Show nna M w attle SO RT hud A story with Wilh a blessing vw by PHOEBE GR GRAY copyright by small anu be company CHAPTER XIV continued 17 lem will recover john though he be s Is a badly injured man and as he be nyall be laid up a long time I 1 think his friends need not be uneasy about the TC recurrence currence of the liquor craving billy said W wallett Wll filleti lett do ao yon know I 1 have lately been reminded of something a friend said lio to me many years ago it was that the man 1 who tho had felt the blight of intemperance personally made the real fighter against the liquor business that remark has come back to the force of a blow doctor billy made no immediate reply but sat staring thoughtfully before him then he be apok off his big shell rimmed spectacles and poll polished shed them with critical attention i is as if the work were of the utmost importance john he said presently a your answer my illy answer last night you kept asking all the way out to the farm why why dont you remember yes I 1 remember but well then louwill you will be surprised when I 1 say that you are in a way personally responsible more than even francis or lem for the unhappy oc currencies curren ces of the last few days III 1 I responsible how do you j I 1 1 I remember that campaign here in I 1 sheffield eld she six years ago I 1 remember I 1 you went to europe and I 1 beard that ia I 1 a few people were bold enough to say I 1 that well if you had bad stayed at home the result would have been different I 1 this may or may not be true but so i much Is true if you had been deeply concerned for the outcome you never neve r I 1 would have gone willett looked as puzzled as a child he was hurt even a little offended or aas as much so as one could well be with billy jackson your boy not alone yours but every boy ln in the community grows up to see men like you good men honored I 1 men men med of prosperity and ini floence fl nence wink althis at this thing you salve your conscience by a single vote once a year and perhaps a check you say ito I 1 to yourself that you have done your duty that you have expressed your preference for the right thing that you have set a good example you dont drink you dont want your boy to do so but you or most men like you often say eay you have no objection to a mans drinking j abely if he knows how bow to handle IV it 1 its all been gone over so many many times said doctor billy sadly I 1 forgive me it if I 1 have hurt you so terribly john but I 1 am a surg surgeon eod it Is my business to hurt people I 1 am so sorry ry to say thank god it is often through that hurt that they are made whole the spring campaign was on once once more and again amos sat in the saddle for several years the can cause be ol 01 0 no license had languished but i the napoleonic stubbs returned from the elba of the slums where he had agone to await the psychological moment and labor while he be waited I 1 rodney jones had made good at ithe the opening of the campaign the view reporter had stepped out of the elevator at the top floor of minot house bouse dont you remember me he asked when he be had bad found charlie thomas who was busily delving into the dutill ties of a set of water watercolor color paints why yes youre mr jones of the yiew charlie held buthis out bis hand then in some embarrassment he said eald the reason I 1 remember yon Is because I 1 was I 1 was pretty mean to you the ithe other time you came here ive always been sorry for that silly billy picture I 1 guess I 1 hurt your feelings pretty bad yes right you did said rodney jones but you know a lot of people believe its only the bad tasting medicine that does any good i 4 lit then his face ace grew very earnest and he be began to talk to the young art student with a certain note of persuasion lets ask yow friend mcgregor said bald jones after afew a few ini minutes of spirited far argument its a splendid opportunity said mcgregor heartily mr jones your paper Is doing a great work this year well surely put the liquor people out of business if thomas does what you ask ah it will be the finishing blow im convinced of it young man it if you lantto want to serve this city todo to do a really big thing you will make inake those pictures 11 on the ilay day on which the first picture appeared the entire city rocked with laughter then the city stopped laughing mid and grew serious what kind of soul was it that looked out from behind that ridiculous mask was it funny was it a joke to realize realize that sheffield eld was governed by that type of man whose sinister personality was now in this simple picture stripped naked for or examination and analysis the politicians who haaso far escaped began to shiver whenever a new edition of the view appeared on the street the question was always be next there always was a next and as boon as ad d a man saw himself held up