| Show MR commin bvm t amt 6 mw m afi fa I 1 33 by v i j 1 1 JOHN BURT I 1 UPHAM ADAMS author ot of tho kidnapped Million arcs colonel monrova a Duc doctrine trIne r etc tc COPT nt 1003 1903 VT BT all rights by BT UPHAM ADAMS reber reserved ved A J XVI CHAPTER continued Go noial gaiden applauded applaud eil vitor vit or outly slid and demanded alit a 11 encore the trio sank several and the old soldier lay lav back in lit ahli armchair arni chair and li lt lit l t his hia mind drift back to the hours alien ft hen th fit title one of if whom jessie was mas the image lifted her sweet voice noice in the ballads lie he loud lold to hear at his ie queba abry sang rou douglas klas Ten tender derand and true trite robin adair the blue WIN bells of scotland annie lamle and tart several old var mar songs then jessie proposed a rubber ot of whist hist and in the cut she became the partner ot of james blake jessie ow played d well moll and they defeated the general and edith 1 I oil oi don t it know now u what hat a victory letory m we e haie hae von men declared jessie her eyes sparkling mith lah pleasure rapa find and adith think themselves invincible aind this Is dimir first defeat let a go EO to the conse conservatory matory I 1 want mant to them mr blake those levels bulbs I 1 tent sent vou von from holland and leaving helth and the general beneral to follow she escorted blake alake to the great glasa house bouse w with it h its arched root and wilderness of palms ferns and flowers I 1 kno know tills this is not much of a treat to 3 ion oil ventured jessie 1 I had forgotten that ou have bae spent all ot of sour our life in dut but I 1 have hae not spent all of my life in california blake said 11 1 I lived in california only seven senen or eight years and had little chance to study comers what little knowl knowledge edLe I 1 have of flowers dates back to my boyhood flays days in new nem Ili farland gland new england what part of now new england mr ift wilke blake massachusetts he anam answered ered proudly I 1 m was as born in boston less than halt half a mile from where the tea was thrown overboard my mothers name m was as smith so I 1 in a yankee all over so em am 1 I 11 lau lashed laughed hed jessie john 11 hancock ancock once lived in the house whore I 1 was mas born and samuel adams was there man many times I 1 ili as much ot of ek a II If ancock as edith though she fine won t admit it don t you like boston hotter better than ban francisco mr blake I 1 really I 1 re veri little of boston replied blake when I 1 was wag a small boy we moved to quincy and from there to a faim near hongham that part of my new england life most vivid in ili my memory clusters round the he old farm in rocky woods did you yon lite in rocky woods the dark eyes opened wide and jes ate looked wonderingly into blake s face why yes I 1 lived thre th re for several years yearb do ou on moan mean to tell me that you ever eler hoard heard of that desolate patch ot it rocks pines stone atone fences buckle berry a swamps and cranberry marshes certainly I 1 have uncle tom mr bishop lived there for a genera tion and spends the summers bummers there now I 1 have otten been there isn t it strange mr ift blake that both of us are familiar with that out ottlie way country where wag mas our fathers faim it was then known know n as the old ol akon dIton ard farm do you know where peter burt lived pter burt the old cray man who used to pray at night from tho the top of the big rock yes said jessie softly with a lit tle tie catch at her breath as the blood mounted to lei hei checks jaines blake watched her face in bently both were thinking of john burt but with what different emo dional since the sun had set act a gulf bd opened between john burt and james blake and jessie cardena intuitively she felt that james jamea blake knew john burt in a flash it occurred to her that blakes business wih her father was wan a subterfuge was tie be the bear er ot of tidings from john burt per haps john was dad d ad if alive why did he ha not come himself and you knew john burtt I 1 re member now that ho he often spoke of you jle jio always called you jim and rarely mentioned your last name and aou ou ran away from home bome did aou ou ever meet john buit in california mr blake james blake was waa riot not deceived by ane careless tone in which bleb she askel this question with grim joy lie he re fleeten fleeted that johns john injunction for or so ac recy was still in force H ile must elthor larff ii or prove I 1 0 the 41 flifle rt time tile the deceit was mas his bits own on and not a sacrifice for another of course I 1 linew knew hurt burt said bald illace rt r diar dar old john I 1 iwo him he file dollars when I 1 ran away from froin home he gave TOB me nerv dollar lie ile had and ami ivo ive not seen been him shiv did you sai sa lie he lad had ono gone to california la Is hat ahat so no I 1 never saw hini him and nd you knew I 1 him really miss callen Cart leti I 1 almost nei fel as it we me were mere old acquaintances ah here comes mr and mrs ni eliop I 1 had no idea it waa m as so BO late mr thomas bishop was as introduced and after a brif on tn in aich jessie acquainted her ter uncle with the fact that guest was formerly from rocky woods blake excused himself lie acca acct pled an lit in illation to call again rhen we me will continue cont nue our decol sections of rocky woods wooda miss car den he said on oil leaving instructing hla his coachman to drive to hla his apartments james blake closed its his eyes and attempted to calmly re view what had bad happened lie found it impossible one emotion hold mastery over him bim he was as in love madly and defiantly antly in love with mith jeralo bossle car den lie ile thought ot of arthur morris and bated him ile he thought of john burt and pitied him neither should stand in ills hla way could she be engaged to arthur morrisa now non that lie ho had met jessie garden carden he