f l -- J 11 - 11 Jt m r i i H r witt uijan i B it - The Hitchell Wagon is without doubt the best farm wagon sold in this mark et today The users of wag ons have learned this hence the unprecedented demand But wo are prepared to supply all despito unusually large sales I Furnaces and Stoves Wo havo a good line of furn aces and heating stoves If you are intending to put in a furnace this fall be sure to inspect our stock and get es timates Farm Machinery We are prepared to meet your needs in Press Drills 5 Disc Drills 5 Hoe Drills Gang Plows Sulky Plows Disc Harrows Pipe Frame Har rows Corn Shellers etc Call on us when in need of anything in this line Ranges We have in stock the Maleable the Jewel and the Round Oak Steel Rangesbe sides a large stock of Cast Ranges and Cooks Wire Nails Wo always carry a large stock of Barb Wire and Nails We can also supply your needs in all kinds of Builders Ha rdware and Tools Oils We havo always on hand Axle Grease Hard Oil Machine Oil Cylinder Oil and Belt Dressing We also carry Lin seed Oil and Paint 1 llo flllitil IldlllMK olOlE LAND OWN ERS and buyers if you want to sell be sure and see me soon I have inquiry for all kinds ol lands DO IT NOW If you want to buy call on me and let me quote my price and thus save you money LRLindeman Office East Side Alain St Over McConnelPs Drug Store flcCook Nebraska STOCKMEN NOTICE Do you ever ship anythinp to market If so the selecting of your commission firm is a matter that should be ca refully considered It is important to you First of all your interest demands absolute reliability You want to know for a certainty that your money will be returned to you after your stock is sold returned promptly too You want to be sure your stock will be sold for all it is worth on the market a poor sale can undo your work of a lonp time Your stock must be handled carefully and correctly a good fill helps materially to pay shipping expenses Because our service insures you all these good features we merit your business Consign your next shipment to us CLAY ROBINSON CO stock Yards KANSAS CITY We also have our own houses at Chicago South Omaha Sioux City South St Joseph Denver South St Paul and East Buffalo Bead our market letter in this paper Write us for any special information desired The McCook Tribune Only One Dollar the year I ssOWE CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK i wouder why sue said looking into the lire you hate me t wouder why you think that of he replied One cauuot help perceiving that which is ohvious While that which is purposely made obvious serves to conceal that which may exist behind it replied the stout man Etta paused to reflect over this Was Steinmetz going to make love to her She -was not an inexperienced girl and knew that there was nothing impossi ble or even improbable in the thought She wondered what Karl Steinmetz must have been like when he was a young man How could she know that his manner was always easiest his attitude always politist toward the wo men whom he despised In his way this man was a philosopher lie had a theory that an exaggerated polite ness is an insult to a womans intel lect You think I do not care said the Princess Howard Alexis You think I do not admire you re plied Steinmetz imperturbably She looked up at him Do you not give me every reason to think so she returned with a toss of the head Not Intentionally princess I am as you know a German of no very subtle comprehension My position in your household appears to me to be a little above the servants although the prince is kind enough to make a friend of me and his friends are so good as to do the same I do not presume to form an opinion upon you But I want you to form an opinion she said petulantly Then you must know that I could only form one which would be pleasing to you I know nothing of the sort re plied Etta Of course I know that all that you say about position is mere irony Paul thinks there is no one in the world like you Steinmetz glanced sharply down at her He had never considered the pos sibility that she might love Paul Was this after all jealousy He had at tributed it to vanity And I have no doubt he is right she went on Suddenly she gave a lit tle laugh Dont you understand she said I want to be friends She did not look at him but sat with pouting lips holding out her hand He took it in his great warm soft grasp held it for a moment and re linquished it I dont want you to address all your conversation to Maggie and to ignore me Do you think Maggie so very pret ty There was a twist beneath the gray mustache as he answered Is that all the friendship you desire Does it ex tend no further than a passing wish to be first in petty rivalries of daily exist ence I am afraid my dear princess that my friendship is a heavier matter a clumsier thing than that Henry Seton Merriman Copyright 1895 by HARPER BROTHERS A big thing not easily moved she suggested looking up with her daunt less smile He shrugged his great shoulders It may be Who knows I hope it is he answered The worst of those things is that they are sometimes in the way said Etta reflectively without looking at him And yet the life that is only a con glomeration of trifles is a poor life to look back upon Meaning mine she asked Your life has not been trifling he said gravely She looked up at him and then for some moments kept silence while she idly opened and shut her fan Do you ever feel an unaccountable sensation of dread she asked with a weary little laugh a sort of forebod ing with nothing definite to forebode Unaccountable no replied Stein metz But then I am a German and stout which may make a difference I have no nerves He looked into the fire through his benevolent gold rimmed spectacles Is it nerves or is it Petersburg she asked abruptly I think