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Show II i i i mi in in iii inn ii 'unii nn i ' in nnri i n nwm iiin mrni ir"M mi iwian iomni 11 iiimi inn ti tii ir- h Lm When the Colorado "bP TTC T W" "1 W 1 I I Burst Its Banks and I'P 1 m By I vaiieydof A. JL JLv JL JL JL-rfJL Ednati Aiken I I I CopjTlght, Dobbo-Merrlil Company HJ I- " l STORMS HOVEP OVER THE CANVAS HOUSEHOLD OF THE HARCINS AS RICKARD TAKB THE REINS. Synopslo. K. 0. Rleknid, nn engineer of tlio Overland Pacific mil-rond. mil-rond. Is called to tlio office of President Marshall In Tucson, Ariz. White waiting Rlckard rends n report on tho ravages of tho Colorado rtvcr, despite tho efforts of Thomas Hnrdln, hend of tlio Desert Reclamation , company. Hnrdln hnd been- n student under Rlcknrd In nn enstern cot- lego nnd hnd nmrrlcd Oerty Holmes, with whom lllcknrd hnd funclcd lie was In tovo. Munhntl'tellR lllcknrd tho Overland I'nclllc must step In to save tho Impcrlnl valley nnd wishes to send lllcknrd to take charge. lllcknrd declines becauso ho foresees embarrassment In supplnnttug t Hnrdln, but Is won over, lllcknrd goes to Cnlexlco and, on tho way, 1 learns much about Hnrdln nnd ills .work. lllcknrd meets Mr. nnd Mrs. H Hnrdln and Innes Hnrdln, tho former's half sister. At tho company , ; i ofllces ho finds tho engineers loynt to Hnrdln nnd hostile to him. lllcknrd ii attends n meeting of the directors nnd asserts his authority. Hnrdln ? rnges. Estrada, a Mexican, son of tho "Fnther of tho Imperial Valley," ! I tells Illckard the general situation nnd expresses forebodings that tho ' I work' wltl fall. H I' Hl CHAPTER VII Continued. i Tho windstorm the previous week BBJ hnd mndo n sickening dcvnstntlon of BBJ ( her labors. The morning-glories ulone BBl wero scatheless. A pink oleander BBl drooped many broken branches from BBl ( which miracles of perfect flowers wero BBl unfolding. The. prettiest blossom to BBl Hnrdln was tho gardener herself. Sho BBJ wns vivid from engcr toll. Hardin BBl looked nt hernpprobatlvely. He liked BBl her khaki suit, slmplo ns n uniform, BBl with Its flowing black tlo nnd lenther BBl belt. She looked moro llko liersclf to- BBl day. Sho had bleached out. In Tucson. BBl Sho lind been letting herself get too BBl tanned, running around without hots. BBB Sunburn paled tho value of thoso BBl splendid eyes of Iters. Ho could nlwnys BBb tease her by likening them to topazes. BBl His eyes rnn over tho pink and pur- BBl pie lines of cord-trained vines which BBb mndo floral screens for her tent. Frco BBb of tho strings overhead, they rioted BBl over tlio ramadn, tho second roof, of BBl living boughs. Ho ncknowledgcd their BBJ benuty. Thoy gnvo grace to baro no- BBfl cesslty; they denied tho panting, BBB thirsty desert just beyond. BBB He remembered his own rnmnda. BBBJL, -4.4. Oerty had tinted It, had complnlned of PpHfp It so bitterly when sho enmo homo BBfl j from New York tlint ho had had It HBBJ J pulled down and replaced by n V roof BBH 1 of pine boards, glaring nnd ugly. Ocrty BHH ( was satisfied, for It was clean; she no BBfl longer felt that sho lived In n squnw BABJ , house. Let tho Iudlnns hnvo ramndas; BAS' thero was no earthly reason sho should, BBfl- Ho had urged that tho desert dwellers BB had vuluublo hints to give them. Hut BBfl wlmt wns n rcmnda to him, or anything BBH Na? Hardin turned to lenvc. BBB She did not want him to go so soon. BBS Sho pointed out n new vino to him. BBB Sho hnd brought It from Tucson; BBfl "Kudzu," they called It; n Jopnnoso BBB vine. And thuro was another broken BBH rose, qulto beyond the help of stripped BBH hnndkerchlcfs nnd mesqult splints. PHB He followed her around tho tent, her IBB prattle falling from tils grim mood. Ho pflpj was not thinking of her flowers except PPJ as n mocking parallel. Tho desert PHHJ storm had mndo