Show LOVE ko tha TAKES A HAND 4 ROBERT by mcblair S SAVAGELY old adam courtney Cour toey twisted bis his cigar yellowed tache from the parlor sofa the muffled sobs of diana his shapely and lovely young daughter ex pressed an unshakable defiance he glared at her with all the anger a deep love would permit 11 I 1 II I 1 AM going to marry jim bailey she chanted monotonously 1 I don t care it if he T got the money he ought to have to start in business I 1 dont don t care it if he HAS only three thousand instead of six ix I 1 the slender legs kicked hys teri cally A slipper flew across the room I 1 LOVE him doggone him I 1 I 1 LOVE himl hiral grimly adam courtney went lor for his hat and his heavy cane grimly be he left the house he knew where to find jim bailey barred from calling on diana he would be waiting at the club the big social and athletic club for her to join him tor for the dance tonight in the old days on the west coast be he thought angrily a matter such as this might have been settled with a 45 now business this and money and con week s bention had over taken him after best his marriage late in life fiction diana was all he I 1 bad had since the young wife he adored had died in childbirth ever since that day Ms his only child had been bis his only interest taking the place of her mother before her never before this had she defied him hilm turned from Us his love to the love ot of someone else As things stood tonight however he had lost her un less somehow he could hold her back surely this called for desperate measures As he stalked into the club he spied the ruddy muscular young object of his quest in the black and white of dinner clothes jim bailey sat watching a game in the busy card room jim rose and the table fell silent as the grim old man came up jim bailey adam courtney thundered are you man enough to take a gamble jim bailey simply stared I 1 understand you have three thousand in the savings bank I 1 old courtney said I 1 U put up two do dol lars to every one of yours give you two to one on every bet six and to three thousand table stakes if U you lose you will agree to leave my daughter alone and what tt if I 1 win asked jim bailey wm adam courtney a bony face paled win you marry her sir of course jim bailey hesitated and the whole room stopped breathing ev understood the struggle that had been going on between him and diana on the one hand and diana s father on the other under ordinary circumstances no one would expect him to agree to risk losing his money and his hope of future happiness on the turn of a card but suddenly it had dawned on everybody that this situation was not ordinary only two weeks before the old man had caned carted a newspaper editor who had intimated that adam court ney in the old days on the coast had been a professional gambler no one believed a word of the acau bation but now to refuse publicly to play would tell the world you be deved what the editor had written and were afraid of being booked jim bailey wet his lips do you want to play with chips sir or cash but even moneal looked at h s cards with t he tion he pushed an n equal ainuu arnou forward then each drew cards jim baile held up three cards and drew t two wo adam courtney asked for but one the old man looked at the card quickly he pushed forward hi hit whole remaining pile T THE HE spectators glanced at one an other some thought they had glimpsed the two hands to start with as they afterward explained jim bailey had held three aces adam courtney three kings on th the draw it t seemed that jim with thre three aces pat had caught two queens thus he had the highest pos sibl full house on this deal but the ou old man had caught another king lung and held tour four the winning hand would jim bailey put up his whole T j 4 1 4 4 the money in jim E s hand told her the rest she ran to her father the grim old man ignored her cash said adam courtney grimly next evening each bearing his stake of three thousand dollars they took their seats in the card room draw poker announced adam courtney tearing open the pack table stakes and he leaned across the table and looked jim bailey in the eye a gentleman s agreements agree menti okay jim bailey said will you cut sir open gambling was not permitted in the club but what emp employee loye would dare stop this like wildfire the news spread members hurried in just in time to see the old man lose five hundred dollars on a full house against jim bailey s tour four tens at first luck seemed to favor jim bailey but presently the calm grim old man began to win then the old man lost three large bets the stacks of money stood about even again each three thou sand dollars jim bailey dealt adam courtney looked at his cards he counted out five hundred dollars jim bailey pile and call the old man s bet 11 he did the game was over he would lose his money and diana too jim bailey s hand shook as be he riffled his remaining pile since the old man hardly had held four of a kind to start with and had drawn but one card the odds were forty tc one against his now having four of a kind or better suddenly his face no longer ruddy jim bailey pushed his whole pile forward I 1 call sir he said he spread out his hand I 1 ve got a full house aces over queens then occurred one of those disturbing interruptions which explain the new screens at the card room door there was a cry and a corn coin motion and diana adam court ney s daughter appeared in the doorway staring in at the players she was dressed to go to the dance her hair was arranged in m the style of twenty years ago in a white satin dress which had be longed to her mother she looked aa as an elderly member said the spit ting image of adam courtney a dead wife old adam courtney glanced up un stared as at a ghost heaven eniy only knows what memory perhaps oi ol Us his and his wife s glowing early hap passed through his mind he drew a deep slow breath hu me cane dropped and clattered hia his white head disappeared beneath thi the table as he retrieved the cane from the floor this distraction lasted but a moment then adam courtney sat u ur and faced jim bailey leaning awk forward his left hand heavy on the table the old man turned hii his own cards up ua one by one THE KING OF DIAMONDS onel one I 1 the crowd breathed THE KING OF HEARTS atwol the crowd whispered THE KING OF CLUBS three the crowd mur aured then he turned THE QUEEN OF DIAMONDS it was his last card not only had he failed to catch the king of spades on the draw ap parent ly he had drawn but one card when he should have drawn two he held only four cards a wort worthless ess hand the grim old man had bostl jim bailey had won not only the old mans three thousand but bis his daughter jim bailey gathered in all the money he stood up holding it in hia his hand everyone watched adam courtney a daughter as jim bailey crossed to where she stood framed in the doorway she touched jim a arm and hesi bated of course she had been told what was up the money in jim jima a hand told her the rest she ran to her father the grim old man ig nored her she put her arm around him and kissed him full on the yel low stain stam in his white moustache he still ignored her she turned and ran back to jim hand in m hand the two young peo pie left the club their motor roared away seemingly with a triumphant an note that spoke of money enough for a business and for marriage and independence old adam courtney sat staring at al his bony left hand flat on the table for a moment his shoulders seemed to sag then he straightened and tilted a quizzical twinkling look up ur at the circle of staring faces I 1 knew what she was wishing be he said I 1 in an old fool I 1 expect he lifted his left hand there be bl neath it face up on the table lay the n missing king of spades |