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Show A Complete Short Story i The Hazard of the Race J PUPCLT saw w n he cup o da The e s nothing n he fie d o beat b m and n he verv p nk of ond on ead o ace for he p ove b a k s ansom He carr es h gh hopes w h h n h s v ctorv o defea w II de de he dest ny of myself and ha o he 0 r I hope to make my w fe R ha d W a en u ered the words ha aloud stea n a g ance at the g o e grands and He m ght w he f hs horse won but if he os e wou d neve da e o speak 0 e wo ds hat on honor nad ep bac so lone, Fo how cou d a u ned nan da e ask he to share b s ba krup I fe He had bee a foo not real zing h s fol es untl he met S l a Wo s fo d. Someth ng n the grave, sweet quest on ng ook n her deep eyes had seemed o rouse ra as from some ug v dream in which cards and he turf and he fast d e set with whom he had associated all figured. A sudden loath nB for them all swept over h n D ck had resolved hat th s present race should witness h s sepa at on from h s old wasted e The favorite Mghtstar was h s own. horse a beautiful chestnut whose career had hitherto been un fortunate owing to minor accidents, a bad start a stra ned fetlock, eo ha he had been able to back bis horse at a good price although that price had shortened day by day until now Night-star had been made favor ite. Indeed it would gain for ita 0 vner a small fortune should It carry his colors first past the wlnn ng post And ot its triumph R chard held no doubt Yet h s hand shook a 1 ttle as d awing- his eyes away from that g r s face e 1 f ed his glasses and sw ept tl e course It was crowded w tb a huge mass of human beings Suddenly Dick Warren tightened his flnQers on the glasses, and he focused them more steadily Upon the outskirts of the crowd close to where the ho ses were stabled, two figures were slinking away w 1th something almost guilty in the r mo ements. The powerful lense re vealed their faces dist nctly to Rich ard and he recogn zed in the younger of them a lad employed by Fred Olton his trainer and Marmadul e Maltravers This last was a man only too well knon to Richard for through h s fingers much ot his for tune had passed He was an un scrupulo s money lender in whose clutches Warren was st 11 held. HE GROWS SUSPICIOUS The race for the cup was about to start The course was cleared and in a moment, it seemed, the horses were oflN N ghtstar was well to the fore and t e crowd began to shout N ghtstar was going to romp home an easy w nner DIcl s fa e was clear of shadow once more as he let his gaze wander to vard Sylv a, but his atten t on wai brought back to the race by the sudden s ntster hush D ck saw that N ghtstar "had fallen back leaving others to s veep past him apt able object trembling In every 1 nb beaten before the course was 1 a f run. H s face vhite Dick found him self a little late by his trainers side Tough old Fred O ton honest as t e day looked almost broken hea ted In all my ca eer no horse of ml e 1 as ever been bot at e exclaimed Doped? Tl&s without doubt I know the man w o has led 5 ou boy away sa d Die It was Ma madu e Ma t a e s. Leave him to n e Richard glanced across the tab, at h s cous n Edgar Warren at wl oso flat he was d ning S rely It was t e wine that was playing strange tr cks with his vis Ion else t e saturnine face of his cous n was 1 ghted by a sardonlo 6ml e whvt or iLvivr What of Sy via Worsfold? hat soft even vo ce put the question abruptly but w thout betraying par t cu ar I te es R chard looked ac oss w th suddenly flam ng eyes No 1 ve g ven up al tboug t of t at he mutte ed dully Yet tut for t at confounded scoundrel. I n ust not th nk of that he doo was suddenly opened to adm t the unga nly figure of Ma ma duke Maltravers. R chard eaped upo him Release me Mr Warren gasped Maltravers as they swayed together 1 am a dangerous man. My own b ood s up S e ce you cur They swaj ed together Despite his clouded b ow here was no luest on of D c s ph s ca superior ty over the money ender yet the latter man aged to each to a h p pocket and draw a sma 1 revolver h or 1 eaven s sake re eae me Maltravers gasped as D ck caught that wr st If I were respons ble fo the doping of jour horse I and the lad who ac ual y adm nlstered It we were forced to t by a v 11a n in , the background H name Bu D ck saw ed I will hear no wo d from you he h ssed The a seemed a mist n wh ch he saw t e flan e of the re volver as t spurted fire followed by the sound t at was ke thunder n s ears and the figure fel from hl& s ackened ho d on to the carpet a c ump ed eap He knew the nan was dead He s dead Tou ve killed him It was an a c den Yes yes bu who would bel eve it? Your threa s aga nst