Show 00 00 aoe 4 L my godi why are they hounding me like this az PLO PD CHARLES KLEIN AND y ARMUR r I 1 V illustrations RAY WAITER ap BY 0 G W D LL COMPANY SYNOPSIS howard hovard jeffries bankers son under the evil influence of R bert underwood a tel fel 0 v student at yale leads a life of dissipation marr es the daughter of a garn gambler bler who d ed in prison and Is dis aad 0 ow v ed by I 1 Is father he ile tries to get work and alls fails A former college chun makes a business proposition to howard which requires 2000 cash and howard la Is broke underwood who had been re pulsed by howard a wife annie in his col cal ege dais and had once been engaged to alicia howard a stepmother has apartments at the Ast Astr ruria urla and Is ap patently ly in prosperous circumstances howard 1 ard recalls a t 0 loan to underwood that remains unpaid and decides to ask him for the he needs underwood taking advantage of his intimacy with mrs mr leff ler rles frIes sr becomes a sort of social highlan man discovering his true char acter she denies him the house alicia recel receives a note from underwood tl ti reat ening suicide she decides to go and see him he ile Is in desperate financial straits CHAPTER I 1 V continued underwood laughed nervously at to misinterpret the other others s meaning he said yes i vou ou re right the art and an tique business Is a delicate business god knows it its s a precarious one reaching tor for the decanter he added have a drink cut but mr air bennington refused to un bend the proffer of refreshment did not temi t him to swerve from the ob eject of his mission while underwood was talking trying to gain time Us his eyes were taking in the te contents of the apartment come take a drink urged under wood again no thanks replied mr air denning benning ton bartly suddenly he turned square around let s get down to business mr un derwood he exclaimed my firm in stats on the immediate return of their property pointing around the room he added everything do you under stand Under underwood mood was standing in the sha dow of the lamp so his visitor did not notice that he had grown suddenly y very white and that his mouth mout h twitched painfully why what s the trouble 7 he stam haven t I 1 got prices for your people that they would never have got ten yes we know all that replied mr air bennington impatiently to be frank mr underwood On underwood derwood we ve received information that youve you ve sold many of the valuable articles In trusted to you for which you ve made no account ing at all that s not true under wood hotly I 1 have accounted tor for almont en everything ery thing the rest of the things are here of course there may be a few things taking a box of cigars from the desk he offered it to his visitor no thanks replied bennington coldly pushing back the prof proffered feed box 0 underwood Under was fast losing his self control throwing Ili rowing a away ay his cigar with an ang y exclamation be he began to walk up and down 1 I can account for everything if you give me time you must give me time im I 1 m hard pressed by my creditors my aly expenses I are enormous and collections exceedingly difficult I 1 have a large amount of money outstanding alt ir our pleasant business rel relation atlow it seems absurd and most unfair that your firm should take this stand with me he ile halted suddenly and faced bennington of course I 1 m much obliged to you personally for this friendly tip bennington shrugged his shoulders the warning may give you time either to raise the money or to get the things back underwood s dark eyes flashed with suppressed wrath as he retorted of course I 1 can get th all back in time damn it you fellows don t know what it costs to run this kind of business successfully success tully one has to spend a small fortune to keep up ap pe arances these society people won t buy it if they think you really need the money I 1 ve had to give expensive din ners and spend money like water even to get them to come here and look at the things you must give me time to make a settlement I 1 need at least a month bennington shook his head there was a bard hard uncompromising look in his face as he replied caustically they re coming for the things to morrow I 1 thought it fair to let you know I 1 can do no moie mole underwood stopped short tomorrow he echoed faintly yes said bennington grimly bod might as well understand the situation thoroughly the game s up the firm nas has been watching you for some time when you tried to sell these things to old defries for one quarter their real value he instantly recognized where they came from he ile telephoned straight to our place you ve been shadowed by detectives ever since there s a man outside watching this place now my god exclaimed underwood why are they hounding me like this approaching bennington quickly he grasped his hand bennington he said earnestly you and I 1 ve always been on the square can t you tell them it s all right can t you get them to give me time i before the manager could reply the telephone bell rang sharply under wood started an expression of fear came over his face perhaps the firm had already sworn oat out a warrant