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Show MiiiillBaiTl tsmm Mmtrm'mmm jiM iWKUB&jhnMMClfMi I Tilt) Life to Liv By E I I afm F ' St m H m , RCHDALE had gone CBSS down from the var- j5vBjttQft promise and ambl-IJj ambl-IJj TOlaeVaE tlon.. Neither had ffSfohV been fulfilled, for bla jwf wasj not the work 4 l53fv5 ,ljat satisfies a crowd IrQ which demands om-mt om-mt fey 1 9 nlecience at one-half penny A Now bla eyes reated on the old castle amid the ruins of which he had played f as a lad. There also, a little lator, ho had wooed her with whom, when life's prizes seemed to He within his reach, he had dared to dream of the "fellow-ablp "fellow-ablp more quiet even than solitude." Well, he had the solitude Instead, and she, as Boon aa his failure 1 1 "range himself was apparent beyond a doubt, had married the soldier-cousin soldier-cousin . bravo in all the honors of a frontier war. and had gone out to India. In-dia. He had never seen her again, and he had never lovod another woman. wom-an. Once more his eyea sought the water, and life seemed as futile as tne effort of those endless waves, rolling up to the shingle, burryin? back tot reinforcements, then returning to toe charge and apendlng their atrengtn, all to pollah a few pebbles! Why had life glreu him no chance no single chance" Other mer l of his year bad risen in the world through Influence push, luck, anything but merit , . , . Ogllvle, who had married .the plain daughter of Graythome, the biggest solicitor in Lincoln's Inn, had taken silk, and waa doubling his wife o already al-ready handsome income. 4 Barton, to whom that South African millionaire had takon a fancy on tne Union Caatle boat on tho way out to Madeira, was managing mlDB. which, at any rate at the time, uo know nothing at all), and had an Income of four figures. Only, he, Archdale. had been loft Of a sudden, brought, back to earth from the shadowy mists of a profitless past, he realized that his eye had unconsciously un-consciously focussed on something of more pressing interest Breasting the rollers, close btBlde the pier, was a falr-halred lad, evidently not enjoying big swim as be should Archdale remembered even now that he had never been a swimmer. A weak ! heart, which he had lived down by tho CtBM he was 30, had precluded any kind of athletics in his school day3 And now he reallred that the lad was In difficulties. The tide evidently had the little fellow down there at its mercy, mer-cy, and was taking him towards the pier. Hang it! if he had only beon a i swimmer he could have saved that ltt-I ltt-I tie life. But for this Hang it, again, 'the boy had gono! Before ho quite ; knew bow. Archdale had leapod on the I rail and dropped feet first cloeo to where the boy had ounk. A acoro of those on the pier rushed to the spot, a hundred others rushed down the beach, and three rowing i boats converged rapld'y on the figures ifloundortng together in tho water, Arcbdalo and tho boy equally hclploss ; ! and now going down together. But I strong hands reaohod out, and, amid i 1 wild choerlng from the shore and oror-' oror-' head, dragged them from death. On the beach thoy lay gasping for : breath, the center of a now enormous ! crowd. A longshoreman was maklns critical romarks about the rraouer'a I behaTlor In tho water. "Bioko looked flT all tbc world as if 'e couldn't swim ; i'laselfl" . . 1 Through the crowd pushed a man who you could aeo with half an eye, meant getting there, assumed his i rlghl to bo in front. The cloan-ahavcu, aqunro-Jawcd face was redoomcd from heaviness by the waving hair that escaped from beneath the panama and by a pair of ayes that Just looked tender ten-der as a mother's. Through the fairway he had made In that sea of humaulty came a younger man. self-possessed, yet evidently a prey to strong emotions. With the help of a policeman they carried the boy between them up the beach, and he was driven off in a fly with the younger young-er man for company The elder, ho with the face suggestive sugges-tive of a copy of Moissonler's "Napoleon" "Napo-leon" a little out of drawing, returned to the beach and made some inquiries of the bystanders, with tho result that he made his way to Archdale. dow on his feci and feeling fooll6h in his dripping clothes. One or two of the more curious In tho crowd, very jackals jack-als for ouch scraps of talks as they could gather without being snubbed, heard such fragments as: "Say, and you can't swim! and yet you legged It over the side after aft-er my little ono ' " The American was a hard man. He had grouDd hl9 lesser rivals in the mill