to the ridicule and contempt of his big townspeople he realized that his days of political power were numbered charlie thomas have to see his subjects in person he drew from photographs he did not miss mis alre once nor was waa it necessary for him to confine himself to portraiture now and again ho he made mad a picture of a home that drink had ruined of pitiful children of forlorn women people studied these pictures and cried then they went savagely to the polls and drove a nail into the coffin of the liquor business in sheffield after election the mound of votes on the grave of the enemy was so high as the jubilant jones announced in the evening view that it could be surmounted only by nid aid of a firemans foremans fi remans ladder and theres only one more picture for you to draw good old boy said jones on the day after the obsequies youve been doing some great work but its been so BO uniformly negative im thinking the public would be delighted with the portrait of a real good citizen lets run john willetts Wll letts picture tomorrow hes been stanch through it all put his money brains and influence into the scales and Is the one man who deserves dese ryes the thanks of this community his personal interests have been sacrificed for he Is thousands of dollars poorer today than he was yesterday for instance his stock in the waldemere is probably cut in half but willetts Wll letts true blue lets run his jones produced a photograph of john willett Wll lett and charlie set to work jones standing at his elbow frowned hold on boy he said I 1 y youre 0 aire getting all mixed up this Is john willett youre drawing not simon legree say never do to print that charlie surveyed his handiwork with horror his picture of john willett equaled in the unpleasant quality of its revelation almost any that he be had done during the campaign dominating the caricatured features was selfishness a refined subtle and indifferent selfishness ish ness it was not hoggish no it was nothing so frank as that but the menace was there unspeakably terrible charlie covered his bis face with his hands bands oh jonczy he cried you use that you could ift use that hat why mr willetts Wll letts one of my very best friends he sat bat and pondered ponde pond fed eted 1 I will get you a picture of mr willett he said you wait here donesy he hitched briskly away although the defect in his gait was notably diminished mini shed in ten minutes he was in john willetts Wll letts office A A man sat at john willetts Wll letts desk a manewith man with gray at hla big temples and deep haggard lines in his face gray streaks appeared too in his closely trimmed beard but his eyes laughed when he greeted charlie thomas hello little sir Ga galahad labad 11 he said how goes the quest today 1 I think we gained a few at steps eps yesterday said the boy 1 I should say we did cried john willett Wll lett say young fellow what are you doing drawing your picture for tomorrows view that you young imp are you going to look here charlie boy how many people know you are the mysterious cartoonist there are min men in this town who would be delighted to skin you only three or four people know it and never tell im afraid ive hurt a lot of feelings its dreadful to know that you have done that 1 I used to think so too chrlie charlie bu but t this thing we have been fighting has baa hurt urt your feelings and mine it we dont regret the results do we boy nope said charlie there better he drew out the sketch he be had made from the photograph of a john ajohn willett six years younger a jaunty carefree care free indulgent john willett Wll lett murders Mur derl cried willett wallett Wll lett you dont say I 1 ever looked like ilke that your soul used to I 1 guess said charlie but it now the picture in tomorrows pa suit you better ill never get over this charlie said willett wallett Wll lett it the sketch that hurts its knowing that I 1 cant deny the truth of it no man can look at one of your portraits of himself and say truly that it does doea not reveal his big 8 soul 11 next day when people got the view they nodded sagely and commented just like john he always was wag a flue fine man this proves protes it hes aged lately but he lose character that certainly Is our own john willett Wll lett the one chos always been our most useful public spirited citizen 11 CHAPTER XV I 1 two years yeara later the guests at the willett dinner table had broken into groups when the mal was wa finished and now in a acor corner of th the big library sana sam was talking earnestly with john willett Wll lett while lem brown sat eat close by saying nothing listening with all his bis ears and occasionally sio nally grinning sheepishly my by mr willett Wll lett its just as I 1 tell youl you sam was saying 1 I dunno bow biow ever ue lie thought of it ive been him arn all winter fus bussin sin and with them