The Little Brown Jug at Kildare

by Meredith Nicholson

  CHAPTER XIV

  A MEETING OF OLD FRIENDS

  Habersham's men had proved exceedingly timid when it came to thebusiness of threshing the woods for Appleweight, whom they regarded witha new awe, now that he had vanished so mysteriously. They had searchedthe woods guardedly, but the narrow paths that led away into the dimfastnesses of Ardsley were forbidding, and these men were not withouttheir superstitions. They had awaited for years an opportunity to strikeat the Appleweight faction; they had at last taken their shot, and hadseemingly brought down their bird; but their lack of spirit inretrieving the game had been their undoing. They had only aroused theirmost formidable enemy, who would undoubtedly lose no time in seekingrevenge. They were a dolorous band who, after warily beating the woods,dispersed in the small hours of the morning, having found nothing butAppleweight's wool hat, which only added to their mystification.

  "We ought to have taken him away on the run," said Habersham bitterly,as he and Griswold discussed the matter on the veranda of theprosecutor's house and watched the coming of the dawn. "I didn't realizethat those fellows lived in such mortal terror of the old man; but theyrefused to make off with him until the last of his friends had got wellout of the way. I ought to have had more sense myself than to haveexpected the old fox to sit tied up like a calf ready for market. We hadall his friends accounted for--those that weren't at prayer meeting weremarked down somewhere else, and we had a line flung pretty well roundthe church. Appleweight's deliverance must have come from somewhereinside the Ardmore property. Perhaps the game warden picked him up."

  "Perhaps the Indians captured him," suggested Griswold, yawning, "ormaybe some Martian came down on a parachute and hauled him up. Or, asscarlet fever is raging at Mr. Ardmore's castle,"--and his tone wasicy--"Appleweight was probably seized all of a sudden, and broke away inhis delirium. Let's go to bed."

  At eight o'clock he and Habersham rode into Turner Court House, andGriswold went at once to the inn to change his clothes. No further stepscould be taken until some definite report was received as toAppleweight's whereabouts. The men who had attempted the outlaw'scapture had returned to their farms, and were most demurely cultivatingthe soil. Griswold was thoroughly disgusted at the ridiculous failure ofHabersham's plans, and not less severe upon himself for failing to pushmatters to a conclusion the moment the outlaw was caught, instead ofhanging back to await the safe dispersion of the Mount Nebocongregation.

  It had been the most puerile transaction possible, and he was aware thata report of it, which he must wire at once to Miss Barbara Osborne,would not impress that young woman with his capacity or trustworthinessin difficult occasions. The iron that had already entered into his souldrove deeper. He had ordered a fresh horse, and was resolved to returnto Mount Nebo Church for a personal study of the ground in broaddaylight.

  As he crossed the musty parlor of the little hotel, to his greatastonishment Miss Osborne's black Phoebe, stationed where her eyesranged the whole lower floor of the inn, drew attention to herself in anelaborate courtesy.

  "Miss Barb'ra wish me t' say she done come heah on business, and shelike fo' to see yo' all right away. She done bring huh seddle, and wara-gwine ridin' twell you come back. She's a-gittin' ready, and I'll gotell huh you done come. She got a heap o' trubble, thet young missis, soshe hev," and the black woman's pursed lips seemed to imply thatProfessor Griswold was in some measure responsible for Miss Osborne'sdifficulties.

  As he stared out into the street a negro brought a horse bearing abetter saddle than Mingo County had ever boasted, and hitched it nearthe horse he had secured for himself. An instant later he heard a quickstep above, and Miss Osborne, sedately followed by the black woman, camedown-stairs. She smiled and greeted him cordially, but there was troublein her brown eyes.

  "I didn't warn you of my coming. I didn't want to be a nuisance to you;but there's a new--a most unaccountable perplexity. It doesn't seemright to burden you with it--you have already been so kind about helpingme; but I dare not turn to our oldest friends--I have been afraid totrust father's friends at all since Mr. Bosworth acted so traitorously."

  "My time is entirely at your service, Miss Osborne; but I have ashameful report to make of myself. I must tell you how miserably I havefailed, before you trust me any further. We--that is to say, theprosecuting attorney of this county and a party he got together ofAppleweight's enemies--caught the outlaw last night--took him with thegreatest ease--but he got away from us! It was all my fault, and I'mdeeply disgusted with myself!"

  He described the capture and the subsequent mysterious disappearance ofAppleweight, and confessed the obvious necessity for great caution infurther attempts to take the outlaw, now that he was on guard. Barbaralaughed reassuringly at the end of the story.

