© Ben Ames Willams. CHAPTER XI Be Mrs. Sentry went to see her hus- band on the morning after the jury's verdict was returned. Phil drove her to the prison, but she would not let him come in. “Not this time, Phil," she said, and she was smiling, something in her eyes which he had never seen there before. ‘‘Not this time,” she repeated. ‘‘This is for Arthur and me. A reunion, Phil.” And she got out of the car and walked almost proudly toward the forbidding door; and Phil watched her, wondering at the change in her in these recent days. She seemed increasingly frail; but also she seemed somehow younger, and there was a quality in her counte- nance he found it hard to name, a sort of translucent clarity, as though all confusion was gone out of her and her heart was quite serene. When she came out, not long aft- er, she wore radiance. She got in beside Phil, and she leaned sudden- ly and kissed him and said, “You look as he did when we were young, Phil.” He set the car in motion. “How is he?" he asked. “1 left him fine.” He nodded. ‘Did you make any plans? About the appeal, or any- thing? Or about buying out Mr. Lor- an?” She even laughed a little. She said: “Heavens, no! We just talked about each other.” And after a mo- ment she told him, ‘Phil, every- thing he said about what happened that night was true.” “lI believe him,”” he assented. “But of course what we believe doesn’t help much.” “It helps me much,” she con- fessed. “It helps me. So long as I know—I can manage not to mind so much what others believe. What- ever happens.” They came home thus, and went up to see Barbara; and Barbara watched her mother and seemed in some way to be better suddenly. And the days went on. It was Mr. Sentry himself who presently assumed the decisive voice in the matter of buying the business from Mr. Loran. Phil and his mother were still uncertain what to do about this, when Mr. Hare came to the house a few days after the frial ended to say that Mr. Sen- try had sent for him, had discussed the question. “I told him Mr. Loran’s proposi- tion,” he explained. ‘‘He feels that the valuation set up by Mr. Loran is too low, and so he believes it is better to buy than to sell.” Mrs. Sentry said: “What about payment? I should not care to buy on anything but a cash basis.” Hare assured her: “That can be managed. I went over it with Mr. Sentry, and later with his brokers. His investments are in good shape.” “lI prefer not to see Mr. Loran myself,”” Mrs. Sentry remarked. “It would be painful to him and to me.” “Of course,” Hare agreed. “But I can handle the whole transaction, under proper powers.” She asked, after a moment, “Has Mr. Sentry talked with Mr. Falkran about the appeal?” “No. Falkran is to see him to- morrow morning.” “Mr. Falkran was here yester- day,” she explained. “To discuss it with me. To explain some of the things—"' And she said: “I did not always understand him, the techni- cal points. 1 told him we wished to take every proper measure. But I warned him that we did not want any tricks, evasions, miserable meaningless delays.” She asked suddenly, “What do you think, Dean?” Hare hesitated. “Well, it's possi- ble he might get a new trial.” “Do you feel that Mr. Sentry had a fair trial?” The lawyer hesitated. “I'm not experienced in criminal cases,” he said evasively. Mrs. Sentry nodded. think he did.” Phil urged, “But Mr. Hare, an- other jury might believe father: might believe it was an accident.” Then he was silenced; for the post- man had just rung, and Nellie came in with letters for Mrs. Sentry. She glanced at the topmost. “Oh!” she whispered. “It's from Mary!” And instantly her eyes were fountains. Dean Hare rose quickly to depart. Phil went witl. him to the door, and he asked the older man, “What do you think about an appeal, sir, hon- estly?” Hare said after a moment: “Well, Phil, there's always a chance. Falk- ran is clever. But—I doubt if a new trial would help, unless some new evidence turns up. A commuta- tion by the Governor—that's a more hopeful possibility, later on.” And he departed; and Phil went back to his mother and Mary's let- ter. Since Mary's marriage to Jimmy Bode they had had news of her , through Mrs. Harry ® “I see. Yom Murr, who knew everything; and through that encounter with Mrs. Loran, Endle’s sister. Phil was bit- ter toward Mary; but Mrs. Sentry would hear no word of criticism. “You mustn't blame her, Phil,” she insisted. “When a ship is wrecked, people have to — snatch at anything!” Now he came back into the living- room to find his mother