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Show 1 . 1 f I it ti yr 1 . iniiiiiiiMiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiii ! 1 he Masauerader By (Continued from yesterday.) Tresently the steps halted and he heard a match struck. The stranger was evidently uncertain of his whereabouts. where-abouts. Then the ntepa moved forward for-ward again and patmed. i An cxpresafnn of surprise crossed Io-der's Io-der's face, and he laid dtiwn his pipe. An the visitor knocked, he walked quietly across the room and opened tho door. The passage outside Wn dark, and t he newcomer drew back before the light from the room. "Mr. lender ?" he begun, Interrogatively, Interroga-tively, Then all at onco he laughed In embarrasHfd apology. "Forgive me,M he said. "The light rather duxzled me. I didn't real i se who it m." . Ider recognized the voice aa belonging belong-ing to his acquaintance of the fug. "Oh. It's you!" he said. "Won't you rome In?" 211s voice was a little cold. This sudden resurrection left him stir prised and nut qulio pleasantly stir-prised. stir-prised. Ho walked back to the fireplace, fire-place, followed h his guest. The guest seemed nervous and agitated. agi-tated. "I must apologize for the hour of my visit." he said. "My my. time Is not quite my own." Loder waved his band. "Whose time Is his own?" he said. t'hlU-ote, encouraged by the remark, drew nearer to the fire. L'ntll this moment he had refrained from looking drectly at hia host: now, however, he raised his eyes, and, despite his preparation, prepa-ration, he recoiled unavoidably before the extraordinary resemblance. 8een here. In the casual surroundings of a badly furnished and crudely lighted room, it was even more astounding than It had been In the mystery of the fog. "Knrglve me," he said again. "It la physical purely physical. 1 am bowled over agalnnt my will." Loder smiled. The slight contempt that Chilcote had first Inspired rose again, and with It a second feeling less easily defined. The man seemed so untamable, so Incapable, yet so grotesquely gro-tesquely suggestive to himself. "The likeness Is rather overwhelming." overwhelm-ing." he said, "but not heavy enough to sink under. Come nearer rhe fire. What brought you here? Curiosity?" i I There was a wooden armchair by the I fireplace. He Indicated K with a wave I ak that, he said, shortly. "When msn has only one capacity, and the capacity haa no outlet, he Is apt to run to seed In a wrong direction. I cultivate culti-vate weed at abominable labor and a very small reward "" He stood with his back to the fire, facing his visitor;, his attitude wi a curious blending of prde, defiance and deepondency. Chilcote leaned forward again. "Why speuk of yourself like that? You are a man of Intelligence and education." He bpoke questioningly, anxiously. "Intelligence and education!" Loder laughed shortly. "London ia cemented wkh Intelligence. And education! l What Is education? The court dress necessary to presentation, the wig and -gown nsoessary to. the banister. Bur" do the wig and gown necessarily mean briefs? Or the court dress royal favor? Education is the accessory; It is Influence Influ-ence that la essential. You should know that. Chilcote moved restlessly In his seat.: "You talk bitterly." he said. I The other looked up. "I think bitterly, bit-terly, which Is worse. I am one of the unlucky beggars who. In the expectation expecta-tion of money, has been denied a profession pro-fession even a trade, to which to cling In time of shipwreck; and who, when disaster cornea, drift out to sea. I warned you the other night to steer clear of me. 1 come under the head of flotsam!" Chiicote's face lighted. "You came a cropper?" he asked. ''No. It was someone else who came the cropper. I only dealt In results.' "Big results V A drop front a probable eighty thousand pounds to a certain eight hundred. ' Chilcote glanced Up. "How, did you take it?" he asked. "I? Oh. I was twenty-five then. 1 had a good many hopes and a lot of pride; but there Is no place for either In a working wtirld." "Put your peopleT - "My last relation died with the fortune." for-tune." t "Your friends? Loder laid down his pipe. '! told you I was twenty-five," he said, with the tinge of humor that sometimes crossed his manner. "Doesn't that explain ex-plain things? I had never taken fa- aously chimed eleven, and their announcement an-nouncement was taken up and echo-d by half a dozen others, loud and faint, hoarse and resonant; for all through the hours of darkness the neighborhood neighbor-hood of Fleet street is alive with chimes. Chilcote. startled by the Jangle, rose from his seat; then, as If driven by an uncontrollable Impulse, he spoke again. "You probably think I am mad he began. Loder took his pipe out of his mouth. "I am not so presumptuous," he sald, quietly. For a space the other eyed him si-Ifnlly si-Ifnlly aa If trying to gtHtge h-thoughta; h-thoughta; then once more he broke Into speech. "Look here." he said. "I came' tonight to-night to make a proposition. When I have made it you'll first of all Jeer at it as I Jeered