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Show WC6e LASH of II JM CIRCUMSTANCE ftm & Harry Irving Greene hM?U AuJhor oTXosomie of 1te Wilderness" "V!7R HkiaTrevt1ot Uv Magnu.o O. ICavttnar ajaaWWWVSBaMf . "I Demand That You Tall Ma Initant ly Why You Say That Thing. 8lrl" Mollis itruek ma a aa dellclously nonsensical that I could not refrain from laughing. "It la absurd, Clara. Certainly Mollis Mol-lis la atrlctly all right, tut ah would look Ilka a mouse beside Mr. Lace." She nodded spiritedly. "Now you are talking aenaa. Like a nice little white mouse beitde a leopardes. exactly." I did Dot like the comparison. "Do you mean to aay that Mr. Dace la a leopardess?" I demanded with aonie warmth. Clare waa aa cool aa a cucumber. "Oh, I don't know. Anyway, ah la aa beautiful aa one. And rlewtng her aa I hare only from a dlatance, I have somehow gained the lmpreaalon that there are trait In common between be-tween them. She la ao wonderfully amooth and aoft and quiet moving, you know." She looked up at me tideway, tide-way, aaw the displeasure that retted upon my face and broke Into a laugh aa- ahe gave my cheek a pat. "Of courae you must not mind what I aay, Tom, dear. 1 really know al-mnit al-mnit nothing about your charmer, and I trust to your level bead to take care of you. Only please do be careful." care-ful." Ho we laughed together and dropped that subject hard then and there. Up to this time tne course of no man' love ever ran smoother than bad mine for Mrs. Dace. Yet It was only a few day after thl conversation conversa-tion with Clare that there happened a thing so awful to me at the tiro that hade Itself could have offered no torture more exquisite. I had never been Jealous of Mrs. Dace for the slm- pie reason that I had seen no cause to be; yet I knew that the fire of that passion slumbered within ma like those of a latent volcano. The mere thought of another making love to her was a torment. She had told me that few men Interested hor, and the frequency fre-quency of my attendance upon her seemed to preclude the Idea of a rival of consequence lurking In the background. back-ground. That I was being publicly exhibited to attract attention and thus used a a sheep-akin to cloak a real wolf, had never entered my mind until the thought In all Its hideous-ness hideous-ness was forced upon me purely by accident. I had spent the evening dowutownaud was going home at about eleven, when a circumstance occurred to me. A few evenlugs before, when at Mrs. Dace's, she had requested me to open a bottle of wine, which I had done by menns of a folding corkscrew 1 carried upon ny key ring. When I had reached my own door later In the evening I bad discovered that my keys were missing, and remembered at tho time that 1 bad laid the ring containing them and the corkscrew upon the table after opening the bottle. bot-tle. I had forgotten to replace them In my pocket, but knowing they were perfectly safe, I felt no uneasiness; j told myself that I would recover them ! upon my next visit, and ringing the bell was admitted by Mr. Tebbets. I had not seen Mrs. Dace since, and now on my way borne decided to stop off for a moment at the Arcadia, and If she or the maid were home I would claim the key In order to avoid disturbing dis-turbing the housekeeper, who retired early. 1 therefore stepped from the car at the point where It crossed the boulevard upon wbtcb she resided and hurried towards her building. I chanced to be upon the opposite side of the street from my destination, and aa I waa about to cross the way my steps were arrested by the warning warn-ing honk of a motor car. Pausing at the curb I watched Its iwlft approach, It lights glaring like the eyes of some speeding monster. Ry the. street lampB 1 saw that It was a ponderous affair, and a pang of regret stabbed me that I was not able to possess Its like. AluiOHt as huge as a locomotive It looked as It roiled to a point opposite oppo-site roe, and then suddenly swinging In a clone circle stopped In front of the entrance across the way. Instinctively Instinct-ively 1 paused In the ahadow to watch tt. Ha door swung open and out onto the pavement there atepped a great man with a massive bulldog shaped bead and neck, and mustache that flowed from bis lip like yellow fountains. foun-tains. Uy the gaslight I could see the bear-like power of hi arm as be thrust out his hand to some one yet within the car, and a cold premonition of something wretched to come swept over me. To my ear there came a short, peculiar cough, and from this mannerism of which I had heard, a well a from picture which I bad seen In the newspapers, I Instantly recognized blm. The dragon had arrived ar-rived In bis Juggernaut. Richard Mackay, the Infamous, the moral leper, lep-er, who, corrupt of soul and body, had long reigned as autocrat of tlunder world and prince of spoilsmen, loomed across the way. Fearless and able, powerful yet subtle, alway a dominant domi-nant force for evil, he was one from whom any man might recoil with so-cret so-cret fear. And an Instant later the wretched thing came to pass. From out