Show PAR A AO O DE by evelyn campbell copyright by evelyn campbell bara lc CHAPTER XIII continued 20 what do you want vant of nit me con verse asked curiously lie ile sow saw tit itt in once e that thai a change lind had como coma over tits younger man that he had find it ro do with willi something new and strenge in film ile he wits on guard instantly so far na as lie could surmise he had nothing to fear from tills this youngster choin aiom he fit could crush ns as easily as lie lind had crushed a bit of shelf underfoot know ing how flow it came caine there but he wits prepared to be cautious fur for lie he lind learned leal ned to bit be wary of unexpected blows ile he felt in his pocket and pro deuced a single cigar it sas not a place for nor a time y et e C con ning verse could not have carried on w with ith out this weapon behind Us its shelter sli elter lie could think impassively prep prepare tire its defense strike you are excited he said but brian was not excited and he knew it lie he asked evenly what have you done to mrs roth converse could not believe that he had heard aright doue done to hert her he repented ile ie was ns a little hurt huit here was a young man whom lie he hud had recommended in a world where tact Is HIP lie most desirable of all qualities nil and yet vet lie he wits was being approached by this and a comans womans name mos subtle of weapons ua pons used as a bludgeon ile he took refuge in the time honore I 1 1 I dont don t known what you mean tian I 1 will explain said brinn lie ile wits was perfectly cool knowing that lie he hid had already ruined himself and content to he be ruined if tills this would bring him nearer tits his objective so something has happened to mrs roth ml and I 1 believe you know what it Is I 1 am asking you to tell felt me the llie emphasis wits was so slight that flint an ear car less keen than his hearers might tune have missed lt it converse reflected renei ted it was plain pi aln that the youngster yo wa nas s a little mild mad through love for or linda doubtless lie he was the sort that love could play the deuce with duels and after a m man tin Is forty tits his veins do not respond to thrills of adventure ile he was divided between two HO instincts that of the primitive to fight for what lie he still held of tier her or to give her over as useless to him film self knowing that all was past between them forever tier her bruised wings had carried tier her too fa far from him after all brian ans astonished to tead lead sad ness in the other mans eyes ees I 1 you tire asking for my honor converse said slowly not yours her honor converse drawled then it Is a womans comans lionor honor I 1 am to give into your hands wily A vein sprang out on brians fore head bead ile he was not as calm calin now as tile the older man who had the advantages of experience expel lence and sluggish blood I 1 1 11 I am glad that you added a question alon to hint he said bemuse because 1 will tell you ion wily why because I 1 love her because I 1 love her as site she Is because I 1 must follow tier her wherever she has gone converse was tiring their few words nords had covered limitless emotion he felt it surging past him with tho dauntless wings of youth triumph love all that he hid had lost in his success success cess there Is nothing lie he lie heird ard himself saying slie site was a little girl I 1 helped and then site she was ft as a woman I 1 wanted my aly way of getting gelling what I 1 want Is not your way nay because nature gave me this tie he glanced obliquely at his obese body with a sort of sick contempt so he must have looked upon himself in al aloneness loneness tits his laughter infighter run rumbled bled 1 I 1 find to snare my mv birds but sometimes I 1 failed anti and this wits such a time ile he topped stopped astonished as toni shed at his own lack of interest in what nhat had hap bened tie he discovered flint ie t e did not desire linda itoch tiny any langei ile he had wanted tier her for or years vears find schemed ned to win her favor or to buy it nt at any an price pipe and now he could let her KO go wearily it vias vas difficult to remember ie he relt felt for her even yesterday lie he got up dropping the end of tits his cigar in a brass bowl wishing now no thai he tied had not smoked for it if ans bit ter mouth slie site took money from me for years y ou know then suddenly she decided 11 that she bile would bould not haap any more what happens to women when they begin to split hairs usually tile the thing they are trying to avoid site she was va the worst kind of a client she cheated