n havoc of his garden BHB n sorry botch of his life. He nnd BBfl Innes hud been trying to make n gar- BBH dtn out of a desert; tho desert hud BBH flouted them. It wns not his fault. BBfl Something had happened; something BBfl qulto beyond Ins power. Luck was BBB turning ngnlnst him. BBfl Innes, why, sho wns playing ns with BBfl n toy. If was tho natural instinct of a BBfl woman to mnko things pretty around BBfl her. Hut ho had sacrlflred hto youth, BBH his chnncos. His domestic life, too BBH he should never havo carried u dainty BBBJ little woman llko Oerty Into tho des- BBH crt Ho had never reproached her for BBH leaving him, even last tlmo when ho BHH thought It was for good. The word HBBJ burned his wound. Whoso good? Ills BHH or Oerty's? Somehow, though thoy HHB wrangled, ho nlwnys knew It would Hi turn out nil right; llfo would run HHb smoothly when they left the desert. HHl Ittit things wero getting worse; his HHb mouth puckorcd over somo rccollnc HHb (Ions. Vet ho loved Oerty; ho couldn't HHl' picture llfo without her. Ho decided HHb that It was becuuso thero hud never HHb been nnyono else. Most fellows had HHI hud sweethearts before they married; HHH he had not, nor a mistress when sho HHb left him, though God knows, It would HHB, have been easy enough, His mouth HHH fell Into sardonic lines. Thoso half- HHB breed women I No one, even when n BHB divorce had hung over him. Oh, ho BBH knew what their friends made of each BBBJ, of Oerty's lengthened flights ; he knew I PPJ J tn t that had been spared htm, that BPJ vulgar grisly spcctaclo of modern llfo BBBJ when two pcopld who have been lovers BBBj drag the carcass of their lovo over tho grimy floor of u curious gaping court. BBBJ He shuddered. Oerty loved him, Klsc, BBBj why find sho como back to lilin? Why BBH bad she not kept her threut when ho B refused to abandon tils desert project BBBJ nnd turn his abilities Into a more BBBJ profltablo dedication? He could see BBBJ ber furo as sho stared flushing up Into BBBJ ( Ids that nipping cold day when ho had BBBJ ' run Into tier on ISrondwny, He remcm- BBBJ bored her coquetry when sho suggest- ed'tlmt thero was plenty of room In her npartmcnt I Ills wife I She spoke BBBJ . of-lu-W-plctucca-ln-4tw-M'i- "He hnd grown to be n groat man I" That piquant ueotlng, the week fol- ' lowing had been tho brightest of his life. Ho was suro then that Oerty loved him. The wrnugles wero only their different ways of looking nt things. Of course, they loved each other. But Oerty couldn't stnnd pioneer pio-neer life. Sho had loved him, or sho would not so easily huvo been persuaded per-suaded to try It over ngaln. Sho yeurncd to mnko lilin comfortable, sho said. So sho hnd gone back, nnd pulled down his rnmnda, nnd put bis clothes In tho lowest bureau drawer! "It wasn't either of our faults," ho ruminated. "It wns tho fault of tho Institution. In-stitution. Marriage Itself Is n failure. Look nt tho papers, tho dlvorco courts. A man's Interests nro no longer his wife's. Curious that It should bo so. Hut It's n fact. It Is tho modern discontent. dis-content. Women want different careers from tholr .husbands'." Vet, how could ho help throwing his llfo Into his work? Ho hnd committed himself; It. was an obligation. If It wero not for that Indellnnblo something, some-thing, his nlleglnnco to the cuuso which mocked nt reasons nnd definitions ; oh, he knew! ho had tilted with Oerty nnd been worsted I ho would hnvo resigned re-signed from his company, his company which had dishonored him. Why should ho stay to get moro stabs, moro wounds? And tho last blow, this pet of Marshall's 1 Hardin gnvo a scantling scant-ling In his path n vicious kick. Tho girl's pruttlo had died. Sho walked with him silently. At tho door of her tent, sho stopped, looking nt him wistfully. Sho wished ho