of the car and Into his grasp there stepped the woman whom I loved with all my out, and my heart seemed to atop. With his arm around her waist, bra-senly bra-senly Indifferent aa to who might witness wit-ness he paused acroas the walk by ber aide and threw the door wide by a sweep of hi free band. For some reason I learned later It was because of a weakened spring the door failed to clote promptly, and I distinctly saw them In the subdued light of the Interior In-terior as they stood close together awaiting the descent of the elevator car. It was but a fleeting glimpse, yet had It lasted longer I believe I should have cried outright in my agony. ag-ony. For as plainly a I ever saw anything In my life I saw him draw ber close to him aa Impetuously aa I had done In my outburst a he lifted her face and half burled It beneath hi sweeping mustache. Then the door mercifully closed, shutting out the sight and leaving me with horror filling my breast and tbe coldness of death creeping over me. For an Instant In-stant I was Incapable of movement, then regaining partial control of myself, my-self, lurched away. Renumbed of brain, my knees turned to water, and with Jealousy tearing at my vitals like a vulture, I staggered homeward. Upon tho night of horror that followed fol-lowed I do not care to dwell. Like one In a fever I tossed through the hours sleepless save for the fitful dream moments when I wandered far Into the evil haunts of the nightmare. Morning creeping grayly Into my room found me with head splitting and set eyes that stared at the celling. As one who is crippled with rheumatism rheuma-tism In -every Joint. I arose stiffly, bathed myself and crawled out Into hie air. It was Sunday morning, and "Vlready the chime of distant bells mellowed mel-lowed In my ears. It was all plain to me now, her deceit and treachery; and had I been sentenced over night to the gibbet I could not have been more wretched. In tbe mlserablenesa of tt I stood aoul sick before the utter hollownesa of all things. There could be but one explanation of It The hideous Innuendoes that had haunted my ear like the whisperings of a sea shell had been less than the truth, and I had been used as the false light to mislead the world; as a dummy, the fool. Oh, the treachery and the wickedness and the black shame of It! And that this woman for whom I would have given my heart's blood could be guilty of such cruelty to me! Rroken-heartedly, I sobbed beneath the oaks like a child. Plainly there was but one thing I could do. I must renounce her unqualifiedly un-qualifiedly even though It well nigh killed niS, for I could never share her with anybody aa well might a man be asked to cut bis heart In SYNOPSIS. Ahnar Halllday, a minor); million!, Is found Ki'l. bound and lnnalhla In lit room, lila f rlrtm and tw.'WJ nilaa-1n nilaa-1n Tha thrrnil of tha atory la takan up ly his D'-phcw Tom. Uvlng In tha aama lionan are other rolallvaa, rrrklaa Hruea Ilallirtay and pratty Clara Wlntun. Hrtica, wtin la a bond broker, has baan trying; t talaa tin.nx) In put through a dal and av hlmanlf from flnaolal ruin. Ha ha uppllrd tn hi mlaarly umia and tn othnra tfL tha loan hut ha bn refuaad. Tom a."". , f,,r William IDur. an old lima friend fnnei'tad with a daleellv annni y. In ri'latlnit tha atorv Tom ravert to hi K.'H'iiillilHin- .lth a Mr. Pare, a waalthy widow, whoa hualncaa affnl la flli-hard Mai kuy, a Iximller and political boa. CHAPTER V. (Continued.) "Tou have come at last. I waa growing Impatient. I was lonesome to-night and wanted some one to talk to me preferably you, Do you know, I had been thinking of you Just before be-fore you called me up. Perhaps It waa thought raiuimlsston that made you ring me a moment later. Who knows?" She laughed musically as I took her Angers and bent my Hps to I hem. "Mrs. Dace, thought transmission to remind me of you would be grossly superfluous. . I am going to be perfectly per-fectly plain with you. It Is barely possible pos-sible that I have thought of something Had since I saw you last, but If I have I do not now remember wbat It was. However, you flatter me." She withdrew with-drew her band with a suddxn averting avert-ing of her eves, smiling again. "No, It waa not flattery. I also am a plain person and do not speak in parables Ilesfdes, what harm to think of one's frlmids?" She half turned an eay chair for n a and I aeated myself In It, my eyes running over the room. The quiet richness of Hit furnishings was a revelation. Kx-iul.ilte Kx-iul.ilte taste was In the very air. Several of the darkly rich pictures wer either original masterpieces or fople so cleverly executed that I could not detect the difference. The oriental vases were magnificent token to-ken of bnrbarlc art. and were overflowing over-flowing with great clusters of blood-red blood-red roses. The furniture was of the bntldKoiiH'rt and the tapestries heavy O and rich. As to Mrs. Dace's Income I had no knowledge, hut at least her apartments were high of rental and quipped with extravagance. For aonie) reason, Richard Mackay' name . caruo creeping through my mind like an evil thing, and I squirmed Inward- iy at the thought. I had never seen the man's face outside of tho papers, but that In Itself was enough. While It was not unhandsome In a strong animal way, the stamp of vice was Indelible In-delible upon It, It seemed' a sacrilege sacri-lege to even mention bis name In connection con-nection with that of this exquisite woman, for bis reputation was as contaminating as his personality was poisonous. Furthermore, he was married. i It Is not my Intention to go furtl r Into the particulars of my private .f-fairs .f-fairs with Mrs. Dace than Is nec s-mry s-mry for a complete understanding if tha rlrrurr.siancea which surround d the mysterious crime against r y uncle. Rrlefly, I will say that In t e next month we were much trgi.