  "Those men must have felt funny when they went back to get the prisonerand found that he had gone up into the air. But there's a new feature ofthe case that's more serious than the loss of this man--" and thetrouble again possessed her eyes.

  "Well, it's better not to have our problems too simple. Any lawyer canwin an easy case--though I seem to have lost my first one for you," headded penitently.

  She made no reply, but drew from her purse a cutting from a newspaperand handed it to him.

  "That's from last night's Columbia _Vidette_, which is very hostile tomy father."

  He was already running over the heavily leaded column that set forthwithout equivocation the fact that Governor Osborne had not been inColumbia since he went to New Orleans. It scouted the story that he wasabroad in the state on official business connected with the Appleweightcase--the yarn which Griswold had forced upon the friendly reporter atthe telegraph office in Columbia. The governor of a state, the _Vidette_went on to elaborate, could not vanish without leaving some trace ofhimself, and a _Vidette_ representative had traced the steps of GovernorOsborne from New Orleans until--the italics are the _Vidette's_--he hadagain entered South Carolina _under cover of night and for purposeswhich, for the honor of the state, the Vidette hesitated to disclose_.

  The writer of the article had exhausted the possibilities of gentlesuggestion and vague innuendo in an effort to create an impression ofmystery and to pique curiosity as to further developments, which werepromised at any hour. Griswold's wrath was aroused, not so much againstthe newspaper, which he assumed had some fire for its smothered trifleof smoke, but against the governor of South Carolina himself, who wascausing the finest and noblest girl in the world infinite anxiety andpain.

  "The thing is preposterous," he said lightly. "The idea that your fatherwould attempt to enter his own state surreptitiously is inconceivablein these days when public men are denied all privacy, and when it's anyman's right to deceive the press if he finds it essential to his owncomfort and peace; but the intimation that your father is in SouthCarolina for any dishonorable purpose is preposterous. One thing,however, is certain, Miss Osborne, and that is that we must produce yourfather at the earliest possible moment."

  "But"--and Barbara hesitated, and her eyes, near tears as they were,wrought great havoc in Griswold's soul--"but father must not be founduntil this Appleweight matter is settled. You understand without makingme speak the words--that he might not exactly view the matter as we do."

  It was a painful subject; and the fact that she was driven by sheerforce of circumstances to appeal to him, a stranger, to aid her toperform a public service in her father's name rallied all his goodimpulses to her standard. It was too delicate a matter for discussion;it was a thing to be ignored; and he assumed at once a lighter tone.

  "Come! We must solve the riddle of the lost prisoner at once, and yourfather will undoubtedly give an excellent account of himself when hegets ready. Meanwhile the fiction that he is personally carrying thewar into the Appleweight country must be maintained, and I shall step tothe railway station and wire the Columbia newspaper in his name that heis in Mingo County on the trail of the outlaws."

  The messages were composed by their joint efforts at the station, withno
t so much haste but that an associate professor of admiralty,twenty-nine years old, could defer in the most trifling matters to thesuperior literary taste of a girl of twenty whose brown eyes were verypleasant to meet in moments of uncertainty and appeal.

  He signed the messages Charles Osborne, Governor, with a flourishindicative of the increased confidence and daring which Miss Osborne'sarrival had brought to the situation.

  "And now," said Griswold, as they rode through the meager streets ofTurner's, "we will go to Mount Nebo Church and see what we can learn ofAppleweight's disappearance."

  "The North Carolina papers are making a great deal of GovernorDangerfield's activity in trying to put down outlawry on the border,"said Barbara. "Marked copies of the newspapers are pouring into papa'soffice. I can but hold Mr. Bosworth responsible for that. We may countupon it that he will do all in his power to annoy us"--and then, asGriswold looked at her quickly, he was aware that she had colored andaverted her eyes; and while, as a lawyer, he was aware that words of twoletters might be provocative of endless litigation of the bitterestsort, he had never known before that _us_, in itself the homeliest ofwords, could cause so sweet a distress. It seemed that an interval ofseveral years passed before either spoke again.

  "We are quite near the estate of your friend, Mr. Ardmore, aren't we?"asked Barbara presently.

  "I fancy we are," replied Griswold, but with a tone so coldly atvariance with his previous cordial references to the master of Ardsleythat Barbara looked at him inquiringly.

