are 
Cowardice 
GEOKGE BARR MCUTCHEON 
Copyright. 1906. Dodd Mead & Co. 
(CONTINUED. ] 
‘Lhe smoldering anger and a growing 
sense of fairness combined at lengtk 
in the determination to take her broth- 
er and his wife to task for the morn- 
ing’s outrage, let the consequences be 
what they might. When she joined the 
people downstairs before dinner there 
was a red spot in each cheek and a 
steady look in her eyes that caused the 
duke to neglect woefully the conversa- 
tion he was carrying on with Mrs. Od. 
well. 
Dinner was delayed for nearly halt 
an hour while four of the guests fin 
ished their “rubber.’’ Penelope ob- 
served that the party displayed varying 
emotions. It afterward transpired thai 
the hunters had spent most of the aft- 
ernoon in her ladyship’s distant lodge 
playing bridge for rather high stakes. 
Little Miss Folsom was pitifully unre- 
sponsive to the mirth of Mr. Odwell. 
She could ill afford to lose $600. Lady 
Bazelhurst was in a frightful mood. 
Her guests had so far forgotten them: 
selves as to win more than $1,000 oi 
the Banks legacy, and she was not a 
cheerful loser, especially as his lord- 
ship had dropped an additional $500. 
The winners were riotously happy. 
They had found the sport glorious. An 
observer given to deductions might 
have pvoticed that half of the diners 
were immoderately hilarious, the other 
half studiously polite. 
Lord Bazelhurst wore a hunted look 
and drank more than one or two high- 
balls. From tfme to time he cast fur- 
tive glances at his wife. He laughed 
frequently at the wrong time and 
mairthlessly 
“He’s got something on his mind,” 
whispered Odwell in comment. 
“Yes; he always laughs when there 
fs anything on his mind.” replied Mrs. 
De Peyton. “That's the way he gets 
If Otto. 
After dinner no one proposed cards. 
The party edged off into twos and 
threes and explained how luck had 
been with or against them Penelope, 
who could not afford to play for stakes 
and had the courage to say so, sat 
back and listened to the conversation 
of her brother and the group around 
him The duke was holding forth on 
the suneriarity af fhe Chinese over the 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Japanese as servants, and Bazelhurst 
was loudly defending the Japanese 
navy. 
“Hang it all, Barminster. the Japs 
could eat ‘em up!” he proclaimed. 
“Couldn’t they?” to the crowd. 
“T'm talking about servants, Cecil,” 
observed the duke. 
“And shoot? Why. they’re the great- 
est gunners in the world. By Jove, I 
read somewhere the other day that 
chey had hit what they shot at 3.000.000 
} 
/ p 
AS 
Panis 
Penelope Started and Flushed. 
times out of—or, let me see, was it the 
Prussians who fired 3,000,000 rounds 
and’”’— 
“Oh, let’s change the subject,” said 
the duke in disgust. ‘‘What’s become 
of that Skew fellow?” Penelope start- 
ed and flushed, much to her chagrin. 
At the sound of Shaw’s name Lady 
Bazelhurst. who was passing with the 
count, stopped so abruptly that her 
companion took half a dozen paces 
without her. 
“Shaw? By Jove, do you know I’d 
completely forgotten that fellow.” ex- 
elaimed Ceci 
“I thought you were going to shoot 
him or shoot at him or something like 
that. Can’t you get him in range?” 
_ “Oh. I wasn’t really in earnest about 
that, Barminster. You know we 
eouldn’t shoot at a fellow for such 4 
thing” — 
“Nonsense, Cecil,” said his wife. 
“You shoot poachers in England.” 
“But this fellow isn’t a poacher. He’s 
A—a gentleman, I daresay—in some re- 
spects—not all, of course, my dear, 
ee 
“Gentleman? Ridiculous!" scoffed 
his wife. 
“I—yes, quite right—a ridiculous gen- 
tleman, of course. Ha, ha! Isn’t he, 
Barminster? But with all that, you 
know, I couldn’t have Tompkins shoot 
him. He asked me the other day if he 
should take a shot at Shaw’s legs, and 
I told him not to do anything so ab- 
surd.” Penelope’s heart swelled with 
relief, and for the first time that even- 
ing she looked upon her brother with 
something like sisterly regard. 
“It didn’t matter, however,’ said 
Lady Evelyn sharply. “I gave him in- 
structions yesterday to shoot any tres- 
passer from that side of the line. I 
can’t see that we owe Mr. Shaw any 
especial consideration. He has insulted 
and ignored me at every opportunity. 
Why should he be permitted to tres- 
pass more than any other common 
lawbreaker? If he courts a charge of 
birdshot he should not expect to es- 
cape scot free. Birdshot wouldn’t kill 
a man, you know, but it would’— 
But Penelope could restrain herself 
no longer. The heartlessness of her 
sister-in-law overcame her prudence, 
and she interrupted the scornful mis- 
tress of the house, her eyes blazing, 
but her voice under perfect control. 
Her tall young figure was tense, and 
her fingers clasped the back of Miss 
Folsom’s chair rather rigidly. 
“T suppose you know what happened 
this morning,”’ she said, with such ap- 
parent restraint that every one looked 
at her expectantly. 
“Do you mean in connection with 
Mr.—with Jack the Giant Killer?” ask- 
ed her ladyship, her eyes brightening. 
“Some one of your servants shot him 
this morning,” said Penelope, with 
great distinctness. There was breath- 
less silence in the room. 
“Shot him?’ gasped Lord Bazel- 
hurst, his thin red face going very 
white. 
“Not—not fatally?” exclaimed Eve- 
lyn, aghast in spite of herself. 
“No. The instructions were carried 
out. His wound in the arm is trifling. 
But the coward was not so generous 
when it came to the life of his inno- 
cent, harmless dog. He killed the poor 
thing. Evelyn, it’s—it’s like murder!” 
“Oh,” cried her ladyship, relieved. 
“He killed the dog. I daresay Mr. 
Shaw has come to realize at last that 
we are earnest in this. Of course Iam 
glad that the man is not badly hurt. 
Still, a few shot in the arm will hardly 
keep him in bounds. His legs were in- 
tended,” she laughed lightly. ‘What 
miserable aim Tompkins must take.” 
“He’s a bit off in his physiology, my 
dear,” said Cecil, with a nervous at- 
tempt at humor. He did not like the 
expression in his sister’s face. Some- 
how, be was ashamed. 
“Oh, it’s bad enough,” said Pene- 
lope. “It was his left arm—the upper 
arm, too. I think the aim was rather 
good.” 
“Pray. how do you know all of 
ts nel 
¥ 
; 
! 
—— 
— 
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—ae 
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