Show by CLARIBEL WILSON jim II alsey six feet two broad Bt alwart was the most picturesque figure that ever went into wall street at the age he had tome out of alaska with a cool fifteen roll ilon grained during ja period of eyen years that had elapsed since he went north from Il linola country store keeper assistant with a longing tor adventure the same qualities of nerve which bad stood him in such good stead among the miners continued to accod much tor him in new york finally however a combination was set on foot against him and after a homeric battle of seven days in which stocks were slaughtered at a rate unknown before jim found him iselt with the price of his hotel bill a ticket back to noma and in bills jim halsey waa wiped out the evening newspapers announced it in red type and jim was pondering over the situation for himself he cared nothing at all but tor agnes he cared everything and he had to tell her ln had been a picturesque figure too picturesque to be admitted into new yorks elite but the tenacity of the widow aided by a million dol lars had won a way tor herself and her daughter mrs ln had spent her capital like water A million will go a good ways in a three campaign if it Is supposed to be supported by other millions behind it nobody knew that the ln fortune was down to its last fifty thousand but everybody knew that agnes me laughlin had been hawked round the of europe and america duri ing the last three years everybody that Is but jim he was admitted to the rented house on fifth avenue he thought the butler looked a little coldly at him the menial in fact reflected the feelings of the household mrs mccaugh alln who had considered jim an excel lent compromise in the light of grevl ous failures and her dwindling capital had the sense of woman betrayed arc you a fool or the matter with you or of a man who has staked his last penny on the favorite at the races and lost the mother sailed into the room she blood still looking at jim and all her resentment flashed out in her bitter words Is it true what the papers say that you are a pauper she demanded in accents of indescribable vulgarity all the veneer of 20 years had vanished and she wag again well the type of woman that she had been when ln fascinated with her bold beauty had married her yes its true admitted jim with a smile but don t take it to heart mrs ln of course this will mean the postponement of our marriage and I 1 shall have to scrape to gether another fortune in alaska but postponement shrilled the worn an coarsely do you suppose aggie is going to marry you now why of course I 1 do answered jim looking at the woman in beall derment A penniless pauper she sneered oi course it Is hard on her ad jim but aurely mrs mc laughlan ln there were no monetary con involved in our engagement mrs ln actually snapped her under jim s nose see here young man I 1 m going to talk straight to you she said 1 don t ehnow whether youre bluffing or jutt a fool but I 1 mean aggie to marry a man with a wad of money what so yon think she took you fora for your good boks are you a fool or the matter with jim felt as helpless before this outburst ot rage as a wild beast in a trap it your daughter releases me of course 1 shall accept ue decision h 1 answered well well soonyee soon see about chati screamed the raman she the bell and the jiu tier appeared apon his face va v a sneer dl guised it as evident that he bad been listening ato at the door tell miss aglea to come once sherald she eald agnes mclaughlin came in and her mother turned to her with a furious gesture this man Is a pauper aggie she bald aad he thinks ho la going to marry you lie wont take the truth from ma tell him ft hat just told me aggie halsey 1 I cannot marry you we said please un der stand that finally I 1 never loved you then you you only wanted my money demanded jim not for myself cried the girl with a sudden vehement outburst for my mother I 1 haye been on sale three years everybody has known it but you aggie what are you talking about cried her mother in amazement ft speak now answered the I 1 have been taken round the matrimonial showrooms show rooms of europe and america tor three years my mother has spent nearly a million dol lars on me in the expectation of getting it back and more you were the last chance for our money Is nearly gone how dare you speak like that cried mrs mclaughlin furiously because it Is the truth replied the daughter did I 1 love you jima I 1 never thought of love I 1 only thought of doing my duty and repaying the money that had been advanced on me we dont love we of the fashionably rich class we marry to sell our selves to the men we can infatuate that was why I 1 accepted you the girl has gone madi exclaimed mrs mclaughlin with upraised hands timmons but it timmons was listening discreetly at the door he evidently judged this an moment to enter in answer to the call that was why I 1 became engaged to you jim continued agnes mc laughlan ln and I 1 thought I 1 was doing my duty ah but her voice softened involuntarily it was only when I 1 found that you were different jim that I 1 realized that I 1 began to realize my wrong I 1 was ready to break the heart of an honest man for you woultz have found me out after marriage jim I 1 was ready to do you the greatest wrong a woman can do a man I 1 realized that when I 1 saw that yours w as not the veneer of courtesy to which I 1 have grown accustomed but the love of a good man and many and many a time I 1 was half tempted to confess to you and re trained now you know all and there Is no more to say she turned toward the door and jim ignoring the mother who stood apparently paralyzed beside the table followed her and caught her by the wrists and now you will sell yourself to some other man he demanded fiercely oh I 1 suppose so she answered wearily that Is it the money she gave a hysterical little laugh it the molicy does not give out before mother can find one jim halsey suddenly laughed and it was at that moment that he showed best the qualities which had given bin success for in his laughter there was the challenge of a strong man who refuses to accept the buffet of fate and rises supreme to dominate it you poor child he said tenderly do you suppose that I 1 am going to let this happen to youa I 1 am going to marry you do you understand that agnesa I 1 am going to marry you and I 1 am going to save you from yourself 1 I came here tonight with the intention of offering to release you and not believing that your love in which I 1 believed was fair weather love I 1 planned to tell you that in two or three years I 1 could come back to new york with another fortune I 1 was going to ask you to wait two years now I 1 am going to take you away with me if timmons timmons exclaimed the mother feebly as she clung to the table but jimmona did not come in fact he was not even at the door the discreet butler was instead recounting the incident in the servants apartments it what whispered the girl raising her ayea to an expression that jim had never seen in them since he bad met her it you think that you can learn to love me pome day said jim it 1 ou think you can da that trusting w time don t I 1 know what you have gone through why many and many man sells himself too body and soul in the struggle of life but it you can love me dear oh I 1 can cried the girl 1 I love you jim I 1 think I 1 have always loved you but I 1 know what love was until you taught me jim and that was jim Hal seye greatest of all triumphs which he remembered afterward when hie name was upon all lips as that of the man who had come back copyright 1311 by W 0 chapman |