sitting with streaming eyes, the letter in her nerveless hands. She extended it to him; and he read it in slow rising rage. Dear Mother and the rest of you: Well, I've been following the fortunes of the grand old family name in the home papers. Stout fellows, all of you, to stick with the sinking ship; but even a rat knows enough to leave on such oc- Sasions I'm the rat! Sorry, but there t is. I've got a sinking ship on my own hands, but there will be plenty of sal- vage. After wa left home, we honey- mooned as far as New York, and by that time, being mutually bored, were ready for company Picked up half a dozen oh such congenial spirits, and a hundred cases of ditto, tried Jamaica, won't tell! I'll bite off my tongue!” “You don’t have to tell anything, Barb dear.” She said, In a dull fashion: “I don’t want to go to sleep. I dream it I sleep. I'm not asleep, not asleep.” “No.” “They can’t make me tell.” “Of course not, Barb.” She whispered, eyes tight closed: “But I saw him, saw him that night, down there. Mr. Flood knows I know, and he'll try to make me tell.” “It's all right, Barb.” “1 can’t tell if I can talk, can I?” She smiled in a sly, secret fashion. ‘Asleep, Barb?” He was leaning near, close beside her, close above her, close, protecting her. “It's all right, Barb." ‘“No,”” she said. ing.” “What are you thinking?” “If I can't talk, they can't make me, can they? Because if I did, it “No, - I'm think- § UTE \\ Havana, Bermuda, and other places too umerous to mention Finally drifted ack here to get rid of our sea legs and pink elephants and red, white, and blue mice. Since then I've had some trouble find. ing places to lay my head, my own bed being so often occupied; but Florida has decided to go after the divorce trade in a big way, so 1 won't even have to go to Reno. It's hot here already, but I can stand it till my sentence is served. The lawyers say I'll get about a thousand dollars a month and found; and I've got another place in sight. Fine old Cas tillan family from Rio. The boy's only twentydour, with no mother to guide him, and he can’t resist my rapidly ma- turing charms. He counts his beef crit. ters, I am told, In terms of light years. We shall probably live on the Riviera. Give my dearest love ™ father. It's through him I have met so many charms ing people. Your Mary Phil read, and his face was like ice. He crumpled the stiff note- paper in his hand and strode to- ward the fireplace, without looking at his mother, without speaking; but she said quickly: “No, Phil. You didn't read the last page.” Phil looked at her then, saw again her tears; but he saw too that they were not tears of anger, nor even of hopeless grief; and he smoothed out the wrinkled paper and read on the other side, like a belated post- script: Mother, when I was little and terribly burt, I'd run to you, erying, and kick your shins awfully, and then feel better. Remember? You never seemed to mind, seemed to understand. He read these lines two or three times, and some faint understand- ing came to him. He said, half-re- lenting, “You want to keep it?" “Yes.” “Going to write to her?” “Just a line,” she said. “Just three or four words. That's all she wants, all I can give.” He left her with the letter in her hands, smoothing it across her knees, stroking it almost caressing- ly. As he passed through the hall, he heard her deep inhalation, as though it were hard to fill her ach- ing, empty lungs. Mary was gone, he thought; lost to them. And Barbara too? She no longer showed a temperature every night and morning, yet except when Dan was with her she seemed weak and weaker, as though her life were draining slowly away. Phil went up to her now. He found her lying relaxed, flat on her back, her legs straight, her hands at her sides; and near her head the clock ticked, ticked. The room was very still, and Phil looked at her and thought she was asleep, and then she spoke, as she some- times did in her sleep, in almost natural tones. She murmured, “bite off my ’ Phil, remembering Doctor Main- ton's instructions, asked softly: “Why? Why, Barb?” He came near her, sat close beside her. “I won't tell!” she murmured. “I would kill him. it, Phil!” Phil touched her brow to see whether she was feverish. Her head was cool, yet at his touch she moved convulsively, like one awakening. Her eyes opened and she saw him, and she said quickly: “I wasn’t talk- ing. I wasn’t talking. I can’t talk.” “You're talking now, Barb. You're all right.” *“Oh!" she whispered. “Was I?" “Yes,” he assured her. “You