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Show n i- ' I ! HI c-HALLE EKMIN1E PIVE3 A Sgi fi ILLUSTRATIONS &T LAUREN STOUT J p H CHAPTER I. BK BBS The Crash. BE "Knilod!" ejaculated John Vallnnt BBS blankly, and Hit) tint ho hold dropped BBS to tho clarot colored rug llko a hugo BBB whlto splotch of sudden fright. "Tho BBB Corporation failed!" BBS Tho young man was tho glaBa of BBB fashion, from tho silken ribbon on tho Bflfl spotless Panama to his pourl-gray gait-BBS gait-BBS era, and well favored a lltho stulwurt BflBf flguru, with wide-sot hazel eyes and BBB strong brown li.ilr saving back from BBS u candid forehead. BBM Never had his Innocuous and but-Bflfl but-Bflfl tor-fly cxlstonco known a surprise Bflfl more startling. Ho had Bwung Into BB tho room with all tho nouchalaut hab-HHB hab-HHB Its, tho Ingrained certitude of tho man BB bom with achievement ready-mado In BB his hands. And a slnglo curt stato-HHH stato-HHH inent- llko tho ruthless blades of a BB , f pair of shears had snipped across BBS tho ono splendid scarlet thread In tho H woof that constituted llfo as ho knew ftV It. Ho had knotted his laonder scarf HHB that morning a vIco-proBlilent of the Bflfl Valiant Corporation ono of tho greats BBj est and most successful of modern-BBj modern-BBj t dny organizations, ho Bat now In the BBj fading afternoon trying to realize that BB tho hugo fabric, without warning, had H l toppled to Its fall. BB i How solid and changeless It had BBJ I always seomed- that grout business B , jf fabric woven by tho father ho could H ' so dimly romemberl Ills own Invested BB fortune hud been derived from the BBB .; great corporation tho elder Valiant BBB i bad founded and controlled until his BBB death. With almost unprecedented BBB earnings, It had stood us a very Ulb-BBB Ulb-BBB raltar of finance, it typo mid sign of BBB brilliant organization. Now, on tho BBJ heels of a trust's dissolution which BBJ would bu n nine-days' wondor, the vast BBJ structuro had crumbled up llko n card-BBJ card-BBJ board. Tho rains had descended and BBJ tho Hoods had como, and It hud fallen 1 BBJ, Tho man at tho desk had wheeled B' In his revolving chair and was looking Bj at tho trim uthlotlc back blotting the BBJ daylight, with a smilo that was llttla BBB) i short of a covirt sneer. Ho wus ono Bflfl of tho local managers of the corpora-BBBri corpora-BBBri tlon whoso ruin was to bo that day's BBa sensation, a colorless man who had ac-BBBJ ac-BBBJ ' quired middle ago with his first long BBJ ,(! trousers and had been dedicated to tho BBBJ , commercial treadmill beforo ho had BBBj $ ,, bought a safoty-razor. He despised all BBJ 1' loltorora along tho primrose paths, and BBF '. John Valiant was but a decoratlvo tig-BBBk tig-BBBk . 1 urehead. BBJ' t ' Valiant started as tho other spoko at BBJ ' his elbow. Hu hud como to the win- BBBJ dow and was looking down at tho BBP ,' pavement. "How quickly some news BBBJ spreads!" BB9 ' Far tho first tlmo tho young man Bjp noted Hint tho street below wus filling BBJB with a desultory crowd Ho dlsttn- BBBJ gulshed n knot of Italian laborers talk- BBBJ lug with excited gesticulations a H fe HflV' ft. $& BjBBJ "It's Very Good Living Abroad BBB There's a Doat Leaving Tomorrow." BBBV smudged plasterer, tools In hand, BBSB clerks, some hatless and with thin BBSB alpaca coats all peering at the voice- BBSB less front of tho great building, and BBSB all, ho Imagined, with a thriving fear BBSB In their faces. As ho watched, a worn- BBSB an, coarsely dressed, ran acrosB tho BBBJ street, her handkerchief pressed to her BBBJ BBBJ "Th notice- has gone up on tho BBSs door," said tho manager "1 sent word BSBBJ to the police. Crowds uro ugly some- BBSS times BBBBB Valiant drew a BUdden sharp breath. BBSS The corporation down In tho uilre, BBSB with crowds at Its doors ready to BBSS clamor for money entrusted to it, the BJBflt aggregate savings of widow and or- BBSS phar, the piteous hoarded sums earned BBSS by labor over which pinched sickly BBSS faces bad burned tho midnight oil! BBBBB Tho