  "I'm sorry that I should have given you the impression, Miss Osborne,that Mr. Ardmore and I are friends, as I undoubtedly did at Columbia. Hehas, for some unaccountable reason, cut my acquaintance in a manner sounlike him that I do not pretend to explain it; nor, I may add, is it ofthe least importance."

  "I was a little surprised," returned Barbara, with truly feminineinstinct for mingling in the balm of consolation the bitterest and mostpoisonous herbs, "that you should have had for a friend a man whofrankly follows girls whose appearance he fancies. Even Mr. Ardmore'sdemocratic enthusiasm for the down-trodden laundry girl does not whollymitigate the winking episode."

  "He had, only a few days ago, invited me to visit him, though I had beento his house so often that the obscurest servant knew that I wasprivileged even beyond the members of Mr. Ardmore's own family in myfreedom of the place. When I saw that his house would be a convenientpoint from which to study the Appleweight situation, I wired him that Iwas on the way, and to my utter amazement he replied that he could notentertain me--that scarlet fever was epidemic on the estate--on thosealmost uncounted acres!"

  And with a gulp and a mist in his eyes, Griswold drew rein and pointed,from a hill that had now borne them to a considerable height, towardArdsley itself, dreamily basking in the bright morning sunlight withinits cincture of hills, meadows and forest.

  "I never saw the place before! It's perfectly splendid!" cried Barbara,forgetting that Griswold must be gazing upon it with the eyes of anexile viewing grim, forbidding battlements that once hailed him inwelcome.

  "It's one of the most interesting houses in America," observedGriswold, who strove at all times to be just.

  "There's a flag flying--I can't make out what it is," said Barbara.

  "It's probably to give warning of the scarlet fever; it would be likeArdy to do that. But we must hurry on to Mount Nebo."

  He knew the ways of Ardsley thoroughly; better, in fact, than its ownerever had in old times; but in his anger at Ardmore he would not set footon the estate if he could possibly avoid doing so in reaching the sceneof the night's contretemps. He found without difficulty the trail takenby Habersham's men, and in due course of time they left their horses ashort distance from the church and proceeded on foot.

  "It seems all the stupider in broad daylight," said Griswold, after hehad explained just what had occurred, and how the captors, in theirsuperstitious awe of Appleweight, had been afraid to carry him off themoment they were sure of him, but had slipped back among their fellowsto wait until the coast was perfectly clear. To ease his deep chagrinBarbara laughed a good deal at the occurrence as they tramped over thescene discussing it. They went into the woods back of the church, whereGriswold began to exercise his reasoning powers.

  "Some one must have come in from this direction and freed the man andtaken him away," he declared.

  He knelt and marked the hoof-prints where Appleweight had been lefttied; but the grass here was much trampled, and Griswold was misled bythe fact, not knowing that news of Appleweight's strange disappearancehad passed among the outlaw's friends by the swift telegraphy of theborder, and that the whole neighborhood had been threshed over hoursbefore. It might have been some small consolation to Griswold had heknown that Appleweight's friends and accomplices were as much at a lossto know what had become of the chieftain as the men who had tried soineffectually to kidnap him. From the appearance of the trampled grassmany men had taken a hand in releasing the prisoner, and this impressiondid not clarify matters for Griswold.

  "Where does this path lead?" asked Barbara.

  "This is Ardsley land here, this side of the church, and that trailleads on, if I remember, to the main Ardsley highway, with which variousother roads are connected--many miles in all. It's inconceivable thatthe deliverers of this outlaw should have taken him into the estate,where a sort of police system is maintained by the forestry corps. Idon't at all make it out."

  He went off to explore the heavy woods on each side of the trail thatled into Ardsley, but without result. When he came gloomily back hefound that in his absence Barbara had followed the bridle-path for aconsiderable distance, and she held out to him a diminutive pockethandkerchief, which had evidently been snatched away from its owner--soBarbara explained--by a low-hanging branch of an oak, and flung into ablackberry bush, where she had found it. It was a trifle, indeed, theslightest bit of linen, which they held between them by its four cornersand gravely inspected.

  "Feminine, beyond a doubt," pronounced Griswold sagely.

  "It's a good handkerchief, and here are two initials worked in thecorner that may tell us something--'G. D.' It probably belongs to someguest at Ardsley. And there's a very faint suggestion of orris--it's acity handkerchief," said Barbara with finality, "but it has suffered atrifle in the laundry, as this edge is the least bit out of drawing fromcareless ironing."

