Show ap DA LL f owr e kandolin c LILLIAN tty T fe ED ar 1 I 1 COOK SYNOPSIS 3 at a vestry meeting ot of the markot market aquaro a ro church aa aall I 1 listens to a disc discussion ton about th alio sa aale 0 ot of the church tenements to fedward 0 allison All laon loral local trac traction tion king und and when asked her opinion of tho the church by rev smith itoye says ays it Is apparently a lucrative blis business iness enterprise allwon fakes gall riding in llla ilia motor car when lie suggests lie he I 1 Is entitled to rest on tho the laurels of 0 hl ills achievements she ehe arsics the disturbing question estion why gall aall returning to tier fuestion Zu uncle acle jims home from her her drive with al aloon finds cold disapproval in the eav e pt rev smith hoid who I 1 Is calling there at a bobsled p party airty gall finds ands tile the world wold uncomfortably full of men 0 CHAPTER IV continued 1 I know I 1 won was she confessed concerned about it herself all at once I 1 boom boera to look on it as an old shoo shoe which should be cast aside it is so elaborate ela borato to do dp so BO little good lu ita the world florall morality ty Is on the in crease as any page of history will show 1 I believe that to bo be true ho he hastily assured her glad to be ablo able to agree with her upon something but it Is in spite of the church not because of it she immediately added you cant say bay that there Is a tremendous moral influence in a congregation which numbers eight hundred and sends less leas than fifty to services the balance show their do to christianity by a quarterly quarter 4 check rev hev smith boyd felt unfairly hit that to la the sorrow of the church he be sadly confessed the lukewarm ness of its gol lowers she felt a trace of compunction for or him but why had he be gone into the ministry T can you blamo blame them she demanded as aa much aggrieved as it she had bad suffered a personal distress the rector hushed flushed as it lie he had been struck and ho he turned to gall with that cold look in his green eyes that to Is too deep a subject to discuss here but it if you will permit me I 1 will take it up with YOU ou at the house he quietly returned and there was a dogged compulsion in his tone 1 I shall be highly interested tn in tho the defense accepted gall with an aggravating g grava ting smile there seemed scented to bo be but very little to say after that and they walked silently up the hill together towards the yellow camp fire turning fuming inwardly at each other near the top of the hill her ermine scarf came loose at the throat and with her num numbed bed hands bands she could not locate the little clasp with which it hid had been held may I 1 help you offered the rector constraining himself to politeness thank you site she was extremely sweet about it and he reached up to perform the courtesy the rounded column of her neck was white as marble in the moonlight and as ho he sough bought the clasps hla his fingers drawn from hla his woollen gloves touched her warm throat and they tingled ho he started as if he had bad received an electric shock ond and as ho he looked into her eyes a purple mist seemed to spring between thorn them lie he mechanically fastened the clasps though his lingers trembled thank you again said eald gall call and he did not notice that her voice was unusually low she went on over to the group gathered around the fire but rev smith doyd boyd stood where she had left him staring stupidly at the ground lie he was in a whirl of bewilderment amid which thor there e was was some unreasoning resentment tut but beneath it all there was an inexplicable sadness just in time tide for the palisade special gall called luclle lucile teasdale 1 I dont know laughed gall gail 1 I think of going on a private car this trip and she sought among the group for or distraction from certain oppressive thought allison All lson and lucile and ted and arly wore were among the more familiar figures besides a startling adonis proudly introduced as ais dick rodley by arlene early in the evening with an air which plainly stated that ho he was a personal discovery for which she gave herself great credit the palisades Palli special will not start without miss sargent he declared kending bending upon her an ardent gaze and bestowing upon her a smile which displayed a flash of perfect white teeth gall call breathlessly thought him tho the most dangerously handsome thing she bad ever seen seed but she missed the foreign accent in him that would have bare made mabo him complete im sorry that the palisade special will be delayed she coolly told him but she tempered the deliberateness of that decision with an upward aud and sidelong delong el glance fiance which she was startled to recognize in herself as distinct coquetry 1 I have a prior claim laughed aall son aon stepping up and taking her by the arm ann its ita my turn to guide alias sargent gent on the tap t two vo passenger sled there giai was something new about al illson alaon tonight thero there was the chri thrill I 1 I 1 and the exultation of youth in his bla voice and twenty years seemed to have been dropped from his age there intensity about him too and was an ah also a proprietor like compulsion cod hleb which decided gall on a certain ascertain diver alon alan jib h