| Show tt SR T A story with a blessing ass by PHOEBE GRAY copyright by maynard CO copany company pany I 1 CHAPTER XIV continued 17 lem will recover john though lie Is a badly injured man and as he be will be laid up a long time I 1 think alt friends need not be uneasy about the recurrence of the liquor craving aring er billy said willett do you inow know 1 abare ibare hare lately been reminded of something a friend said to me many years ago it was that the man who had felt the blight of intemperance personally made the real fighter against the liquor business that remark biscomb has come sack act to me with the force of a blow doctor billy made no immediate reply but bot sat staring thoughtfully before him then be tool took his bf big shell rimmed spectacles and polished them with critical attention as if the work were of the utmost importance john he said presently your answer I 1 my answer last night you kept asking all the way outto the farm why why dont you remember i yes I 1 remember but well then you will be surprised when I 1 say that you are are in a way personally responsible more than even francis or lem for the currencies curren ces of the last few days II I 11 1 I responsible how do you 1 I remember that campaign herein sheffield six years ago I 1 remember you went to europe and I 1 heard beard that a few people were bold enough to say that well if you had stayed at home the result would have bare been different this may or may not be true but so much la Is true if you had been deeply concerned for the outcome you never would have gone willett looked as puzzled as a child he was hurt even a little offended or as much so as one could well be with billy jackson your boy vot not alone yours but every boy lu in the community grows up to see men like you good men honored men men of prosperity and ln in fluence wink at this thin thing you salve your console by a single vote once it a year and perhaps a check you say 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 y your our boy to do so but you or most men like you often say bay you have no objection to a mans drinking moderately if he be knows how to handle it its all been gone over so many many times said doctor billy sadly forgive me it if I 1 have hurt you so BO terribly john but I 1 am a surgeon it Is my business to hurt people I 1 am sorry to say thank god it Is often through that hurt that they are made mad whole e the spring campaign was on once more and again amos stubbs sat in the saddle for several years the cause of no license bad languished bu but t the napoleonic stubbs returned from the elba of the slums whore where he had gone to await the psychological moment and labor while lie he waited strucy jones had bad made good at the opening of the campaign the view reporter had bad stepped out odthe of the elevator at the top floor of melnot house dont yo you u remember me he be asked when he be had found charlie thomas who was busily delving into the utilities of a set of water wa ter co or paints why yes youre mr jones of the view charlie held out his hand then in ili some embarrassment he said the reason I 1 remember you Is because I 1 was I 1 was pretty mean to you the other time you came here ivo ITO always been sorry for that silly picture I 1 guess I 1 hurt burt your feelings pretty bad yes right you did said rodney jones but birt you know a lot of people believe its only ti the ic bad tasting medicine that does any good then his face grew very earnest and he began to talk to the young art student with a certain note of persuasion lets ask your friend mcgregor eeor 1 said jones after a tew few minutes of sp spirited argument its a splendid opportunity said mcgregor heartt heartily ly 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 it will be the finishing d asu ing blow im convinced of it young man if you want to serve this city to do a really fig big thing you will make those pictures on the day on which the first picture appear appeared eJ the entire city rocked with laugh laughter tec then the city stopped laughing nod and grew serious seri oua what kind of soul goul was wag it t that looked out cut from behind that that ridiculous mask was it funny was it a joke to realize that sheffield was governed by that type of man whize sinister personality was now in tola this simple picture stripped naked tor for examination and analysis the politicians who had so tar far escaped began to shiver whenever a new edition ot of the tha view appeared on the the question was always be next there always was it i next and RN an oon as a man saw himself held up to the ridicule And COD contempt ot of ills his townspeople he realized that his days of political power were numbered charlie thomas have to see his subjects in person ne ile drew from photographs lie ile did not miss fire once iio 1101 iwas it nece necessary sary s ary for him to confine himself to portraiture now and lie he made a picture or of a home that drink had bad ruined of pitiful children of forlorn women people studied these pictures and cried then they went savagely to the polls and drove ft a dail ball into the coffin of the liquor business in sheffield after election the mound of votes orn 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 aid of A firemans foremans fi remans ladder and theres only one more picture for you tou to draw good old boy said jones on oa the day after the obsequies youve been doing some treat great work but its been so BO uniformly negative im thinking the public would be delighted with the portrait or a real good citi J zen lets run john willetts Wll letta picture tomorrow hes been stanch through it nil all put his money brains and influence into the scales and Is the one man who deserves the thanks of this community his personal interests have been sacrificed for he Is thousands of dollars poorer today than he be was yesterday for instance his stock in the Wai waldemere demere Is probably cut in half but willetts Wll letta true blue lets run his picture jones produced a photograph ot of john willett and charlie set to work jones standing at his bis elbow frowned hold on boy he said youre getting betting 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 ot of john willett equated equaled in the unpleasant quality or of its revelation almost any that he be had bad lone done during the campaign dominating the caricatured feir fear tures was selfishness a refined subtle and indifferent selfishness 1 ish ness it was not hoggish no do it was nothing so frank as that but the was there unspeakably terrible ter charlie covered his fa face e with his hands oh ob donesy he be cried boft yon use that you use that why mr willetts one of my very best friends he ha sat and pondered 1 I will get you a picture of mr willett he said you wait here donesy he hitched batched briskly a y away a although boug tb the e defect in his gait was notably dl di Inh Asbed iri in ten minutes he was in john willetts Wll letts office A man sat at