Part 25 (2/2)

This he bore to the Mistress; fairly vibrating with pride in his own exploit

Noting his joy in the deed, sheLad, inordinately; and forbearing to throay the worn case until the collie was out of sight

Of late, as Laddie began to show signs of age, she and the Master had taken tofeebleness and to anticipate the dark day which every dog-owner erto the pet who once rejoiced so utterly in them

All of which went to confir found on the road and brought to the Mistress would be looked on with joy and would earn hiht a human in like circu up trifles that chanced to be lying in his path, in the highway, and fell to searching for such flotsaravely along the center of the road, he headed toward the e By sheer luck, such few auto, at that hour, were driven by folk who had heart enough to slon or to turn aside for thelife, Lad could never be made to understand that he was not entitled to walk at will in the exactsuch a course , he had fared but a half-e of the road, beside a shaded bit of turf Several people had just descended fro preparations for an early picnic lunch One of theround, at the side of the car farthest fro and setting an impromptu table

The man put the basket down in the road Then he dived back into the nether regions of thewhen Lad ca collie saw the basket standing there, unprotected and, so far as he knenerless Gravely he stepped forward, lifted the heavy receptacle by the handle and turned about with it; still nified slowness The table-setters were busy; and the car was between him and them

By the ti the things he was seeking under the rear seat, Lad had rounded the bend and was out of sight To this day, none of the motorists has the remotest solution to the mystery of the vanished lunch

Lad had not stolen the basket He would have suffered hi to theft or to any other sneaking act He had found a basket standing alone in the highroad, several feet away froed to them So far as he was concerned, this was as eous parasol He had been praised to the skies for bringing the parasol and the thermos case to the Mistress He had every reason to expect the saift

Indeed, to Lad's way of thinking, he her praise For the parasol had been an odorless and foolish thing of no apparent usefulness; while this basket exhaled most heavenly scents of fried chicken and other delectable foods Heavy as was the burden, it did not occur to Lad to set it down Fragrant as were its contents, it did not occur to hie of snooping in his ift for the Mistress And as such he was bearing it hohtinto her husband's study, a fewforth the trophy ”It's full of food, too; and of course he never touched a ave him two of the frosted cakes, by way of reward He's ridiculously happy over them,--and over the fuss I made about the basket”

”H' the present ”Jostled off the car-seat, as some fool of a driver took the curve at top speed! Well, that same driver has paid for his recklessness, by the loss of his lunch It's funny, though--There's not a trace of mud or dust on this; and even the food inside wasn't jostled about by the tu dividends, lately It's a pity no bullion trucks pass this way Still, parasols and picnic lunches aren't to be sneered at”

Lad was standing in the study doorway, eyes alight, tail waving The Master called hi this newest acco untold wealth for the Place if the graft should but continue long enough

There was so pathetic in dear old Laddie's pleasure over the new trick he had learned; or so it seemed to the two people who loved him

And they continued to flatter hied home a pickaxe momentarily laid aside by a road mender; and an extremely dead chicken which a motor-truck wheel had flattened to waferlike thickness

Which brings us, by degrees to the Rennick kidnaping case

Claude Rennick, a New York artist of considerable means, had rented for the su the Ramapo hills; some sixwife and their six-ered at a sharp rebuke for soardener, spoke insultingly to Mrs Rennick

Rennick chanced to overhear Being aggressively in love with his wife, he did not content hi Schwartz Instead, he thrashed the stalwart gardener, then and there; and ended the drastic perforrounds

Schwartz collected his battered anatomy and liht, he called into council his two farmhand brothers and his wife

Several characteristic plans of revenge were discussed in sole of the Rennick house or barn, or both; the shooting of Rennick fro the hillside boulders as the artist sketched; of waylaying hi hiestions equally dear to the hearts of rural malefactors

But one plan after another was vetoed To burn any of the property would cause Rennick nothing worse than teht shooting was a dangerous and uncertain job; especially since auto outsiders It was Schwartz hiht He had too recenta second dose of the same medicine And so on with the other proposals One and all were rejected

Then it was that Mrs Schwartz hit upon an idea which promised not only punish for the Rennicks and she had access to the house She proposed that they steal the Rennick baby, on the first night when opportunity should offer; carry hi; and thence take hister would be well cared for In a family of not less than seven children, the presence of an extra baby would not excite police query Her sister hadtheir mothers' temporary absence in service or in jail And the newcootiations could set in; and, if care were taken, a reward of at least two thousand dollars ht be extracted safely from the frantic parents Thus, the Rennicks could be made to sweat blood andframe of Schwartz

At first, the three ly sound Kidnaping is a deed with ugly consequences

Kidnaping is a crime whose perpetrators can hope for no ato is perilous, past words