it is Peters- I burg I hate Petersburg Why Petersburg more than Moscow or Nijni or Tver She drew in a long slow breath looking him up and down the while from the corners of her eyes I do not know she replied collect edly I think it Is damp These houses are built on reclaimed land I believe This was all marsh was it not He did not answer her question and somehow she seemed to expect no re ply He stood blinking down into the fire while she watched him furtively from the corners of her eyes her lips parched and open her face quite white A few moments before she had pro tested that she desired his friendship She knew now that she could not brave his enmity And the one word Tver had done it all the mere mention of a town obscure and squalid on the upper waters of the mighty Volga in mid Russia During those few moments she sud denly came face to face with her po sition What had she to offer this man She looked him up and down stout placid and impenetrable Here was no common adventurer seeking place no coxcomb seeking ladies fa vors no pauper to be bought with gold She had no means of ascertaining how much he knew how much he suspect ed She could never hope to find out whether his knowledge and his sus picious were his alone or had been im parted to others She breathed hard living through years of anxiety in a few moments of time and she could only realize that she was helpless bound hand and foot in this mans power it was he who spoke first My dear lady he said if you are enrr t to take my friendship as it is ONLY FIVE CENTS MORE than the price of the McCOOK TRIBUNE secures it and the Weekly Inter Ocean Both for One Year THE WEEKLY INTER OCEAN is the only weekly paper published by a Chicago daily and is the leading news farm and home paper of the West Improved and strengthened by the addition of many new features Enlarged farm garden and dairy departments Reliable and practical veter inary department Home Health Club Health and Beaut Hints The most com plete household page Styles for all ages The best Boys and Girls page offered by any paper Queer problems and puzzles Chess and checker columns Best Fiction The International Sunday School Lesson Full and complete market reports The McCook Tribune regular price 100 a year The Weekly Inter Ocean 100 a year Both for only 105 a year This extraordinary offer is made to secure NEW SUBSCRIBERS but old subscribers can take advantage of it by paying their sub scriptions one year in advance Editor T- iffgjjjihani 1 - T - ii ii I n i lT IMWMUHMM MUmm w Ml Jill I ig - yours But I warn you it is no owy drawing room article There will be no compliments no pretty speeches no little gifts of flowers and such trumpery amenities It will all be very solid and middle aged like my self You think returned the lady that I am fit for nothing better than pretty speeches and compliments and floral offerings I do he said quietly And yet you offer me your friend ship He bowed in acquiescence Why she asked For Pauls sake my dear lady She shrugged her shoulders and turn ed away from him Of course she said it is quite easy to be rude As It happens it Is precisely for Pauls sake that I took the trouble of speaking to you on this matter I do not wish him to be trou bled with such small domestic affairs and therefore if we are to live under the same roof I shall deem it a favor if you will at all events conceal your disapproval of me He bowed gravely and kept silence Etta sat with a little patch of color on either cheek looking into the fire until the door was opened and Maggie came In Steinmetz went toward her with his grave smile while Etta hid a face which had grown haggard Maggie glanced from one to the oth er with frank Interest The relation ship between these two had rather puzzled her of late Well said Steinmetz and what of St Petersburg I am not disappointed replied Mag gie It is all I expected and more Everything interests me We were discussing Petersburg when you came in said Steinmetz drawing forward a chair The prin cess does not like it She complains of nerves Nerves exclaimed Maggie turn ing to her cousin I did not suspect you of having them Etta smiled a little wcarily Ono never knows she answered forcing herself to be light what one may come to in old age I saw a gray hair this morning I am nearly thirty three you know When glamour goes nerves come Paul took me out in a sleigh this morning went on Maggie in her cheerful voice I liked everything the policemen in their little boxes at the street corners the officers in then fur coats the cabmen everybody Thei is something so mysterious about them all One can easily make up stories about everybody one meets in Peters burg It is so easy to think that they are not what they seem Paul Etta even you Herr Steinmetz may not be what you seem Yes that is so answered Stein metz Avith a laugh You may be a nihilist pursued Maggie You may have bombs con cealed vp your sleeves you may ex change mysterious passwords with peo ple in the streets you may be much less innocent than you appear All that may be so he admitted You may have a revolver in the pocket of your dress coat went on Maggie pointing to the voluminous garment with her fan His hand went to the pocket In ques tion and produced exactly what she had suggested He held out his hand with a small silver mounted revolver lying in the palm of it Even that he said may be so Maggie looked at it with a sudden curiosity her bright eyes grave Loaded she asked Yes Then I will not examine it How curious I wonder how near to the mark I may have been in other ways I wonder said Steinmetz looking at Etta And now tell us something about the princess What do you sus pect her of At this moment Paul came into the room distinguished looking and grave Miss Delaficld pursued Steinmetz