Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, July 13, 1914, Page 6

PAGE SIX HRICIRICIIIOISIIISIIICIIIIIISIIK MAN OF THE MASK —_— e — By MILDRED CAROLINE GOODRIDGE. | - When Robert Crandall and his pret- | ty wife adopted little Dot, an orphan child thrown on the world without a friend or relative, good old Dr. Bross, the minister, told them that a bless- ing would surely come to them. Certainly pleasure and happiness did. When the prattling, lovable little tot was five years of age she had be- come the light and joy of the childless couple, nality lent a charm to her unusual | personality. She would talk to a | rose or a toad an hour at a time, in- terested and fearless, weaving some pleasant ideality about each object. The Crandalls had a pleasant home, but it had been left to Robert with a heavy mortgage on it. Work had becn slack and they were forced to econo- mize. They never grudged the little darling who had crept into their hearts so winvingly what che cost them, but they hoped prospects would grow better, so ey might calculate on giving her an education as she| &grew up. b A high stone wall separated thel humble Crandall homestead from the grand Thorne mansion next door. Grand as was the spaclous palace, however, with its beautiful garden space, it was a mere sepulcher in fact, the home of an afflicted and lonely recluse. | Reuben Thorne was the mystery of Brocton. He was known as “the man with the gray mask.” He had come to the village about two years before the present time in a closed carriage , and had immured himself in the place he had bought, as if glad to find a remote and safe hiding place. Thorne lived entirely alone. Once a week a man came from the village to set the place in order. Otherwise EVENING TELEGRAM, LAKEL AND, FLA., JULY 13, 1914, e T ————— USSR e Thorne performed the duties of cook and housekeeper individually. He passed most of his time reading. He never left the walled-in grounds until after dusk. Then he wore a gray silk mask that completely covered his face. Those who met him, even when darkness partially obscured his strangeness of appearance, were startled. Nervous women watched She was odd, but this origi-[ K The Strangely Mated Twain Would Wander Over the Garden. him as they would a bogy. Children shrank from him. Then the story came out that his face was a mass of disfiguring scars. It was told that in another part of the country, hand- some, young, rich, he had loved a beautiful girl. A dark beauty whom he had never encouraged but who was mad after his love, in a fit of jealous rage precipitated a frightful tragedy. She stabbed his poor love to the heart, flung a bottle of corrosive liquid | garden gate, in his face and then drowned herself.| in the next garden, telling s%flm the masked man. There was pity in the minds of many kind-hearted persons in the vil- lage, but Thorne refused any com- panionship. One evening Mrs. Cran- dall sent little Dot over to the place with a dish of the first strawberries of the season, newly-picked from their own home garden. Mr. Crandall and the masked man had got as far as bowing to one another, but only at a distance. The kind-intentioned Cran- dall hopéd to break down the barrier of reserve with the recluse. He pitied his loneliness and hoped to become neighborly. A sharp scream caused Mrs, Cran- dall to rush to the street a minute or two after little Dot had started on her errand. “Oh, my darling! my darling!” she screamed, as she saw amid a cloud of dust a great touring car and an ex- cited crowd gathering. “She is safe!” called out a voice suddenly, and the speaker and some others drew back as there emerged from amid the confusion the masked man. He carried little Dot in his arms. She was white with fright, but smil- ing up at him murmuring lovingly. “Oh, you good man—to come just as I was being runned over!” A little lad followed with the dish filled with dust and berries. Then there were explanations. The auto- mobile had borne down unexpectedly. the masked man chanced to be at his He shrank from the staring crowd, without a word, placed Dot in the arms pf her adopted mother and disappeared, followed by the ar- dent thanks of Mrs. Crandall. But there was a great ado the next day. Dot insisted that she must g0 and see her friend. Young as she was, she recognized a debt of grati- tude to the stranger. There was an iron grated door in the wall of the next place abutting on the Crandall grounds. There Dot stationed herself. An hour later Mrs. Crandall was as- tonished to find the gate open and Dot nowhere in view. Then she dis- covered her swinging in a hammock ?fi-fifl@‘i@%’m@ L QEOEOFOHOEOHOEI DI FI IO SO SO D HIDD B SOEOBOEOBOTOENTOENIAIFROEGFEADOP O 20 TG gt TSt T FE0h% S0 B0 SE2d ppEs2ulout St § DR g . s ¥ . Wemeas & grinding the proper | 2 ‘,?, QU0 B R e B T G T e L B L sl el ¥ ., . \\\\\\\Iu/,,é (/ IR GEO. OPTOMETRIST E. LYON ure a!l meridians ot the human eye and Specialize in enses in our shop to fit the indiyidual sight. Room 2 Skipper Building, Lakeland, Fla. SO EA A EHOP O 0 A 4 e <3 BB BB A0 <30 o= That was the beginning of a rare companionship between the lovable lit- tle Dot and the lonely world-weary recluse. All through the golden month of June, hour after hour, the strange- ly mated twain would wander over the garden. To this charming little sprite who was not at all repelled by the mask he wore, the recluse seemed to pour out all the love and sympathy of his nature. The Crandalls had not the heart to deprive Dot of this great pleasure. Besides, he took pains in teaching her to read, he filled her mind with wondrous nature stories. Then one day Dot came home in tears. “He is going away,” she sobbed, “and I shall be so lonely!"” At the barred