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ask no questions dy beldqn dvff srrcorsis awk no question in in ine uisi vheh klveh annusa vwsi tfmprry possession of lirmes house a conaev-f- cut rwuite mysterious deathr nd ds- iimmraijees have neurea there mus weals stable boy ow is murderu then a deputy whs is put n k the flnkr oflocal suspicion klic ongly at john diamond owner of a ntw tori pewspaper who tried o preemt ann front leasing urldes house ann is etranfcely attracted to a mysterious in dividual who rescues her rom a ltotass when she sought help at the nouae of derlck cranson a local veir tiutt v ih mvsterlous stranker who tcives his name as lavld is suspected by the sher 1ft of knowing somethlnk of the mur ders ann accepts a dinner invitation front john diamond where site meets her former fiance ilixf terhunc the dinner is interrupted by the news that a mob is formluk to lynch david as the murderer ann tells dlajnon i ilmt j 3 m is ills son chapter xix contd has she g david asked still without looking u if youre rcf-jrri- to miss west said the scotchwoman severely theres no doot but the iimousino is halfway to berkshire tooer by noo tne giant smiled lazily into the tire pretty snappy that blueandgold outfit the kid looked like ruion iiollars in it impertinent as she thought him miss barth could not very well take exception to his appraisal of her jrovng mistress she even unbent so far as to supplement it by saying yiu should tee jmiss ann when shes leally going somewhere oh she wasnt dressed up to night with another one ofjhose slow irritating smiles i wjuld hve said she expe ted to make a killing lie was smoking a pipe and he stoop- ed now to knock the ashes out against the stones of the fireplace as he did 50 his eyes were inevitably drawn to ne forbidding mesfage scrawled across its face instantly the snitb faded his manner changed whit does it mean he muttered follow ing the letters to the last one in ever stroke and curve ask no question im thinkin its like belshazznrs writing on the wall a warning fromgod to the peo ple of this community mr toby tells me that tongues in the crossing have always wagged most shameful aboot the runnels family the good man uoesnt favor gossip the giant sank back in the wing chair scowling at the blackened let tering through halfclosed eyes ig noring the loquacious scotchwoman he continued toeommune with him self and why on the fireplace because its the first thing you see when you enter the room was miss barths guess david rose and tapped the mnsony with one of the fire irons solid enough he said still to himself dropping the iron back into place wonder when it was built the house is one hundred and fifty years old volunteered abby i heerd a man who was here this morn ing tell miss ann so but not the fireplace came the quick retort theres nothing c6l- inial about oak slabs and tinted mor tar no in a puzzled voice i cant reconcile myself to believing that any of the pilgrim fathers built this wood waster it looks more like the sort of thing one finds in the south youre from the south then asked abby noting the gradual soft ening in the deep voice maryland he admitted the eastern coast of the chesapeake lets have a bite to eat suggest ed abby theres half a cold chicken nntl a chocolate layer cake from last night cooking for miss ann is a waste of time these days shes ccarcoly eaten a mouthful since ctto was killed with a bountifully laden table be tween them miss barth found oppor tunity to study her companion and though she hated to acknowledge it she was forceo to admit o herself before the meal was over that the big stranger had quite a way with him as for david hunger dominated him true the scotchwoman stories about her young mistress brought an occasional comment to his lips but for the most part after the one out burst he remained silent an attentive etough audience excct for his eyes which continually strayed to the clock over the sink i wonder why those men of seth tobys dont come he said at last they were to be here at eight oclock its twenty minutes to nine now abby remembered that there were to have been two men on duty for the night she saw that he compan ion was growing restless consumed by an urge to get away and her dis trust of him returned you dont have to stay with me ruffling like an indignant hen im not afraid miss west made me promise not to leave till they canto and im not going to the giants determination to keep his word to her young mistress was even more disturbi lg than his rest lessness had been he tipped the chair back until it groaned under his tight folded his hands behind his head and stared doggedly at the ceil ing under the pit of his left arm miss barth saw the holster of a re volver what business have you with a gun she started to say but changed it to youre armed i see expectin trouble with an embarrassed laugh he took out the gun a colt 45 and f ndled it for a moment between his palms nobut its just as well to go prepared the doughty scotchwoman wasnot unfamiliar with firearms her nurs lings tastes had been more of a lads than a lassies riding to hounds claypigeon shooting an occasional trek after big game been in the army havent you david did something with his head which might have passed for a nod the war im only twentynine now lots of boys in their tens went the big fellow hesitated got over fur the last six months at seventeen i was as husky as i am now what branch of the service were you in aviation of course i wasnt go ing to let them coop me up for weeks in a stinking dugout not with the risk of being buried under a ton of debris if anything hit us flying youve all gods air and sunshine around you and if you fall its a mans death abby said youd better go out and tend to the horses i can man age better alone he saw she was afraid of him and decided to disregard misj wests order just as you say from the peg where it was always kept he took the