Show i I I THE WORLD B BY AND O 0 HENRY P THE T E DOOR I A favorite t dodge to get your or story I read by b the public is to assert that it Is true and then add that Truth is strang stranger I Ier er than Fiction I do not know if the yarn I am anxious for you OU to read is true but the Spanish purser of the fruit steamer El EI Carrero swore to me by b the shrine of Santa Guadalupe that he had the facts from the United States vice consul at La Paz Paza a person who could not possibly have haye been cognizant of half halt of ot them themAs themAs themAs As for the adage quoted above aboe I take pleasure In puncturing it by b affirming that I read In a purely fictional story the other day the line Be it so said the policeman Nothing so strange has yet cropped out in Truth When hen H Ferguson Hedges million millionaire millionaire millionaire aire promoter Investor and mana bout New York turned his thoughts upon I matters convivial and word of it went down the line bouncers took a pre precautionary precautionary cautionary turn at the Indian clubs waiters walters put Ironstone china on his fa ta favorite favorite tables can calf cad drivers crowded close to the curbstone in front of cafes and careful cashiers in his regu regular regular regular lar haunts charged up a few bottles to his account by way tray of or preface and an in introduction introduction introduction On the evening that the material alle aUe allegation allegation gation of or facts begins Hedges was bid bidding bidding bidding ding dull care In the company compan of five or six good fellows acquaint acquaintances ances and friends who had bad gathered In his wake Among them were two younger men Ralph Merriam a brok broker er and Wade ade his friend Two cabmen were chartered At Columbus Circle they the hove to long enough to revile relle the statue of or the great rebuking him for having haYing voyaged In search of or land instead of ot liquids Midnight overtook the party marooned in the rear of or a cheap cafe far uptown Hedges was arrogant overriding and quarrelsome He was burly burl and tough but vigorous good for the rest of ot the night There was a dispute about nothing that matters and the th words were passed the words that represent the glove gloe cast into the lists Merriam played the role of or orthe the verbal Hotspur Hedges rose quickly seized his chair swung It once and smashed wildly wild down at head Merriam dodged drew a small revolver and shot Hedges In the chest The leading royster roster stumbled fell feU in a wry wr heap and lay still stUl Wade a commuter had formed a habit of ot promptness He juggled Mer er erI I out a side door walked him to the corner ran him a block and caught a hansom They The rode five minutes and then got out cm on a dark corner and dis dismissed dismissed missed the cab Across the street the lights of ot a small saloon betrayed its hectic hospitality Go In the back room of ot that sa saloon saloon saloon loon said Wade and wait walt Ill IU go find out doing and let you know You may take two drinks while II I I am gone goneno no more At ten minutes to 1 Wade re returned returned returned turned Brace up old chap he be said The ambulance got ot there just as I did The octor doctor says hes dead You may have havene one ne more drink You Iet let me run this thing for tor you Youve got ot to skip I dont believe a chair is legally legall a deadly weapon ve got to make tracks all there is to It I Merriam complained of ot the cold quer querulously querulously ulous and asked for another drink Did you OU notice what big bl veins he had hadon hadon hadon on the back of oC his hands he said saidI I never could stand standI I never could Take one more said Wade and then come on Ill see you through Wade kept his promise so well that at 11 the th next morning Mer Merriam Merriam Ier with a new suit case full of new ne clothes and hair brushes stepped quiet quietly ly b on board a little tittle fruit steam steamer er at an East River pier The vessel had brought the seasons first cargo of or limes from Port Limon and was home homeward homeard homeward ward ard bound Merriam had his bank balance of ot 2800 in his pocket in large Jarge bills and brief instructions to pile pileup up I as much water as he could between himself and New York Tork There was no notime time for tor anything more From Port Limon Limen Merriam worked down the coast by schooner and sloop to Colon thence across the Isthmus to Panama where he caught a tramp bound for Callao and such Intermediate ate ports as might tempt the discursive skipper from his course It was at La Paz that Merriam de decided decided decided to land La Paz the beautiful a little town smothered in a I living green ribbon that banded the foot toot of ofa a mountain mo j Here the little steamer stopped to tread water while the captains dory took him ashore that he might feel the pulse of the cocoanut market Merriam went too with his suit case ca e and remained Kalb the vice consul a citizen of ot the United States born in and edu educated educated In Cincinnati ward ard primaries considered ered all aU Americans his brothers t l and bankers He Hc attached himself to elbow introduced him to every ever one in La Paz who wore shoes sho s borrowed 10 and went back to his hammock There was a little wooden