All-Story Weekly, March 1, 1919 — page 168: what you’re looking at

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

= ; Os a aie aes Se vases 4 ~< eta ee ere a =, BE = pe ee Hee ——— —— a — ee ten _ =e Oe oe : a ee ma ss a > on ° os Fe ae <= FET — keep body and soul together, Mr. March. - _You’ve got to get your stren’th back.” “T’m going to get pees declared the Grouch. “ Beat it! » = ““ Goodness me! Why, you can’t get up _ yet,” she exclaimed, in sudden dismay at the prospect of losing a patient. “Can’t, eh?” he growled. if you don’t want to go, stay.” He threw aside the covers, sat up and swung his feet to the floor. Mame gasped and turned away at the vision of a gentle- man in pajamas, even though they were made of silk. = ‘IT got some work to do at the house,” she said hastily. ‘ As she passed out the door, the Grouch grinned almost pleasantly. He sat for a moment on the edge of the bed, and then tried standing up. Instantly he sat down again, because of a sudden blurring of vision and lightness of head. The pain and fever had vanished, but he felt himself foolishly weak. After a second attempt, he lay down again. “Never had ahead as bad as that be- fore,” he muttered. “ Believe I was pois- oned, after all. Last time I'll ever eat any fish out of that lake. “‘Wouldn’t be surprised if Higgins slipped me a bad one. He’s equal to it; he’s got a grudge against me, Lord knows why. ? He lay for a.while, passing in review the events of the night before, just as Miss Dean had done earlier in the day. \ “That Brundage idiot can certainly lie,” he mused. ‘‘ Nobody else was here, eh? “All right, Only decent thing to do. “ Otherwise, I’d have to be telling her I was much obliged, and she doesn’t want (any of that, any more than I do. Saves explanations and a lot of damned foolish- ness. ‘T’ll bet I’ve got her guessing about those telegrams—and the picture. How about that picture, anyhow?” | He spent some time considering the flash- light that had been exhibited by Tilley, eS. _ without finding any apparent comfort in his thoughts. | ___ “ He’s a cheap cad to go around showing Seo = e - » =. = <= “~ ~ — ~~ a Ze a =- wo 3 %. icy AS ae — - 5 = haa Se te =o Seeks x 2 —— (ee I must have pulled a pretty good delirium. ALL-STORY WEEKLY. — “ What. it!” exclaimed the Grouch, aloud. in blazes is he up to, anyhow?” : Presently he fell asleep again, only to awake and discover that Mame had re- turned in the mean time, for the cabin had been set in order. She had not remained, however, and he was grateful for that. The Grouch found himself stronger now, so that he was able to rise and dress and shave himself, with only an occasional at- tack of dizziness. He was sitting in the open doorway, from which he could view nearly all of the Brundage farm, when Knock made his appearance. “T’ve been waiting for you,” said the Grouch. “I want you to do an errand. Don’t go away.” He went over to the table, which served him as a writing-desk, pulled out a drawer, found an envelope and wrote an address on it. Then he wrote something else on a slip of paper, enclosed it in the envelope = sealed the letter with care. ‘““ Take this down to the cottage and give it to Miss Dean,” he said. Knock took the envelope and studied it. “You writin’ letters to Miss Dean?” he asked, with a grin. ‘“‘ None of your business. Shut up. Take it to her yourself; don’t give it to anybody else. Understand?” Knock nodded and went off on his er- — rand. Crossing the meadow, he met Mame returning from the cottage. He permitted her to see that he. carried an envelope in his hand, but kept sufficiently distant to avoid the risk of her snatching it. ‘“What you got there and where you go- - in’?” she demanded suspiciously. “JT got a letter for Miss Dean,” he an- swered, with a superior grin. ‘Ha! Wouldn’t y’ like to see?” With that he made off at a run, flinging back a jeer as Mame begged him to stop. Miss Dean was down at the bridge, where she stood talking to Higgins and Tilley. There was something fairly uncanny in the way she managed to avert hostilities between those two gentlemen, when she had them both in hand at once; she even brought them to a semblance of amity, though it was merely temporary and was — in cordiality.