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Show INSTALLMENT NINETEEN The Story So Far Laura Maguire Is wife to Mike, happy-go-lucky editor and mayor of Covington, whom banker Mays tries to ruin and offers of-fers a $10,000 bribe to stop exposure of a bad banking deal. She Is mother to four children, HI treated by the depression de-pression : Kathleen, society editor for her father, fa-ther, who criticizes his quixotic slapping slap-ping of Mays at the expense of the family fam-ily purse. She Is in love with Ritchie CHAPTER XXIX Continued "Lovl" Laura laughed a queer, strained sound. "Wal ;Jo yx know of love? Wait till you've lived with a man a quarter of a century. And borne him his children. Walked through the shadow of death at his side and drunk of his strength. Grown older clinging to him, finding find-ing comfort and peace against his heart. Always first with him as he is with you. Wait till you've grown so deeply into your mate he's part of you. Till it almost frightens you i when you think how much he means "i to yojj. Then you will know about J love. Love like mine and Mike's." Kathleen stared at Laura. As if she were a stranger. Someone she had never seen before. Laura's face .went very white. "And now you think he's killed himself. To leave me his insurance." insur-ance." "He took his revolver with him when he left the office," said Ritchie huskily. Laura's slender shoulders were rigid. Mike would never kill himself him-self to leave me money. He knows that to me he is all the riches of the Indies, and without him I'm a broken bro-ken vase." Kathleen was weeping. Bitter, agonized ag-onized tears. Laura made a tremendous tre-mendous effort and went over to her. "It's going to be all right, darling." dar-ling." "Kathleen took her mother's hand and laid it against her cheek. "I didn't understand," she sobbed. "I know," said Laura. "Youth doesn't It has so dreadfully much to learn. But you must not suffer like this. Mike could not break your heart or mine. It isn't him." The telephone rang sharply. When Laura came slowly back to the living liv-ing room, her eyes had a queer startled expression. "Mke has been down at the bank for hours. Locked up with the directors di-rectors and the state bank examiner," exam-iner," she said, and then went on as if she were a little awed. "Donahue "Dona-hue Investment Brokers did not open for business this morning. They've failed to the tune of twenty million Graham, newspaper aid of her father, but won't admit It. Instead she engaged en-gaged herself to Mays' son. but breaks the engagement in a few days. Tom. who had separated from his wife when he had to move from the bigger city to get a Job. Mary Etta held on to her secretary Job and started to divorce. But Laura brought the two together. Alec, who secreUy married the town . the goat and stick to Mays to the bitter end. Or did he? He's never liked me a lot Says I go off half-cocked half-cocked as often as not." Tom grinned. "The Colonel may be stubborn but he's not a donkey. He fumed around a lot when you began to-spout about the bank. And he cut out advertising with you. For spite or something. But when you opened up on the Donahue deal, the Colonel weakened. And he kept on weakening until last week he transferred trans-ferred all the money he had in the world, to a safety deposit vault. And it's there still. Thanks to you. Incidentally I've orders to resume our old business relations with the Clarion. We'll want our regular daily dai-ly ads with the full Sunday spreads.' : Mike sniggered. " 'S funny how the folks have suddenly decided practically in one afternoon that they can't do without me or the Clarion. They've been shooting advertising contracts and renewals at us so fast and furiously since noon darned if the staff isn't about to have the jitters." Kathleen drew a long breath. "I guess after all," she said in an uneven un-even voice, "a reputation for unimpeachable un-impeachable integrity is more precious pre-cious than dividends. Banks may break and investment brokers go fiooey, but a good name goes on and on." Mike's boyish face looked suddenly sudden-ly very gay and young. "Does that mean you've got over your peeve at your blundering old Daddy, Kitten?" Kit-ten?" he asked. He laughed, but his eyes were not laughing. Kathleen leaned over until un-til her shoulder brushed his. "I always adored you," she whispered. whis-pered. "Only I Jost my way I'm back on the tracks for good this time. And I I love you." Mike squeezed her hand. Kathleen with a shiver glanced down the table at her mother. Laura was wearing the ecru organdy. Her face was a little thinner. It had been a trying summer. But her clear brown eyes were strangely beautiful. Serene, unclouded, lighted light-ed by a deep and abiding happiness. drunk's daughter, Lou Knight, after he had taken her to his mother's house when her father died rescuing a crippled crip-pled boy In a fire. Shirley, married at last to Jaird New-sum, New-sum, who also was out of work, but the couple pawn their things, buy a hamburger ham-burger stand. Mays kills himself and the bank closes when his crookedness comes to light. Laura and Kathleen discuss love. "for more money than I expected to see in five years." "That's Just it," cried Mike, laughing till the tears ran down his cheeks. "Ritchie was all set to starve in an attic for truth's sweet sake. And now darned if he isn't on his way to becoming a bloated plutocrat." Ritchie's mouth twisted. "Fate's like that," he said. "It overwhelms you with the success you don't want and slaps you down when it comes to the things you do." Ritchie's glance met Kathleen's. Her gray eyes were hard and inscrutable. in-scrutable. She