lantern if anything both ers you just holler ill leave the back door open the scotchwoman heard him go stamping down the path a wild man that one she muttered to her self as she set to work scraping the supper dishes itll only e by the grace of providence if i get my bairn bfck to civilization unharmed after all this on the floor above abby prepared her young mistresss room for the night she turned down the sheets and drew the chintz curtains about the fourposter bed on a chest of drawers beside the ql inutatwitj can 4qua christies arrowroots dudley dawson who at the annual meting ot the directors of the dominion bank was appointed general manager mr daw son was formerly assistant general manager bed stood three heavy brass candle sticks their candles spluttering sharply in the draft from the open window in front of them lay the metal jewel box its cover thrown back the sapphires that had belong ed to rebecca west hung half in half out their golden fires burning dully against the white velvet lining and the bronze side of the box abby saw them and knew she had been careless the scotchwoman sidled into the deep narrow closet to hang up a sweater she had completed her task and was about to sidle out again when a sound faint enough to be almost inaudible caught her ear for a tingling moment the sound defied classification but suddenly she knew it to be a womans sigh the deepdrawn ecstatic breath which is taken when a womans eyes light upon something which her heart de sires to abby in the closet that sigh was more appalling than the hands up of a burglar would have been it spelled the beginning of a disintegration that was physical and mental as well as moral it had been amusing to work on the fears of the i tradespeople even poor ottos and now she herself was afraid afraid j the sound came again accompan ied by the soft pad of feet those feet trod as a cat treads slowly crouchingly with a predatory urge that was bloodchilling abbys scotch presbyterian cour age had by this time commenced to revive a little her heart beat thick ly against her rils but she managed to turn and cast a pallid glance over one shoulder from inside the closet there was nothing to see she brought herself to leave the closet the room was empty on the chost of drawers three candles flickered making hobgoblin shadows dance on the walls and low ceiling were those shadows all that moved no inch by inch the cur tains around the fourposte parted a hand stoic out toward the neck lace to do abby justice hev first thought was to save the sapphires but that bodyless hand had paralyzed her power of locomotion she could only stand and gibber and gape the fingers of the hand were long the flesh that covered them brown and withered there was nothing human about it it was a dead hand help murder with every ounce of strength that was left in her the scotchwoman added that final cry of horror the ghost the ghost vengefully the hand shot to the nearest candle thumb and fore finger caught the wick and snuffed the life flame from it the second flame expired as the first had done the third 0 w of the blackness into which the room had been plunged came the scuffling of footsteps undirected stumbling there was the sound of a heavy body slumping to the floor a moment later something lighter than air rushed through the door and down the hall to be continued contain pure arrowroot nlways fresh their quality is rigidly maintained xoli t0 cbrhiitf atnmtctt very firf pour enough boiling rater ovtr thirl to male a fjite thin dorn with milt sugsr riy u if h4- uju w a strange legacy a manchester professor whose hobby is cycliifg and a woman under graduate at oxford where every second person rides bicycle have been left 1000 and 500 in the hope that they will utilize the money or part of it in paying for tnxicabs the bequests were made by the late miss catherine isabel dodd the auth oress and educationist of mortimer- crescent kilburn nw to mr sam uel alexander honorary professor of philosophy at manchester university and to miss edith wilson of oxford miss dodds total estate was valued at about 820oo the professor who has won fame with his theories has neither theory nor solution of miss dodds bequest why did miss dodd do it asked a reporter th professor raised his eyebrows i dont know any better than you he said have you any aversio to taxi- cabs professor oh no none at all except paying for then- issue no 6 33 popular books of thirty years ago literary reputations in the making young mr ches terton rapidly coming to the front a favorite idlehour dive sion of rcins is the study of thi- sudden swerves of literary taste and critical fashion writes thomas burke in john o londons weekly it is an unprofitable but engaging diversion and given the necessary apparatus it can be played at any time in your own room all you require is a long run of some literary periodical you can then amuse yourself by dis covering how a nowestablished mans first work was received and by trying to locate some of the immortal men of the recent past whose names mean nothing to you i am happy in pos sessing a run of such a paper be ginning at 1899 and it affords me as much interest as anything on my shelves yesterday i was going through he issues of thirty years ago the cor onation year 1902 and i give her- a few notes on what that lapse of time has done for some great reputa tions and for some beginners promising mr chesterton the first fact that emerged was that for books it was a dull year the general tone of the books that at tracted most attention was a nine teenth century tone nothing remark ably new century appeared indeed at that time publishers were by no means so encouraging to the new manias they are today i found ony one name connoting anything new a paragraph in the notes speaks of a new young critic rapidly coming to the front a young man of twenty- seven named gilbert chesterton for the rest the established