could hldo his hurt. If ho bad only somo of Innes' pride I "How are things?" Sho used their fond Httlo formula. "Oh, rotten I" growled Hardin, flinging fling-ing uway. Tho gato slammed behind him. CHAPTER VIII. Under the Veneer. An hour later Innes, blinking from the sun, stepped Into tho tent, which had been partitioned with rough redwood red-wood boards Into n bed chnniber on tho right, n combination dining room nnd "parlor" on tho left. Her glnnco Immediately segregated tho threo stalks of pink geraniums In tho center of tho Mexlcnn drnwn-work cloth that covered tho table. Oerty, herself, In n fresh pink gingham frock, wns dancing around tho tnlilo to tho tuno of forks nnd spoons. It wns Just llko Oerty to dress up to her setting, oven though It wero only n pitiful water-starved bouquet, bou-quet, Sho had often tried to nnnlyzo her Blstor-ln-lnw's hold on her brother; certnlnly thoy wero not happy. Was It becuuso sho made him comfortable? Wns It tho little air of formality, or mystery, which sho drew around her7 Her rooms when Innes wns allowed to enter them wero nlwuys flawless; Oerty took deep prldo In her housekeeping. house-keeping. Why was It, Innes wondered, thnt she could never shake, off, her suspicion sus-picion of nn underlying untidiness? Thero wns always a closed door on Oerty's processes. "Mny I help?" Tho sun wns still yellowing tho room to her. "Hello I" Hnrdln looked tip from tho couch whero ho was lying. Innes suspected It of being a frequent re-trent. re-trent. Sho hud found It tumbled once when sho rnn over early. It was then that Oorty mndo It understood that sho liked moro formality. Innes was rarely rare-ly In that tent except for meals now, or during her nlternatlng week of .bouso chores. "I wns ufruld I was late," said tho girl. "Lunch will bo ready In u fow minutes," min-utes," announced Oerty Hardin. "Won't you sit down? There's tho new Journal. Jour-nal. Sam camo to clean this morning, nnd I couldn't get to tho lunch uutll nn hour ngo." Innes, settling herself by the rending table, cnught herself observing thnt It would not' hnvo taken her nn hour to get n cold lunch. Still, It would novcr look so Inviting I If Oerty's domestic mnchlnery wns complicated nnd prl-vnte, prl-vnte, the results nlwnys wero admirable. admir-able. The early tomatoes wero peeled ns well ns sliced, nnd wero lying on a bed of cracked Ice. Tho ripe block -Jlveo-wer-festtag-ln-n-lake-ef California Cali-fornia oilvo oil. A bowl of crisp lettuce let-tuce bad been Iced nud carefully dried, The bread was cut In precise trlnuglcs ; the butter hnd been shnved Into foreign-looking roses, A pitcher of the valley's favorlto beverage, Iced tea, stood by Hardin's plnte. Thero wns u plntter of cold meats. It enmo homo to Innes for tho hundredth hun-dredth time, tho suiprjso of su-h n menl In that desert. A few years ngo, und what had a menl been? Sho threw ,tho credit of tho little lunch to sulky Tom Hurdln lying on tho portiere-covered couch, his ugly .lower Hp out-thrust out-thrust against an unsmiling vision. It was Tom, Tom nnd his bravo .men, the sturdy engineers, tho dauntless surveyors, sur-veyors, the Indians who hud dug tho canals, those wero the ones who had spread that pretty tnblO, not tho buxom Httlo wutnnn darting about in pink gingham. "Is It becauso I don't llko her?" sho mused, her eyes on tho pictures In the stylo book which hnd Just come In that morning. Certulnly Oerty did havo tho patlcnco of a snlnt with Tom's humors hu-mors If she would only loso thnt set look of martyrdom I It wns not for nn outsider to Judgo between' n husband and wife, oven If tho man wero her own brother. Sho could not put her linger on the germ of their painful scenes; sho shrank from the recollection recollec-tion of Tom's temper; his conrso strcnk, tho Olngg fiber, her own