older man had turned back to BBBflK the desk to draw a narrow typewrit- Bflflff ten slip of paper from n pigeonhole BBBBB' "Here," ho said, "Is a list of tho bonds BBSS! of the subsidiary companies recorded BBSS In your name These uro all, of BflBBBj course, engulfed In tho larger failure. BflBBj You have, how over, your prlvato for- BflBt tune If you take my advlco, by tho BBSS way," he udded slgntllcantly, "you'll BflBB tuako sure of keeping that." SB "What do you mean?" John Vu- BV .Mkstti. llant faced him quickly. flflB '.flSflfl Tno 0,ner laughed shortly '"A word BflBBB "jBtLbB U tho ulbe,'" ho quoted. "It's very BflflflfllBm amhBBI BBBb' iBBBBflBflflflBflBflBflBflBflBBBflflBBflflflflfll good living abroad. There's a boat leaving tomorrow." A dull rod sprang Into tho younger face. "You mean " "Look at that crowd down there jou can hear them now. There'll be a legislative Investigation, of course. And tho devil'll get the hindmost." IIo struck tho desk-top with his hand. "Have you ever seen tho bills for this furniture? I)o you know what that rug under your feet cost? Twolvo thousand It's an old 1'orslan What do you supposo tho papers will do to I that? Do you think such things will seem amusing to that rabblo down there?" His band swept toward the window. "It's boon k!"K 'or too mnny years, I tell ou! And now some ono'll pay tho piper. Tho lightning light-ning won't strike mo -I'm not tall enough. You'ro a vice-president" "IX you Imagine that I knew those thlngB that 1 have been a party to what you scorn to believe has beon a deliberate wrecking?" Valiant towered tow-ered over him, his breath coming fast, his hands clenched hard. "You?" Tho manager laughed agnln an unpleasant laugh that scraped tho other's quivering nerves llko hot wiudpaper. "Oh, lord no! How should you? You'vo been too busy playing polo and winning bridge prizes. How mnny bonrd meetings havo you attended at-tended this year? Your vote Is prox-led prox-led us regular as clockwork. Hut you'ro supposed to know. Tho pcoplo down there In tho street won't ask questions about patent-leather pumps and ponies; they'll want to hear about such things as rotten Irrigation loans In tho 8tony-Hlvor Valley to market an alkali desert that Ib tho pergonal property of tho president of thlb corporation." cor-poration." Valiant turned a blank white face. "Sedgwick?" "Yes. You know his principle: 'It's all right to bo honest. If you'ro not too damn honest' Ho owns tho Stony-Hlver Stony-Hlver Valley bag and baggage. It was a big gamble and ho IobI." Valiant whb Btarlng at tho other with a strange look. Emotions to which In all hU self-Indulgent llfo ho bad boon a stranger wero running through his mind, and outro passions had him by the throat Fool and doubly blind 1 A poor pawn, a catBpaw raking tho chestnuts for unscrupulous men whoso Ignominy he was now called on, perforce, per-force, to sharol In hla pitiful egotism ho had consented to bo u tlguroboad, and ho had beon mudu a tool. A red rage surged over him. No ono had ever seen on John Valiant's face such a look as grow on It now. Ho turned and without a word opened tho door. Tho older man took a step toward him bo had n seuso of dangerous electric forces In tho air-but air-but tho door closed sharply In his face. Ho smiled grimly. "Not crooked," bo said to himself; "merely cullow. A well-meaning, manicured young fop wholly surrounded by men who know whot they wanted!" He shrugged his shoulders and went back to his chulr. Vullunt plunged down In tho elevator eleva-tor to tho street Ho pushud past tho guarded door, and threudlug tho crowd, made toward tho curb, whoro his bulldog, with .i burk of delight, leaped upon the seut of u burnished car, rumbling and vibrating with pent-up pent-up power. Thero were thoso In thu sullen anxious crowd who know whoso wus that throbbing metal miracle, tho chauffeur spick und spun from shining cup-vlsor to polished broun puttees, nnd recognized tho whlto face that went past, pelted it with muttered Biieors Hut ho scarcely suw or heard thorn, as ho