Show N F L U iq treeby DAVID 11 abhor ol 01 the cost the deluge etc copyrighted iab continued from dec 21 he comer comes of a good family here in chicago one of the lest best perhaps you 3 recall the dowker er murder vaguely I 1 answered it was woodruff who did it we had a hard time getting him oil dowker bowker and woodruffs younger brother were playing cards one day and bowker accused him of cheating young woodruff Woodi drew perhaps they both drew at the same time at any rate bowker shot first and lulled killed his man he got oft off on the plea of self defense it was two years before dowker bowker and doe doc met in the lobby of the palmer house hous I 1 happened to be there I 1 was talking to a friend when suddenly I 1 felt as it something awful was about to happen I 1 started up and saw bowker just rising from a table at the far end of the room 7 shant ever forget his look like ilke a bird chai charmed med by a snake his lips were ajar and wrinkled as if is s blood had 1 fied aay inside of him ind ills his t was expanding and contracting roebuck WP wiped e d t teis eals of sv sweat eat from forche aJ it was doe loocin iff ft walking toward him alth ith a wicked smile on his face and abat scar ecar you noticed the scar I 1 nodded will you can imagine how that scar bear stood out he came slowly on no gotoy toy able to move a muscle to stol hiir when he be was about ten fee lr fr dowker bowker and as near me as you lr r tf 7 bowker gave a kind of dor der anh and scream ot of fright drew his pistol and fired the bullet clipped woodruffs ear car quick as that roebuck snapped his fingers doc drew and sent a bullet into his bis heart he fell forward across the table and ills his pistol crashed on the marble floor doe doc looked at him gave a cold sort of laugh like a jeer and a curse and walked out into the street when ho he met a policeman he said ive killed dick bowker heres my alln gun lock ule me up perfectly cool just as he talked to us tonight to night and you got him off yes I 1 hated to do it too tor for dick was one of my best friends but doc tva was too useful to us in his line hes without an equal how did he be get that scar said I 1 nobody knows ile he left here when he was a boy to avoid being sent to the reformatory when he turned up after a dozen years he said he had been a doctor but say where or how and he had that scar one day a man asked him how he got it he picked up a bottle and with hla pleasant laugh broke it over the fellows jaw about like that said he people dont ask him questions hes my man said 1 I CHAPTER VII bygones A telegram had been thrust under my door 1 I must see y u dont tail fall to stop off here on yow yom way back answer carlotta again she was at the station in her phaeton her first look long before I 1 was near enough for speech showed me how her mood had changed but she waited until we were clear of the town forgive me she then said in the abrupt direct manner which was the expression of her greatest charm her absolute honesty ive got the meanest temper in the world but it dont last and as soon as you were gone I 1 was ashamed ot of myself 1 I dont understand why you are making these apologies said I 1 and I 1 dont understand why you were angry what it means to be am a man she replied your letter about lyo your r mother made me furious you ever urged me to hurry up the wedding on your own account and your letter made me feel as it if while you personally care whether wt w over ever married or not still tor for your mothers sake you were ere willing to to sacrifice yourself let me see my letter said I 1 1 I tore it into a thousand pieces said she but I 1 dont mean that you really wrote just that you but you made me jealous of 0 your mother and my temper got hold of me and then I 1 read the meanest kind of things into and under and all round every word and im sorry I 1 could find nothing to say I 1 saw my freed freedom oui slipping from me I 1 watched it sick at heart yet on tho the other hand I 1 neither tried nor wished to detain it though I 1 could easily have made a renewal of our engagement ga impossible I 1 have no explanation for this conf lIc of emotions and motives dont make it so hard for me she went vent on 1 I ij n ev vert er eiore before in my rite rife told anybody awas I 1 wat sorry lor ini anything ayling and I 1 thought I 1 never would bunij but I 1 aa aeji we 11 ll haye have the wedding the first drat day ot of august still I 1 found basay a 3 it was so painfully obvious that true to lier her training ib she had not given and was not giving a thought to the state of my mind and and feelings 1 what slie she wished that she would do the rest real did not interest her 7 are you satisfied my load lord she A 4 f it was from boston from betty demanded have I 1 humbled myself sufficiently I 1 you harp haveit it humbled yourself at all aa aall I 1 you have only humbled me she TA 10 not pause ow on my remark loa nn i gh to see what it meant now no its all settled she said gayl 1 I 1 dont mind telling you that I 1 hsi h si to 0 o anke my preparations to be maried mr rr led ried oi 01 the arst of august when io 0 you think when I 1 said the I 1 he very day 1 1 got your nasty letter putting me to your moth er and she and was stil langling lau laus gLing i ang when ane addid so you yo j see I 1 was determined to marry you 1 I do said 1 I dryly 1 I 1 sup appo up po pott I 1 oi o ight ht to feel flattered flat no you she retorted rotor ted 1 I 1 simply made up sy my jad laiad to ml t you and ril ill do it no rn jutter ata tit cost I 1 get that from earu P pu 1 te fe got mothers disposition too and that makes me far too good such a cold unsentimental ambi ambitious am bilious toua person as you dont you think youre rather rash to confess so frankly when I 1 could still escape not at all was her confident an awer 1 I know you and so I 1 know nothing could make you break tvr word theres Tae reB some bome truth la in t that tat ae a e r T lope hope that I 1 do not deceive myself in thinking I 1 was honest thero more truth perhaps than you guess she looked shrewdly at m anil and she laughed queerly and struck the guessed e s d said she Nob odys ever so 11 se blind n d I 1 as he e let lets others think its tunny funny lt it there are things in in your mind that never tell me and things in my mind that id never tell you and each ot of us guesses most of them without ever letting on sho she laughed queerly and struck the I 1 horse smartly so that he leaped into I 1 a gait at which conversation was impossible when c we we resumed the subject was the details of our wedding at home again I 1 found my mother too ill III to leave ler her bed she had been ill before many times when she confess it several times when she was forced to admit it but never before so ill that she could not dress and come down stairs 1 I shall ha be up tomorrow to morrow she assured me and I 1 almost believed he her she drew a letter from under her pillow this came while you were away she went on 1 I kept it here because 2 a look of shame bitted across her face and then her eyes were steady and proul proui again why should I 1 be ashamed of i it I 1 had the impulse to destroy the letter and im not sure but that im falling failing in my duty I 1 took it yes it was from boston from betty I 1 opened it and fortunately had nerved myself against showing myself to my mother there was neither beginning nor end just a single sentence from the bottom of my broken heart I 1 am thankful that I 1 have been spared P aed the horror of discovering I 1 h had ad bound myself for life to a coward the shot went straight to the center of the target but there lay my mother did she not have the right to determine my destiny she who had given me my life and her own I 1 tore up bettys letter and I 1 looked at mother and said theres nothing in that to make me waver or regret it was the only lie ile I 1 ever told her I 1 told it well thank god for she was convinced and the look in her face repaid me a it repays me once more as I 1 write carlotta and I 1 were married at liar her bedside and she lived only until the next day but one when the doctor told me of the long concealed mortal disease that was the cause of her going he ended with andar and mr sayler it passes belief that she managed to keep alive tor for five years I 1 cant understand der stand it but I 1 understood she sha simply refused to go until she felt th thit that it his as J TOs sion vaa was abc acc accomplished to be continued |