mother called it. Tom wns rough, but sho loved him. Why wns it sho wns .suro thnt Oerty did not lovo her husbnnd? Yet thero wns tho distrust, as fixed and ns unjust perhaps ns the suspicion of Oerty's Httlo mysteries. She snld nloud: "This Is your last dny. My week begras tomorrow."' Mrs. Hnrdln ndjusted a precise napkin nap-kin beforo sho spoke. "I think I will keep tho reins for a month this time." Her words wero reflective, re-flective, ns though tho thought wero new. "I get my hand In just ns I stop. I wilt bo running out for my visit in n few weeks. It will bo only fnlr for mo to do It ns long ns I can." ' Again the girl had a senso of subtlety. subtle-ty. Whenever Oerty put on thnt nlr of childish confidential deliberation, sho hunted for tho plot. This wns not fnr to seek. Her sister-in-law was pnsslng out tho hot season to her. "It's nil rendy;" Oerty's glance wn winging, blrdllko, over tho table. Nothing Noth-ing hnd been forgotten. Sho gnvo n Httlo sigh of clastic satisfaction. Hnrdln Hnr-dln misinterpreted It, "I ought to bo nblo to keep n serv-nnt serv-nnt for her." It was llko him to have forgotten tho Lawrence days; ho wns never frco of tho senso of obligation to tho dainty Httlo woman who was born, ho. felt, for tho purple. Thero wns nothing too good for Oerty. Ho felt her unspoken disappointments; her deprlvntlons. "Of course, sho can havo no respect for me, I'm n failure." "Doesn't tins glvo you nn nppctlto?" demanded Innes heartily. "And I'm to bo n Indy for three moro weeks." Tho remark was thoughtless. A bright flush spread over Oerty's fnce. Sho cnught nn allusion to her origin. Innes eiw tho blush and remembered remem-bered tho bonrdlng house. Sho could think of nothing to say. Tho threo relatives sat down to that most uncomfortable uncom-fortable travesty, a soclnl menl whero sociability is lacking. Innes snld It had been n pleasant morning. Oerty thought It hud been hot. And then there was sllcnco ngnln. Innes began to tell there of her Tucson Tuc-son visit, when Gertv laid down her Nothlna Had Been Forgotten. fork. "I'vo meant to nsk you n hundred hun-dred times. Did you attend to my commission in Los Angeles?" "I forgot to tell you. I raked tho town, really I did, Oerty." For there was a cloud on Oerty's pretty brow. "I could havo got you the other kind, but you said you did not want it." "I should think not." Tho childish chin wns lifted. "Thoso complicated things nro always getting out of order, -DesHwplf -Hirrd rm JrtJustnWeTCrmT everybody'd bo borrowing it." "Whnt nro you talking about?'' da- nninded Tom, waking up. "Who'd borrow bor-row your whnt, Oert?" "I'lcnso don't call mo Oert, Tom," besought his wife plaintively. "A figure. fig-ure. I wanted Innes to try to get one for mo In Los Angeles." "I did tiy," began Innes. "Yours Is good enough for nnyone. Why should you get nnother?" He wni openly ndnilrlng the nmplo bust swelling under' tho pink glnghntn. "Don't, Tom." Innes tried to explain the sincerity of her search. She hud visited every store "which might bo suspected of having n figure." She could not bring n smile to her sister's fnce. "Thero was none your size. They offered to order one from Chicago. They httve to be mndo to order, If thoy are special sizes. You nro not stock size, did you know that?" "I should think not," cried Ocrty, bridling. "My wnlst Is absurdly small for tho slzo of my hips nnd shoulders." Innes wondered If It would be safe to ngrco with her. "When will It bo hero?" "You'll bo disappointed." Innes found herself stnmmerlng. "But not for six weeks. I did not know whether to order It or not." "And I In Los Angeles with my summer sum-mer sewing nil done I What good will It do mo then?" Tho pretty eyes looked uiidy for childish tears. "I know. That Is, I didn't know what to do," apologized Innes