stepped Into thu beat, took tho wheel from tho chauffeur's baud and threw on tho gear Ho drove mechanically past a liun drod familiar things and places, but ho saw nothing, till the mutslo marble fronts of tho upper park hide crated their mad dance as thu car halted beforo be-foro a tall Iron-grilled doorway v-lth wide glistening steps, between windows win-dows htrangely nhuttend and dark, He sprang out und touched the boll Tho heavy oak parted slowly, tho con-ildentlal con-ildentlal secretary of tho man ho had como to fuco stood In the gloomly doorway. "I want to seo Mr Sndgwlck" "You can't seo htm, Mr Valiant " "Hut 1 will!" Sh.vrp pussion leaped Into the young voice "He must speak to mu " Tho man In the doorway shook his bond. "Ho won't speak to anybody any more," ho suld "Mr Sodgwlck shot himself two hours ago.' CHAPTER II. Vanity Valiant. "Tho witness Is excused." In the rlpplo thut stirred across the court room at the examiner's abrupt conclusion, John Valiant, who had withstood that pitiless hall of ques tlous, rose, bowed to him und slowly crossed tho cleared space to his counsel coun-sel Thu chairman loolu-d severoly over his eyc-glaBses, with his gavel lifted, and a statuesque girl, In the rear of tho room, laid her delicately gloved hund on a companion's and smiled slowly without withdrawing her gazo, and with tho faintest tint of col or In her face Katharine Fargo neither smiled nor fluehod readily Her smllo waB an Index In-dex of her uholo personality, languid. symmetrical, exquisitely perfect The llttlo group with whom sho sat looked somewhat out of place In that mixed assemblage Smartly groomed and palpably members of a set to whom John Valiant was a familiar, they had had only friendly nods und smiles for the young man at whom so many thero had gazed with Jaundiced oyes. To tho general public which road Its dally newspaper perhaps none of tho glided set was bettor known thnn "Vanity Valiant" Tho new Panhard ho drove was tho smartest car on tho nvonuo, and tho collar on the white bulldog thnt pranced or dozed on Its leather seat sported a diamond buckle. To tho spacaw rlters of tho social columns, col-umns, he had beon a perennial Inspiration. Inspira-tion. The patterns of his waistcoats, and the splendors of his latest bachelors' bache-lors' dinner at Sherry's with such He Had 8uddenly Remembered That It Was His Twenty-fifth Birthday. Items tho public had been kept sufficiently suffi-ciently familiar. To It, he stood a perfect per-fect symbol of the elder ease and Insolent In-solent display of Inherited wealth. And tho great majority of those who had found place In that roomy chamber cham-ber to listen to tho ugly tale of squandered squan-dered millions, looked to him with a resentment that was sharpened by his apparent nonchalance Long before tho closing session It had been cloar that, as far as Indictments Indict-ments wero concerned, tho Investigation Investiga-tion would bo barren of result Of ludlvldual criminality, flight and sul-cldo sul-cldo had been confession, but more sweeping chargos could not be brought homo. Tho glided tool had not brought himself Into tho embarrassing purview of tho law Tho Jostling crowd flocked out Into tho square, among them a fresh-faced girl on tho arm of a gray-bearded man In black frock coat and picturesque broad-brimmed felt hat. Sho turned her eyes to his. "So that," sho said, "Is John Valiant! I'd almost rather havo missed Niagara Falls. I must wrlto Shirley Dandrldgo about It I'm so sorry I lost that picture of him that I cut out of tho paper." "1 reckon bo's not such a bad lot," said her undo Ho hailed a cab. "Urand Central Station," ho directed, with a glance ut his watch, "und bo quick about It. Wo'vo Just tlmu to make our train." Some hours Inter, In an Inner office of a downtown sky-scraper, the newly-appointed newly-appointed receiver of the Valiant Corporation, Cor-poration, a heavy, thick-set man with narrow eyes, sat beside a table on which lay a small black satchel with a padlock on Its handle, whoso contentsseveral con-tentsseveral