herself probably Pio bably she need q money now brian stepped hick back sick find and ap palled lie he could not kill hill a man for giving him tile truth he had bad asked for shame surge surged over him in a w wave ik te and when it receded he w was a s alone CHAPTER XIV dont you remember the girl in the alie coatroom tont cont room rive give him flint his belongings she was nn fin old i young oung tiling thing and forgave forgive the tip he forgot lie he discovered us readily that undo was not in her room and was told at the same time that she had left the hotel by the ser service v tee elevator cut but from the starter at the taxi stand he be learned lerned more A lady had gone ono from the hotel fifteen in tallies minutes before stitt sha W A a not alone the man watched brians face carefully as tie ae those his words her on looked tike like a dick be audd plain clothed the starter wits na almost sure of that per imps halts the nex next t chauffeur in line knew something brin ill inn found himself in a taxi amov lug ing carefully over icy streets cheso fellows seemed st to guess a lot uc tie understood der IPP stood from their silence that they knew more inn tie he dared think tie HP told ined tile the driver to follow the tie other tall lab in tile flie suspected find aind knowing that hi it the lie moment of ove tit k ing it meant eVer to hc her and himself lil lie found Illin self thinking less of that and morel merely y wondering if she wore a warm boak e and if the icy sleet J thill beat the window pane could find its wily way to tier sort soft cheek tile I 1 he till nh careened shiv red and r stood food still helpless in its c enins L the e spoke doubtfully throng MB who shall I 1 go on sli sit jo go on where 1 rile I he night was a maze mae of gray streets ets gray people lumps lamps II 11 irling against icy veils of rain where would lie find tier her in that pliant agnia goran but lie knew flint he must and aou would id with the certainty certainly hint flint love and gives presently she sha will lot lie he tit in his firms and ti alint in I 1 imps s ible parting ouid would be no more strange thoughts rioted through his mind opening and shutting doors of lilt ells cells where liere illicit delt nil all the infinite life of his post past and the indefinable nebulae of the lie fi that was to have been and lie future that would be lie find followed will 0 the wisps yesterday ile he had been a boy worship ing ideals clot lied tied fantastically in such bodies ns ni that of converse but today lie he ans something else not rann man lis as he knew men but a sort of power w tell because lie he loved a woman enough elou en ou could sweep a path for 1 ler er th roligh the lie waste places ft where here site 81 was lost all flint lie had tt wanted anted existed no longer except wherein it concerned her it was like the play of children f rhotten 0 before a greater shuttle shame lie HP save saw himself in tier her eyes ees incomplete slie site could put jilin him aside because site believed him too weak to defend her or because she would not accept a defense that had find been blind to her d hut bill now that he knew her con arol wits uis over tier her decisions became the plaintive cries of a woman left alone in the wilderness lie he was brought from this by the swift flight of the car ns as it sli lill ii half around and caine groaning to a stop beside the curb it was liepus sible to distinguished anything but bul lights find and a moving mass mas beyond tile hie blurred windows but lie heard the reproachful ful voice of his driver coiling calling to him you see that sir air A bad accident accident it aln aint t a night for a dawg to be out tn in ve got the street roped olt off ill have to go around the block sir air brians hand moved to the door lian ban tile die before tits his mind registered his intention tent lon his instincts were all awake him upon a tierce tide ile he sprung sprang out of the car telling the mun man to wait the street was a jumble of broken things A thin line of onlookers shivering in tile the ruin rain but kept warm by their activity pressed against one nu au other forcing their wily way inch by inch upon the forbidden grauna police in glen gleaming ming rubber coats ordered then them hack back threatening with clubs what words W failed to effect the front tires of an automobile el were lie pivot of this street war and id brian pushing his wily way through the line saw a grotesque wreck of mil mal chinery clil nery that seemed to be sitting down atlant at lust after thousands of weary miles cro HE BE CONTINUED |