looked away with a sharp ache stabbing at her heart. "Maybe Ritchie has got over wanting want-ing me," she thought, her eyes stinging. sting-ing. "I want, to talk to you, Kathleen," said Ritchie after dinner in a harsh 1 peremptory voice. "Yes, Ritchie." Meekly Kathleen followed him down the path which led around the house to the grape arbor at the back. The July night was breathlessly still. So still Kathleen thought Ritchie must hear the painful throb of her pulses. "I broke my engagement to Gene Mays this morning," she said at last in a small tremulous voice. "I know," drawled Ritchie without with-out looking at her. "When I got back to the office, he'd been calling for you every five minutes. He seemed to think he could force you to marry him or the like of that. But I disabused him of the idea." His underjaw made a hard line. "He won't bother you again." "It was never really an engagement," engage-ment," she whispered. "He didn't even kiss me. Not once. I couldn't let him." She heard Ritchie catch'his breath sharply but he said nothing. "I never grew up until today," she told him, her voice breaking on a sob. "Not until I realized what I might have done to Mike. I've been so blind, Ritchie. All confused and mixed up. I don't deserve that you should bother with me. Ever. But I I" She and Mike had built their house on the eternal verities. And although the tempest had whistled above them, the house had stood. "Great Scott, in all the shooting I forgot about Ritchie!" exclaimed Mike. "He's taken an awful jolt. By Jove, I don't know how he's ever going to hold up his head again." "What's happened to Ritchie?" demanded de-manded Kathleen in a fierce little voice. She glared at her father, "And I don't think it's funny of you to laugh if it's as bad as you say." "Help! Help!" Mike flung up his hands and gave Ritchie a mock pleading glance. "Call off the kitten kit-ten before she claws me to pieces over a younger handsomer man." Kathleen blushed furiously and Ritchie laughed. He fussed at his necktie. "It isn't really bad," he said, but he looked as if he wished he could crawl into a hole. "It's about those articles I sent the agent in New York. He er I guess maybe the ; big publishers aren't as yellow as I , thought. Anyway he's sold the whole series," he concluded miserably, He turned swiftly. His arms caught her up. Crushed her to him. He had always been her private lightning. He always would be. His kisses taught her passion and ecstasy. ecsta-sy. An almost intolerable ecstasy. Cheat her? Love! Kathleen knew if she lived forever she could not be grateful enough for the aching rapture rap-ture of Ritchie's arms, his kisses. This moment was worth anything it cost. Ever. "Sweetheart!" whispered Ritchie. "I love you!" cried Kathleen. On the veranda Laura leaned back against Mike's arm. She was thinking, as mothers do, of her brood. They had been menaced. Each of them, even her mate. But they were safe this night, her children chil-dren and her lover. They had come out on the other side of the storm clouds. There were rainbows in the skies. "Life is pretty grand after, all," said Laura out of her deep content. Michael Maguire chuckled as his arm tightened about her. "It is," he said, "because you've always played it that way." THE END dollars." "Donahue!" ejaculated Ritchie. "The concern in which Eugene Mays was involved?" "Eugene Mays is dead," said Laura. Lau-ra. "He blew his brains out ten minutes ago when they told him that his bank doors had to close." "Mays' personal fortune is completely com-pletely gone. The crazy fool gambled gam-bled the last dime he had on earth trying to recoup his losses." The Maguires were at dinner. All of them. Shirley and Jaird had hired someone to look after their place for the evening. Tom and Mary Etta had driven over after Alec and Lou. Mike had brought Ritchie home from the office with him. It was Mike who was somberly som-berly reviewing the extent of the disaster. "Apparently Mays has been on the verge of ruin for months. That's why he snatched at such a desperate chance as the Donahue scheme. And it ripped him open." "And wrecked the town with him," added Tom bitterly. "Not quite," explained Mike. He grinned. "A great many people seem to have read the Clarion. Even if our revenues did drop fifty per cent after I attacked Mays. Depos- , itors have been drawing their money out of his institution like fury for the past six weeks. The bank examiner ex-aminer told me he had never seen anything like it." CHAPTER XXX Laura smiled at her husband. "Why don't you break down and confess that Covington has one peach of a Lord Mayor, and knows it?" Kathleen saw the look that passed between them. And her eyes misted with tears. How could she have been so blind to the beautiful thing that existed between her father and her mother? Love so perfect it needed no words or gestures. Understand- T ing so deep it was as natural as the mJ air they breathed. "Thank goodness," said Alec fervently, fer-vently, "Mr. Swearingcn took your articles to heart. Dad. Or rather Lou did," he found her small hand and pressed it. "She never gave either of us a minute's peace till he got our little wad out of Mays' bank." Mike smiled at his newest daughter-in-law and Lou smiled back at him, a shy nervous little smile, but very sweet. Laura, looking down the long crowded table at Lou's small blissful bliss-ful face, thought that God works in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. Such a fragile little anchor! an-chor! Yet she held Alec as nothing else could. Because she helioved in him and needed him. Mike igardcd his older son somewhat some-what anxiously. "I hope Colonel Shoup didn't act ( |