Show 1915 by pathe exchange inc all afo moving ing picture rights and all for eign Cop rights ahl strictly reserved Reber ved TENTH I 1 STORY ard you donald porter I 1 here bv by sei eitenne tence to tv enty years at hard labor N how clearly those words stayed in his n emory it was all as though it had happened yesterday the mur ay ky sn elly courtroom the spectators pleasure bent the news hounds of the great dallies dailies the striving lawyers and the purblind judge he had never been able to decide from that day to this whether hether sN the judge had been baught and paid for or no what did it matter the judge m aan t ele eie mentally responsible how clearly ho he every fluctuation of his own distrait mind during that long trial at first he could do da nothing but laugh at the absurdity of it all it concerned him at first only as a bothersome misunderstanding that robbed him of his precious time then as the trial went along as false wit nesses were introduced and things fixed for his railroading to prison and he felt with sudden horror hia his nearness to a punishment he t in the least deseri desern e 1 e had become panicky at the grossness of the con against him so cleverly had cole looted the bank co 0 o carefully had he planned it that it had looked at the trial as though he porter had looted it and made cole its president bis his innocent accomplice colp cole As he thought that name the ugly subtle lines of his tape face deepened and his fingers twitched ched nerv bously as though yearning for that soft throat they had once squeezed with alth in their grasp the day coles cole s light sentence had ended and he had walked jauntily amongst his fellow prisoners on his way to freedom the guards had to be quick to save that throat from those yearning fingers he ile had almost had him that time well he would mould get him he had told him self that time and time again this thought this unquenchable hate for the man who had so tricked him was ras the only thing that kept the life in his poor emaciated frame the one thing that had enabled bim him to stand the frightful routine of prison life these long weary years it was mas no wonder to don porter that he re it all so clearly as he did the whole thing had had a daily re hearsay in his mind and for years now he lie had awakened each morning to a fresh realization of the unspeakable horror of his position and had gone to bed each night with a curse in his heart and on his lips for the man m wl 10 ahad had so tricked him had so spoiled life and the lives of those few aho rho had put their faith in him he had been very good these past years oh so good all but that once he flo had almost had him that time that thought always gave him a moments brief phantom pleasure that always gave way again to despair a despair that seemed duller that the moment before had been touched with light this despair was despair that he should not live to be revenged he ile had bad made a mad insane attack on him then but the guard was too quick but that was fully five years ago and he hid been good since then good with the goodness of a child who ex pacts a reward patient with the pa tience of a man who sees each day bring him nearer to his heart a desire his heart s desire it seemed strange to him at odd mo ments that he who had always been gentle and sensitive he who lie had al ways felt an instinctive kinship for to r things gentle and sensitive should now have for his heart hearts s desire the death of another man and yet it was so it was so and he was jealously glad of it with the best years of his life scooped out literally thrown away freedom after his release held forth no promise to him no promise but one 11 II edith hilton had arrived at her twentieth year it would mould be difficult to gay say how she had arrived at her twentieth year unless one might eay say ehe elie zigzagged to it for edith was like most of us that queer admixture of decision and hesitancy that set her ever out of the analyzable type class selected and labeled and ever made her next act as uncertain as R a as the motive of her last whatever queer twist nature haj had endowed her mind with it had certainly been governed by the beautiful when it made her body for she wae was of that perfection of physical beauty that makes most of us feel mast must reflect an inner light as the exquisite odor of cologne suggests a delicious ness of taste 1 her black hair glossy and crisp undulated in tin tiny waves down her white neck as though loath to leave a head of such delicate loveliness her warm marm brown eyes pouting lips and slim lithe figure making an ensemble that her worldly wise mother treas ared and counted on as their ultimate salvation from the awful impecunious prestige of their social position it was a joke that social position her J 4 k aa husband four years before had died comparatively poor I 1 he ile had left her and edith with mith a position to maintain and nothing but a tradition on which to dainta n it hardly nothing but very little more I 1 the old lady had made quite a brave struggle for one who had been indulged all the years of her life but there was edith edith of great prom ise almost ready for her first sea eon son out it was mas a matter for specula tion tor for those who knew just what mrs hilton would have done had