The Vagrant Duke

of Peter's bow, which was the most extraordinary thing that had ever happened in Burlington County. After a pause, a smile which seemed to have been ho

ry politely as he found his voice,

zing him, her head, bi

which way you're

hen Peter had noticed that many Americans and

irl and then down the

was smiling at or with him. "I came from a station c

e you want

, y

se you've never been

I hav

shrub and nibble

o right back." Her sente

with Black Rock?"

of nothin'. That's all,"

im. "I must get there, nevertheles

r. Mile or so. Didn't the 'L

her vacuously, f

'Lizz

s-carries the mail and papers. Some

ort and I really expected one. I wish

O

ying vainly to place him definitely in her mental collect

e goin' to

"If I can ever

of the new

. Not that I'm aware. I'm the n

O

mpressed, but a tiny f

forester?"

looks after

lookin' after out here in

teach them t

the fingers slender. Her nose was well shaped, her nostrils wide, the angle of her jaw firmly modeled and her slender figure beneath the absurd garments revealed both strength and grace.

estion took him

't think much of y

at you mean," said Peter polit

ke these trees grow

ng to help them t

od's job,

the use of explaining. There must have been a superior quality in Pe

stiffly, "follow me." And she went o

and started, with difficulty

id, "I'd much rather walk

ed a shoul

urself,"

d. Her reference to the Deity entirely eliminated Peter and the profession of forestry from the pale of useful things. He was

t, "if I tell you that you have one of the

r that ran up under her delicately freckled tan.

ou hea

ke the voice of a

t know any one was there. I just

een worki

. "Yes-Far

rme

he vineyard a

e. Do you

I just do it for my hea

f him. Even as a waiter he had managed to pre

at had become of th

other to see where they can get the highest w

"And does Mr. Jonathan McGuire have di

rom away-like you--But lately

hy

little and turned to

don't know the kind

o looking after the preserve, I'm to watch

Sorry, Mr. wha

s--" put in P

l I have to say is that you'

it!" translated

the purpling sky. Her laugh was much like her singing-if angels in Paradise laugh (and w

u mean. You're Eng

yes-

f you in the glass factory. He

rk in a gla

bottles. Now we're goin' dry, they'll be

elp in th

ice. I can shorthand

glad when a s

around without breakin' someth

u sing when you ca

the open. It isn't r

weight of his heavy bag. She was a quaint creature and quite as unconscious of

mind telling

him and laug

Rock knows everybody else-more'n they want to, I guess. There's no reason

th-

he minister

t lack a se

laughed, "bein' tied up for life to a name like th

It's like you. I hope you'll let me

"You know they call us Pineys back here in the barrens, but just the same we think a lot of ourselves and we'r

s sense of the situation more keenl

of that. All the more credit

ay I was yo

know something about singing. I've st

Lord of Love! You're

not lying. I was educ

new look in her eyes but said

you've never thought

it, just as I've thought of goin' in the movies and m

ought of t

. She does extra ladies. She visited back here

of her "it." He was learning quite as much from what she didn't sa

tired of Bla

d-see here-Mr.-er-Nichols. If I asked as many quest

id Peter, "I be

ure that chance had thrown in his way. He could see that she was quite capable of looking out for

umor which had a kind of primitive omniscience and of her laughter which he was now sure was more at, than

eighteen minutes ago. She trotted along beside him as though quite unaware of the sudden silenc

ag heavy?"

the perspiration from his forehe

t's just a

ropped

ou said it was

't so far as that now. Let

took the bag in his l

or themselves, are they? The taxi

s bag weighed more than any army pack. It seemed too that she was walking much faster than

uch a long walk-with no

ect to my asking you just one more question," he went on grimly, "I

re a couple of weeks now, cooped up in the big house.

ost

here to keep watch for them and they say some d

hould b

ere. She's housekeeper. It's spooky, s

en anything?" asked

e 'em some if they did. It's only the

deal of nonsense about n

l you get there befor

d of ghosts." And then, as

says, it must be something more than a gho

s she thi

round the house without a pass. Oh, he's scared all right and he's

cared?" as

ly. But it's spooky, and I d

think there wi

s that what with loaded rifles, shotguns and pistols lyin' loose in every room in the house, it's as much as your life is worth to do a bit of dusti

Shad W

. Wells. He was triple

" muse

He's just a plain woodsman, but he doesn't know anything about making the trees grow,"

hy

' things in a way. I hope

do

n't, Shad will eat

perhaps you exaggerate. Don't you

ver, and then smi

"but your hands don

usly. It was not as brown as hers, b

e hours a day on the piano, your hands w

he was about to ask her how much further Black Rock was when there was a commotion down the road ahead

e'," exclaimed B

i service of Black Rock

d young man at the wheel briefly, without

for McGuire's o

as and the boy swung the

Beth," he said to

zie" wasted no time, once it set about doing a thing, and in a few moments from the forest they emerged into a clearing where there were cows in a meadow, and a view of houses. At the

d, Jim," he

n, through the village street, and so to a wooden bridge across a tea-colored stream, up a s

the pines. They won't

e you?" asked Pet

he door, will ye?" And in anot

ne pillars where a man was standing. Beyond the man he had a glimpse of lawns, a well-kept driveway which curved toward the wood. The ma

r. McGuire," sai

at's yo

he new forester

the gate smiled i

And then with a shout to some one in the w

ver him minutely and found himself wondering whether or no

an came running Peter heard

politely with the pleasant air of on

name. Who

plied Peter. "We came p

d the way up the road toward the house.

dam to levels below, where it joined the old race below the ruin that had once been a mill. The McGuire house emerged in a moment from its woods and shrubbery, and stood revealed-a plain square Georgian dwelling of brick, to which had been added a long wing in a poor imitation of the same style and a garage and s

neath a clump of bushes vomited forth two men, like the fruit of the Dragon's Teet

It's me and the new forester." He uttered the

s not a human being in sight and the heavy wooden blinds to the lower floor were tightly shut. Before his guide had even reached the door the s

?" asked a

r. Nichols, the m

reply while the door wa

ble terror in the shape of a countryside gone mad with blood lust. He smiled toward the bush where the armed men lay concealed

ir for weeks along the Russian front, the fear of German shells, of poison gas, and of that worst poison of all-Russian treachery. But that fear was not like this fear, which was intimate, personal but intangible. He marked it in

McGuire," she said