when I made It to myself; my-self; then you'll see Its possibilities as I did; then" he paused and glanced round the room nervously "then you'll accept It aa I did." In the uneasy haste of his speech his words broke off almost unintelligibly. Involuntarily Loder lifted his head to retort, but Chilcote put up his hand. His face was set with the obstinate determination de-termination that weak men sometimes exhibit. "Before I begin I want to say that l am not drunk that I am neither mad nor drunk." He looked fully at his companion with his restleas gaze. "I am quite sane quite reasonable." Again Loder essayed to speak, but again he put up his hand. "No. Hear ine out. You told m something of your story. I'll tell you something of mine. You'll be the first person, man or woman, that I have confided in for ten years. You say j you have been treated shahbllv. I have i , treated myself shabbily which is I harder to reconcile. I had every rftance i , and I chucked every chance away." There was a strained pause, then1 again Loder lifted his head. j "Morphia?" he said, very quietly. I Chilcote wheeled round witn a scared gesture. "How did you know that?" he asked, sharply. t Continued Monday ' of the hand; then turned and took up his smouldering pipe. Chilcote. watching him furtively, I obeyed the gesture end sat down. "It Is extraordinary!' hs said, as if unable to dismiss the subject. "It It Is quite extraordinary!" The other glanced round. "lVa drop It." he said. "It's so confoundedly Ob-I Ob-I vlous." Then his tone changed. "Won't you smoke ?' he asked. "Thanks." Chilcote began to fumble for hia clgarets. I Rut his host forestalled him. Taking a box from th mantelpiece, he held It out. "My one extravagance!" h said, ironically. "My resources bind me to one; and I think I have made n wise selection. It Is about the only vice we haven't to pay for six times over." He glanced sharply at the face so sbsurdly like hie own. then, lighting fresh spill. Offered his guest a light. Chilcote moistened his cigaret and leaned forward. In th. flare of the paper pa-per hia face looked et and anxious, but Loder aaw that th. lips did not twitch aa I hey had done on the pre-vioua pre-vioua occasion that hs hsd given him a light and a look of comprehension crossed his eyes. "What will you drink? Or. rather, will you have a whisky? I keep nothing noth-ing else. Hoepitallty la on of the debarred de-barred luxuries." Chilcote shook his head. "I seldom drink. But don't let that deter you." Loder smiled. "I have one drink In the twenty-four hours generally at X o'clock, when my night's work Is done. A solitary man has to look wher. he is going.'" "You work till two?" -Two or three." Chiicote's eyes wandered to th desk. "Jou write?" he asked. Th sthey nodded curtly. "Books?" Chiicote's tone was ui lotia. ' Loder laughed, and th bitter not. showed In hia voice. "No. not books." he said. Chilrore leaned back In hi. chair and passed his hand across hia face. The strong wsve of satisfaction that the word, woke In him was difficult to cor.. I. "What I. your work?" Loder turned aside. "You must not Ivors In prosperity: a change of fortune for-tune was not likely to alter my ways. I As hsve said. 1 was twenty-I twenty-I five." He smiled. "When I realised real-ised my position 1 sold all my belong-ings belong-ings with the exception of a table and a few books which I stored. I put on a walking ault and let ary beard grow; then, with my entire capital in my pocket, I left Kngland without aaying goodbye to anyone." "."Or how long?" "Oh. for six years. I wandered hal ever Kurope and through a good pui . of Asia In the time." "And then?" "Then? Oh. I shaved off the beanl and came back to London!" He looked at Chilcote, partly conteinptuoua, part, ly amueed at his curiosity. But Chilcote sat staring In alienee. The domination of the othera personality per-sonality and the futility of his achievements achieve-ments baffled him. Loder saw hia bewllderasien. "You wonder what th. devil 1 came into the world for." he s. Id. "1 sometimes wonder the same myself." At his words a change passed over Chil.-otc. He hslf rose, then dropped back Into bis seat. "You have no friends?" he said. "Your life is worth nothing to you?" Loder raised his head. "I thought I had conveyed that Impression." "You ar an absolutely fre man. "No man la free who works for his bread. If thlnga had been different I might have been In auch shoes as youra, sauntering In legislative byways; by-ways; my hopes turned that way once. But hopes, like more substantial things, belong to the pest" He stopped abruptly and looked at hia companion. The change In Chticote had become more acute: he aat fingering hia cigaret. ciga-ret. hia brows drawn down, hia Hp. set nervously In a conflict of emotions-Kor emotions-Kor a spac he stayed, very still, avoiding avoid-ing Loder eyes; then, aa If decision had auddenly come to him, h turned and met his gase. "How If ther was a future." h said, "u well aa a past?" V. '. For the space of a minute there was silence in the room, then outside In th still night three clock aimullan-1 |