were talking as well as anyone.” “lI heard myself,” she admitted, and she said: “Phil, I'm better! I'm better, Phil!" “You're fine,” he told her. His own heart was pounding; he was glad for the drawn shades, the shad- ows in the room, so that she could not see his excitement. “You can talk, Barb. You can talk now.” “Yes,” she said, wonderingly. "1 can talk. Why, I am talking. Phil, I heard myself talking in my sleep.” “You're not asleep now. You're talking now.” His pulse raced with the thought: She is better, better! “I can talk to mother!” she cried. “Phil, I can talk to mother!” “Yes, to anyone.” “To Linda?" “Yes, of course.” “To Dan?" “Yes, to Dan.” He saw color suffuse her white cheek. “To Dan,” she whispered. “To Dan, to Dan.” Murmuring, her And he didn't do eyes drooping. “Dan ...Dan.. .” And quietly, she was asleep. Phil saw her breathing ease to a regular and even beat. When he could leave without awakening her, he went in haste to tell his moth- er; and to telephone jubilantly to Doctor Mainton. The doctor was delighted. “Fine!” he cried. “She may sleep twelve hours, twenty-four; but she'll wake as good as new.” He was almost right. Barbara slept till noon next day; and when she woke, she spoke easily and nat- urally. On the second day she was able to sit up; on the third, to get out of bed. But before that, another thing had happened to bring them something like peace. Mr. Falkran saw his client; Mr. Sentry directed him not to appeal. After it had been determined to buy out Mr. Loran, Phil accepted the decision almost gratefully. The dissolution of the partnership was arranged to take place as of April 1. During the interval before that date, Phil went daily to the of- fice. Mr. Loran, as he had ex- pected, received him with restraint. Phil saw that Loran, too, had suf- fered from the ordeal they had all endured; and when their first talk of business matters was done, the boy said apologetically: “Mr. Loran, 1 want to tell you. Mother and I didn’t know—what was going to happen at the trial. I mean, about mentioning you." “Forget it,” Mr. Loran told him. “Damned lawyer's trick, that's all: to throw mud at random and try to make it stick. Falkran knew that. Just dragging a dead herring across the trail.” And he said: “I'm going out of town tomorrow. Be back April 1 to clean up the whole thing here. You can be learning the ropes. And of course, Miss Randall has been here nearly twenty years. She could run the business alone if you let her. You'll get along.” Phil had his misgivings: but when after the first of April he took full charge, matters went—to his own surprise—very well. On routine mat- ters, Miss Randall could advise him; and the momentum of the busi. ness would carry it for a while. There were resignations, but none that were sufficiently important to cripple the organization. And those major decisions, in which a mistake in judgment might have proved costly, did not crowd upon him. But despite this, his world was suddenly awry. From the day the papers had been signed, he saw lit- tle of Linda. She sometimes came to the house, and he had glimpses of her; but she never stayed long, ning told her so. “I don’t blame you, of course,” he said reluctantly. “After all, you've given us a lot of time, been wonder- fully generous. 1 can understand that you have other things" busy just now, Phil,” cerns. Three times he saw his fa- Mr. Hare. It was necessary for Phil to acquaint himself with every de- tail of the family affairs. gift, and arrangements were con. Wines, the father of the dead girl, so that the old man's remaining years of life might be secure. all was done; and then, under the guard's eye, Phil and his father bade each other good-by. {TO BE CONTINUED) An explorer’'s story of a lost tribe of Apache Indians, mostly women and children clad in buckskins and fighting with primitive bows and ar- rows for existence in the mountains of Mexico, saddened the office of Indian affiairs, states a writer in the Washington Star. Commissioner John Collier writes of “‘this strange and sad account” given the Indian office by Dr. Helge Ingstad, Norwegian ethnologist, in a recent issue of Indians at Work. Doctor Ingstad, formerly gover- nor of Greenland and Spitzbergen, proved that the “Lost Apaches of Mexico” are not a myth when he sought them last year, Mr. Collier said. “There is a vast mountain,” the commissioner wrote, ‘150 miles be- low Douglas, Ariz., in Mexico. It rises to 13,000 feet and is cleft with huge canyons. “There, on ledges such as