gate that evening Mr. Thorne met Mr. Crandall and told him that business would call him away for a month to a distant city. He ex- pressed his gratitude for the company of the little child who had brought so much of sunshine into his dreary life. It was a joyful evening when Dot saw a light once more in the solitary old house. She could scarcely sleep, so anxious was she to regain her old friend. The barred gate was kept locked, however. For fully a week the recluse was not seen about the grounds. At dusk one evening he passed the house. Dot ran out im- petuously to greet him. She returned with a white, fright- ened face. She was trembling all over. Amid great terror she gasped out: “Oh, papa! oh mamma! it isn't Mr. Thorne!” “What is that, my child?” inquired Mrs. Crandall quickly. No, the clothing was the same, the mask was the same, but oh! she knew: the gruff voice, the touch of the hand. And then suspiclon awoke in the mind of her auditors and then investigation. “A little child shall lead them,” and the quick instinct of the precocious Dot’s mind did not go astray. It was true—an imposter was personating Mr. Thorne, drawing checks in his name, getting ready to sell the prop- erty and decamp, It was a clever plot of shrewd scoundrels, soon unmasked, the real Thorne rescued from an unhappy im- prisonment, and then the old delight of Dot in regaining the afflicted friend whose life was made endurable and even happy through her joyful pres- ence, That was not all of it. The great burden that oppressed the Crandalls, the mortgage, was lifted, for Mr. Thorne could not do enough to ex- bress his gratitude for his delivery from cruel hands. Then, week by week, he was drawn from the old soli- tude; he became a guest and then a regular visitor at the Crandall home, and finally a permanent member of a happy family circle, (Copyright, 1914, by W. @, Chapman.) —_— WHAT HE WAS THINKING OF Sweet Girl Graduate's Essay on Shake. speare Was Good, but She Couldn't Fry Eggs. She had looked too’ sweet for any- thing, in her white dress and blue ribbons. She had graduated with the highest honors. Her essay had been “Shakespeare,” and she had refuted all the stories that he drank and abused his wife, and had convinced her audience that he always paid his grocery bills at the end of the week, Both friends and strangers flocked upon the stage to shake hands and congratulate her, and say it was won- derful. They said it to her, and to her mother and father, and one en- thusiastic individual exclaimed to the latter: “She is a genius, sir!” “Yes!” was the quiet reply, “But I tell you she {s great!™ “Yes?” “Finest essay I ever heard!” “Yes?” The Loss by Fire in the U. able companies: Fidelity Underwriters, Philadelphia Underwriters, Conservation On the Farm NS N b i 4 Practically every farm in this coumE would show a nice profit if the aboye ¢ pressed idea could be and was carried; The great fy with all its possibilities. problems of today are many. Good fey, and lots of them go a long toward solyf the question of bigger profits. Theny not get in line and buy your fence frog home people, who treat you right and ",Ff, preciate your business. Just received a solid car load of American Fenc Also a car of pitch pine fence post. WILSON HARDWARE C0, S During a Recent Year Amounted to Almost Of All New Bullding Jonstructed i L During the Entir Twelve Monthsi When Buying or Bufldins .. 4,750,000 | Provide the Means We represent the following reli- capital ... ... o capital $4,500,000 German American, capital 2,000,000 | Bpringfield Fire and Marine “You don't seem a bit excited over | A ] g [ L ! . / Tor Rebuilding “Not® capital 2,000,000 | “Why, what is the matter with you M A N N & D E E P: old man?" 4 “Oh, I was just thinking of the eggs she tried to fry for breakfast thig morning!” — Resented Partisanship, An old Scot came down from the Highlands to visit his son, a student at Edinburgh university. Together they attended a learned lecture, in the course of which the professor fre- quently referred to the wonderful part which microbes play on human existence. On their way out the son asked his father how he liked the lec- ture. “I dinna ken whit mak's him pit sae muckle stress on whit the Mec- Robes hae done,” replied the old man. “I've no heard o' them afore, but I ken aye thing—they’ve never done‘ whit th’ McGregors an' th’ Macpher sons hae accomplisht, an’ there .lives no an a glorious clan as th’ Camp- a' th’ warld!” Room 7, Raymonde Building AVONDALE SPRINGS TENNESSEE R.R. Station Avondale P, 0, Ry fedge It It you are looking for a beautiful nook i 4 : or 2 n the ns, |large variety of health-giving minera) springs, surrm'xnno;el:img‘v‘ v ities of wila flowers, cheered by the s a cool breeze is always to be felt in the leasure ang comf, 5. asu ort of each and every 1 come to Avondale Springs, Tenn., on Knoxville & Bristol from Morristown, Tenn R er w Note the address above, o 38 per week, or $1 per da F. J. HOFFMAN, Proprietor Security Abstract & Title Co. Bartow, Florida Accomplishment Missing. " boy has all sorts of athletio | A I could | wher B oo o o ool R. B. HUFFAKER, PRES...... L. J. CLYATT, SECRETAX FRANK H. THOMPSON, VICE PR ESH. W. SMITH, TREASURE | Why They Take ° | o y Em, Rt A ABSTRACTS OF TITLES General }Iue‘m\ does not live in the presidential castle of Chapultepec, but in this house in the Calle Alfonso : oA ’; o 1 “P'to'date Plant. Prompt g Herrera in the City of Mexico. The building is guarded by soldiers and a machine gun on the roof § S Oh, they'n j ;;’j Lakeland business left with our Vi Pr ‘ » they’re just to break the | & ur Vice President at Dick Bld %Mflw darned stillness of the eve R i B e o Hhe eveninga—{“ receive prompt and efficient attentign, ’ - i