-lh r, and most of the time alone, S e seemed to prefer It that way; I c r-talnly r-talnly did, and under those ausplclo is surroundings our Irlemltihlp raplt y thickened. It was a uellrlous time o in, wherein Curing the days I walk d tike one In a trance, when apart frt n tier; dreamed rapturously of her y tilght and was In a chafing fever f discontent when not by her aid". 'f Ilruce's dragon I saw nothing, while s for other would be suitors, she tactfully tact-fully kept them at bay. Having occasion oc-casion to notice this, anl of course being secretly delighted by It, I tiev ertheless one day asked her why she him ned those who wished to pay her attentions. She stifled a yawn behind be-hind her handkerchief. "Most men bore me," she answered, quietly. I leaned closer. "I wish you to tell me frankly And do I?" She swayed away from me slightly, not answering, her cheeks swept by her falling lashes and her bosom swelling to Its round fullness. I drew eo close that her soft hair brushed my face. "Matie tell me," I pleaded. Her eyes. In whose fathomless depths the soul of any man might well have been drowned, looked up at me. She smiled and one band fell feather-1 feather-1 ghl upon my own, setting every tirrve to tingling as a harp vibrates when swept broadcast by a band. And as an earthwork Is annihilated by a cloudburst, so was all my restraint wept away by tbe flood of passion that arose within me; my blood leaping leap-ing like a mountain torrent and my heart fighting Its way to my throat. Not stopping to think what 1 said or did. acarcely reallxtng: only knowing that I loved thl creature with a passion pas-sion that would no longer be controlled. con-trolled. I crushed ber to me and held ber helpless aa I rained kisses upon tier eyes and Up and cried out my lave for her In broken, half coherent sentences. She did not resist, and I doubt If I would have known It bad be done so, such wss the Intensity of my fervor. Nor did she respond In the least, and when my first ardor bad exhausted Itself and my arm relaxed re-laxed aha quietly broke away from mm. Her face waa flushed and ber tsalr disordered, but ber voice waa aa aim aa tha first time ahe ever spoke to me and ahe told me that I was forgetting for-getting myself and must leave ber at once. Uncertain as to whether she had submitted to my outburst with more or less Indifference aa the best way of extricating herself from an embarrassing situation, or whether she was secretly angry, yet worried greatly over the consequences of my Impetuosity, I held out my hand ap-peallngly ap-peallngly a I begged her forgiveness that In my great love for her I had taken advantage of my superior trength. My band she eluded by a step backward and ber perfectly modulated mod-ulated voice once more bade me a non-commltal non-commltal good night. I threw my overcoat over my arm and turned to tbe door. "Out at least you may tell me If I am forgiven," I pleaded, as heavy of heart I paused upon the threshold. Her expression remained changeless. "I have not fully decided. You will know later." "Then I may hope that I have not sinned beyond redemption and that I may see you again?" "You may call me up In a few day when you have recovered your balance." bal-ance." "And until then I must wait for my answer?" "Until then you must wait. Good night." I bowed, passed Into tbe hallway and left her, hope and fear battling In my bosom. CHAPTER VI. When I called her up three day later she seemed to have forgotten that any such Incident had ever happened. hap-pened. She passed the usual pleasantries pleas-antries of the day over the wire, laughed as softly and musically as ever, and ended by telling me that I might call that evening. When I did so she received me with neither more nor less than her customary friendliness. friendli-ness. I was mystified. As to what was going on In the wonderland that lay behind her eyes I had no conception concep-tion further than the evident fact that she had not been seriously offended. And that was solace enough for the present. Of course I would renew the assault at arms when the opportunity seemed propitious, but for the time being I would resort to steady siege. I renewed my devotions. As had been the case before, I again haunted her. Necesaarlly this aoon became bruited Ground the circle of our acquaintances, and occasionally echoes of the gossip reached my ears. Ilruce spoke of It once or twice qult-xlcally, qult-xlcally, but aa I Ignored his remarks he soon quit bothering me with them. Clare, aa usual, had ber little say. "I hear that you and Mrs. Dace are exceedingly good friend these day, and that you are with her nearly everywhere," ahe began sweetly. "I wish you would tell me about It." Now as a matter of fact I waa secretly secret-ly proud to be recognized as the accepted ac-cepted suitor of ao beautiful a woman, wom-an, and Ciare was an entirely different differ-ent proposition from Rruce to confldo In. So I admitted nonchalantly that we were on excellent terms. 