Hnrdln. "I decided to order It us I'd found tho place, nnd wns right there, but I mndo sure that I could countermand tho order or-der by telegram. So I can this very afternoon. I knew you would bo disappointed. dis-appointed. I was sorry." "I'll need It next winter," ndmlttcd Ocrty, helping herself to somo of the clilllcd tomatoes. "I'm suro I'm much obliged to you. I hope It did not put you to much trouble." The words raised the wall of formality for-mality ngnln, Innes bent over her plnte. "What made you chango your plans?" suddenly demanded his wlfo of Hnrdln. "When Sam camo in with your bag, ho surprised mo so." "My boss kept me." Hardin's faco decked conrso, roughened by his ugly pq&lon.. "lllcknrd, your old friend. Ho served a subpoena on mo at tho station.' "Oh," cried Oerty. "Surely, ho did not do that, Tom I" "Suro ho did." Hardin's faco was black with his evil mood. "I'm only nn undorllng, a disgraced underling. He's my boss. He's going to make mo remember re-member It." !'You mustn't say such things," pouted pout-ed his wife. "If It docs not hurt you, If you do not care, think how I must feel" "Oh, rot!" exclaimed nardln. Tho veneer was rubbed down to tho rough wood. Innes saw tho coarseness her mother had complained of, tho Qlngg fiber. "I supposo you think I llko to tnko orders, to Jump at tho snap of tho whip?" Ho wus deliberately beating up his nngcr Into a froth. "Oh, sure, I do. That's a Hardin, through nnd through." Agnln tho angry blood flooded his wife's cheeks. He, too, wns throwing tho boarding houso nt hor. "You aid It yourself." Ocrty with difficulty wns withholding tho nngry tenrs. "I told you how It would be. You would do It." "Oh, hell 1" cried Tom, pushing back his plate. His sister looked drearily out tho wire-screened door. Hor view wns n dusty street. Hnrdln got up, scraping his chair over tho board floor. "And to keep It from me," persisted tho wife. "To let me aek him to dinner din-ner " "Does thnt dismal farce hnvo to go oft?" demanded Hardin, turning back to tho table. "You'll hnvo to have It without mo, then. I'll not stny nnd mnko a fool of myself, Ask him to dinner. Mel I'll see myself." Innes wished sho was In tho neighboring neigh-boring tent.. Tom wns lashing himself Into a coarse fury. , To her dismay, Oerty burst Into Tears. It was killing her, tho dlrrgrnco,' she cried. Sho couldn't enduro It. Sho couldn't stnnd It thero; sho had not tho courngo to go to Los Angeles, whero her friends would pity her. It wns crushing her. She was not n Hnrdln; Hnr-dln; sho wns sensitive; Mio could not Justify everything n Hnrdln did ns right, no matter what tho consequences. The pretty eyes obscured, sho rushed, n streaming Nlobe. from tho room. Tho brother nnd sister avoided onch other's eyes. Innes rose nnd clenred tho tablo of the dishes. Sffo mado u loud nolso with tho running water In tho shed, racketing the puns to drown tho Insistence of Gcrty's sobbing. Sho kept listening for Tom's step. 'Sho wanted to go with him when ho left; he must not reach tho office In tho blackness of that mood, Sho wished ho would not betray his feelings; feel-ings; yet she knew It was not he who was to blame. When she heard tho screen door slam, sho flashed out tho back way. "Oolng?" sho called after him. "Walt ToTTrrohTrffaBircrninriter-fe-nT T5F her hat. Sho had to run to catch up with him, CHAPTER IX. The Rivals. ' From the window of tho ndobo office butMIng of the company, Hnrdln saw lllcknrd Jump from the rear platform of the train ns It slowed Into tho station. sta-tion. He noticed that tho now manager mana-ger carried no bag. "Wonder what bo's decided to do nbout the hendgatc. Ho didn't wnsto much time out there." Hnrdln was fidgeting In his sent, his eyes on tho approaching figure. Blcknrd pnsscd through tho room, nodding to his Olllce force. Tho