turning to the newcomer is telling us her suspicions about ourselves I am already as good as condemned to Sibe ria She is now about to sit in judg ment on the princess Maggie laughed Herr Steinmetz has pleaded guilty to the worst accusation she said On the other counts I leave him to his own conscience Anything but that metz Paul came forward urged Stein- and Maggie rather obviously avoided looking at him Tell us of Pauls crimes first said Etta rather hurriedly She glanced at the clock whither Karl Steinmetzs eyes had also traveled Oh Paul said Maggie rather in differently Indeed it seemed as if her lightness of heart had suddenly faileJ her Well perhaps he is deeply in volved in schemes for the resurrection of the Polish kingdom or something of that sort That sounds tame put in Stein metz I think you would construct a better romance respecting the princess In books it is always the beautiful princesses who are most deeply dyed in crime I do not think I am said Etta with a shudder She rose rather hur riedly and crossed the room with a great rustle of silks Stop her she whispered as she passed Steinmetz And the latter did so and did not be tray to Paul the secret of the theft of the Charity league papers CHAPTER XIX HE Countess Lanovitch and Ca trina were sitting together in the too luxurious drawing room that overlooked the Xeva The double windows were rigorously closed while the inner panes were covered J with a thick rime The sun was just ftn over the m tt border 1 0 upper waters of tl e guf of Fin land and lit up the snowclad city with a rosy glow which penetrated to the room where the two women sat Catrlna was restless moving from chair to chair from fireplace to win dow with a lack of repose which would certainly have touched the nerves of a less lethargic person than the countess My dear child that lady was ex claiming with lackadaisical horror we cannot go to Thors yet The thought Is too horrible You never think of my health Besides the gloom of the everlasting snow Is too painful It makes me think of your poor mis taken father who Is probably shovel ing it in Siberia Here at all events one can avoid the window One need not look at it The policy of shutting ones eyes 13 a mistake said Catrlna Why do you want to go back to Thors so soon murmured the elder lady with a little sigh of despair She knew she was playing a losing game very badly She was mentally shud dering at the recollection of former sleigh journeying from Tver to Thors Because I am sure father would like us to be there this hard winter But your father is In Siberia put in the countess which remark was ig nored Because if we do not go before tho snow begins to melt we shall have to do the journey in carriages over bad roads which Is sure to make you 111 Because our place is at Thors and no one wants us here I hate Petersburg It is no use living here unless one is rich and beautiful and popular We are none of those things so we are better at Thors But we have many nice friends here dear You will see this after noon I expect quite a reception The Comte de Chauxville said he would come on my first reception daj and of course Paul and his wife must return my call They will come today I am anxious to see her They say she is beautiful and dresses well Catrinas broad white teeth gleamed for a moment in the flickering fire light as she clinched them over her lower lip And therefore Pauls happiness in life is assured she said in a hard voice Of course What more could he want murmured the countess in blissful Ignorance of any irony Catrina looked at her mother with i gleam of utter contempt in her eyes m 1 1 I 1 I I I NWvXll I wish you happiness said Catrlna That is one of the privileges of a great love whether it brings happiness or misery the contempt for all who have never known it While they remained thus the sound of sleighbells on the quiet English quay made itself heard through the double windows There was a clang of many tones and the horses pulled up with a jerk The color left Catrinas face quite suddenly as if wiped away leav ing her ghastly She was going to see Paul and his wife Presently the door opened and Etta came into the room with the indomita ble assurance which characterized her movements and earned for her a host of feminine enemies Mme la Comtesse she said with her most gracious smile taking the limp hand offered to her by the Count ess Lanovitch Catrina stood in the embrasure of the window hating her Paul followed on his wifes heels scarcely concealing his boredom He was not a society man Catrina came forward and exchanged a formal bow with Etta who took in her plainness and the faults of her dress at one con temptuous glance She smiled with the perfect pity of a good figure for no figure at all Paul was shaking hands with the countess When he took Ca trinas hand her fingers were icy and twitched nervously within his grasp The countess was already babbling to Etta in French The Princess How ard Alexis always began by informing Pauls friends that she knew no Rus sian For a moment Paul and Catrina were left as it were alone I wish you happiness said Catrina and no one heard her but Paul She did not raise her eyes to his but looked vaguely at his collar ner voice was short and rather breathless as If she had just emerged from deep water Thank you answered Paul simply He turned and somewhat naturally looked at his wife Catrinas thoughts followed his A man is at a disad vantage in the presence of the woman who loves him She usually sees through him a marked difference be tween masculine and feminine love Catrina looked up sharply and caught his eyes resting on Etta He does not love her he does not love her was the thought that In stantly leaped into her brain CONTINUED ON TH1ED PAGEJ VI X a i i 0 t 4 I 1 tf V Jr 1