  "And I should say, from a certain crispness it still retains, that ithasn't been in the forest long. It hasn't been rained on, at any rate,"added Griswold.

  "But even the handkerchief doesn't tell us anything," said Barbara,spreading it out, "except that some woman visitor has ridden here withina few days and played drop the handkerchief with herself or somebodyelse to us unknown."

  "She may have been a scarlet fever patient from Ardsley; you'd betterhave a care!" And Griswold's tone was bitter.

  "I'm not afraid; and as I have never been so near Ardsley before, Ishould like to ride in and steal a glimpse. There's little danger ofmeeting the lord of the manor, I suppose, or any of his guests at thishour, and we need not go near the house."

  He saw that she was really curious, and it was not in his heart torefuse her, so they followed the bridle-path through the cool forest,and came in due course to the clearing where Jerry had first confessedherself lost, and thereafter had suffered the captured outlaw to pointher the way home.

  "The timber has been cut here since my last visit, but I remember thebridle-paths very well. They all reach the highroad of the estateultimately. We may safely take this one, which has been the most usedand which climbs a hill that gives a fine outlook."

  The path he chose had really been beaten into better condition thaneither of the others, and they rode side by side now. A deer feeding ona grassy slope raised its head and stared at them, and a fox scamperedwildly before them. It seemed that they were shut in from all the world,these two, who but a few days before had never seen each other, and itwas a relief to him to find that she threw off her troubles and becam
emore animated and cheerful than he had yet seen her. His comments on hermount, which was sorry enough, were amusing; and she paused now and thento peer into the tops of the tallest trees, under the pretense thatAppleweight had probably reverted to the primordial and might be foundat any minute in one of the branches above them. Her dark green habit,and the soft hat to match, with its little feather thrust into the side,spoke for real usage; and the gauntleted hand that swung lightly at herside inadvertently brushed his own once--and he knew that this must nothappen again! When their eyes met it was with frank confidence on herpart, and it seemed to him that they were very old friends, and thatthey had been riding through this forest, or one identical with it,since the world began. It is thus that a man with any imagination feelsfirst about a woman who begins to interest him--that there was never anybeginning to their acquaintance that can be reckoned as time andexperience are measured, but that he has known her for countless years;and if there be a poetic vein in him, he will indulge in such fancies asthat he has seen her as a priestess of Aphrodite in the long ago,dreaming upon the temple steps; or that he has watched her skippingpebbles upon the violet storied sea against a hazy background of citieslong crumbled into dust. Such fancies as these are a part of love'sgentle madness, and luckier than she knows is the girl who awakens in alover this eager idealization. If he can turn a verse for her in whichshe is added to the sacred Nine, personifying all sweet, gentle andgracious things, so much the better.

  Just what he, on the other hand, may mean to her; just what form ofdeification he evokes in her, he can never know; for the women who writeof such matters have never been those who are sincere or worth heeding,and they never will be, so long as woman's heart remains what it hasbeen from the beginning--far-hidden, and filled with incommunicablesecret beliefs and longings, and tremulous with fears that are beyondman's power to understand.

  Griswold had missed the white rose that he had begun to associate withBarbara, and he grew suddenly daring and spoke of it.

  "You haven't your rose to-day."

  "Oh, I'm beyond the source of supply! I have a young friend, a girl, whomakes her living as a florist--not a purely commercial enterprise, forshe experiments and develops new varieties, and is quite wonderful; andthat white rose is her own creation--it is becoming well known. Shenamed it for me, and she sends me at least one every day--she says it'smy royalty--if that's what you lawyers call that sort of thing."

  "We lawyers rarely have anything so interesting as that to apply theword to! So that rose is the Barbara?" and it gave him a feeling ofrecklessness to find himself speaking her name aloud. "There are largeconservatories on the estate, over there somewhere; I might risk thescarlet fever by attacking the gardener and demanding a Barbara foryou."

  "I'm afraid my little flower hasn't attained to the grandeur ofArdsley," she laughed. "But pray, where are we?"

  They had reached the highroad much sooner than Griswold had expected,and he checked his horse abruptly, remembering that he was _persona nongrata_ on this soil.

  "We must go back; I mustn't be seen here. The workmen are scattered allabout the place, and they all know me."

  "Oh, just a little farther! I want to see the towers of the castle!"

  If she had asked him to jump into the sea he would not have hesitated;and he was so happy at being with her that his heart sang defiance toArdmore and the splendors of Ardsley.