john willetts desk a man with gray at hit temples and deep haggard lines in his face gray streaks appeared too in his closely trim trimmed dIed beard but his bis ayea ey laughed when he greeted Cli charlie arIle thomas hello little sir galahad he be said how goes the quest today 1 I think we gained a few steps yesterday said aid the boy 1 I should say we did cried john willett say young fellow what arp are you doing drawing your picture for tomorrows view that you young imp are you going to look here charlie boy ilow how many people know you youage are the mysterious ny cartoonist there lire are mon 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 burt a lot of feelings its dreadful to know that you have done that 1 I used to think so too charlie but this thing we have been fighting has hurt yo yot r feelings and mine it we dont regret the results do we boy nope said charlie there better he drew out the sketch lie he had made from the photograph of a john willett six years younger a jaunty carefree care free indulgent john willett murder cried willett Wll lett you dont say I 1 ever looked like that your soul goul used to I 1 guess said charlie but it now the picture in tomorrows pa suit you better I 1 ill never got get over abl this charlie said willett Wll lett it the sketch that hurts its iti knowing that I 1 cant deny d e ny the truth of it no man can look at one of your portraits of himself anil and say truly that it does not reveal his soul next ne x t day when people got the view t they hy nodded sagely and commented just like john he always WM was a fine man this proves it hes aged lately but bedoe be sut to lose se character that certainly is our own john willett Wll lett the one chos always be been en our most useful public spirited el citizen 11 CHAPTER XV two years year later the guests guesta at the willett dinner tab ie e had broken into groups when the mal was wag finished and now in a cor nete nef of the big library sani sam was wag talking earnestly with john willett Wll lett while lem brown sat close by saying nothing listening with nil all his ears and occasionally sio nally grinning sheepishly I 1 by gosh mr willett Wll lett we tta lurt its as I 1 tell you sam was saying ill 1 dunno how ever he be thought of it ive been him ill all winter fusson and with them gears and ancen a while id want to know what in time he was bryin to do charlie did most ot of the work said sald lem it was his bis brains and say any mr willett I 1 told anybody yet but begin beginning nin today I 1 and J lem are partners share and share I 1 alike we fixed up the papers and lie he gets half my farm and dairy business while I 1 got a halt half interest in this new separator patent of lenas lems im fla coln to put up what moneys necessary to start makin a few of these atah attachments then oien if it grows too fast for me mr willetts Wll letts eyes twinkled shrewdly it grows too fast you may let la in a blittle little outside capital eh eb you said so methin mr willett Wll lett continued sam goshi gosh will you listen to how fist fast those are talk ln can you beat it you see sirs mrs brown was explaining to martha thomas rind and mrs john willett Wll lett of course anything that francis recommended would be just about right with mary alice 71 it would be about right with all of 0 11 us S said martha thomas sam says saya lie heard someone say the other da day y that mr stacey has turned over almost the whole management of the store to francis since hes been made a partner oh ob that quite true said mrs willett francis has a loi lot to do with what he be calls the merchandising end hot but mr stacey handles handle sall all the finances you yon expect anybody with francis experience or lack of 0 it to look tore here mary alice said francis the two years are u up 11 lie ile held his watch toward her and she saw raw that it marked exactly eight fifteen the girl was sitting sifting on a big biff leather covered divan francis on one side of 0 her charlie on the other mary alice caught a hand band of 0 each of companions her compau ions and with both her own held them close together then she I 1 suddenly bowed her ber head bead and her shoulders quivered with a little sob mary alice mary alice protested francis dont do da that dear why abata the the matter he cast an appealing helpless look at chaillie Ch ailie whom he be saw to be quite as bewildered as himself mary alice looked up through a mist of tears 1 I just help belp lt it she said im so hap happy oh francis francis I 1 knewT knew oud keep it I 1 never doubted you for a minute now cant you see it has been better I 1 there your mothers looking at me lets go out on the porch a few minutes 1 come along too charlie asked francis charlie smiled slyly do you really want me he asked well replied francis of course youre always welcome but dont you think the night air ml might lit er 7 yes said charlie 1 I guess it might francis Francl 3 and mary alice disappeared and charlie joined mr willett Wll lett his father and lem those who saw him cross the room noted with affectionate satisfaction the almost entire absence of the halting awkwardness in his gait long ago he had discarded his riotous yellow wealth of hair and now one saw the splendid proportions of the shapely head with its broad thoughtful brow his eyes clear blue straightforward frank and usually shining with a TI vigorous orous good will held you with a compelling light 11 charlie was sitting in the side yard working at some watercolor water color sketches the summer wind fluttered his sheets as he be worked hens peeked pecked busily atut abut uttering small contented throaty sounds charlie looked up and off across the fields to where his bis friends 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 I hullo lullo mary alice said charlie your great rush that in ill your hand band another wedding present its its it its for you she s said aid 1 1 I 1 I 1 had bad a letter from doctor billy in belgium and a present from him the dearest piece of embroidery and this thia waa with it she passed the little box to charlie while martha and sam looked on I 1 mildly curious just like that doctor billy said martha Ia vtha lies hes always thinking of something to please people why charlie boy its a watch sam took it and turned it over and over then he snapped open the case heres some whitin 11 lie he said its ita engraved here inside the case it says here bere marthy you read it 1 I 1 I cant neither could martha she handed the watch to mary alice fishing meanwhile in lier her apron pocket for her handkerchief mary alice looked at the inscription blinked and then read quite bravely TO LITTLE SIR GALAHAD A SYMBOL OF TUB THE GRAIL WHICH HE SO 80 faithfully serks AND TO WHICH HE EVER DRAWS NEARER the up a hand and took that of the boy As soon as I 1 cau can J she said bald ill tell you where lie he got it good old uncle billy said little sir clr galahad iles hea the finest knight or r us alfill TXIE THE END |