door of tho inner ofllco shut behind him. llardlu stared nt the blnnk surface. Ho moved restlessly In his swivel chair. Did tho fellow think n big thing llko that could hong on whllo ho unpacked "Arc You Doing On With It?" his trunks nnd settled his bureau drawers? draw-ers? Ho picked up n pencil, Jabbing nt tho pnper of ,hls report. Ho covered tho sheet with figures threo hundred six hundred. Six hundred feet Whoso fault that tho Intnko had widened, doubling Its width, trebling Its problem? Whose but Marshall's, who had sent down ono of his ofllco clerks to seo what Hnrdln was doing? Wouldn't any man In his senses know that tho wny Mnltland would distinguish distin-guish himself would bo by discrediting Hardin, by throwing bouquets to Mar-shall; Mar-shall; praising his plan? They nil go nt It tho same sickening way) Ofllco clerks, bah I Sure, Multland had advised ad-vised against tho completion of tho gate. Said It would cost moro in tlmo nnd money than IlnrUIn's estimates. "Thanks to Mnltland It did," growled Hardin, scrawling figures oyer the page. "By tho tlmo Multland' finished monkeying with that toy dam of his tho river hod widened tho break from three hundred to six hundred feet. Fo: thnt, they throw inuu at roc. Oh, It makes mo sick." nardln flung his broken pencil out of tho window. Rlcknrd ro-cntered tho room. Tho question leaped from Hardin. "Tho headgate nro you colng on with it?" Illckard looked curiously at the flushed antagonistic fuco of tho man ho had Bupplonted. Tho thought crossed lils mind that perhaps Hardlr had taken to drUiUIng, It- made his answer curt. "I don't know." "You don't know I" "I havo po report to muke, Mr. Hnrdln, Hnr-dln, until I see tho gate." "And you went to tho Crossing without with-out going down to tho headgato?" Hardin Har-din did not try to conceal his disgust. "I did not go to tho Crossing." "Didn't go I" Hardin's mouth wns agape. Then ho rudely swlvcled his chair. Tho door slammed behind Illckard. Illck-ard. Hadn't been to tho Crossing? Then whero In Hades did ho go? Ho halted MacLean who was passing him. "Aro you going to tho Crossing tomorrow?" to-morrow?" nardln know ho should bo too proud to betray his eagerness, but tho words ran uway with him, "Not tomorrow Mr. Illckard Just told mo ho might not bo able to got oft until noxt week." Hardin's anger sputtered. "Next week. Why does ho rush so? Why doesn't he go next year? Tho Colorado's Colo-rado's so gentle, it'd wait for him, I'm suro. Next wcckl It's a put-up Job, that's what It is. Oh, I can see through a fence with n knotholo as big as your head. Ho doesn't want to finish tho hendgate. Ho- wants to put oft going uutll It's too into to go on with It; I know him. Ho'd risk the wholo thing, nnd all tho money tho O, V, has chucked Into it, just to start with a cleun slnto; to get tho glory of stopping stop-ping the river himself, It turns my stomach; it's a plot." The lower Hp shot out. Macl.ean's nttentlon was deferential, no had always liked nardln; nil tho fellows did. But he was Jumping oft wrong this time. Ho'd brought It all on himself. "no said something nbout n levee for IhcndnJ.TOITgHTolnYestlgate that beforo ho goes to tho front." "A Isvco? Well, wouldn't that Jar f you?" Hardin addressed tho stenographer stenog-rapher in tho transparent Bhlrtwnlst. "Docs ho think we'ro going to hnvo nnother flood this season? Thinks It's going to reach tho hotel nnd wet his clothes? Toko tho stnrch out of his shirts?" Ho flung out of his chair, throwing tho papers back into tho drawer. Ho stamped out of tho office, mad clccr through. To this crisis they hnd sent down n dandy, a bookman who wanted to build n lcsce. Oh, hell 1 "They'll como crawling after mo to help them nftcr this fellow's burled himself under river mud, como calling to mo ns they did nftcr Mnltland fatted. 