. - simist. I know no more comie figure than an undertaker, no more gigantle shaft of human egotism than a tomb- stone. Mr. Sidney, we found, had left brief but explicit directions for his burial, This, in the case of a man with life 80 well concelved, was strange, but his wishes, as we found them, were simple and startling. He was to be buried by the river, close to the pool which had been Invested with the add. ed charm of a ghost-story., His grave was to be marked by an unostenta- tious stone. The Iuscription was to be as he directed in a note in a sealed enclosure to be opened at the time Mrs. Sidney thought appropriate. It might be, he had written, that Mrs. Sidney would not want the stone erected during her life. Her wishes. were to be consulted. When the grave was marked, if It ever was, the In- scription was to be as he directed, Mrs. Sidney, acquainted with the terms of this extraordinary mortuary note, sald that it was her wish to have the sealed envelope opeved immediate ly and its Instructions carried out, Christmas night had set in, and the place was a fairyland of glistening white, Far-off-church-bells sounded faintly across the snow. In the In. creasing cold, following the abatement creaked and snapped, and when one of the people of the house, on an outdoor chore, passed within earshot, the sound of footsteps was audible and the crisp crunching which, even ns does a high wind, emphasizes the comfort of a secure and warm shelter, I was In the office when Mrs. Bid ney's instructions to open the sealed enclosure were received, I proceeded to do so, a brief note, as follows: There was § desire the marking on my gravestone, when It la put up, to read ARTHUR DORBON Born May 22, 1560 Died — —— I was holding that document, star- ing at it, and grasping for elusive threads of perception, when Jed came in. He carried a manuscript in his hand. Jed drew a chair up to the fire by my side. Tt was with a strange feel. ing of relief that I accepted the sig nificance of the manuseript he carried by way of beginning. “You'd never understand me. I'm a strange man and 1 do strange things. I'm going to do one now, [I've seemed conscience less, haven't 17" “I've never tried to opinion of you,” 1 sald “No, you haven't. I like a candid man. That's why I've always liked you, although 1 can't say much for your intelligence, I'm not honest, I've looked at my life as something to make the best of, and I haven't been foolish about scruples. “I've managed my chances, and I have not allowed sentimentalism to stop me when something real was to be gained. It's a real world, not a fanciful one, That's the way I think.” “Half the people would be swinging on gallows,” I suggested, “if your ami- able ideas prevailed generally.” “That's eopy-book stuff that's so ir ritating,” he said. “The only thing extraordinary about me is my candor. My ideas do prevail, but the people who adopt them have less frankness, But what I want to say is that I'm going to do a strange thing. You'll probably think it an act of contrition. It isn't at all, but you'll think it so. However, that’s unimportant. “You may not know it, but I was very fond of Mr. Sidney. He was the best friend I ever had or ever shall have, “Now, I have guarded against act ing impulsively or sentimentally. 1 know I am in an acutely emotional condition, I have guarded against that, 1 am still considering the world as a real world and myself as a real creature in it. And here's the way 1 figure it. Mr. Sidney's death has faught me that materialism is npt enough. It is necessary, but there is something else, I've got to find an- other something else, That's more tmportant than any money or comforts ~~physical-—that 1 can find. “Where is this something else to be found again if not right here in this family? 1 have determined to remain in your service after you marry Miss Sidney, and to take care of you and her and Mrs, Siduey. I couldn’t leave. The roots are too deep. 1 could be cut down but not dug up, I'm too old. So as a real creature in a real world 1 consult my real good, now as always, and 1 hope I do not seem to you to be acting sentimentally.” “You seem to me to be wholiy crazy,” I sald. “When you speak of Miss Sid- ney's marriage to me, you are not only fronie; you are cruel, 1 should think that this particilar day might make you at least considerate.” “You're the blindest man I ever knew,” sald Jod, “but I'm not dealing with what you think but with what 1 know. 1 told you once your engage ment was an unreal thing and that 1 did not consider it at all. Later 1 took that back, Now 1 can tell you that it is a very real thing, but it is different now with me, I have conceal but I'm a shock, Something's the matter with my world, It is pot so bold or confl- dent, “What I'm getting at is this,” He held up the manuscript. “This Is Mr, Sidney's diary. I have talked to Mrs, Sidney, She thinks, as I think, that you should read it. Xou'll probably want to confirm what I say. You'll have to ask Mrs, Sidney. I know you are itching to read it. I also know that If one of your scruples inter vened, you'd let your itch go unseratch- ed, But this is what I came In for, and here's the manuscript. “You understand that in giving it to you I surrender unconditionally, I know It, but I want friends. The only one I had is dead; 1 must make other ones,” The extraordinary fellow shook my hand, left the manuscript In my lap and went out, a more pathetic figure of sorrow than 1 ever expected to see In Jed. I went at once to Mrs, Sidney, Jed, I sald, had left the diary with me. “} Think You Should Read It, John" She Said. Would it serve any useful purpose for me to read It, or should it not go di rectly to the fire? “1 think you should read it, John" she sald, “1 told Jed so. He Is very shrewd. His judgment and mine In this case agree” I went back to the office, put a log on the fire and sat down to read the diary. CHAPTER XVI, than an idea of the manuscript I read there by the fire that night. It was known to me heretofore as Mr. Sid- ney. 1 shall give extracts from it: “A family ws an odious imposition of cruel conventionalities upon Ipdi- viduals who, accepting conventions, however odious and cruel, are helpless, The bond of blood is one no animal {animals being rationalistic¢) tolerates, even recognizes, but it is Imposed up- on human beings, who. find that the most antagonistic natures must rec of life which can come only to hide OUSness, “There were In our family two chil dren, my brother Richard and myself Our parents were the ordinary folk who marry and have a family. My father was an uncommunicative man, whether from a habit of silence or a lack of anything to say, 1 do not know, “My mother, as 1 recall her, was gentle but, 1 imagine, futile. 1 think if she had had a chance of establish- ing a personality my silent, glum fa- ther had destroyed It, “Richard was my elder by two years, My father was wealthy, very wealthy, and Richard and I were not disciplined as to money, My father was not pe- nurious, but I never knew a man who obtained so little good of his money. He had no social instincts; he had no Joviality. “He liked occasional ostentation—a petty form of vanity and egotism, 1 regarded him, or my memory of him, as wholly detestable ~— a sehtiment which will offend the sentimentally conventional, or the conventionally sen- timental., I know he was the last map I would have chosen as a father, {TO BE CONTINUED) Autograph Hunter's Coup. Autograph hunting sometimes proves a most profitable pursuit. Lod. ovie Pileard, a French Bohemian of the 'B0s, made a steady Income out of it for several years, One of his most successful coups was accomplished with a letter in which he posed as “a member of the unhappy race of the unappreciated who Is meditating suicide and seeks for counsel and aid in this hour of sore distress.” : This drew a number of celebrities, including Beranger and Helne, Lacor. daire sent him ten closely written pages, which were promptly converted into cash. Dickens algo fell a victim of his wiles and took the trouble to answer him in French. Eventually Picard was shown up in the press by Jules San denu and had to seek another occupa: I OL Ts TheKitchen | Cabinet ~so | (@ 1920, Western Newspaper Usnlon.) No exigency, however serious, will present to this pation an insurmount- able crigis, Every problem is solv. able. Readjustment demands the best there is In us as a nation, meutally and spiritually. We shall adheres to the true, clean things and never aban- don our high ideals. Dead branches fall from the live oak during the hur- ricane, but the fiber of the tree tight. ens, and the roots drive into the soll This nation Is a success; it is still the hope of the world; it must be made a yet greater blessing to the sons of men. —-Will H. Hays, BUGGESTIONS FOR SUNDAY NIGHT SUPPER. In the majority of homes, Sunday dinner 1s the finest meal of the week because all the family are at home and have leisure to enjoy It, ex- cept perhaps the over worked mother, who has to prepare It. Much of the work may be done before and each may have a share in the prep aration of the meal, planning is done. with a good served at a later hour than usual, something 1s needed to satisfy the fam. ily hunger in the evening. and serving the Sunday served pienie fashion, with plates and napkins, that does away with the bugbear of dish-washing. supper, the porch If pleasant, ing many steps. SO WEAK LIFE A MISERY - Florida Lady Would Have Aching Pains in Side, Back and Shoul- ders.—~Took Cardui and Soon Noted Great Improvement, Odessa, Fla.—~"About two years ago,” writes Mrs. J. D, Powell, of this place, “I took several bottles of Cardul as a tonic, for 1 was run-down In health, In fact, I could hardly do anything at all; could only drag around and couldn't do my work. “Life was miserable to me, and 1 knew I must have some relief, as 1 was 80 very weak. I would suffer from aching pains in my right side, back snd shoulders. I would have such terrible nervous spells, which would come on me and I would fall down wherever 1 was standing . . . “My friends recommended that I try Cerdul , . . I began using it and soon saw and felt a great improvement . . . My appetite became good ... I could rest well at night, and I got so I could do all my housework in a short time. «++ I praise Cardui to all my friends.” If you suffer from ailments peculiar for you to give Cardul a trial. For more than forty years it has proven beneficial to thousands of suffering women, and Take Cardi, the Woman's Tonle, today. Your druggist keeps {t.