ai entertained she was K e t r v oppressed with men tonight the world was full of them and they ha had d closed too nearly around her suddenly she eha broke away with a laugh and taking tho the two passenger sled from boyd who still stood in preoccupation at the edge of the group she picked it up and ran with it ati and throw herself face forward on it as she had dono done when she was a kiddy and shot down the hill to the intense disapproval of reverend baydl dick rodley over ever alert in hla his chosen profession grabbed a light steel racer from the edge of the bank and with a magnificent run slapped clapped himself on the sled and darted in pursuits the rectors up lip curled the barest trace at one corner but edward B H allison All lson looking down the hill grinned aud lit a cigar coming allison All lson called Cu cumilang ham theres theras room for you aoth doctor 1 I dont think ill ride this trip thanks returned allison allason All lson and as the rector also declined with pleasant thanks allison gave the voyagers a hearty push and walked back to the camp fire 1 I received the ultimatum of your vestry today doctor boyd observed allison when they were alone still that eventual fifty million well yes returned the rector briskly and backed up comfortably to the blaze lie ile was a different man now we discussed your proposition thoroughly and decided that in ten years the property Is worth fifty million to you for the purpose you have in mind consequently why take less allison allason surveyed him shrewdly for a moment the argument of a bandit he remarked why accept all that the prisoner has when his friends can raise a little more 1 I dont see the use of metaphor retorted the rector who dealt professionally sio nally ln in it business Is business allison grunted and nicked flicked his ashes into the ire fire by george youre right he be agreed ive been to you a church but now im going after you like the business organization you are rev smith doyd boyd reddened the charge that market square church was a remarkably lucrative enterprise was becoming too general for comfort the vestry has given you their decision he returned standing stift stiff and straight with his hands clasped behind him you may pay for the vedder court tenement property a cash sum which in ten years will accrue to fifty million dollars or you may I 1 let at it alone and his tone was as forcefully crisp as Alli sons though he could not bide the musical timbre bf it 1 I wont pay that price and I 1 wont lot let the property alone allison snapped back the city needs it for a moment the two men looked each other levelly in the eyes there seemed to have sprung up some new enmity between them A thick man with a stubby mustache came pulling puffing up to the fire and sat eat down on his sled with a thump splendid exercise ho he gasped holding his sides 1 I think about a week of it would either reduce me to a living skeleton or kill me your ve an ass allison took pleasure in informing him same to you and many of them putted puffed jim sargent the trouble with you trying to take a business advantage of a church id have a bettor better chance with a jew was Alli sons contemptuous reply oh see here allison allason All lson remonstrate pi jim sargent seriously ile he even rose to his feet to make it more emphatic you treat market square church with so much indignity why not nota market square church puts itself in a position to be considered in the light of any other grasping organization rev smith doyd boyd finding in himself the growth of a most anger decided to walk away rather than suffer the aggravation which must ensue ansue in this conversation consequently he started down the hill dragging jim sargents Sar gents sled behind him tor for company there were no further insults to the church however jim what are the relations of the valley to the L and CX C asked allison All lson offering sargent a cigar largely paternal and the president of the valley grinned we feed it when its good and spank it when it cries hold control of the stock no only its transportation returned sargent compla complacently centle stock is a good deal scattered I 1 suppose small holdings entirely and none of the holders proud replied sargent it starts no place and comes right back and the shareholders wont pay postage to send in their anuial proxies then the stock seem to be worth buying observed allison All lson with vast apparent indifference only to piece out a collection chuckled sargent 1 I know you were interested in railroads 1 I a week ago and allison looked out across tho the starry sky to the treo tree scalloped hillo with the completion of the consolidation of now yorks transportation system and the building of a big central station I 1 thought I 1 was through it seemed a big achievement to gather all these lines to a common center like holding them in my hand to converge four millions of people to one point to handle them without confusion and to redistribute them along alone the same lines looked like a lifes work but now im beginning to become ambitious oh I 1 see grinned jim sargent you on want to do something you can really call a job if I 1 remember rightly you started with an equipment of four horse cars care and two miles of rusted rail what whai do you want to conquer next