All-Story Weekly, March 1, 1919 — page 148: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

a to go away in the beginning? show ’em!” at home. = ™ Am J an idiot? \ x ms §, I am! What did I come here for? Why didn’t I have sense enough I'll go to- morrow.” _ A pause. drive me out. “No, I won't. I'll stay to the finish, They won’t Vl When he considered matters more calm- ly, he was. not so certain about showing them, particularly Miss Dean. That lady was causing him certain anxiety of mind. He would have given much to know just what she learned as a result of her trip to the scene of last night’s misadventure; for he had not the least doubt that she had investigated the matter thoroughly. “She’d do it in a holy minute,” he re- | flected. ice,” What troubled him most: of all was what the camera did. He did not even have the satisfaction of knowing whether it did any- thing at all. If it had—Lord! And who had the photograph? The Grouch pondered that last question for a long and disquieting time. “I may pay that hundred yet,” he mut- ‘““She’s got a nerve as cold as tered. CHAPTER XVIII. AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION. OR two days there had been turmoil at the farm in place of its wonted calm. It’ began with the spreading of the tale of Mame’s kidnaping. Mrs. Brundage or- dered her daughter not to leave the house after dark, while Knock was instructed not to be at large later than sundown. Both Mame and her brother offered riotous re- sistance to the ruling and violated it by Subsequent discovery meant that Knock | had his trousers dry-cleaned with a strap, while Mame was told that the next time she planned to go to Hurleyville she could stay Pop Brundage spent a whole evening in the birch-grove, cuddling a shotgun in the hollow of his arm and creating such general disquiet that none dared to take the walk ___ to the spring except Miss Dean, who, being ; < — Sor a ; a 2 = ALL: STORY WEEKLY. a. ‘woman, was not ee as a kid- — naper. All that Pop got for his vigil was a fresh attack of lumbago, and after that he did not care what happened to anybody. Mr. Higgins and Mr. Tilley nearly fought on two occasions, being separated once by Miss Dean, who was the cause of their ar- gument, and once by Mame, who said that she would tell Miss Dean all about it—an announcement that proved to have an equally quelling effect. ? - It seemed that the settling of a score be- tween the fisherman and the naturalist was merely being postponed, however, for each still vowed that he would have the satisfac- tion which it is the duty of a gentleman to — exact. Miss Dean acquired a sudden fondness for the seclusion of her cottage, from which she rarely emerged except for meals. This had the unfortunate result of compelling Higgins and Tilley to seek her at the same place, and, as each was diligent in this pursuit, there was constant electrification of the atmosphere. Last of all, the Grouch added to the tur- moil. There were times when he seemed to have gone berserk, so that it was only after screwing her courage to a high point that Mame carried the meals to the cabin. He had an alarming way of slashing about him with a cane and of bestowing glances of intense ferocity upon all whom he en-- countered. He spoke very little, and what he did say was not infrequently of a profane char- acter. -Even Mrs. Brundage was afraid of him. As before, he walked at night, having. no- tified Pop Brundage that if he attempted any marksmanship with the shotgun there would be damages as well as the devil to pay, with probably a jail sentence thrown in. What the Grouch wanted was informa- tion, and he wanted it badly; but the per- son who seemed most likely to be in a position to furnish it was the very last he would seek. He still kept a gloomy eye upon the com- ings and goings of Miss Dean, but at a distance that precluded any possibility of “=~ comicbooks.c te i, —" = . : oe > ey =< = {es = art eS ES. prs. ey eee soe Seo — a - ~ - ” “a