—Adv, Net So Slow, “Where are you summering? “At Plunktown up the river” “Slow, isn't 7? “Slow nothing. | race | Loulsville Courier-Journsl, Only yesterday {i had between boathouses.™— as dessert Is sufficient for a Sunday supper, 'SWAMP-ROOT FOR forehand and ready. served, With a combination tosster broiler, with a chafing dish, one may have an endless amount of good things, prepared while you wait. The guest who is fortunate enough to be invited to help get supper needs no other entertainment, A simple menu which is also appetiz- cakes and fruit. Bo long as you think that someone else will do what you neglect—so long as you rail againet misrule, yet fail to defend your civic rights-sc long nes you belleve-that your influence is not needed and that without you there will be a majority sufficient to prevail for the many, the few shall continue to drag us into the chasm. Herbert Kaufman SEASONABLE GOOD THINGS. — When chestouts are plentiful ano one quart of milk un ful of sugar, and one teaspoonful of salt. Rub through a sieve and serve the same as mashed potatoes, The advantage of serving this dish is that it may be eaten by those who are de nied potatoes, Curried Chestnuts, — Shell and blanch a pound of chestnuts, siew In stock until tender. Melt two table spoonfuls of butter in a saucepan, fry in It one small sliced onlon, one chopped apple, and a tablespoonful of curry powder and a teaspoonful of sweet chutney ; moisten with one cupful of stock and one tablespoonful of rice flour that has been smoothly blended. Cook until the Ingredients are soft then put through a sieve; add = squeeze of lemon julce and simmer the chestnuts in this until they have ab sorbed the flavor. Serve with plenty of plain boiled rice. very Hot. Chestnut Cakes. — Shell and blanch gome good chestnuts then cook in boll. ing water until tender. . Rub through a steve and to every half cupful of chest- nut pulp add the yolk of an egg, salt, white pepper, celery salt, onion Juice and Worcestershire sauce to season rather Righly. Make Into neat little cakes, brush with beaten egg. roll in fine crumbs and fry In deep hot fat. Serve as ao garnish around roast tur key. a eho Rarebit.—AMelt one-half pound of cheese over a pan of hot wa. ter. ‘Turn a pint can of tomato soup nto a separate dish. Heat and ses. son thoroughly with paprika. Tum the melted cheese into the hot soup and beat. Have ready rounds of toasted bread. Turn the rarebit dress ing over the bread and serve with crisp celery and hot coffee. A hot vegetable dish worth is summer squash, cut in s'lees al In batter and fried like “gx * Gc KIDNEY AILMENTS There is only one medicine that really { stands out preeminent as a medicine for curable ailments of the kidneys, liver and bladder imeDr. Kilmer's Swamp Root stands the | highest for the reason that it has provem | to be just the remedy meeded in thousands | wpon thousands of distressing cases. {| Swamp-Root makes friends quickly be- | cause its mild and immediate effect is soon { realized in most cases. It is a gentle, | bealing vegetable compound. i Start trestment at omes. Sold at all | drug stores ir bottles of two sizes, medi- i am and large. | However, if you wish first to test this | great preparation send ten cemi: to Dr. { Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N. Y, for a | sample bottle. When writing be sure and | mention this paper. —~Adv. i No Necessity. am starting 8 society to buying st present prices Newman—IDon™t present prices «dis. i themselves Yon | courage buying in ! don Tit-Bits, USE “DIAMOND DYES” - Dye right! Don't your material in a poor dy Each package of “Diam Dyes” contains Aso simple that any woman “ean diamond-dre a rich, fadelass color into old garments, draperies, ings, everything, whether wool, silk, linen, cotton or mixed goods, Buy “Diamond Dyes™ — no other kind-—then perfect results are guaranteed. Druggist has “Diamond Dyes Color Card”—18 rich colors. Adv. direction new, COver- The Kind, “1 understand there was a long line for some time In front of the store selling paper clothes” “1 see, a regular paper walt” GREEN'S AUGUST FLOWER A Marvelous Remedy for Indigestion, Those who suffer from nervous dys pepsin, constipation.” indigestion, tor pid liver, dizziness. headaches, com tng up of food, wind on stomach, pal. pitation and other Indications of dis order In the digestive tract will find Green's August Flower a most effec tive and efficient assistant in the res toration of nature's functions snd a return to health and happiness. There could be pe better testimony of the value of this remedy for these tronbles than the fact that its use for the Iast fifty-four yesrs has extended Inte many thousands of households all over the civilized world and no Indication of any failure has been obtained In all that time. Very desirable as a gentle laxative. Sold everywhere. —Adv. as a Modern, “Building a modern house?” . "Yes, got the cellar fixed up like a grill room.” Cuticura Soothes Itching Scalp On retiring gently rub spots of dane druff and itching with Cuticura Oint- ment. Next morning shampoo with Cuticura Soap and bot water. Make them your every-day tollet preparations and have a clear skin and soft, white hands. Ady, Yes, Hazel, actions speak louder * An
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers