Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, July 28, 1906, Page 2

THE Captain’s Double By LILLIAS CAMPBELL DAVIDSON CHAPTER XX. “The Woman Who Cares!” Countess Ilka was not far to find. She was watching eagerly for his com- ing, for she had her trump card to play. She knew well that on the suc- cess of this evening all her hopes hung. She had had her warning from a secret source that the time allowed here to accomplish her purpose was fast drawing to an end. If she must confess to failure—or be crushed by @ failure that she did not even confess, for there was nothing unknown to that dark and hidden society—she would be abruptly taken from the scene of her failure and lose her place in the society’s esteem. It meant more than mere failure to Countess Ilka—no one who had never worked under the heavy bondage of a secret association could guess’ what it meant. She must secure her prey to-night or risk the loss of her posi- tion in the eye of the dread body she had sold herself to. And defeat meant ruin, crushing and complete. It was little wonder that she sat with eager eyes fixed on the waltzers, as her own last partner left her side. When she saw Winstanley threading his way through them to her, she drew a quick, sharp breath of relief. “Our dance, I think?” She rose with a soft, swift movement that was grace itself, and took his arm quickly, as if she were only too glad to accede. They took one long, sweeping turn among the thinning crowd, just long enough for Winstanley to say to him- self, not for the first time, thgt though Ursula was a beautiful dancer, Coun- tes Ilka was undoubtedly the most di- vine waltzer that he had ever met. Then he felt her hang suddenly and wearily upon his arm, and instinctive- ly he slackened his steps. tired?” he asked, looking down into the exquisite face below him. “Would you rather we stopped?” “A little tired.” Her voice was Janguid and her smile up at him was almost sad. “I think I would rather stop if you don’t mind, and sit down somewhere where I could be quiet. I feel so strangely dizzy all at once.” “Let me get you some water, or an ice.” “A little water, thanks.” They left the whirl of waltzers and found them- s in one of the long corridors out- selv side. An open door showed them a peep of a room fitted up for sitting out. There were shaded lights and low couches, and it was empty of all other occupants. Her touch on his arm arrested him. “Let us sit down here if you don’t mind. No, never mind getting me anything; I don’t want to be left, somehow; I feel so oddly faint.” He put her into the easiest chair hurriedly, and would have started off to find water, but that she held with an imploring hand. In a minute or two she raised her head, with a faint and quivering smile. “I am better, oh, a great deal better—it is nothing,” she said, with an effort he thought brave. “Really? You are sure? What can it have been—the heart—the fatigue?” Her wonderful eyes drooped before his anxious ones and she hesitated. “I think—I think it was being so miser- able for fear you were vexed.” Winstanley felt a pang of compunc- tion, as if a helpless child had accused him of brutality. “Oh, nonsense; you must not think such a thing possible! I should have had no right to be angry with you. On second thoughts, do you know, I’ve been thinking perhaps I was too abrupt.” “It was my foolishness. But I could not bear to think you were cross with me.” How charming she was in her simplicity! One seldom saw such naivete in an English woman out of noolroom; one could as soon be with a kitten as with her. “Oh, no! That would have been an impertinence on my part. I wonder, after all, if your brother had not bet- ter take his invention to our secretary of state for war. He would tell him if there were anything in it, or, if you like, I will speak to Gen. Kenyon about it. He is interested in all kinds of practical experiments in explo- sives.” “Ah, you must not mention it to a iving creature! He would not for- give me if he knew I had mentioned it even to you. It is only my longing that he should be helped in it—make a success in it. I would never have breathed a word of it to anyone but you.” “But if there is anything in it, it is a pity that he;should not let some- one know.” “No, no. He is so jealous and so secretive about it. He dreads to let any one hear about it, lest he should be robbed of the invention. I thought you might have helped me, by telling me if he had been forestalled; might save him years of tojl and suspense, only to end in disappointment—that is all.” “You are } “I would be glad to do anything for him, if the matter lay in my own hands; but, of course, it does not. You to any secrets, my hands and my lips are tied. I could not say a word of anything that has been by chance con- fided in me by others. and re than if I had taken my oath over it in court.’ “I thought you might have been moved by pity—by compassion. He is such a boy—so ardent, so full of hope. He isn’t strong; he has put his whole life into this effort. If it fails it may kill him. I hoped you might have been moved ‘to help him. It would only have been to say whether he has no chance of success in his invention, because it has been already taken from under his feet.” “I pity him, if -he must suffer disap- pointment, certainly. But there is something stronger than even pity, Countess Ilka.” She let her head drop suddenly and her look fall before his. “Yes; love is stronger,” she said, in a low, thrilling voice. “Loye?” Winstanley stared, slight- ly taken aback. He had meant duty and honor, of course, and he had thought she must understand without more words. Her sudden misappre- hension certainly - confounded him. What had love to do with the matter at. all? “Love!” he repeated, vaguely, grop- ingly—trying to follow her idea. “Yes, love!” She turned to him with a swift movement; she leant from her low chair toward the one where he Sat, till her head almost touched his shoulder in its droop. She put out a sudden hand, and caught his with a burning clasp~ of agitation. “You would tell the woman you cared for!” she whispered—a whisper that sprang to his startled ear like a shock. “Ah! you would not refuse her—you would tell her all—all; even if it cost your life. Will you not spare a gift as precious for the woman who loves you? Will you kill her by refusing what she asks?” For an instant the room swam round Winstanley, with its shaded dim light and its flowers, and the ecstacy of the faint, dreamy throb of a distant band. He was over- whelmed, dismayed, horrified, bewil- dered—all in one stupendous whole of consternation. To‘a man of simple mind and devoid of vanity there could be nothing but shock and humiliation in such a mo- ment as this. He was too petrified with the knowledge of her meaning and his own amazement to do more than stare aghast at her. She drooped her head lower, till it swept his cheek with its soft perfumed hair. For a second it actually rested against his coat, and he hadn’t the presence of mind to push his chair back. What man, overcome with dismay at such words, such behavior, would have had the self-possession to know what to do? : And it was just at that moment, of all hapless moments, that Ursula, coming along the corridor with her partner, paused at the door of that very room. They were in search of soup, without which Mrs. Shuttle- waite always earnestly enjoined Ur- sula never to leave a ball; and it seemed as if they might find it there. The door stood ajar; there was a screen between it and the fireplace. Usurla pushed it a little farther open and looked in. She was the one to see round the screen first, and as she saw she drew back so sharply that she al- most brushed against the man behind her. “No, not here!” she said, sharp- ly, and leo him on. It is one of the tricks and sports of malicious fortune that these things al- ways befall. We are seen at the mo- ment most open to misconstruction by the one person who will most miscon- strue, and the mischief done by that one moment it may take years to undo. Poor Ursula! She had struggled all night with that new faint feeling of bitterness, of chilling doubt, of uneas- iness, and now, to find Winstanley in that remote little room, with his chair close to that of Countess Ilka, with Countess Ilka’s head apparently rest- ing on his shoulder, it struck her with a blow like a sudden realization. He had no right to sit like that, the man-who had asked her to marry him, to whom she held herself bound, though the world did not know. What did it mean—what was he doing? The question had no answer in her shocked and bewildered mind. Before the door had been drawn sharply to again Winstanley’s self- possession had returned. He drew back with just enough decision to put a space between himself and the dark and beautiful head of Countess Ilka, and stood up abruptly. , “The woman I love does not ask me what I am bound in honor to refuse,” he said, rather stiffly. “She is as jeal- ous of my integrity as if it were her own, and so you would be aware if you knew her. Shall we go back to the ball room? I dare say you would be glad to. have your carriage called for, since you are not well.” It was her last chance, and she was losing it. She knew it, and she stretched out an imploring “Stay—listen—I did not mean But he looked at her with hand. | ” you the woman we are talking of,” he! said. “You will say I have not said too. much in her praise.. She is to be. my wife very soon, I hope; we are only waiting. When you meet her you will understand how high my ideal of womanhood wants to remain.” He was holding a stiff arm toward her. She took it without a word. Rage and disappointment and hatred were filling her heart toward him. She would have gladly killed him where he stood. For she had played her last card, and it had fallen useless upon the table; he was not of the sort that were the other men she had been able to bend. He had showed her by the look in his eyes that he had lost his respect for her—he had rebuked her by his tone and his manner, more even than by his words. This other woman—the woman his voice softened over when he mentioned her—she who could not have too much said in her praise—she guessed whom. he meant, and she drove her nails into the palm of her small hand as they walked back down the long corridor. She could have killed her as well as him, in her baffled fury and disap- pointment. At the door of the ballroom she dis- missed him with a gesture he was not reluctant to obey. He went in search at once for Ursula, but he could not see her anywhere among the now thinned crowd. He went out into the corridor again, and came face to face with a man he knew. “Beastly cold night for this time of year,” he said, rubbing his white-gloved hands to- gether. “Just been taking Miss Ham- ilton to her carriage, and thought I should freeze before it came up in line.” “Miss Hamilton!” Winstanley was amazed. “Surely she hasn’t gone? My next dance was with her!” The other man laughed, callously. It is easy to laugh at the loss of another's partner when the night is near its close. “My dear chap, you can’t expect not to find gaps in your program at this time in the morning. It’s the last dance but one. Miss Hamilton left rather in a hurry after our last waltz. She said she had had enough of it—or something like that. She’s staying with Mrs. Anson, she told me. I dare say she had had enough of it too. Come and have a drink, old man; that will console you. It isn’t easy to get a girl with a dance left this time of day.” But Winstanley declined the drink. He was going home, too. There was nothing to stay for. The Kenyons, like sober-minded, middle-aged people, had long ago gone home to bed. He got his coat, and walked thoughtfully along the deserted, wind-swept streets back to Government House, with his cigar, his hands deep in his pockets, and his head busy with troubled thoughts. (To Be Continued,) A PHILIPPINE FISH CATCHER. Ingenius Contrivance That Is Made to Serve in Place of a Net. An odd sort of fish catching con- trivance used in the Philippine islands may be seen at the New York Aquyar- ium, It is an open-work, dome-shaped thing about two feet in height and two feet across in its widest part, at the bottom, made of thin strips of native wood. The upper ends of these strips are brought closely together around a circle of wood at the top, while from there they spread out uniformly wider and wider apart like the wires in the top part of a round-top bird cage. Up under these strips, about six inches below the top, is set a wooden hoop, to which each of the slats is bound, and over this hoop the slats are strung with a slight curve, to be held in shape and at uniform distances apart by a tie run around a couple of inches above their bottom ends. So that this is an open dome-shaped con- trivance made ef slender curving ver- tical ribs; and in its construction it shows nice workmanship. The island fisherman uses this fish catcher in catching fish much as a boy uses his hat in catching butterflies; he claps it down over such compara- tively sluggish and bottom feeding fish as he can get near enough to for that purpose, and through an opening in the top of the catcher be reaches down inside of it to seize the fishes thus caught. Coal as Jewelry. Coal as an ornament in jewelry is being used in Japan. Only the hardest}|' and most perfect pieces can be used. Workers in coal mines are in the habit of collecting coal of such quality for the jewelers. Often not more than three bits are found in aday. Of course this coal jewelry is inexpensive, but it is novel and pretty: One of a Few. Hyker—My wife seems to possess the bargain-counter instinct. Pyker—So? Hyker—Yes; she can tell at a glance whether a 49-cent article has been marked down from 50 -cents or up from 48. His Finish. Once upon a time a man started to save money for a rainy day. Soon he had accumulated $7.85, with which he bought a beautiful umbrella. Then the rainy day came. But the man’s best friend had borrowed the umbrella the night before. Broke Up His Auto. Winifred Davidson bought an auto mobile from a dealer at Santa Rosa sessed valuation. acres ot farming land in the state, the product of which must be taken to market over these roads. legislation of 1898 the roads were sup- ported by the towns and the value of the labor expended upon them was about $3,000,000 a year. formed generation after continued to use it, climbing hills and descending into valleys that might have been avoided had suitable care been taken when the road was first constructed. The mode of maintaining the.roads was equally shortsighted. The men of each town were accus- tome to turn out in the spring after the frost was out of the ground and re- pair certain portions of the nearest to their property. The occa- sion was usually made a species of ard inanner. IMPROVEMENT OF HIGHWAYS OF THE RURAL DISTRICTS WHY MARYLAND WEARS BLACK. Represented in Mourning Because She Wasnt Confederacy. At the recent Confederacy reunion in New Orleans. says the Times-Dem- ocrat of that city, “Maryland, My Figures to Show That It Pays— New York State to S d Fifty Million Do pend woman dressed in deep black. The question of better roads, which received but scant attention a few years ago, and then only in the more progressive and prosperous sections of the country, is now coming to be rec- ognized as one of the important prob- lems with which the rural districts have to deal, and in every state in the union the movement is gaining head- way. The farmers are awaking to the advantage of good roads from a business standpoint, and realize that money and time expended in the di- rection of securing a good highway over which their crops can be easily and quickly hauled to market is money and time well spent. Perhaps the state which has taken Another evil of the old system was the fact that the supervision of the roads was placed in the hands of com-| pears in public. A woman in the audience, evidently ai a turned to her neighbor and id: “How very sad it is that this young lady is in heavy mourning amd yet ap- I should think the missioners elected annually and serv-| effect would be too much for her.” ing for a small compensation. These men. were usually ignorant of the sci- entific principles of road building and they gave to the work only such time as they could spare from their own af- fairs. These conditions, with all their de- fects, still exist in the greater part of the state, and nobody until recently ever thought of questioning their wis- dom. The old policy is now about to be reversed. Instead of makeshift roads, requiring practically to be re- built every year, permanent highways COUNTRY ROAD IN THE SPRING BEFORE IMPROVEMENT. the most advanced step for the se- curing of good roads is New York, the legislature having just appropriated $50,000,000 for this purpose. The outlay of this vast sum, which marks an epoch in the history of road building in the United States, is the re- sult of the lesson taught by a full cen- tury of mistakes and wasteful extrava- gance. When the work which has been undertaken has been completed a network of smooth, hard thorough- fares will have been spread from the Pennsylvania line to the Canada bor- der and from the confines of New York city to the mits of Buffalo. There are 75,000 miles of these roads in the state. They are laid out in communities which contain less than 20 per cent. of the state’s population and less than 10 per cent. of its as- There are 24,000,000 Before the ‘These figures will serve to give some idea of the magnitude of the task that the state has set itself to perform. Nearly all the roads as originally laid out followed the course of Indian trails and little or no effort was made to avoid heavy grades or to find tne short- est distance between the points which were connected. Once the beaten track had been generation roads SAME outing or ‘picnic, and the work was performed in a careless and haphaz- In the spring the roads were and are still, often wholly im- passable, and the fall rains wore them into dangerous gulleys. Even in the summer they were cut with deep ruts and heavy with rust and sand. This was the “labor system” which prevailed throughout New York state until within the last few years, and is the condition prevailing in most other states at the present time. some men who did not desire to work personally on the roads began to ob- tain immunity upon the payment of a sum of money, which was expended by Gradually the towns in labor and for the pur- chase of machinery for working the roads. 4 This was the basis of the “money system” which produced such good re- sults that the more progressive towns 7 substituted it entirely for the un- COUNTRY ROAD are lo be constructed and maintained under the supervision of the state. From an economic point of view the value of this change can hardly be overestimated. The waste of energy and of effort entailed by bad roads in- volves an enormous financial loss. Ac- cording to the United States depart- ment of agriculture, the average cost of hauling on the roads in New York state is 26 cents for every ton for each mile. The construction of permanent- ly hard roads, the lowering of grades and the shortening of distances will make it possible to haul heavier loads and a greater number of loads in a given time. This means a reduction in the ccst of hauling. The average ex- pense in European countries where the roads have been improved is ten cents a mile, as shown in the consular re- ports. If the same average could be reached here it would cause a saving of 96 cents on each ton for the average haul of six miles. On the basis of forty millions tons a year, which is regarded as a low esti- mate, this reduction would bring about a toial saving in this state of $38,400,- 000 @ year. In addition there must be taken into account the increased value of property which will result from making it more accessible and the general gain that will follow the opening of the roads to automobiles and other. pleasure vehi- cles. It is estimated that the highways of New York state could be reproduced for about $150,000,000 and that $400,- 000,000 has been expended upon them in money and labor. They are now practically in the same condition that they were a century ago. Under the terms of the bills passed by the legislature, the powers of the state engineer are greatly extended over the construction and maintenance of roads built with state aid. Boards of supervisors in each county are required before the end of the year to designate the roads in their respeetive counties AFTER IMPROVEMENT. which they think should be improved. On th2 basis of these reports the state engineer is required to prepare a map of the main or market roads of the state so as to provide for “an appro- priate county and state system” oj roads with a view to an equitable ap- portionment of the improvements among the counties. One of the most difficult problems that still remain to be met is how tc compel the use of wagons having wide tires in place of those provided with narrow tires. It has been shown that the wide tire actually makes roads, while the narrow tire quickly cuts them to pieces and wears them out. FALSE ECONOMY.—Greed is the father of false economy. It argues don’t fertilize, don’t buy good tools, ;| ment twice a week. don’t’ plow deeply, don’t cultivate often, don’t feed stock or poultry lib- erally, because feed, fertilizer and work cost money and it is money you, are after. The second woman, being a South- erner, was well enough informed on Confederate matters to be able to re- assure the visitor. She explained that the young woman’s mourning was not personal. Maryland in Confederate matters is always so represented. During .the war, when entertain- ments were given in the South for the benefit of the soldiers and hospitals and the Southern states were repre- ;Sented by women, Maryland was al- ways in mourning because that state did not succeed in getting into the Confederacy, though, of course, it fur- nished many soldiers to the cause. AN AWFUL ITCHING ON SCALP. Hair Finally Had to Be Cut to Save *\ny—Scalp Now in Good Condition —Cured by Cuticura. “T used the Cuticura Soap and Oint- ment for a diseased scalp, dandruff, and constantly falling of hair. Final- ly I had to cut my hair to save any at all. Just at that time I read about the Cuticura remedies. Once every week I shampooed my hair with the Cuticura Soap, and I used the Oint- In two months’ time my hair was long enough to do up in French twist. That is now five years ago, and I have a lovely head of hair. The length is six inches below my waist line, my scalp is in very good condition, and no more dandruff or itching of the scalp. I used other remedies that were recommended to me as good, but with no results. Mrs. W. F. Griess, Clay Center, Neb., Oct. 23, 1905.” He Had Hopes. “Where are you going this sum- mer?” “Atlantic City.” “Know anybody there?” “My fiancee is spending the summer there.” “What's her name?” “Gee, I don’t know. any of the girls yet.” I haven’t met CASE OF RULING PASSION. Why a Pretty Girl in the Hospital Wanted Some Blue Ribbon. She was the prettiest patient that they had had at the Polyclinic in a long time. And she _ knew it, too. Her kimono was an exquisite creation of its kind. Aestheticism seemed to rise up in revolt against a cruel opera- tion upon such a darling daughter of Eve. - But so fate had decreed: “Get me a yard of ribbon—blue rib- bon—an inch wide the next time you go to the department store,” she said to the day nurse. The day nurse for- got it. “Please get me a yard of Alice-blue ribbon an inch wide,” she pleaded, with the nurse, and the night nurse forgot it. Then her temperature rose till the ribbon arrived. When, on the dreaded day, she was lifted to the operating table it was discovered that she wore white silk stockings with dainty blue bow-knots tied to the garters. The secret of the Alice-blue ribbon was revealed. “The ruling passion strong in death,” grunted the surgeon—but the sweet thing, she didn’t die after all—she was saved to fashion and to finery. The stockings came off and the ribbon went into the carnage trough before the operation, however.—Philadelphia Record. BACK TO PULPIT. What Food Did for Clergyman. A minister of Elizabethtown tells how Grape-Nuts food brought him back to his pulpit: “Some 5 years ago J had an attack of what seemed to be La Grippe which left me in a complete state of collapse and I suffered for some time with nervous prostration. My appetite failed, I lost flesh till ¥ was a mere skeleton, life was a burden to me, I lost interest in everything and almost in everybody save my precious wife. “Then on the recommendation of some friends I began to use Grape- Nuts food. At that time I was a mis- erable skeleton, without appetite and hardly able to walk across the room; had ugly dreams at night, no disposi tion to entertain or be entertained and began to shun society. “T finally gave up the reguiar min- istry, indeed I could not collect my thoughts on any subject, and became almost a hermit. After I had been using the Grape-Nutg food for a short time I discovered that I was taking on new life and my appetite began to im- prove; I began to sleep better and my ~ weight increased steadily; I had lost some 50 pounds, but under the new food regime I have regained almost my former weight and have greatly improved in every way. “I feel that I owe much to Grape- Nuts and can truly recommend the food to all who require a powerful re- building agent delicious to taste and always welcome.” Name given by Postum Co., Battle Creek, Mich. A true natural road to regain health, or hold it, is by use of a dish of Grape- Nuts’ and cream morning and night. Or have the food made into some of the many delicious dishes given in the little recipe book found in pkgs. Ten days’ trial of Grape-Nuts helps many. “There's a reason.” Look in pkgs. for a copy of the fa- mous little book, “The Road to Well- ille.” : &