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Show (rTHEOT fy""Z DY LOUIS TRACY. erjA A hansom darted out of the station, and the occupants, two sun-tanned men, stamped with tho cavalry seal, each clutched nt a window-rest and exchanged ex-changed frinllcs of quick understanding. understand-ing. 'Great Scott!" cried tho major, "It's good to bo back In God's country after aft-er two and n half years In tho Philippines! Philip-pines! Look nt tho girls In muslin! Jimmy, let's charter tho hansom for the afternoon and go round and see things!" IIIj excitement met with no response. re-sponse. Glnnolng nt his companion, ho suddenly checked tho further outburst out-burst on his lips. "What's up, Jimmy? No bad news, I hope?" "Bad news! 1 bao had none at all." "Fnlthl there's plenty of good fish In tho sea. ricllcvo me, Jimmy, thoro is safety in numbers. I hao run after aft-er women all my llfo nnd novor caught ono yet, so I haVo had all the sport nnd nono of tho worry." Tennant ngrecd with him. Ho was In no mood for discussion, nor did bis friend's cynical badinage appeal to him at tho moment At last, when the major had gone oft to n rlub Tcnnnnt stood Irresolutely Ir-resolutely In the foyer of his hotel whilst prldo and common sense wrestled wres-tled for supremacy. Prldo said: "Why troublo your soul about a womnn who has utterly Ignored Ig-nored Jon for bIx long months, and now treats your homecoming with absolute ab-solute indifference? Give her no further fur-ther heed." But common sense whispered: "Find out tho truth before you decide. You would have trusted Elsie Staple'ton with your life, your future, your honor. Do not now condemn her unheard." . He wan n hard man and an obstinate one. Not readily, nor yet In stinted measure hnd he bestowed his love, and the causeless, merciless abandonment to which he had been subjected had seared his heart. Novcrtholess, prtao went under In the strugglo, and bo started forth to ascertain from tho lady herself why ho no longer found favor In her sight When ho reached the lady's house, sho was not there; indeed no ono know whero she was. Her father had given up tho house eight months ago, and in Now York, whero no man knows his noxt door neighbor, tho Interval In-terval opposed a blank wall agalnBt further Inquiry It struck him as a small coincidence that at tho period of this ihange ot residence ho was In the wildest part of tho Philippines and temporal lly Incapacitated from writing homo. Letters from Elsie, breathing lovo nnd hope, continued to roach him by dovlmis routes for some weeks Then silence! Being a determined man, ho Interviewed Inter-viewed local tradesmen, policemen post oflji o officials, und finally a doctor, doc-tor, litre ho found a clow. Yes, exactly ex-actly eight months ngo, Miss Elsie Stnpletou, suddenly became very III received a shock, he believed, by unexpected un-expected news concerning a friend In tho Philippines, nnd was taken abroad by her father. Tho girl was dnngor-ously dnngor-ously ill. Ablaze with uncertainty, Tennant went back to his hotel. A man awaited await-ed his arrival, an army officer, like himself, and it was sufficiently amazing amaz-ing to read on tho stranger's card: "Capt J. W. Tennnnt." "I hnre been chasing you round tho world," he explained. "My business is important. Can we have a quiet talk Bomowhero?" Jlmmle led his namesako to a sit-tlng-roon. Hero the other Capt Tennant Ten-nant seated himsolf, lit a clgnrette, and producod an envelope. "Do you recognize the handwriting?," ho said Jlmmle required no second glance It wns Elsie's. "How tho deuce did this come into your possession?" be demandod, fiercely. fierce-ly. "Hold onl This affair may hae caused j'ou somo troublo, but not halt so much as It has given me. Now, Just sit still and listen. My name happens to bo Join Watson Tennant My wife, whom I recently married, nnd who was a mlllloaalro's widow, happens to be extremely jealous. Sho collects my correspondence I don't mind, as I thought all tho letters would bo from duns. I didn't count on recolvlng loto-Ictters, loto-Ictters, nn-J devilish woll-wrltten ones at that, from n young Indy namoj Elsie. Cy Jovel didn't sho raako it hot for iao? Never a word did she let on, thoi.gh, for I should have discovered discov-ered tho mistake nt once. To her there was only ono J. W. Tennant In exigence, exig-ence, nnd she did not bellovo '-e