  They were riding now toward the red bungalow, where he had oftensprawled on the broad benches and chaffed with Ardmore for hours at atime. Tea was served here sometimes when there were guests at the house;and Griswold wondered just who were included in the party that hisquondam friend was entertaining, and how Mrs. Atchison was progressingin her efforts to effect a match between Daisy Waters and her brother.

  The drives were nearly all open to the public, so that by the letter ofthe law he was no intruder; but beyond the bungalow he must not go.Sobered by the thought of his breach with Ardmore, he resolved not topass the bungalow whose red roof was now in sight.

  "It's like a fairy place, and I feel that there can be no end to it,"Barbara was saying. "But it isn't kind to urge you in. We certainly aredoing nothing to find Appleweight, and it must be nearly noon."

  It was just then--he vividly recalls the moment--as Griswold felt in hiswaistcoat for his watch--that Miss Jerry Dangerfield, with ThomasArdmore at her side, galloped into view. They were racing madly, likeirresponsible children, and bore boisterously down upon the twopilgrims.

  Jerry and Ardmore, hatless and warm, were pardonably indignant at thusbeing arrested in their flight, and the master of Ardsley, feeling foronce the dignity of his proprietorship, broke out stormily.

  "I would have you know--I would have you know--" he roared, and then hisvoice failed him. He stared; he spluttered; he busied himself with hishorse, which was dancing in eagerness to resume the race. He quieted thebeast, which nevertheless arched and pawed like a war-horse, and thenthe master of Ardsley bawled:

  "Grissy! I say, Grissy!"

  Miss Osborne and Professor Griswold, on their drooping Mingo Countynondescripts, made a tame picture before Ardmore and his fair companionon their Ardsley hunters. The daughter of the governor of South Carolinalooked upon the daughter of the governor of North Carolina with highdisdain, and it need hardly be said that this feeling, as expressed byglacial glances, was evenly reciprocal, and that in the contemptuousupward tilt of two charming chins the nicest judgment would have beennecessary to any fair opinion as to which state had the better argument.

  The associate professor of admiralty was known as a ready debater, andhe quickly returned his former friend's salutation, and in much thecontumelious tone he would have used in withering an adversary before ajury.

  "Pardon me, but are you one of the employees here?"

  "Why, Grissy, old man, don't look at me like that! How did you--"

  "I owe your master an apology for riding upon his property at a timewhen pestilence is giving you cause for so much concern. The death-ratefrom scarlet fever is deplorably high--"

  "Oh, Grissy!" cried Ardmore.

  "You have addressed me familiarly, by a nickname sometimes used byintimate friends, though I can't for the life of me recall you. I wantyou to know that I am here in an official capacity, on an errand for thestate of South Carolina."

  Miss Dangerfield's chin, which had dropped a trifle, pointed again intothe blue ether.

  "You will pardon me," she said, "but an agent of the state of SouthCarolina is far exceeding his powers when he intrudes upon NorthCarolina soil."

  "The state of South Carolina does what it pleases and goes where itlikes," declared Miss Barbara Osborne warmly, whereupon Mr. Ardmore, ata glance from his coadjutor, waxed righteously indignant.

  "It's one thing, sir, for you to ride in here as a sight-seer, but quiteanother for you to come representing an unfriendly state. You willplease choose which view of the matter I shall take, and I shall actaccordingly."

  Griswold's companion spoke to him earnestly in a low tone for a moment,and then Griswold addressed Ardmore incisively.

  "I don't know what you pretend to be, sir; but it may interest you toknow that _I_ am the governor of South Carolina!"

  "And this gentleman," cried Jerry, pointing to Ardmore with herriding-crop, "though his hair is mussed and his scarf visibly untied, isnone other than the governor of North Carolina, and he is not only onhis own property, but in the sovereign state of which he is the chiefexecutive."

  Professor Griswold lifted his hat with the least flourish.

  "I congratulate the state of North Carolina on having reposed authorityin hands so capable. If this young lady is correct, sir, I will serveofficial notice on you that I have reason to believe that a person namedAppleweight, a fugitive from justice, is hiding on your property and inyour state, and I now formally demand that you surrender him forthwith."

  "If I may introduce myself," interposed Jerry, "I will say to you thatmy name is Geraldine Dangerfield, and that this
Appleweight person isnow at Mr. Ardmore's house."

  "I suppose," replied Miss Osborne with gentle irony, "that he has thepink parlor and leads the conversation at table."