edith been two or three years younger when charles hilton died would she have attempted a struggle that entailed two or three years more privation or did she throw herself into this b each because she felt that her wll was just great enough to span ita mrs hilton was be beginning inning to feel worried here was edith in her awen bieth year ready primed tor for conquest as it were u ere and nothing to conquer the list of eligible young men was the list of financially desirable oung men and mrs hilton s reserve fund both of money and energy were rapidly becoming exhausted sl e and her daughter sat on the porch of their home one even ng at about the time this story opens ed th just s eting glad for the feeling or of pulsating life within her mrs hilton sitting and speculating her lations this evening were as travail ur avail ing as they had been for many a night before and she turned almost desperately to her paper what V hat she saw there caused her old frame suddenly to stiffen with eager interest as she read her left hand held poised in the air before her much as might be the paw of a pointer dog that had ad started a bird she finished ai i looked up her face flushed and eager her eyes bright listen edith abstractedly I 1 say impatiently listen to this she read aloud millionaire buys palatial residence richard walker bachelor decides to make his home in this city elected member of exclusive e sunset club ethels eyebrows were raised ex curious as her mother read mouthing the words appreciatively taking every care that they be dia dis as though they were precious sounds and represented each as she spoke them correctly certain equal portions of the fortunes so attractive to her at last she breathed solemnly and ethel would have laughed aloud J A 4 the convict convicts s fingers closed about the neck of the man who had tr aked H him im had she not known from former intonations of the sort just how serious her mother was the fact that she was mas considered as a highly valuable able asset to be invested tor for the best returns irked her more than she thought it polite to bhoj and her lack of remonstrance was taken by her moti cr r as her dangl ter a mute assent to the furtherance of her obvious plans edith felt that there was a time coming and that shortly in which she and her naother would have to have an understanding and she was secret ly glad that it haq a not just yet as she felt that her sense of obligation might cause her to see seriously that side of the question sl e knew least interested her his she said at length I 1 I 1 richard bachelor ai al d elected to the sun set club we should have an opportunity port unity to meet him shortly you know dear it s time we met someone the place Is becoming absolutely tin possible oh I 1 find the society baite con genia genial congenial its easy for a ful girl to find society congenial leave to the plain III bred ones con A geniality Is what they strive for or be cause they realize there a noti nott ing bet ter possible for or them congenial As though finding society congenial were the end all of 0 a beautiful cultured girls life being congenial wont mout help 3 ou any when you see the wrinkles ps coming congenial I 1 oh indeed I 1 you speak of people in this place as though they were inconsiderable I 1 in afraid so tl ey are inconsiderable ehe she cut in rising young men promising oung men young men of intelligence in fact all young men but oung I 1 men without money there s no sense in our trying to evade what a in each of our minds when you say its it s quite congenial here you mean hugh keene and when I 1 say in consIder able people and young men of every kind but young men with money I 1 mean hugh keene S ie le rose to go indoors but that s all nonsense one cant can t live on promises or inconvertible in tell gence you really should ampre date elate that L ill 11 do my best to meet this mr walker we can arrange it Q a at t the club and you her shoulders shrugged expressively then sudden ly her hard face softened ethel thought it looked much nicer ibie ible and she came quickly toward her daughter i I 1 its it s been an awful drag dear more of a drag than you at th this is time can call appreciate its it s because I 1 don it want that you should ever have to appreciate what denial means that I 1 in so anxious you should be comfortable anything but a lack of money that is doubly unbearable for those who are used to luxury think of that try to imagine yourself without the lux uries you have come to consider the necessities of life and you might get an In inkling liling ot of what I 1 mean she turned and w ment ent into the bouse house III edith was splendidly vibrantly alive as she mixed with the many people in the reception room of the exclusive sunset club the night of the annual ball she wore a wonderfully filmy cream colored gown that artistically subordinated itself to the soft beauty i of her face I 1 mrs hilton was there all understanding all her deep piercing eyes darting everlastingly about the busy room ready at any moment to appreciate anything that happened any place in visual touch every second with the entire room both edith and her mother w were ere the gueste guests of hugh keene in one corner of 0 the room eur sur rounded by a group of worshipers of the shrine of gold stood