It was nine o'clock. A thermometer on the terrace

showed the mercury clinging stubbornly to a point above

zero; but the still air was keen and stimulating, and

the sun argued for good cheer in a cloudless sky. We

had swallowed some breakfast, though I believe no one

had manifested an appetite, and we were cheering ourselves

with the idlest talk possible. Stoddard, who had

been to the chapel for his usual seven o'clock service, was

deep in the pocket Greek testament he always carried.

Bates ran in to report a summons at the outer wall,

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and Larry and I went together to answer it, sending

Bates to keep watch toward the lake.

Our friend the sheriff, with a deputy, was outside

in a buggy. He stood up and talked to us over the wall.

"You gents understand that I'm only doing my duty.

It's an unpleasant business, but the court orders me to

eject all trespassers on the premises, and I've got to

do it."

"The law is being used by an infamous scoundrel to

protect himself. I don't intend to give in. We can

hold out here for three months, if necessary, and I advise

you to keep away and not be made a tool for a man

like Pickering."

The sheriff listened respectfully, resting his arms on

top of the wall.

"You ought to understand, Mr. Glenarm, that I ain't

the court; I'm the sheriff, and it's not for me to pass

on these questions. I've got my orders and I've got to

enforce 'em, and I hope you will not make it necessary

for me to use violence. The judge said to me, 'We deplore

violence in such cases.' Those were his Honor's

very words."

"You may give his Honor my compliments and tell

him that we are sorry not to see things his way, but

there are points involved in this business that he doesn't

know anything about, and we, unfortunately, have no

time to lay them before him."

The sheriff's seeming satisfaction with his position

on the wall and his disposition to parley had begun to

arouse my suspicions, and Larry several times exclaimed

impatiently at the absurdity of discussing my

affairs with a person whom he insisted on calling a constable,

to the sheriff's evident annoyance. The officer

now turned upon him.

"You, sir,-we've got our eye on you, and you'd better

come along peaceable. Laurance Donovan-the description

fits you to a 't'."

"You could buy a nice farm with that reward,

couldn't you-" began Larry, but at that moment Bates

ran toward us calling loudly.

"They're coming across the lake, sir," he reported,

and instantly the sheriff's head disappeared, and as we

ran toward the house we heard his horse pounding down

the road toward St. Agatha's.

"The law be damned. They don't intend to come in

here by the front door as a matter of law," said Larry.

"Pickering's merely using the sheriff to give respectability

to his manoeuvers for those notes and the rest

of it."




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