be found himself unconscious ly repeating john rivirta indignant declaration it la Is a lie an infamous it lie it if an engagement did exist it should be as a barchi i of df mist to his ardent progress but she did not she could not love ione arthur morris did john buit love lova her did she love john burt these moie the stinging burning questions which seared his brain but the clamor ot of ills hla conscience was 1 as Z JI t d 1 ZI 6 F C L drowned lit in the louder din ot of hla his pas pap sion blon lie had bad not yet leathed a point chere with calm selfishness he could olee the brutal aphorism of if moral and phI physical desperadoes all la Is fair in love and war mar lie ile was as ager to clear himself of self accuse d dla dis loyalty to john dint buit and lie be clutched at an defense which would serve as aa possible justification or extenuation juhn john burt was hits his friend the found or r of his toi foi tunes Lunes the loyal trustful comrade to whom ho he owed all lie he was wag or could hope to be blake knew hla ailts and yet with the truth confronting him and pleading for justice tho so at arguments and evasions of a vaulting passion came readily to his lips how do I 1 know john loves her lie he pleaded ile he has not hot told me so ito ile hag sent her ter no word lie ile could have done so insy frough nough she does not ka krow uw it lie be dead it 01 alive Is that the way for a lover to abet ad if john has lost her ter it la Is ills his own fault perhaps he gave her up tip ions ao alo honestly I 1 believe hla his hate for mor ris rip 1 la more to him than his affection for jessle carden thus quibbled jamec blake awak await eind enad love loosens a million eloquent tongues to plead for kcf and pa baliel liel tte tre voice which should speak tor for oin cro the jone of a nian man toi fox a woman Is tho the sublimation of oc his egoism his unconscious exalt exaltation atlon of desire CHAPTER unreasoning passion in all the vast world only two per sons knew that such a man no as john burt alv d james blake and peter hurt john burt owned stock in thou sands of alles mlles of lie ile was an investor in other great enterprises aud ald an army of men worked under his direction and the malliet giai atit roso rose and fell at the pre ure aure of lite bw unseen hand for years lie he had rebelled at the rate fate which bil bal made him ft recluse which denied him the f and ills his peers peera ile he felt a keen joy ovir the knowledge that the day was waa ap preaching when lie he could assume his true place in the world of vast affairs but of earths earth d countless millions fuere filere was waa onri ono above all others to whom ho hn wished to tell lis hla secret lie he impatiently awaited the time when tic ho coull look into jessie candeni Carden Car deni 14 tace laca end and read the verdict tn in her acs were yeats or of patient waiting and wo liking to be rewarded or pit mn blake arrived at ill lali office ht at an nn israely early hour on tbt morn morning fing oming his big introduction to oil ho had bad spent apt nt it a light ight N sleep came to t ills mood blood i liot byis ey Ls and for hours lie he asly the floor 1 I love hor her my god hoar low t but I 1 also leap john he arx again and ami again KB apt hie file night crawled away what I 1 it what can 1 I doa 10 1 I cannot heup dy by god cod not give her for tiny any man not avell alven for john would john su nender riender 04 mi he be loed jor for me what am aln I 1 do I 1 must decide before I 1 we see it I 1 tell john sh aha a I 1 la s in N new e w ork he will mill SOP lwi inside of twenty hours flint m will III be the tha ond ind of hopp hope she sh dball lovo love me love inel ine I 1 cannot live without oil oh why hy id did I 1 e ever v e r see sec hr in this unequal contest between loyalty passi tim in a weak md and pelf indulgent nature passion won the tl ittle bittle b lut but at a sacrifice ills j judgment warned hini him that ho vaa as loomed doomed to but with tilo frei wid desperation of oe a gambler ho be staked eiert eer tiling bIng honor friendship loyalty ills his busl bustnes nes carca all un on tile hie turn lurn of a card and aarti to meet john burt with mill tr 3 in ills his beart bean abild a lie on oil 11 hla is lir lira ki blake itney that john hurt burt was mas in h a office but tot foi tho the first time in ili its ills life he hesitate 1 to enter it lad had no wall or of between those two arom the lay day they fought thear boyish battlo battle on nn the edgo edge of tile the fish irig pool they had bad called each other john and jim in tacitly accept ing john hurts burt a leadership make ice in lis lila companion chose hatte which attract allegiance and which hold it by unseen but breads lly by a display of tact which amounted to genius john burt had aided james hiapo without patroni patronizing ting him and had forgiven foi given hla his repeated mth takes without offending him blake strolled slowly through aft leipp connecting offices and entered the laro room reserved for customers cus tomera those who alto knew the famous olier ator bowed respectfully illane faed absentmindedly absent mindedly mind edly at a bulletin board containing the early london and paris farls quotations ile ho read thorn them but they had bad no ile ha was thoroughly abjectly miserable NN lio Is that Leall asked a smoother dic linthol lidd and dapper young man who had embarked on ills his first specula the entzie jentlie en tuie by blaking the I 1 major part of its hla quai quarterly terly allowance why dont doat you linow know exclaimed ills hla companion 1 I should have intro ducted you james blake DIak etho tho famous and james blake five spars eara ago lie he mint haio bao a dollar millions in five ears la Is his hia lebord and it enlarged his hl hat in the least ile he tells a good stora a rood good song bong anil and no man in tho the club call cail drink him under the table to bo be continued |