gears and ancen a while id want to know what lif in tinge time be ie was bryin to do 4 charlie did most of the work said lem liem it was his brains and say eny mr willett wallett Wll lett I 1 told anybody yet but begin beginning nin today I 1 and lem are pait partners ners share and share alike wo we fixed up the papers and he gets eta half my farm and dairy busl business ness while I 1 set get a half interest in this new separator patent of lems im goin oln to put pat up what moneys necessary to start malan a few of these attachments then if it grows too fast for me mr willetts Wll letts eyes twinkled shrewdly if it grows too fast you may let in blittle a little outside capital eh you said so methin mr willett Wll lett continued sam gosh goehl I 1 will you listen to how fast those wo in are talk ln can you beat it you see mrs brown was explain ing to martha thomas and mrs john willett Wll lett of course anything that francis recommended would be just about right with mary alice P it would be about right with all of us said martha thomas sam says saya lie he heard someone say the other day that mr stacey has turned over almost the whole manag management emerit of th thea estore store to francis since lies hes been made a partner P oh that quite true said mrs willett Wll lett francis has bah a lot to do ao with what he be calls the merchandising end but mr stacey handles all abe you expect anybody with francl francis experience or lack of it to look here mary alice said francis the two years are up he held his big watch toward her and she saw that it marked exactly eight fifteen the girl was sitting on a big leather covered divan francis on one side of her charlie on the other mary alice caught a hand of each of her companions and with both her own held them close together then she suddenly bowed her head and her shoulders quivered with a little sob mary alice mary alice protested francis dont do that dear why the the matter he cast an appealing helpless look at charlie whom he saw to be quite as bewildered as himself mary alice looked up through a mist of tears 1 I just help it she said I 1 im so hap bap happy oh ob Frd francis nels francis I 1 knew keep it I 1 never doubted you for a minute now cant you see it has been better 1 I Z there your mothers looking at me lets go out on the porch a few minutes come along too charlie askel asked francis charlie smiled slyly do you really want me he asked well replied francis of course youre always welcome but dont doni you think the night air might er yes said charlie 1 I guess it might 11 fraucis francis and mary alice disappeared red i and charlie joined mr air wille wallett Wll lett tt his bis father and lem those who saw him cross the room noted with affectionate satisfaction the almost entire absence of the halting awkwardness in his galt gait long ago he had bad discarded his bis riotous yellow wealth of hair and now one saw the splendid proportions of the shapely riia bead with its broad thoughtful brow his eyes clear blue straightforward frank and usually shining with a vigorous good will held y you ou with a compelling light charlie was sitting in the side yard working at some watercolor water color sketches the summer wind fluttered his big sheets sheet as he worked hens pecked busily about uttering small contented throaty sounds charlie looked up and off across the fields to where his friends friend the mountains delicately tinted in the light of the setting sun stood opaline sentinels of unchanging peace charlie boy called martha from the door that mary alice coming up the hill they watched the girl approach and charlie called a good morning mary alice dropped down on the grass and panted she had a small plain wooden box in her hand hullo mary alice said charlie your great rush that in your hand band another wedding present its its for you she said bald 1 I 1 I had a letter from doctor billy in belgium and a present from him bim the dearest piece of embroidery and this was with it she passed the little box to charlie while martha and sam looked on mildly curious just like that doctor billy said martha hes always thinking ot of something to please people why charlie boyatis boy its a watch sam took it and turned it over an and over then he snapped open the case heres some he be said its engraved here inside the case it says here marthy maltby you read it 1 I 1 I cant 11 neither could martha she banded the watch to mary alice fishing meanwhile in her apron pocket for her handkerchief mary alice looked at the inscription blinked and then read quite bravely TO LITTLE SIR bin GALAHAD A SYMBOL OF THE GRAIL WHICH HE SO faithfully SEEKS AND TO WHICH HE EVER DRAWS NEARER the girl reached up a hand band and took that of the boy boi As soon as aa I 1 can pa she said ill tell you where he be got it good old uncle YI said sir galahad hes the of us aills END r |