  "You are quite mistaken," replied Ardmore; "but if it would afford youany satisfaction to see the outlaw you may look upon him in my winecellar, where, only an hour ago, I left him sitting on a case ofChateau Bizet '82. My further intentions touching this scoundrelly SouthCarolinian I need not now disclose; but I give you warning that theAppleweight issue will soon and forever be terminated and in a mannerthat will greatly redound to the credit and the glory of the Old NorthState."

  Professor Griswold's hand went to his mustache with a gesture that smoteArdmore, for he knew that it hid that inscrutable smile that had alwaysbaffled him.

  "I trust," said Griswold, "that the prisoner, whom we can not for amoment concede to be the real Appleweight, will not be exposed toscarlet fever, pending a settlement of this matter. It is myunderstanding that the Bizet '82 is a fraudulent vintage that has neverbeen nearer France than Paris, Illinois, and if the prisoner in yourcellar drinks of it I shall hold you officially responsible for theconsequences. And now, I have the honor to bid you both good morning."

  He and Barbara swung their horses round and retraced their way, leavingArdmore and Jerry gazing after them.

  When the shabby beasts from the stable at Turner Court House had borneMiss Osborne and Griswold out of sight beyond the bungalow, Ardmoreturned blankly to Jerry.

  "Have I gone blind or anything? Unless I'm crazy that was dear oldGrissy, but who is that girl?"

  "That is Miss Barbara Osborne, and I hope she has learned such a lessonthat she will not be snippy to me any more, if she _is_ thepresident-general of the Daughters of the Seminole War."

  "But where do you suppose she found Grissy?"

  "I don't know, I'm sure; nor, Mr. Ardmore, do I care."

  "He said he represented the state of South Carolina--do you suppose thegovernor has really employed him?"

  "I do not," said Jerry emphatically; "for he appears intelligent, andintelligence is something that would never appeal to Governor Osborne.It is quite possible," mused Jerry aloud, "that Miss Osborne's fatherhas disappeared like mine, and that she is running his office with Mr.Griswold's aid. If so, we shall probably have some fun before we getthrough with this."

  "If that's true we shall have more than fun!" exclaimed Ardmore,thoroughly aroused. "You don't know Grissy. He's the smartest man alive,and if he's running this Appleweight case for Governor Osborne, he'llkeep us guessing. Why did I ever send him that scarlet fever telegram,anyhow? He'll fight harder than ever for that and all I wanted was tokeep him away until we had got all through with this business here so Icould show him what a great man I had been and how I had been equal toan opportunity when it offered."

  "I wish you to remember, Mr. Ardmore, that you still have _your_opportunity, and that I expect you to carry this matter through to asafe conclusion and to the honor of the Old North State."

  "I have no intention of failing, Miss Dangerfield;" and with this theyturned and rode slowly back toward the house.

  Professor Griswold and Miss Osborne were silent until the forest againshut them in.

  Then, in a sequestered spot, Griswold suddenly threw up his head andlaughed long and loud.

  "It doesn't strike me as being so amusing," remarked Miss Osborne. "Theyhave Appleweight in their wine cellar and I don't see for the life of mehow we are going to get him out."

  "What's funny, Miss Osborne, is Ardy--that he and I should be pittedagainst each other in a thing of this kind is too utterly ridiculous.Ardy acting as governor of North Carolina beats anything that everhappened on this continent. But how do you suppose he ever met MissDangerfield, who certainly is a self-contained young woman?"

  "The answer to that riddle is so simple," replied Miss Osborne, "that Iam amazed that you fail to see it for yourself. Miss Dangerfield isundoubtedly the girl with the winking eye."

  "Oh, no!" protested Griswold.

  "I don't hesitate to announce that as a fact. Miss GeraldineDangerfield, beyond any question, is the young lady whom Mr. Ardmore,your knight errant friend, went forth for to seek. Just how they met weshall perhaps learn later on. But just now it seems rather necessary forus to adopt some plan of action, unless you feel that you do not wish tooppose your friend."

  "Oppose him! I have got to whip him to the dust if I shake down the verytowers of his stronghold! It's well we have the militia on the road.With the state army at our back we can show Tommy Ardmore a few thingsin state administration that are not dreamed of in his philosophy."

  "Do you suppose they really have Appleweight?" asked Barbara.

  "Not for a minute! They told us that story merely to annoy us when theyfound what we were looking for. That touch about the wine cellar ischaracteristically Ardmoresque. If they had Appleweight you may be surethey wouldn't keep him on the premises."

  Whereupon, they rode back to Turner Court House much faster than theyhad come.