for or his arrest he picked up the receiver to answer the call what name Is that he demanded over the telephone the name was re heated and with a gesture of relief he exclaimed howard jeffries Jeff rles what on earth does he want I 1 can cant t see him tell him I 1 in bennington took his hat and turned to go well I 1 must be off don t go exclaimed underwood as he hung up the receiver icalla its it s only that infernal ass toward howard jeffries 1 I must said the manager As he went toward the door he made a close scrutiny of the walls as it if searching for something that was not there stopping short he said I 1 don t see the velasquez no no stammered underwood nervously its it s out oat out on proba tion oh ob its all liblit I 1 can account for everything mr bennington continued his in lon tion I 1 don t see the tapestry ie said laconically oh that s all right too it if they 11 only give me time he cried desper abely good god you don t know what it means to me bennington the position I 1 ve made for myself will be swept away and mr air bennington remained distant and unsympathetic and underwood threw himself into a chair with a gee ture of disgust sometimes I 1 don t think I 1 care what happens he exclaimed things haven t been going my way lately I 1 don t care a hang whether school keeps or not it if they drive me to the wall do something desperate A ring at the front door bell inter erupted him who can that be he exclaimed startled lie ile looked closely at his companion as if trying to read in bis his face if he were deceiving him probably your friend of the tel teft phone suggested bennington underwood tn derwood opened the door and howard entered jauntily hello fellers how goes if it was bis his jocular greeting he was plainly under the influence of liquor when he left home that evening he had sworn to annie that he would not touch a drop but by the time he reached the Ast ruria his cour age tailed failed him he ile rather feared un derwood erwood and he felt the need of a stimulant to brace him up for the strike he was about to make the buck back door of a saloon was convenient ly open and while alle be was refreshing himself two other men he knew dropped in before he knew it halt half a dozen drinks had been beu absorbed and he had spent the whole of 5 which his wife had In trusted to him out of her carefully hoarded savings when he sobered up he would real ize tl at he had acted like a coward and a 1 cur our but just now he was feel ing rather jolly addressing under wood with impudent familiarity be he went on the d d boy didn dian t seem to know it if you were in or not so I 1 came up anyhow glancing at bennington he added sorry if I 1 im in butting in underwood derwood was not in the humor to be very gracious long ago young howard jeffries Jett rles had outgrown his use falness as far as he was concerned he ile was u as at a loss to guess why he had come to see him uninvited on this particular sunday night too it was with studied coldness therefore that he said sit down I 1 in glad to see you you don t look it grinned how ard as he advanced further into the room with shambling uncertain steps concealing his ill III humor and prom ising himself to get rid of his dunwel come vistor vis tor at the first opportunity underwood introduced the two men mr bennington dennington mr howard jeff mr air bennington had heard ot of the older jeffries trouble with bis his grace son and he eyed with some la III this young man who had made such a fiasco of his career oh I 1 know bennington exclaimed howard jovially I 1 bought an ele s tusk at his place in the days w when hen I 1 was somebody with mode mock sadness he added I 1 in nobody now couldn coulden t even buy a collar button won wont t you sit down and stay awhile said underwood sarcastic ally it if you don t mind have a drink first replied howard making his way to the desk and taking up the whisky decanter underwood did not conceal his an norance boyance but his angry glances were entirely lost on bis his new visitor who was rapidly getting into a maudlin condition addressing bennington with familiarity howard went on say do you yop remember oat won derm set ot of aliory chessmen my old man bought bennington smiled and nodded yes sir I 1 do indeed ah ali your father is a fine art critic howard burst into boisterous laugh ter art critic he exclaimed I 1 should say he was he ile s a born critic he can criticise criticism critic ise any old thing every old thing I 1 don t care what it Is he can criticism criticise critic ise Ne it when in doubt c is nailed on father fathers s es cu theon bowing with mock cour tes to each he raised the glass to his lips and said here s how bennington laughed good humored ly and turned to go well good night mr jeffries good night mr underwood underwood followed the manager to the door good night he said gloomily CHAPTER VI the door doo slammed and underwood returned to the sitting room taking no notice of howard he balked walked over to the tha desk slowly selected a cigar and lighted it howard looked up at him foolishly bot not knowing what to say his frequent libations had so befuddled him that he had almost tor for gotten