Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1914 — The Hollow of Her Hand [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Hollow of Her Hand

BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON

Xomof 6t"GearufAit’ * '‘Truxton King," etc.

Illustrations by Ellsworth Yoons

Ceptrirht. 1912. br George Barr McCotcheoa Copyrirbt. 1912. br DtxU. Mead A Coagtaj Continuation of Chapter XIX. Hetty resumed her seat in the broad French window and stared out over the barren treetops in the park. A frightened, pathetie droop returned to her lips. It had been there most of the day. In Sara’s boudoir, the doors of which were carefully closed, three persons were in close, even repressed conference. The young mistress of the house sat propped up in a luxurious chaiselounge, wan but intense. Confronting here were the two men, leaning forward in their chairs. Mr. Carroll held in his hand a nuihber of papers, prominent among them being three or four telegrams. Booth’s face was radiant despite the serious matter that occupied his mind. He had reached town early in the morning in response to a telephone message from Carroll announcing the sudden, unannounced appearance of Hetty Castleton at his offices on the previous afternoon. The girl’s arrival had been most unexpected. She walked in on Mr. Carroll, accompanied by her maid, w ho had a distinctly sheepish look in her eyes and seemed eager to explain something but could not find the opportunity. With some firmness, Miss Castleton had asked Mr. Carroll to explain w-hy the woman had been set to spy upon her every moment, a demand the worthy lawyer could not well meet for the gobd and sufficient reason that he wasn’t very clear about it himself. Then Hetty broke down and cried, confessing that she was eager to go to Mrs. Wrandall, at the same time sobbing out something about a symbolic dicky-bird, much to Mr. Carroll’s wonder and perplexity. He sent the maid from the room, and retired with Miss Castleton to the Innermost of his private offices, where without much preamble he informed her that he knew everything. Moreover, Mr. Booth was in possession of all the facts and was even then on the point of starting for Europe to see her. Of course, his letter had failed to reach her in time. There was quite a tragic scene in the seclusion of that remote little office, during which Mr. Carroll wiped his eyes and blew his nose more than once, after which he took it upon himself to dispatch a messenger to Sara with the word that he and Miss Castleton would present themselves within half an hour after his note had been delivered. The meeting between Sara and Hetty was affecting. . Almost immediately the former began to show the most singular signs of improvement. She laughed and cried and joyously announced to the protesting nurse that she was feeling quite well dgain! And, in truth, she got up from the couch on which she reclined and insisted on being dressed for dinner. In another room the amazed nurse was frantically appealing to Mr. Carroll to let her send for the doctor, only to be confounded by his urbane announcement that Mrs. Wrandall was as “right as a string” and, please God, she wouldn’t need the services of doctor or nurse again for years to come. Then he asked the nurse if she had eve# heard of a disease called “nostalgia,” She said she had'heard of “homesickness.”

“ Well, that’s what ailed Mrs. Wrandall,” he said. ’’Miss Castleton is the cure.” Booth came the next morning. . . . teven as she lay passive in hid arms, Hetty denied him. Her arms were around his neck as she miserably whispered that she could not, would not be his wife, notwithstanding her love for him and his readiness to accept her as she was. She was obdurate, lovingly, tenderly obdurate. He would have despaired but for Sara, to whom he afterwards appealed. “Wait.” was all that Sara had said, but he took heart. He was beginning to look upon her as a sorceress. ▲ week ago he had felt sorry for her; his heart had been touched by her transparent misery. Today he saw her in another light altogether; as the determined, resourceful, calculating woman who, having failed to attain a certain end, was now intensely, keenly interested in the development of another of a totally different nature. He could not feel sorry for her today. Hetty deliberately had placed herself in their hands, withdrawing from thO conference shortly before Vivian’s artival to give herself over to gloomy conjectures as to the future, not only for herself, but for the man she loved and the woman she worshiped with something of the fidelity of a beaten dog. * • * • • • • At a later conference participated in by Sara, Booth and Mr. Carroll, the old lawyer spoke plainly. "Now are you both willing to give serious consideration to the plan I propone? Take time to think it over. No harm will come to Miss Castleton, I am confident. There will be a nine days’ sensation, but, after all, it is the