8ho frowned a little. "Well, I suppose, of course, that It Is all right, and anyway It Is none of my business. Hut she la such a mysterious woman. She lives like a duchess and everybody says her husband hus-band left her scarcely anything. When that little Is gone what will she do unless she marries a rich man? And how on earth could you get money enough to support a woman of her tastes as she would demand to be supported? sup-ported? You Just answer me that, Tom Halllday." Now I had rather expected something some-thing like this from Clare, but nevertheless never-theless tho question annoyed me somewhat It was the Identical one that had been making my sane moments mo-ments a bugaboo for many nlKhts and days past; still I haled to be reminded remind-ed of It by another person. Even now I wss be ginning to feel the drain of her upon my resources, although I had diino nothing extrsvagsnt. J bad taken her to the theater, paid for carriage, car-riage, and bought her luncheons and flowers, but beyond that had done practically nothing. And In a certain way Hi. re was much satisfaction In the thought that I had offered her so little In the way of allurement besides my own society. While there were men by the score who would have been ocrJoyed to squander money upon her. she had laughingly excused herself to them for the sake of Inexpensive Inex-pensive little evenings with me. As proof that ahe really preferred me It si emed conclusive, and wa the thing that gave me the most boie. However How-ever I did not apeak and Clare went on: "Some of ber gowns cost more than you earn in a month, while as for supporting an establishment at tbe Arcadia well, of course the very Idea Is preposterous. Now why don't you be sensible?" I smiled, scenting what waa coming. "And what I your Idea of aense, Clare?" I Inquired. "Well, take up with a nice little girl like Mollle Osborn, for Instance." It was Just as I had suspected, for Clare and Mollle are chums and devoted de-voted In advancing each other Interests. In-terests. Rut the Idea that any man, owes knowing Mr. Dare aa I knew bar, could be content with a girl Ilk twain. I must not even see ber again for I dared not trust myself In her presence. What I might do If I should meet her alone I did not know. Whether I would violently denounce her for her faithlessness, break down miserably a I was now doing, or commit com-mit some other scene .1 could only conjecture. Rut In any case matters would not be mended. Tbe Injury was Irreparable. I must cast her out of my life and pursue my way In wretchedness wretch-edness and silence. I returned to my rooms. Uncle Abner was already puttering away somewhere and I threw myself into a chair In what was nearly a physical collapse. I felt shrunken and hollow as though my vitals bad been drawn from my body and I had fallen Into myself. I waa Incapable of thinking think-ing logically and the weight that oppressed op-pressed me waa stifling, nefore me life stretched away as a volti, hopeless hope-less and destitute of light and through which I must drift miserably until It merged Into eternity. I must have sat In a half stupor for a long time, for aa the tinkle of the telephone bell sounded In my deadened dead-ened ear like a death rattle I got upon my feet and aaw that tt waa nearly ten o'clock. Mechanically I picked up the receiver and asked what was wanted. Over the wire there came to me a voice which at first set every nerve to tingling and then turned me sick and faint In the reaction. reac-tion. For It wa the voice of Mr. Dace, softly musical, and filled with the cheerfulness of the morning aa she Inquired for me. In tones that sounded far away to my own ear I told ber It wa I who spoke. "I did not recognize your 'hello,'" she went on briskly. "Your voice does not sound at all natural tbl morning. I am afraid you dissipated last night. Anyway, It Is such a lovely love-ly morning that I have been thinking perhaps you might wish to call and take me to church and afterward for a little stroll along the boulevard. I have thought of lots of things over night that I wish to tell you. And when we come back. If you care to give me still more of your time, we will take luncheon here In my apartments. apart-ments. Will you come?" My head swam and I leaned against the wall for support. The day previous an invitation such as this would have t brought me from a sick bed to her on crutches, but now I shuddered as though a toad