the object of his visit excuse my butting in n old chap he stammered but underwood made no answer how ard stared at him in comic surprise he ile was not so drunk as not to be able to notice that something was wrong say old fellow he gurgled you youre re a regular jim dumps why fo 60 chopfallen choff alien so my what a long face Is that the way vay you greet a classmate a fellow frat wait till you hear my hard luck story that 11 cheer beer you up who was it said I 1 cheres here s nothing heers us up so much as other people peoples s money moneys reaching for the whisky bottle he went on first III pour out another drink you see I 1 need courage old man I 1 ve got a favor to ask I 1 want some money I 1 not only want it I 1 need it underwood laughed a hollow mock ing laugh of derision his old lass mate had certainly chosen a good time to come and ask him for money how ard mistook the cynical gayety for good humor isaid I 1 said I 1 d cheer you up he went on I 1 don t want to remind you ol 01 that little matter of two hundred and fifty bucks which you bori borrowed owed from me two years ago I 1 suppose you ve forgotten it but A look of annoyance came over un derwood s face well what of if he snapped howard took another drink beffi e he continued I 1 w t remind you of the loan old chap but I 1 in up against it when the family kicked me out for marry ing tug the finest girl that ever lived my father cut me off with a allow ance which I 1 told him to put in the church plate I 1 told him I 1 preferred independence well he went on with seno serio comic gravity I 1 got my in dependence but im I 1 m im I 1 m dead broke you might as well understand the situ atlon plainly I 1 can cant t find any busl bust ness that lin I 1 m fitted tor for and annie threatens to go back to work now yu yau know I 1 cant can t stand anything like that I 1 in m too much of a man to be supported by any woman he looked toward underwood in a stupid kind of way as it if looking tor for some sign of approval but he was dia dis appointed underwood s face was a study of supreme indifference he did not even appear to be listening some what disconcerted howard again raised the glass to his lips and thus i refreshed efre shed wenton went on then I 1 thought of you old chap you ve made a rousing success of it got a big name as art collector made lost of money and all that underwood impatiently interrupted him its impossible jeffries Jeff rles things are a little hard with me too just now you 11 have to wait for that howard grinned taint the 20 old man I 1 didn dian t want that I 1 want a couple of thou band underwood could not help laughing A couple of thousand why not make it a million 7 howard s demand struck him as be ing so humorous that he sat down con pulsed with laughter looking at him stupidly howard helped himself to another drink it seems I 1 in a hit he said with a grin underwood by this time had ered his composure I 1 so youve you ve done nothing since you left college 9 he said no answered howard I 1 don t seem to get down to anything my deas ideas won t stay in one p ace I 1 got a lob job as timekeeper time keeper but I 1 didn dian t keep it t down a week I 1 kept the time all ight right but it wasn gasn t the right time again raising the glass to his lips be lie a aided they re so beastly cu for air you keep pretty good time with that laughed underwood pointing to the whisky howard grinned in drunken fashion it s the one thing I 1 do punctually he lie coughed I 1 can row swim play tennis football golf and polo as well as anybody but III be damned if I 1 can do anything quite as well as I 1 can do this what do you want 2 for de mandod underwood I 1 ve got an opportunity to go into business I 1 want 2 and I 1 want it deuced quick underwood shrugged his shoulders why don t you go home and ask your father he demanded his visitor seemed offended at the suggestion what he exclaimed with comic surprise after being turned out like a dog with a young wife on my hands 01 not ol much no I 1 ive injured their pride you know father married a second time loaded me mo domn with a stepmother she s all right but she a so confoundedly aristocratic you know her say didn dian t you and she gasn wasn t there some sort of an engagement once seems to me I 1 underwood rose to his feet and ab raptly turned his back I 1 d rather you wouldn t get person al he s sid ld curtly sitting down at a desk he began to rummage with some capers and turning imp impatiently to howard he said say old man I 1 in very busy now you 11 have to excuse me if howard had been sober he would have understood that this was a pret ty strong hint tor for him to be gone but in his besotted condition he did not propose to be disposed of so easily turning to underwood he burst out with an air of offended dignity underwood you t go back on me now I 1 in m an lucast a pariah a derelict on the ocean ot of we life as one ot of my highly respectable uncles wrote me his H Is grandfather was an iron pud dier with a drunken laugh he went on t it make you I 1 im in no good because I 1 married the girl it if I 1 had ruined her life I 1 d still be a decent member of society TO BE DE CONTINUED |