who I showed her yqur namo In the nnm list I must admit that the last .ctlcr appeared, to Justify her suspicions.' "Tho last Jctterl" "Yes. I nm awfully sorry for you, old man, but I couldn't help It. MIih Elsie evidently saw an account of my marriage in .omo papers and thought It was yours, as you bad not written to her for somo weeks. Then the fat was in tho fire with my wife, I moan, Since that ilccument reached nor uhi has roadn my llfo u misery, oomoaiiod mo to learo the service, pays ail the blll-i, never gives mo u red cent, und alternately tics me to her apron string and threatens dlvorco proceedings. "Give me ... my letterel" gasped Jimmy. Tho other' man murbed discordant-r. "I am utmost In tho dhorco court for demanding even an envelope," ho cried. -.uy wlfo sleeps on them, nnd rends them twice a day whenovor sho thinks 1 am wheedling her n bit Now, It yon led equal to It, come with mo to my hotel ami try all you know to persuade per-suade her that Elsto belongs to you, nnd not to me." The porsuueion took n form that lfl rich und elderly Sirs Tcnnnnt was not accustomed to. It astounded nnd gratified grat-ified her happy-o-lucky husband to eco tho way In which she quailed be foro Jimmy's wrath. Tho lntter walked straight Into her palatial sulto and thrust somo ola and frayed letters bo-fore bo-fore her eyes. "You have some of my correspondence correspond-ence In jour possession," ho said, with an Intensity of passion that cowed her Instantly. "They ure letters written to me by a Miss Elsie Staplcton. You will recognize her handwriting. Will you gho them to me quietly, or must I take them by forco?" "John!" sho shrieked, "protect mol" "Darling," said her bettor half. "I nm helpless. This is tho otlwr Capt J. W. Tennant. You refused to bellovo be-llovo me, ducky, when I assured you" "Do you hear, woman?" growled Jimmy. "Your miserable Jealousy has entangled, perhaps wrecked, the happiness hap-piness of two people who novor Imagined Imag-ined that such a crcaturo ns you could come between them, alvo me my letters, let-ters, or by the bones of your martyred first husband, I will" That was enough. Sho produced a crumpled packet from tho bosom ot her dress. Without n word ot npology ' or further comment, Jimmy stood whero he was and read tho blurred lines, for tho lady had wept hot lean over them, nnd tho paper was almost In tatters. Tho silly mlstako which might yet hao a tragic ending was quickly revealed. Elslo had indeed seen in a newspaper nn account ot tho marrlngo, and her lover's prolonged pro-longed sllenco at that unhappy Juncture Junc-ture forced her to tho conclusion that ho had Jilted her. Her last little nolo ot farewell wrung his heart In agony. It was a long and difficult search for ten days. Jimmy's chief difficulty was that the only persons who knew th Staplctons' whereabouts regarded him as on unprincipled scoundrel, and refused re-fused to seo him. Then ho found tho "BOMIHIOW," B011I!i:i) Till! amu "I NUVUIt JIHALLY DOUBTHD YOU" girl's aunt, and tho woman know that this story was true. Sho told him tint Elsie, who had been near to death, was slowly recovering her healtn in Florida. Ho went fiero by tho next steamer, steam-er, and wltn him traveled Mr, nnd Mrs. Tennant the latter most unwillingly, unwill-ingly, but -tnomod now Into subjection subjec-tion to hor lord nnd master. With a soldier's strategy tho leader of mounted mount-ed Infantry first ctptured Elsie's father fa-ther and tnnilo him listen to reason. Then it wns thought ndvlBnblo that tho dnmo should bo forced to go and 'oil her story to Elsie, and thus prepaa her for tho comlm; of her lover, Sho played her part honestly, but with whlmpors Sho happened, ton io hear what Elr.lo said when Jimmy tc-OK hor in his arms. "Somehow," sobbed the girl, "I never really doubted you. I road a description descrip-tion of this woman and saw her photographand pho-tographand then 1 thought that fser or hardship had affected your brum " lly succeeding mulls from tbo Philippines Philip-pines camo batches of Jimmy's correspondence, corre-spondence, returned through tbo dead letter office, nnd Elslo enjoyed reading read-ing them, now that they wero married, a great deal moro than If ho were still In tho far east. The two Tonnonts occasionally piny bridge together at tho sarna club, but tho two Mrs. Tonnunts will never be real friends, though they meet at times. |