had been dropped down my spine. That she whom I bad adored, defended against the world, and given my heart, could be so vilely i treacherous! And now with the sweetness of an angel she would lure me to her that she might resume her play of cat and mouse! Yes. Clare had been right. In stealth and cruelty ! she wss all leopardess. And she I would even have tbe scene of the next act In the sanctuary of the blessed disciple of love and truth! Softly, full of music as a bell. I heard ber voice calling to me and HaMng why I did not reply to ber. and driven to Immediate action my mind i suddenly changed I would go and ; see "her. I would look upon her once more and then coldly tell ber that our I relations must at once cease. I would go no further, would give her no satisfaction at all, but making my forgotten keys the excuse for responding respond-ing to ber call, would claim them and bid farewell to her forever. In that way I would end the whole miserable business. Commanding my voice by an effort I answered that I would come at once, and hung np the receiver re-ceiver without waiting for her to ad-dres ad-dres me further I went to the mirror mir-ror and looked Into It. My Up wer te and colorless, my eyes bloodshot, blood-shot, and 1 -med to nave grown pounds thinner and year older over-! over-! night Once more 1 bathed mr face In cold wafer and set out for the Arcadia. Ar-cadia. She apened the door at the first sound of the bell, and royally beauti ful In her cool mcrnlng gown, stood smiling before me. At first she seemed about to approach me even closer, but aa her eyes sought my face she drew back and her smile vanished a the sunshine behind a driving cloud. "111?" she Inquired, quick solicitude In her tones. I shook my bead as I stepped within. She closed the door behind mo. "Oh. you men, you dissipate so," she said with an attempt at bantering. "Rut I am really surprised at you, Tom. I had thought your morals almost too Immaculate. However, a walk In the outer air will do you good. We will omit the church If you don't care to go Inside.' I only used that aa a subterfuge sub-terfuge to get you to come, you know. Can you forgive such deceit in me?" I looked at her helplessly, marveling at her duplicity. The shadow of a frown came to her brow. "Why don't you say something? You only stand there and stare at me so unpleasantly," ahe went on with a trace of Impatience. Thoroughly sick at heart I addressed her as I changed my mind again Into the determination to confront her with ber beartless-ness. beartless-ness. "Mrs. Dace, I have come to tell you that I cannot see you any more. That you made a fool of me for some purpose of your own. It I of course) i not necessary that I should inform you. That you have wounded me greatly and caused me much lufferlng you may not know; but If l. la any satisfaction for you to h ive that knowledge I now confess It t you. I do not think that I have anything more to say to you except t ask for the key I Inadvertently left lit re and bid you goodby." Her eye opened wide and the stood staring blankly Into my iace. "I don't understand what have I done? you look o strange "she stammered. stam-mered. I d!J not answer. Her mouth straightened a bit and a chill came Into her voice. "Rut I Insist upon knowing. You b ive suddenly sud-denly charged me with very unpleasant unpleas-ant things and I have the right to dumand an explanation In Justice to myself. That right being given me, I may or may not wish to avail myself of my privilege to make a reply. Rut having had that opportunity you need not fear that I shall ask anything further of you. Still, I feel that there must be some mistake. You must explain ex-plain yourself." I turned my face from her a I an-wered an-wered bitterly: "Had any one In the world told nie what I now lnow I should have struck him down. When rumors eamo to my ears I always shut them out because be-cause of my faith In you. Rut what my own eyes see I cannot doubt. I haU grown to trust you Impliclty. and you yourself molded and cemented my faith by your protestations. Thai I loved you better than my own llf I have told you and I think convinced you. You have paid me bark with heartless treachery." "I demand that you tell me Instantly Instant-ly why you say these things, sir." she cried, the hot crimson flaring In hr cheeks. With the cold dfl:ferntioa with which a gladiator might dispatch hit crippled enemy I returned to tho attack. (TO BE CONTINfED., HI Star of Msrcy Had Set. Little Arthur wa very proud of bis membership In tbe "bend of mercy." mer-cy." He wore tbe bsdge. a small tar. as If It were a policeman's Insignia, In-signia, and could often be beard reproving re-proving tbe other boy for there cruet treatment of degs and cata. Hut one day a lady of the neighborhood neigh-borhood was astonished to find blm In the very act of tormentrcg tbe rat n.ost cruelly She protested. "Why. Arthur, what are yu olax? thought you belonged ta tho 'baad of mercy?" " "I did." lie sstd. "but I Km orf tar " Tfco Metropolitan "From Out of tha Car and Into Hi Grasp Thero Stepped tho Woman I Loved." |