walker when hugh led edith back after the first dance mrs hilton spoke to him drawing him slightly out ot of the range of passing guests that man over in the corner the one in the center of that group dark haired rather coarse featured hes mr walker I 1 believe yes can you arrange eos see well meet him certainly it if you care to III brine bring him over of course you wont won eay say nonsense he 11 come to meet youl he started for the far corner of the room and in a few moments returned in tow introductions were soon over walker bowed deferentially to age gallantly to beauty and all stood talk ing until mrs hilton graciously andt bated that hugh offer her his arm he did rather reluctantly and they moved off leaving edith and walker alone hugh was worried at the evident at traction that walker and edith seemed to have for each other so worried that he proposed to her during the very next dance proposed and was put off with a this Is so sudden hugh I 1 hardly know linow my own mind the worry did not leave him the next daa da did not even leave him that afternoon when walker called on him and gave him a stock buying commission and showed hia his confidence by leaving with him a certified check for though the prospect olathe of the commissions on the trading did open up possibilities thoughts of edith filled hugh 8 every working moment now came this stranger to their city and into their society and opened up prospects of wealth and luxury to their vain souls that made his offering seem in considerable it was impossible ut terly to contend with him from this angle it would take years unless he ile shook the thought from him feel ing unutterably wicked that he should have allowed it a place in his mind at all all the way home and before he got into bed that night he tried to think of some way ray of over coming the tremendous advantage of walkers money and always came back that dark thought each banish ment seeming only to increase the subtle insidiousness of the next at tack until he tell fell asleep alternate alternately hating himself and returning to the thought that darkly fascinatingly followed that word unless the next morning on arising he felt free of the tearful fearful temptation of last evening it was a cheerless free dom however when rhen he realized f aliv again the hopelessness of his position I 1 might better say it was yas a cheerless freedom until he realized again the hopelessness of his position tor for w m ith that full realization he was mas no longer tree free except in the sense that the nt 1 clous dark thoughts that had so harassed him all the night before were now only seeking the entrance he so dreaded yet wanted to give them the tact fact that he could keep them out made him less vigilant than he truely tely indefinitely felt be he should have been and she he felt a c cunning nning per veree verse joy in that thought that I 1 the thought got in in a moment bhea bla his assurance left his mind ed ad why he would not be entirely re rree would hea he his I fearfully fear tully shrinking yet none the less certain desire that the thought possess him without his consent of course made hie his power to avoid it seem to him un reasonably strong and this same sense of strength was in turn sum dent clent excuse tor for his disregarding the ever recurrent warily persistent sup he found it there suddenly and of his strength of a moment before there remained not a trace alp ilp H felt however none of that absolution he had been so sure of should the thought possess possess him while he was oft off guard indeed now that it mas w as there he an awful loathing ft cf himself that he had made that lo 10 low palliation f merely in order that he might entertain by subterfuge those ideas he was not brave enough to ac capt full knowingly well there they were and their first act directed his hands to his check book where he drew on the account walker had left leff with him a check for this he sent around to george sum S 2 IV wk this Is so sudden hugh I 1 hardly I 1 know my own mind ner broker with an order to use it as margin and purchase for his ac count shares of A M at par then he sent a note to edith hil hit iton ton begging that he be allowed to see her that night and giving forth a promise born of the momentary en of his plunge that he would shortly be in a position to make hil his plea on his own appeal with the dis ds qualifying ing entity of poverty entirely eliminated IV don porter serving a 20 year sen son tence fence for looting a bank actually loot ed ad by john cole its president await ed ad in his cell with well concealed tin patience the coming of the prison electrician to fix a globe what it if he t come I 1 what it he had told the warden of their little scheme and the warden not the electrician I 1 would visit his cell tonight 9 it he was coming he surely should be there now why gasn wasn t he hea and of a million things might keep him but there wasn gasn t one of them could in the least do his prospects any good ile waa was possessed of doubt and apprehend elon sion and a vague sinking fright that be he had ever decided on such a daring plan it if it were balked it if they caught him he decided it would mean an additional sentence more years of fruitless yearning and an al at most unattainable perspective of his heart |