hotel inthe in inthe Inthe the edge of a banana grove groe facing the sea that catered to the tastes of or the few Cew foreigners that had dropped out of the world into the triste Peruvian town Mown At Kalbs introductory Shake hands with he had obedi obediently obediently obediently exchanged manual salutations with a German Grman doctor one French and two Italian merchants merchant and three or four Americans who were spoken of as gold men rubber men mahogany men anything but men of or living tissue After dinner Merriam sat satin in a corner corner of the broad front galeria with Bibb a Vermonter interested in hydraulic mining min mining ing and smoked and drank Scotch I smoke The moonlit sea spreading infinitely Infinite before him seemed to separ separate separate separate ate him beyond all apprehension from his old life lire The horrid tragedy In which he had played pla ed such a disastrous part now began for the first time since he stole on board the a wretched fugitive to lose its sharper outlines One year ear more said Bibb and Ill go back to Gods country Oh I know its pretty here and you OU get dolce far niente handed to you o In chunks but this country made for a p L white whiteman whiteman whiteman man to live in Youve got to tt have ve to plug through snow now and then and see a game ame of or baseball and wear a stiff i collar and have a policeman cuss you Ou Still La Paz Par Pa Is a good sort of a pipe dreamy old hole And Mr Ir Conant Is la here When hen any of us feels particularly like jumping into the sea ea we rush around to her house and propose Its nicer to be rejected by b Mrs Conant than It is to be drowned And they say sa drowning is a delightful sensation sen tion Many Ian like her per here asked Mer Merriam Merriam Not anywhere said Bibb with a comfortable sigh Sh s the only white woman In La Paz The rest range from a dappled dun to the color of or a piano key le been be n here a year ear Comes from well you know how a woman can talk tak ask em to tosa say sa string and say crows cro crofoot foot or cats cradle radle think she was from Oshkosh and again from Jacksonville Fla and the next day da from Cape Cod Mystery ventured Merriam M well she looks It but her talks tan translucent enough But a wo woman woman woman I man I suppose If it the Sphinx were to i 4 I I begin talking shed merely say Good Goodness Goodness ness me more visitors coming for din dinner nor nero and nothing to eat but the sand which Is here But you OU wont think about that when you meet her Mer Ier Merriam Merriam dam propose to her too To make a hard story soft Merriam did meet her and propose to her He found her to be a woman in black with hair the color of a bronze turkeys wings and mysterious eyes that well that looked as if it she might have been beena a trained nurse nur e looking on when Eve i was created Her words and manner though were translucent as Bibb had said She spoke vaguely of friends in California and some of the lower par parishes parIshes parishes in Louisiana The tropical cli climate climate climate mate and Indolent life liCe suited her she had pad thought of buying an orange grove later on La Paz all In all aU charmed her I courtship of the Sphinx lasted three months although he did dill I not know that he lie was courting her He was using her as an antidote for re remorse remorse remorse morse until he found too late that he ht had acquired the habit During that time he had received no news from home Wade did not know kno where he was and he was not sure of Wades exact address and was afraid to write He thought he had better let matters rest as they were for tor awhile One afternoon he and Mrs Conant i hired two ponies pontes and rode out along the mountain trail as far Car as the little cold river tier that came tumbling down the foothills There they the stopped for Cor a drink and Merriam spoke his piece he proposed as Bibb had prophesied Mrs Irs Conant gave him one glance of brilliant tenderness and then her face fa took on such a strange haggard look that Merriam was as shaken out of oC his hl intoxication and back to his senses I beg your our pardon Florence he ht said releasing her hand but Ill have to hedge on part of or what I said I cant ask you ou to marry me of course I killed a man In New Kew York Yorka c mar who was my friend shot him down downin in ln quite a cowardly manner I under understand understand stand Ot Of course the drinking excuse It Well I resist having m my say and Ill always mean it Im phere ere as a fugitive from Justice and andI I suppose that ends our acquaintance Mrs Irs Conant plucked little leaves as assiduously assiduously from the branch of or a lime tree I 1 suppose so she said in low anc oddly uneven tones but that depends I upon you OU Ill rn be honest as you OU were I poisoned my husband I am a self I i made widow A man cannot love iove a murderess So I suppose that ends our acquaintance She looked up at him slowly slow His face turned a little pale and he stared at her blankly like a deaf and dumb man who was wondering what it was vas all about She took a swift step toward him with stiffened arms and eyes blazing Dont look at me like that she sh cried as 3 though she were ere In acute pain I Curse me or turn your back on me but dont look that way wa Am I a wo woman woman I Iman