had it all their own way and the established were marie corelli hall caine rud- yard kipling then at his zenith with both critics and public conan doyle e p benson s r crockett j m barrie mary johnston henry har- land seton merrman jerome k jer ome john oliver hobbes gilbert parker anthony hope benjamin swift stanley wcynian agns and egerton castle baring gould ralph connor ellen thorneycroft fowler w w jacobs in piety stephen phillips was supreme record sales thirty years have donj something to most of these names but mr kip ling still keeps his hold on at least the public andw w jacobs outside all standards in those days people bought books and most of the authors named above made much more money than the bestsellers of today for one thing there were fewer circulat ing libraries for another novels were published at six shillings with discount which meant that the pur chaser paid only fourandsix ten thousand was a quite common sale and numbers of books now forgotten reached fifty and sevcntyfve thou sand the first edition of marie cor- ellis temporal power published in that year was 120000 and before publication a second edition of 30000 was put to press today a first edi tion of 50000 is considered the high- watermark of the supreme seller but 50000 as i say was the mark of many who were far below marie cor elli and hall caine in popular appeal henry james and bernard shaw- were the darlings of the intellectuals one of them has suffered by the pass age ofthirty years but george giss- ing who then had a quiet reputation among the inbetween intelligent has profited in 1902 he was sealing that reputation with the private papers of henry ryecroft which were ap pearing serially in the fornightly review as an author at grass james douglas was the literary critic of the star and a prominent critic of the athenaeum in those ays he was the defender of the daring young the advanced were taling about maxim gorki whom the late fisher unwin was introducing to english readers and the intellectual coteries even as they do today solemnly pro claimed the arrival of three geniuses as the names of the geniuses are un known today it appears that the geni uses like all coterie geniuses of that day and this having come on and made their bow slipped back into the wings and went home first issue of classics the books of 1902 which have sur vived were those that attracted the attention not of the witle public nor of the coteries but of the discerning ordinary reader there was a little book to which my paper gave a five- line notice songs of childhood by- walter rama today that little book of 1902 realizes a high price among collectors of mrwalter de la mare other books which won the quiet at tention of what one may call the left centre and which command a public today were the young mr bel- locs path to rome w h hud sons el ombu flouglns browns houso with the green shutters which remained in bestsellirg lists for over a year arthur machcns hieroglyphics and conrads youth and other stories these were good books but none of them as i sy was markedly modern or outraged current standards of technique both by calendar and spirit 1902 was very close to th nineteenth century o a quality which is incomparable nil m m inffii 0reo3 tea fresh from the gardens close that the nowdefunt firm of smith elder was anouncing the last work of mr matthew arnold the young men of that period whose work is with us totlay were all lied in nine teetrthcentury atmospheres twentiethcentury literature did not begin until after the great war fashions in taste some of the more populur books of this year might raise a smle among the young generation nurtured on the brilliance of the nineteentwenties but there is no oecaskn for that smile critical standards are as fickle as womens dress fashions and as im material the popular literature of 1932 and its criticism are no better than the popular literature and criti cism of 1902 they ate different that is all the popular literature of 1902 was no beter ihan that of 1870 nor that of 1870 any better than that of 1840 the only distinction is a differ ence great literature is dateless but the general literature of any per iod serves the taste of that period and if anybody thinks that the edu cated state of any century or any de cade of a century is always an im provement on thi taste that preceded it he should study the history of cul ture the progress of time implies only change not necessarily improve ment since 1032 poets have had three hundred years in which to prac tice and improve their craft and still the lyrics of 1932 are no better than the lyrics of the seventeenth century they art only different judging by the names of 1902 which are names today it appears that at least a quartercentury is iccessavy to the founding of a real reputation in that period the reputation will have to weather three or four changes of critical fashion and the judgment of a new generation if it can do that you may be sure that the work on which it is based has the pulse i life in it the old valentine when you were at your fair fourteen and february was at his talt nothing sweeter could have been as nothing sweeter is there came among your valentines one all made up of loving lines with cupids darts through bleeding hearts twere his initials accidental you kissed the roymes a hundred times and never thought them sentimental at forty lifes most lonely age when valentines come not co seek again that treasured page unseen but uiiforgot one poignant moment let a tear flow for a boys love so sincere that trilmte give whereby shall live the lost so tender and so gentle thank heaven that still mid proso and ill you can in dream be sentimental robert underwood johnson in the xy times fair w friends when fortune iu her shift and change of mood spurns down her late belovd all his dependents which labord after him to the moun tain top even on their knees and hands let him