allison glanced down tho the bill then back out across tho the starlit sky SOMO some now new fervor had possessed him tonight which made bilm a poet and loosened ills his tongue which previous to this could almost calculate itu utterances in percentage the world ho he said CHAPTER V edward E allison takes a vacation edward 13 1 3 allison walked into the offices of at the municipal transportation company at nine and set his big basket of opened and carefully annotated letters out of the mathematical center of his desk then he touched a button and a thin young man whose brow nt ft twenty wore the traces of preternatural ago age walked briskly in take mr greggory those these letters and ask him if ho he will be kind enough to step here yes sir air and the concentrated young man departed with the basket feeling that he be had quite capably borne his weight of responsibility greggory walked in a fat man with no trace of nonsense about him out for the day ed he ou surmised gauging that probability by we the gift of the letters A month or so amended allison Allt son rising and sur eying the other articles on his desk calculatingly im going to take a vacation its about time agreed bis big efficient general manager 1 I think its been four years since you stopped to take a breath going to play a little 0 VI the word and allison chuckled like a boy 1 I suppose well have your address suggested greggory no greggory pondered frowningly he began to see a weight piling up on him and though ho he was capable he loved his flesh about that shell beach extension he inquired theres likely to be trow ble with the village of 0 f Wave view theli their local franchises settle it yourself directed allison carelessly and greggory stared during the long and arduous course of al climb he had bad built his success on personal attention to detail goodby and allison allason walked out lighting a cigar on his way to the door he stopped his runabout runa boit bont in front of a stationers stationery station ers and bought the larg largest eat globe they had in stock address please asked the clerk pencil poised over delivery slip blip ill take it with me and allison NR 4 W free as a air he gayly told her helped them secure the clumsy thing in the seat beside him then he streaked up the avenue to tho the small and severely furnished house where four ebony servants protected him from the world out of town except to this list he directed his kinky hatred haired old butler and going into the heavy oak library he closed the door on the wall depending from the roller case was a huge map a broad familiar domain between two oceans and he be smiled as his eye fell upon that tiny ciny territory near the atlantic which up to now he had bad called a world because he had bad mastered it ilia his library phone rang mr allison a womans comans voice gall sargent mrs sargent mrs davies dadles or luella luclle teasdale no other ladles ladies were on his list The was not that 0 of gall are you busy tonight oh yos yes luclle lucile teasdale free as air he gayly told her im so gi J d rattled lu luclle elle beds teds just telephoned that he has tickets for the ladys maid can you join us with pleasure no hesitation whatever prompt and agreeable even pleased that a jolly I 1 think six mikea such a nice crowd besides you and ourselves therell be arly and dick rodley hodley and gall gall gail of course lie he had known th that at well start from uncle jims at eight allison called old ephraim Ephr alm 1 I want to begin dressing at seven coven fifteen he directed at three set some sandwiches inside the door have some fruit in my dressing room ile he beitt back to his map remembering luclle lucile with a retrospective smile the last time lie he had been that vivacious young person she had been emptying a box of almonds at the side of the camp fire at the toboggan party lie ile jotted down a memorandum to send her some aad drew a high stool in front of the map strange this new ambition which had come over him why he had actually been about to to consider his big work finished and now all at once oi everything ery thIng he had done seemed trivial the eager desire of youth to achieve had come to him again and the tho blood sang in his veins as he be felt of his bis lusty strength ile he was starting to build with a youths enthusiasm but with a mans experience and with the momentum of success and the power of capital something had crystallized him in the past few days across the fertile fields and the mighty mountains and the arid deserts of the united states there angled four black threads from coast to coast and everywhere else were shorter main lines and shorter branches and last of all mere fragment railroads lie he began with tho the long angling threads but he chui chu i with the fragments and these in turns lie he go aavo minute and careful study at three he took a sandwich and nd ordered his big car ile he was gone less than an hour and came back with an armload of books government reports volumes vol times of statistics and a file of more intimate information from the office of his broker ile he threw oft off his bis coat when he came in this time and spread on the big lion clawed table at which napoleon had once planned a campaign a varicolored mass of railroad maps at seven fifteen old ephraim |