man to be beaten If It I could show you here on my arms and on my back baek are scars and it has been more than a year scars that he made ma e in his brutal rages A holy hoh nun would have hate risen and struck the fiend down Yes I J killed him The foul and horrible words that he lie hurled h at me that last day arE arc repeated In my ears every night when I sleep And then came his blows and the end of or my m endurance I got the poison polson that afternoon It was his cus custom custom custom tom to drink every night In the library before going to bed a hot punch made of or rum and wine Only from my m fair hands would he receive It because he hI knew the fumes of spirits always sick sickened sickened sickened ened me That night when the maid maidi i brought It to me I sent her downstairs i Ion on an errand Before taking him his drink I went to my m little private cab cabinet cabI cabinet inet and poured Into it more than a I teaspoonful of or tincture of aconite enough to kill three men so I had bad learned I had drawn that I had hadIn hadin In bank and with that and a few things in a satchel I left the house without any anyone one seeing me As I passed th library I heard him stagger up and fal heavily on a couch conch I took a night for New Kew Orleans and from there I J sailed to the Bermudas I finally final cas cast anchor In La Paz And now what hay hat you to say Can you open your mouth Merriam came back to life liCe I Florence he said saM earnestly r I want you ou I dont care what youve OUO done If the world Ralph she interrupted almost with witha a n scream m be my m world Her eyes melted she relaxed mag magnificently magnificently and swayed toward Merriam so suddenly that he had to jump to catch her Merriam and Mrs rs Conant were very happy bapp According to the strange mathematics of the god pod of mutual af affinity affinity finity the shadows that clouded their pasts when united became only half as dense instead of darker They The shu shut Continued on Page 8 I t I THE WORLD AND THE T E DOOR BY O 0 HENRY 3 J 1 J j f I Ir Ij If u r f j 4 s sf 4 y f 1 I J Js s i 1 I i w 6 l b r ty I t 1 s st I t tl i ir r 1 I 1 f l I C Cr CI r r c 1 I 1 I I Ic c 4 ff f 1 c J lei 1 C I 45 A t 1 J r t tc tt J Jr r 2 J rJ r rr 1 r 1 The man m an he had killed was coming toward him Continued from Page 1 the world out and bolted the doors Each Kach was the others world Sirs Mrs Co Conant Conant Conant nant lived again The remembering look left lett her eyes Merriam was with her ller every moment that was possible On a little plateau under a grove grOe of ot palms palm and calabash trees they th y were going to build a n fairy bungalow They were to be married In two months Many hours of ot the day da they had their heads reads together over oer the house plans Their Joint capital would set up a n busi busl business business ness ne s In fruit or woods that would yield a II comfortable support Good night my nJ world would say Mrs Conant every eve evening when Merriam left lert her herfor herfor for Ifor his hl hotel They were very happy Their love loe had circumstantially that element clement of ot melancholy In It that it seems to require to attain its f est st elevation And it seemed that their mutual great misfortune or sin was a abond abond abond bond that nothing could sever seer j jOne One day da a steamer hove In the of ot offing otting ting frog Barelegged and I La 11 a Paz Par scampered down to the beach for the arrival of a steamer was their circus Emancipation clay ilay and 4 d tea When th the steamer was near enough wise ones proclaimed that she was the Pajaro bound from Cal Callao Callao I lao to Panama The Pajaro put on brakes a a mile off of offshore offshore shore bore Soon a boat came bobbing shoreward Merriam strolled down to the beach to look on In the shallow water the sailors sprang out and dragged the boat with a mighty rush to the firm finn shingle Out climbed limbed the purser the captain and two passengers passengers gers gem plowing their way through the deep sand toward the hotel Merriam glanced toward them with the mild Interest due to strangers There was something familiar to him in the walk wald of one of the passengers He looked again and his blood seemed seem Id to turn to strawberry ice cream In his veins eins Burky Burk arrogant debonair as ever over H Ferguson Hedges the man he had killed was coming toward him ten feet away When hen Hedges saw Merriam his face flushed a dark red Then he shouted Jn in his old bluff blut way Hello Merriam Glad to see you OU expect to find you out here Quinby this is my old friend Merriam of New York Merriam Mr 1 lr Quinby Merriam gave Hedges and then Quinby an hand said Hedges But youve got a trapped flipper tan Man youre not well Youre as yellow as a Chinaman Malarial here Steer us to a bar bat if there is such a thing and lets take a prophylactic Merriam still half halt comatose led them toward the Hotel Orilla del Mar Quinby and I explained Hedges puffins puffing through the slippery sand are arc ar e looking out along the coast for some som investments Weve ee Just come up from fro m Concepcion and nd Valparaiso and Lima The captain of this subsidized ferry fem boat told us there was some good pick pickIng pickIng Ing lag around here in silver mines So we w e got off Now where |