this man the injury he had done you There would be your corrobora t on It would ca y no weight am your cous n But the mans own revolver?" Ricbard ga e ear to that vo ce and presently he y elded to the sense of panic it produced for with sense stil obscured he was ke a cl lid RICH RD FIEFS IS HASTF He could scarcely have told wheth er It was hours or merely days when later he found h mself In an express train being borne toward the coast y small valise packed with some clothing by h s s de The train was carrying him toward a port from which he could sail to some other country never to return to England that must henceforth he a place forbidden to him The newspapers the following day contained three separate sensations First of all the doping of the favo rite and later the shoot ng of the man suspected of the outrage by Mghtsta s owne "What had actual ly occur cd at that meet ng between the two was not qu e clear neither then nor ater a he nquest at wh ch Edgar Wa en made such con ad c to and onfus g statements And th rd the fug t v was among he un dentin" ed victims who had lost the 1 es n the wreck ot the boat exp ess 1 a Wo sfold looked across the br an spaces of a garden s.blase v h Ju flowers. Two ears had parsed by since that d sas ous day of the race when she had last seen the man she loved, the rain hom she had known had loved her u who was now In a Usaon ored g av he was here f almost upon the e e ot mi a0e w th S r Edgar War ren t e dead n an s cousin who had unexpected come i to the family title a few months before In default of his dead cous n ss next of kin. But she was a woman with a dead hea ti and she loathed the very thought of marriage with this man who nad stepped nto his unhappy cousin s s oes She had refused him man t mes and t was nothing but an appeal to her pride that had at last wrung consent from her the know edge that her father waa hea Ily in debt to Sir Edgar a debt whose d scharge was only possible by he consent to become his wife. Sylv a stood staring at the mir r where her double looked back at her with mournful eyes although she was garbed as a bride ithin an hour she would be Edgar Warren s wife che was alone (having pleaded for a few last moments of solitude. But at the touch of a hand upon her arm she began to tremble her heart beating wildly but that touch, was bold, and In a moment she was held in a man s strong clasp looking up with incredulous gaze Into well remembered ejes that were yet so changed in the r steadfast depths from those of the heedless Dick Warren They were the eyes of a man cleansed by the fires of adver ( si y a man who had mastered him self Dicl oh, Dick Is it jour Sylvia, there will be no wedding to day be said Aow that I have con e back to claim my own it Is my cou ins turn to wander Sylvia he came close to her once more after I fled that fatal night I thought tt well for people o suppose I had per ished In that ra lway d saster I did not rea ze unt 1 long after the extent of my folly In act ng on Edgars advice HIS COUSIN S DUPE I d d not understand how utterly I ad been h s dupe unt 1 a former man servant of h s tra elllng in Al g ers w th ano her master betraied Edgar I saved this n an s life In gratitude he told me that I might turn to E gland without any fear whenever I Iked. He was p esent In Edgars flat that very n &1 1 the only d her occu pant It was he -wlo adn tted Mai trave s and b n se f unseen it nessed the whole affair and cou d thus substa t ate t e fact t a lal t avers was shot lnadverte tly the weapon d scharged i the struggle j Why wl y d d Malt ave s spo I ij yo r horse s chance My cous n had deceived Maltrav t e s into believing tha I was the one j who had ruined a 1 fe dear to the money lender whereas It was Edgar ho had acted the scoundrel, us ng ny name But I fancy that very H night Maltravers had discovered the truth J . E gar 1 as had an easy t me but ' now everj th ng as gone wrong w( h 1 m He has lost al lis own money in d sastrous epeculat ons and has d pped 1 eav ly into mine as well As fo is hatred toward myse f you can guess the reason for t at? You you nen it was because Because he wanted to win you yes But 1 e kne v he had o c ance un ess he could drive me f om Eng land a ruined man And Fate played into h s hands But now tha I have returned In time to prevent this marriage which I rigl tly guessed to be a sacrifice in company w th this witness whose evidence when the affair Is reopened, w 1 satisfy he police let us th nk no n o e of Edgar We are together you and Ite world U ours She nestled closer to 1 im and what else there was to say between those two waa spoken in loves own lan guage ords not to be recorded |