bundles of crisp papers ho had bton turning over In his hcavj hands with a look of Incredulous Incredu-lous amneiuent A bheet containing a mass of figures and memoranda la) among thorn The shock was still on his face when a knock cuino at tho door, and a man entend The newcomer was gray-hnlrod, gray-hnlrod, slightly stooped and lean-low lean-low led, with a humorous exprebslon on his lips Ho glanced In surprise at the littered Ltble "Fargo." snld tho man at the desk, "do you notice anything queer ubout mo?" IIIb friend grinned "No, Huck," ho said Judltlully, "unless It's that neck-tlo. neck-tlo. It would stop a Dutch clock ' "Hang the haberdashery' Head this from oung Vullant." Ho passed over a letter Fargo read He looked up "Scurl tleB aggregating thrie millions'" ho said In a hushed voice. "Why, unless I've been misinformed, that represents practically nil his private fortune" Tho other nodded "Turned over to the corporation with his resignation us a vlco-prosldent. and without a bleHsed string tied to 'em! What do you think of that?" "Think' It's thH most absurdly Idiotic thing I ever met. Two weeks ago, before tho Investigation but now. when It's porfectly certain they cun bring nothing homo to him" Ho paused "Of courso I suppose It'll save tho corporation, eh? Hut It may ha ten years boforo Its securities pay Ulvldeuds. And this Is real mony. Where tho devil does he como In meanwhile?" Tho receiver pursed his lips. "1 know his father," ho said. "Ho had tho same crazy quixotic streak." Ho gathered tho scattered documents docu-ments and locked them carefully with tho Batchel In a safo. "Spectacular young ass!" he Bald explosively. "I should say so!" agreed Fargo. "Do you know I used to bo afraid my Katharlno had a lennlng toward hlra. Hut thank God, she's a sensible girl!" Dusk had fallen that evening when John Valiant's Panhard turned Into a cross-street and circled Into tho yawning yawn-ing mouth of his garage. A llttlo later, tho bulldog at his heels, ho ascended tho steps of his club, whore ho lodged he had disposed dis-posed of his bachelor apartments a fortnight ago. Tho cavernous seats of the lounge wero nil occupied, but he did not pauso nH he strode through the hall. Ho took tho little pile of letters tho boy handed htm at the desk and went slowly up tho stairway. Ho wandered Into the desortcd library libra-ry and sat down, tossing tho letters on tho magazine-littered tnblo. He had suddenly remembered that it was his twenty-Ilfth birthday. In the rcnctlon from the long strain he felt physically spent He thought of what ho had dono that afternoon with a sense of satisfaction. A reversal re-versal of public Judgment, In his own case, had not entered his head IIo knew his world Its comfortable fncul-ty fncul-ty of forgetting, and the multitude of sins that wealth may cover. To pro-serve pro-serve at whatever personal cost tho ono noblo monument his fnthor's genlUB had reared, and to right the wrong that would cast Its gloomy shadow on his name that bad been his only thought. What ho had dono would hnvo been dono no matter what the outcomo of tho Investigation. Hut now, ho told himself, no ono could say tho act had been wrung from him. That, he fancied, would have boon his father's way. He smiled a slow smile of reminiscence reminis-cence for there had come to him at that moment the dearest of all thoso memories a play of his childhood. He saw himself seated on a low stool, watching a tunny old clock with a moon-faco, whoso smiling lips curved urT'lIko military mustachtos, and wishing wish-ing the lazy long hands would hurry. He saw himself stealing down a long corridor to the door of a big room strewn with books and papers, that through somo baleful and mysterious spell could not be made to open nt all hours. When the hands pointed right, however, thero was the "Open Sesame" his own secret knock, two fierce .twin raps, with ono llttlo lonesome lone-some ono afterward and this was unfailing un-failing Safo Insldo, he saw himself standing on n big, polar-bear-skln, tho door