moun- tain lions or eagles might occupy, or constantly moving from place to place, sometimes, afoot, sometimes on stolen horses, and weaponless ex- cept for bows and arrows, and liv. ing on desert wild plants; there, Doctor Ingstad states, are the Lost “Most of the survivors are wom- en, with a few children. Doctor Ingstad never talked with them face to face, but saw them at distances fleeing on. “The ancient Apache-Mexican feud carries down, and ‘Kill thera on sight’ is the rule toward Apaches, he says. “Their extinction could be pre- vented if they could be reached and led back to the United States. Pos- sibly Doctor Ingstad will try again, next year. He is returning to Nor- way, leaving this strange and sad account with the Indian office.” UNANSWERABLE A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, he said: “Now, boys, if I stood on my head the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I should turn red in the face.” “Yes, sir,” said the boys, feet?’ Poor Visibility CLASSIFIED AJ VET ENE POULTRY BRED FOR PRODUCTION: RAISED FOR PROFIT: SOLD BY QUALITY: BTARTED CHICKS: MILFORD HATCHERY Pikesville P, 0. ” Rockdale, TIPS 1 Gardeners Making the Garden Pay EGETABLE gardens are grown to provide fresher, more Ducks Chicks Turkeys Pullets Ma. There- According to Walter H. Nixon, to find out learned anything, he asked: “Jimmy, who killed Goliath?” considered both for food value and garden space required are: Beans, cabbage, see.” ON SITDOWN STRIKE Newspaper Publisher—Haven’t we any murder stories today? Foreman—No sir, no one's been killed. Newspaper Publisher — Confound it! What's the matter with those thugs, anyway. How Refreshing Three old maids, all deaf, were sightseeing atop a Chicago bus. “Is this Webster?" asked one. “No, it's Thursday,” replied the second, “So am 1,” cried the third. “Let's get off and get a drink.” Prairie Farmer. In Demand Father—Yes, my son went out west several years ago to make his fortune, Friend—And what is he worth now? The Link “What's that piece of string tied round your finger for, Bill?" “That's a knot. is a flower. With flour you make bread, and with bread you have but- This is to remind me to buy Hm-m! Suitor (to prospective father-in- law)~I'd like to have your daugh- Prospective Father-in-Law—What Suitor—Why, I'm an actor, sir. Prospective Father-in-Law (irate ly)—Well, get out before the foot Logical Little Gloria has been learning The oth- er day she was reciting the alpha- onions, peas and spinach. To get the most from garden space, plant two crops of spinach, one in spring, the other in late summer. Plant Chinese cabbage and parsnips about midsummer in space occupied earlier by beans, radishes and peas. Make suc- cessive plantings of carrots and beets for a steady supply of small tender roots. >lant bush beans and beets on both sides of tomato rows. When tomatoes the space, those earlier crops will have been pulled and used. Corn can be worked into the garden plan even though there is not such Plant spinach or beets or green onions between rows of slower-growing corn. Then grow pole beans (cornfield beans) to climb on the corn stalks. need space. OC WICH FARTHER DASH IN FEATHERS .. OR SPREAD ON ROOSTS The End Counts If well thou hast begun, go it is the end that crowns us, the fight. —Herrick, A Three Days’ Cough Is Your Danger Signal No matter how many medicines you have tried for your common cough, chest cold, or bronchial frri- tation, you may get relief now with Crecmuision. trouble may on: Jilly not less potent than a goes right to the seat of the trouble and aids nature to soothe and heal the inflamed mucous membranes discouraged, try sion. Your druggist is authorized to refund your money if you are nog thoro satisfied with the bene- fits obtained. Creomulsion is one word, ask for it plainly, see that the name on the bottle is Creomuision, and Jou get the genuine product and the you want. (Adv) The Ablest One The winds and waves are al- i Comes Extra Mistress (engaging cook)—But I'll be assisting you in the kitchen. Would you be wanting the same wages? © Cook—No mum. Two dollars more.—Hartford Courant. OUT OF THE PICTURE speak ; 1 don’t think he'll speak again after what we did to him last night.” ny aH one y you ment to Tom?" “He deceived me. He told me he was a liver and kidney ist, and 1 found out that he only * Don’t Sleep When Gas Crowds Hea {4 toes | Rien tad Life is a long lesson in humility. -J. M. Barrie. 8-39 LE EL ETE Backache
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers