Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1909 — The Man From Home [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Man From Home

A Novelization of the Play of the Same Name Copyright, 1909, by American Press Association

By BOOTH TARKINGTON and HARRY LEON WILSON

SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I—Daniel Voorhees Pike, a rising young Kokomo (Ind.) lawyer, hears that his ward, Ethel GrangerSimpson, is to be married abroad to the son of an English earl. Her father was his nearest friend and he has long loved the girl. He goes abroad to arrange with her the business matters connected with her marriage, n—Ethel Granger-Simpson and her brother Horace, 1 have become anglomaniacs and are spending much of their late father’s fortune in travel and entertaining. They become intimate with Lady Creech, the Earl of Hawcastle, his son, Almeric St. Aubyn, and Comtesse de Champigny, an adventuress and associate of the earl’s. They are at a hotel at Sorrento, Italy. Ethel promises to marry the son because she craves a title. Ill—The Russian von Grollerhagen. CHAPTER IV. STRANGE NEWS. THE Earl of Hawcastle was nearly at the end of his financial rope. And yet to look at him as he entered upon the terrace from the lemon grove no one would have thought that a care in the world possessed him. Added to the natural calm demeanor of the Englishman of station was a certain self possession gained by years of standing on the brink of events, and, while this brilliant morning his cares had bung even a little more heavily upon him than was his desire, yet he gave no outward hint of any troubles that beset him. He was a well preserved man of flf-ty-Six, with close cropped iron gray hair and a straight cut military mustache that hid certain cruel lines in his mouth and softened the severe lineaments. He carried himself with an erectness that bespoke pride in race, if not in deeds of his own. He was distinguished with that curious individuality that causes those in the street to nudge one another and ask in whispers who another may be, and he was unmistakably high bred. True, his sense of honor that would balk at cheating in a card game or the larceny of a traveling bag was not sufficient to debar him from con-

nlvlng at the attachment of a young and helpless girl’s money with the foreknowledge of a lifelong misery for her as the consequence. This morning he was clad In an Immaculate suit of lightly striped white flannel, with carefully pipeclayed shoes, and /the pale rose necktie that be wore was a living monument to the fact that the weH groomed Englishman knows no peer on earth, while the Jaunty exactness of his snowy panama hat was a revelation In proper headgear. As he entered the terrace his alert glance swept it from end to end, and be noted that there was no one about. He moved at once to the table that Mariano had set for him. and at the Instant he Bat down Michele ran down the steps of the hotel with a folded newspaper In his hand which he patented to milord with a low bow. Mariano entered bearing a coffee tray, and the earl greeted him with a cheerful goo 4 morning whiciL Mariano ac-

khowledged as one wfmTd a favor from a king. “Milor* is serve,” he announced with soft accents and took the hat and light walking stick, bestowing them with reverential care upon a side table. As the earl unfolded II Mattino he glanced up. “No English papers?” he said. “Milor 1 , the mail is late,” answered Michele andi bowed himself up the stairs. “Also Mme. de Champigny,” growled the earl as he glanced down the unfamiliar pages. As he spoke the countess, clad In the very latest Parisian creation, swept down the steps and approached the table. She looked well, and she knew It Apparently about thirty-two, she would probably have confessed to five years more under pressure, but her dark beauty was well set off by the light colors she affected, and the tilt of her parasol revealed more to the

capable eye of an observer than a ream of self description or admission. She was of that type that causes the elderly dowager of any race to regard her with suspicion and to gather her male entourage beneath the protecting wings. Mme. de Champigny, raising her hand with a little gesture of greeting, paused an instant as she stood at the top of the steps and cried softly: “Me void!” The earl jumped to his feet and bowed, inquiring at the same time: “My esteemed relative Is still asleep?” The countess swept forward to her chair, which Hawcastle palled out for her, and murmured: “I trust your beautiful son has found much better employment —as our hearts would wish him, eh?” Hawcastle laughed shortly and mirthlessly. “He has. He’s off on a canter with the little American."

Whereat the demure countess clapped her daintily gloved hands together and cried softly: “Brava!” That they were old friends, these two, was to be seen at a glance. There was no inquiring as to each other’s tastes and dislikes. It was evident that long association had Ingrained an Intimate knowledge of the other into the mind of each, and they met as good comrades without more then perfunctory courtesy. The earl went on as he reseated himself. “I didn’t mean Almerlc, however, Helene, but my august sister-in-law.” Without further comment he turned to the paper again and read. The amiable countess smiled at him enigmatically and broke a roll with the gesture of an empress. , * . “The amiable Lady Hermione Trevelyan Creech has dejeuner in her apartments. What do you And to read, tnon cher?”

Hawcastlethrew the paper down upon the cloth with an exclamation. “I’m spch a duffer at Italian,” be said, “blit apparently the people along the coast are having a scare over an escaped convict, a Russian.” The hovering Mariano, who was flitting about the table like a wounded sparrow, started slightly and hesitated with a silver cover in his hand, then stepped forward. “If milor' will pardon me”— The countess also started and put down her fork with a slight rattle. “A Russian?” she ejaculated. “Yes," grumbled tbe earL “An escaped Russian bandit bas been traced to Castellamare”— He paused to insert tbe choicest bit of melon in his mouth, and Mariano’s jaw dropped with tbe excitement. “Casteliarrmre—not twelve kilometers from here!” he whispered in awestruck tones, and the earl continued when he had masticated the fruit: “And a confidential agent—secret service man, I dare say—has requested his arrest from the Italian authorities. But, to quote from our grandiose II Mattino, ‘the brigand tore himself from the hands of the carabinieri, 1 or something like that I can’t be sure, but it read to me”— Mariano broke in excitedly. He had picked up the paper and was devouring it with avidity. “If milor’ permit, and madame”— te bowed like an automaton—“l shall translate.” “Quite right. Mariano,” said the earl, and the maitre d’hotel went on avidly. “The btigan’ tore himself,” he read excitedly, “from the hand of the carabinieri, and without tbe doubts he conceal himself in some of these grotto near Sorrento, and searchment is being execute’. The agent of the Russian embassy have inform 1 the bureau that this escape one is a mos 1 in-fray-mose robber and danger brigan 1 . 11 “What name does the paper say he has?” Interrupted Mme. de Champigny, with a catciT of her breath, and Mart ano bowed again Jerkily in her direction. “It has not to say, madame,” he replied. “That is all. And will milor 1 and Mme. la Comtesse excuse me? And may I take the Journal? There is one who should see it.” Hawcastle smiled slightly at his excitement and nodded. “Very well, Mariano,” he said, and Mariano, with another jerk that was supposed to include both of the Illustrious ones, disappeared with a speediness that was alarming. For an instant there was silence, and then the countess, with a quick upward glaitce of her dark eyes, said tremblingly': ’ “I should like much to know his name.” The ean smiled and went on with his breakfast “You may be sure it isn’t Ivanoff,” he said, but the assurance did not seem to carry weight with madame, for she leaned her chin in her hand and looked off over the bay, and there was * troubled look in her eyes. (To be Continued.)

"A RUSSIAN?" SHE EJACULATED.