"Certainly. But when this trouble of yours blows

over, I hope you will come back and help Jack to live

a decent and orderly life."

My grandfather spoke of my remaining with a

warmth that was grateful to my heart; but the place and

its associations had grown unbearable. I had not mentioned

Marian Devereux to him, I had not told him of

my Christmas flight to Cincinnati; for the fact that I

had run away and forfeited my right made no difference

now, and I waited for an opportunity when we should

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be alone to talk of my own affairs.

At luncheon, delayed until mid-afternoon, Bates produced

champagne, and the three of us, worn with excitement

and stress of battle, drank a toast, standing, to the

health of John Marshall Glenarm.

"My friends,"-the old gentleman rose and we all

stood, our eyes bent upon him in, I think, real affection,

-"I am an old and foolish man. Ever since I was

able to do so I have indulged my whims. This house

is one of them. I had wished to make it a thing of

beauty and dignity, and I had hoped that Jack would

care for it and be willing to complete it and settle here.

The means I employed to test him were not, I admit,

worthy of a man who intends well toward his own flesh

and blood. Those African adventures of yours scared

me, Jack; but to think"-and he laughed-"that I

placed you here in this peaceful place amid greater dangers

probably than you ever met in tiger-hunting! But

you have put me to shame. Here's health and peace to

you!"

"So say we all!" cried the others.

"One thing more," my grandfather continued, "I don't

want you to think, Jack, that you would really have

been cut off under any circumstances if I had died while

I was hiding in Egypt. What I wanted, boy, was to

get you home! I made another will in England, where

I deposited the bulk of my property before I died, and

did not forget you. That will was to protect you in case

I really died!"-and he laughed cheerily.

The others left us-Stoddard to help Larry get his

things together-and my grandfather and I talked for

an hour at the table.

"I have thought that many things might happen

here," I said, watching his fine, slim fingers, as he polished

his eye-glasses, then rested his elbows on the table

and smiled at me. "I thought for a while that I should

certainly be shot; then at times I was afraid I might

not be; but your return in the flesh was something I

never considered among the possibilities. Bates fooled

me. That talk I overheard between him and Pickering

in the church porch that foggy night was the thing that

seemed to settle his case; then the next thing I knew he

was defending the house at the serious risk of his life;

and I was more puzzled than ever."




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