slip down xot one accompanying his declining foot shakespeare traffic policemen in graz get ughted trees and gifts vienna curious scenes which may have been inspired bya supreme acceptance of the golden rule a de sire to propitiate the hereditary enemy or even by simple goodna ture were witnessed at gaz at the end of the year officials of the styrian automo bile club visited the twentyone traf fic policemen on duty in graz and set up beside each of them a christ mas tree with lighted candles there after amid the applause of the crowds club members drove up and placed new year gifts for the policemen at the foot of the trees society sooner or later must re turn to its lost leader the cultured and fashionable liar for the aim ot the liar is simply to charm to de light to give pleasure oscar wilde it costs between 15000 and 20000 to cover an acre ot land with glass for growing tomatoes and other hothouse produce in gt britain and each acre so iised provides employment for six men s i have heard it said that from 70 to 90 per cent of the thinking of people is ancestral newton d baker any little soreness in ihc throat grows rapidly worse if neglected crush some tablets of aspirin in some water and gargle at once this gives you instant relief and reduces danger from infection one good gargle and you can feel safe if all soreness is not gone promptly repeat theres usually cold with the sore throat so take two tahlcts to throw off your cold headache stiffness or other cold symptoms aspirin relieves neuralgia neuritis too use it freely it docs not hurt the heart aspirin trade- mark beo in canada when motoring was doubtful some credit is iue to the motorist of those day t was nirwy laat on reached ones tvtittatioii ah a mat ter of tact cil- ihi incurable optimist ever tried the common ftrmula was on ecn start ff and see what happens generally one returned in a hired fly kverywhere alotg th9 country roads one came across thent jn ttnv up aa5iist th grass others i- v ssly blocking the way beside iht2 dejected females sitting on a rut underneath a grimy man another running round and treading on him kxperieneed wives took their knitting and a camp stool yftry young men with a mechanical turn got enjoyment out ot them ap parently at the slightest sign of trou ble they would take the whole thing to pieces and spread it out upon the roadside some cheerful old lady an aunt presumably would be grovelllufc on her hands and knees with hei mouth full of screws looking for more passing later in tho evening one would notice the remains piled ur against the hedge with a lantern hung or it at first we wore masks and colored goggles horses were terri fied when they met us we had to stop the engine and wait i remember ono old farmer with a very restive filly ot course we were all watching him if you ladies and gentlemen he said wouldnt mind turning youi faces the other way maybe id get net past they were o strange and awful shapes at tho beginning there was one design supposed to resemble a swan but owing to the neck being short it looked more like a duck thai is if it looked like anything to fill the radiator you unscrewed the head and poured the water down the neck and as you drove the screw would work loose and the thing would turn round and look at you out of one eye others were shaped like canoes and gondolas one firm brought out a dragon it had a red tongue and you hung the spare wheel on its tail jerome- k jerome in my life and times to my valentino the cult of st valentiie nd tits observance of st valentines day wss the last survival of an olcer eng land elder than the england of punch and judy and the muffinman older than the england of the stag coach the england of shakespcre ol fsery mab and the drudging goblin who earned his cream for threshing the corn when the whole year from the hour when the christmas brand was kindled and quenched on can dlemas day until the day when the christmas log was brought with a noise to the firing vas punctutted by festivals st valentines day was one of the chimes that told the march of the seasons it is perhaps a survey of something older still for in punesi days boys drew the names of girls in honor of the goddess t february the feast of st valentine is said tc mark the day when the birds begin to mate charles lamb sang it praises for in his lay and latvr until the end of the eighties you bought on st valentines eve vour stock of valentines they laj in white card board boves aromatic with a particu lar scent they were soft to the touch tnd pleasant to the eye their appeal was sentimental thoy werj fringed with paper lae and they mostly bore the picture of a cupid aiming an arrow at a heart and a little piece a verse now all this is over there are no valentines in the shop win dows in february but last st val entines day i picked up these verses si- a london street the fog has hid the february skies the streets arc dark and ail the world is grey but in the mocking sunshine of yout eyes saint valentine is keeping holiday which proved that someone had sent to soicorc a valentine maurk baring in the new forgetmcnot a calendar coyote by jason bollcs in the frontu when february drifts were dee coyote came and killed a sheep i think it was in april when wo found and dug coyotes den coyote vime among tho flowers in juno and took six hens of ours one august night when stars wcr dim we set a poisoned bait for him next month we- henro coyote laugh while dining on an orphan calf novembertime among the haws cur trap caught three coyote claws the year came on to christmas day beyond the barn a littlo way we saw coyote in thosnovr i raised my gun and dad sid no then merry christmas yu om cuss f tomorrow peel your eye for us that night wo heard the bogy wail of coyote brisk and hale arrow up to the bitter air before wo said ouv christmas prayciv oho surest way to bring ahoaj revolution in to go to tho eitremo reaction colonel fe h houte