beat thing for everybody. propose living abroad. Booth, so what are the o<|d» if—” “I shan't Uto abroad unless Hetty reconsiders her decision to not thirty me,” said the young man dlsihilty. “ ’Gad. i3ara, you must convince her that I loss her better than —” ”1 thihk she knows all that, Brandon. As | said before, wait! Ahd no#. Mr. Carroll, I have this to say to your suggestion: I for one am relehlleioiy opposed to the plan you adyocnto. There Is no occasion for this matter to go tp the public. A trial, yob say, would bh a there formality. I am nbt s 6 sure of that. Why put poor Hetty‘s fiend in the lion’s mouth at this late stngf, after I have protected her so carefully all these months? Why, take the risk? . We know she is innocent. Isn't it enough that we acquit her in our hearts? No, I cannot consent, and I hold both of you to your promises.” “There Is nothing more I can say, my dear Sara,” said Carroll, shaking his head gloomily, “except to urge you to think It over very seriously. Remember, it may mean a great deal to her —and to our eager young friend here. Years from now, like a bolt from the sky, the truth may come out in some way. Think of what it would mean then.” Sara regarded him steadily! “There are but four people who know the truth,” she said slowly. “It isn’t like-

ly that Hetty or Brandon will tell the story. Professional honor forbids your doing so. That leaves me as the sole peril. Is that what you would imply, my dear friend?” “Not at all,” he cried hastily, “not at all. I—” “That’s all tommy-rot, Sara,” cried Booth earnestly. “We just couldn’t have anything to fear from you." With curious inconsistency, she shook her head and remarked: “Of course, you never could be quite easy in your minds. There would always be the feeling of unrest. Am Ito be trusted, after all? I have proved myself to be a vindictive schemer. What assurance can you and Hetty have I will not turn against one or the other of you some time and crush you to satisfy a personal grievance? How do you know, Brandon, that I am not in love with you at this very—” “Good heavens, Sara!” he cried, agape.

“ at this very moment?” she continued. “It would not be so very strange, would it? I am very human. The power to love is not denied me. Oh, I am merely philosophizing. Don’t look so serious. We will suppose that I continued along my career as the woman scorned. You have seen how I smart under the lash. Well?”

"But all that is impossible,” said Booth, his face clearing. “You're not in love with me, and never can be. That! for your philosophy!” At the same instant he became aware of the singular gleam in her eyes; a liquid, oriental, glow that seemed to reflect light on her lower lids as she sat there with her face in the shadow. Once or twice before he had been conscious of the mysterious, seductive appeal. He stared back at her, almost defensively, but her gaae did not waver. It was he who first looked away, curiously uncomfortable. “Still,” she said slowly, “I think you would be wise to consider all possible contingencies.” “I’ll take chances, Sara,” he said, with an odd buoyancy In his voice that, tar the life of him, he could not explain, even to himself. “Even admitting that such should turn out to be the case,” said Mr. Carroll judicially, “I don’t believe you’d go so far as to put your loyal friends in jeopardy, Sara. So we will dismiss the thought. Don’t forget, however, that you hold them In the hollow of your hand. My original contention was based on the time-honored saying, •murder will out’ We never can tell what may turn up. The best laid plans of men and mice oft—” i Sara settled back among the cushions with a peremptory wave of her hand. The loose, fiqwing sleeve fell away, revealing her white, exquisitely modeled arm almost to the shoulder. For some strange, unaccountable reason Booth's eyes fell.

» “I am tired, wretchedly tired. It has been a most exhausting day,” she said, with a sudden note of weariness in her voice. Both men started up apologetically. “I will think Beriously of your plan, Mr. Carroll. There la no hurry, I’m Bure. Please aend Mias Wrandall in to me, will you? Perhaps you would better tell Hetty to come in as soon as Vivian leaves. Come back tomorrow afternoon, Brandon. I shall be much more cheerful v By the way, have you noticed that Dicky, out In the library, has been singing all afternoon as if his little throat would split? It is very curious, but today is the first time he has a note

fiTnearly five months. Just listen to him! He is fairly riotous with song.” Booth leaned over and kissed the hand she lifted to him. “He is like the rest of us, Sara, inordinately happy.” A slight shiver ran through her arm. He felt it. “I am so afraid his exuberance of spirit may annoy Vivian,” said she, with a rare smile. “She detests vulgarity.” The men departed. She lay back in the chaise-lounge, her'eyes fixed on the hand he had touched with his lips. Watson tapped twice on the door. “Miss Wrandall could not wait, ma’am,” he said, opening the door softly. “She will call again tomorrow.” “Thank you, Watson. Will you hand me the cigarettes ?” Watson hesitated. “The cigarettes, ma'am?” “Yes.” “But the doctor’s orders, ma’am, begging your pardon so “I have a new doctor, Watson.” “I beg pardon, ma’am!” “The celebrated Doctor Folly,” she said lightly. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

Vivian Found Herself Looking Into the Face of Hetty Castleton.