tight-locked against all Conors, an expectant baby llgure with hU llttlo llt-tlo hand clasped In his father's. Tho white rug wob tho mnglc entrance to tho Nover-Nover Country, known only to those two. Ho could hear his own shrill treble: "WIshlng-Houso, WiBhlng-HouHe, whoro aro you?" Then tho deeper voice Iqulto unrecognizable unrec-ognizable us his father's) answering: "Hero 1 am, Master; hero I am!" And Instantly tho room vaulshed nnd they were In tho Nevor-Nevcr iJind, and before them renred the big-gest big-gest houso In tho world, with n row of whlto pillars acrosH Its front u inllo high. John Valiant felt an odd bratlnt: of tho heart nnd a tightening of the throat, for ho saw a t-cenu that never fnded from his memory. It wns tho ono hushed and horrible nlijht. when dread things had been happening thut lio could not understand, when a h'r man with gold eye-glasses, who smelted of somo curious slcklsh-sweet perfumo, came and took hi in by the hand and led him Into a room where his father lay In bed, very gray and quiet. Tho whlto hnnd on tho coverlet had beckoned to him and ho had gone closo up to tho bed, stnndlng very straight, his henrt beating fast and hard. "John!" the word had beon almost a whisper, very tetiBO nnd anxious, very distinct, "John, you're a little boy, and father Is going away." "To to WlBhlng-House?" Tho gray lips had smiled then, ever so llttlo, nnd sadly. "No, John." "Take mo with you, father! Take mo with you!" His volco had trembled then, and he hnd had to gulp hard. "LlBten, John, for what I am saying say-ing Is very Important. You don't know what I mean now, but some-tlino some-tlino you will." Tho whlBper had grown Btrnlned nnd frayed, but It was still distinct. "I can't go to tho Never-Novor Never-Novor Land. Hut you may sometime. If you If you do, and If you Und WIshlng-Houso, remember that tho men who lived In It beforo be-foro you nnd mo were gentlemen. gen-tlemen. Whatever else they wore, they wero always that He like them, John. will you?' "Yes, fathor." Tho old gentlemnn with tho eyo-gtasses eyo-gtasses had como forward then, hastily. hasti-ly. "Rood-night, father" Ho hnd wnntcd to kiss him, but n strange cool hush had settled on the room and his father seemed all at onco to hnvo fallen asleep. And he hnd gono out, so carefully, on tiptoe, wondorlng, and suddenly afraid. CHAPTER III. The Turn of the Page. John Valiant stirred nnd lnughed, n little self-consciously, for thero had been drops on his face. Presently ho took n check-book from his pockot nnd began to figure on the stub, looking up with a wry smllo. "To como down to brass tackB," he muttered, mut-tered, "when I've settled everything (thank heaven, I don't owe my tailor!) there will be a llttlo matter of twenty eight hundred odd dollars, a passn mo tor and my clothes between mo and the bread-line!" Everything else ho had disposed ol ovoryllilng but tho four footed comrade com-rade thero at his feet. "Hut I'd not sell you, old chap," he said, softly; "not a slnglo lick of your friendly pink tongue; not for a beastly hun dtod thousand!" Ho withdrew his caressing hand and looked again at tho check-stub Twon-ty-elght hundred! Ho laughed bleakly Why, ho had spent more than thnt a month ngo on n ball at Sherry's! This morning ho had been rich; tonight he waB poor! What could ho do? Ho could not remember a tlmo when ho hnd not hnd nil that he wanted He had never borrowed bor-rowed from a friend or been dunned by an Importunnte tradesman. And ho had never tried to enrn n dollar In his llfo; aB to current mothodB of tnak Ing n living, ho was us Ignorant ns a Pueblo Indian Ho rose grimly and drugged his chnlr facing tho window Tho night was balmy and ho looked down across tho darker bea of reefB, barred llko a I gigantic checker-board by tho shining I lines of streets, to where tho flashing elertrlc signs of tho theater district laid their wide swath of colored ra- , dlnnco Tho manifold calls of the , street nnd tho buzz of trolleys made a dull tonal background, subdued and faraway .TO M! CO.NTINIU'.D ) |