'Please, Mr. Hnrdln, won't you como back nnd finish your gato I' I'll seo them dead first. No, I'll bo fool enough to do It, I enn't help myself. I'm a Hardin. I havo to finish whnt I'vo begun." be-gun." It wns not becauso this was n pet enterprise, tho grcnt work of his life, that ho must eagerly cat hurablo pie, tnko tho buffets, tho falls, and come whining back when they whistled to him. Ho told himself It wns becauso of his debt to tho valley, to tho ranchers. Tho colonists wero nbout desperate. Who could blnmo-thcm? Tho last year's floods had worked havoc with their crops; tills year had been n horror. Tho district they called No. 0 was a screaming Irony of ruin. Tho last de- bnuch of tho river had mado great gasUcs through tho ranches, had scoured deep gorges which had undermined under-mined tho cnnnls on which tho water supply for No. 0 depended. Tho suits wero piling up against tho D. R., dam-ago dam-ago suits, and they hold up his gate, whllo ho gets tho curses of tho volley. vol-ley. ' And Mr. lllcknrd thinks boll build a levcol no flung himself on tho couch In tho , tent. Oerty wns laying a careful cloth for supper. A brave, determined 'smllo was nrrnnged on her Hps. Tho noon storm hnd pnsscd. She hummed a gay Uttlo tuno. If thero was anything Hnrdln tinted It was humming. "You'll hnvo your dudo to dlnnor nil right," tier husband announced. "He's In town." ' "Yes, I know," rejoined his spouse. "I lind u letter from him yesterday; From Impcrlnl." k Tom sot up glaring. "Ho wrote to you from Imperial?" nis wlfo mlsplnccd tho accent Sho misunderstood Tom's scowl. It was tho old story over again. Whenever thoso two men .camo togothcr tho old feeling of Jealousy must' bo revived again t It was unpleasant, of course, v ry unplensant, to hnvo men core llko that, but It mndo llfo exciting. Llfo, had been getting a Httlo stnlo lately-; llko a book of obvious, even plot ntckurd's cntranco Into tho story gnvo n now Intorcst, a new twist. Sho hummed nn air from a new opera that had set tho world waltzing. nnrdln's thoughts did not touch her nt tho hem. Ho was at tho hondgate. his gate. What tho dcuco had Rlcknrd gono to Imperial for? If ho wasn't tho darnedest nssl Imperial I And tho gato hung up! "For God's sako stop that buzzing I" Tho happy Httlo nolso wus quenched. Innes, entering nt that moment, heard tho rough order. Sho looked Imploringly Implor-ingly at her slster-ln-law. "Supper's on the table," cried Gcrty, tho fixed, determined smllo still on her lips. CHAPTER X. A Deiert Dinner. Innes nardln was completing her slmplo toilet. Not even to please. Oerty would she "dress up" for tho dinner. It would havo been easy for her slster-ln-law to postpono it How could sho expect Tom to go through with it I Sho couldn't understand Ocrty t An hour ago, hearing distinctly tho whir nnd splash of egg-beating, she had run over to tho neighboring tent Tho clinking of tho cake tins hnd suddenly sud-denly silenced. "Excuse mo, won't you?" Gcrty's volco had como from tho lean-to, tho little kitchen shed. "I'm lying down." "Llelng, yesl" grlranced tho nardln mouth to Its reflection in the mirror. How many times thnt week hud sho been repulsed by a locked door, n sudden sud-den curtain of sllenco' or n "Run nwhy for a while, I'm trying to catch a nop." Eosy now to seo why Oerty . had wanted to "hold tho reins" that, week I li j i A congenial dlnnpi party, It may be Imagined, was this ono consisting of Hardin, the deposed de-posed general manager; Rick-ard, Rick-ard, the man who has supplanted i him; Hardin's sister, who loves her brother devotedly and resents re-sents bitterly the appointment of Rlckard to succeed him, and Hardin's wife, former sweet, heart of Rlckard. Read about this Interesting situation In io 1 " next Installment CEQ-aB .COMTiyUKthj 1 |