and slopt of nights. Yet ho swallowed swal-lowed a lump in bio throat, and held out hlo hand to Archdale. who felt his own gripped in a vice. "Then you'll dine with ce, anj--ay, this orceins, unless you would rather go straight to bed. Queen's hotel, 7:30." Aftor dinner, over tho port and nuts, Archdale found himself tolling his hoct more of htmcelf and bis life than ho had ever romembored telling any one before. Wbnt ho did not realizo was that be had never beforo boon so good a listener. It was tho way of Shorman P, Dun-otcr Dun-otcr of Duustervlllrt, Prnn.. to llslon while other men did tho talking. That was how he had romo to own $5,000,-000 $5,000,-000 worth of real cslato. I But he was not at this moment bent on Increasing them. His thoughts ' were running in an unwonted channel. Instinctively, however, he realized that he had to deal with a proud and sensitive young man who must be driven gently. It is only in books that the American Ameri-can capitalist is a wholly brutalized machine without one human instinct. Sherman P. Dunstor. who could be as hard as a flint, could also be as tender as a woman. So the evening passed pleasantly enough, and after taking leave of the ladlcB Including a pretty pret-ty daughter with violet eyes and a soft accent that Archdale at once lost his I heart to he returned to his hotel. During the next week he was con-1 ! stantly with his new friends Then ho I had to get back to Fleet street, prom- ; : lslng to dino with them the following ! j week at Claridge's on their way back : to the states. Ho turned the key in the door of his ' ! dingy chambers in tho temple, and j J found only two letters ono a partlcu-I partlcu-I larly offensive summons from his I chief, who had evidently boen short handed, Thlo he had opened first In oase there might bo anything urgent j ; Tho other was marked "Walt arrl-' arrl-' val" and postmarked "Hastings." Hast- ings? Whom did ho know there, except ex-cept But ho ripped open the envelopo, and this ia what he rend: "Queen's Hotel, Hastings, Aug. 27. "My dear Mr. Archdale ThiB lottsr : will await you at your London address, ' which I found In tho dlrootory, as I am anxious not to disturb our few re- , malnlng days of pleasant Intercourse j hero with anything in tho nature of business "I havo gathered from your convor- i cation that you arc not Ucd by any close bonda to tho old country. I havo I i also gathered that you havo had considerable con-siderable experience with hlgh-cla iswiptUDtrSi I "It so happens that I am proprietor ! of the Dunsterville Comet It has not ! hitherto been high class, but it is go-j go-j Ing to be right now if you will take I over the editorship. "Now, don't jump on me and think I am trying to repay you for an act of ' bravery. One does not pay for such deeds; they are their own reward. But I know that you would be the right man in the right piace, and if you take the job you will leave me your debtor "If you could make all Arrangements to come with us, there will be a berth for you on the 15th of next month, and we can Qx up all details on the voy-I voy-I age. "SHERMAN P. Dt'NSTER." I Majestically the big steamer steamed steam-ed up the middle of Now York harbor. It was a glorious morning, and the statue of Liberty seemed to smile less ironically than usual on the huddled immigrants who had givon up one slavery for another, who had fled from tho tyranny pf czars to that of the dollar. dol-lar. Archdale leaned over the rail, and beside him leaned Violet Eyes. Friendship Friend-ship does not halt on board ship, particularly par-ticularly between two young people who are excellent sailors, who prefer walking miles round tho promenade deck when tho rest of the passengers are In dock chairs. For tho next throe months violet Eyes was going to stay with friends In New York Tho last day or two, however, her Interest In It had perceptibly per-ceptibly wanod. and now tho minx was actually lmpctlont for Christmas at dear old Dunstonllle. Archdale had Just expressed tho hopo that he would still bo thoro. Ho had Insisted, in his prido and IndepcD-donco. IndepcD-donco. on a three months' tral, at tho end of which, If lie felt unoqual to his now duties, bo was to return, handsomely hand-somely reimbursed, to Europe. "Why, auro," said Violet Eyes, "and why shouldn't you?" that he had been pretending to read "Well, you see." was the reply, "the when ehe came along from her state-experiment state-experiment of an editor out from home room. It was a dainty volume of Ste-may Ste-may not answer. I'm not. sure that I'll vonson's essajs. such an old favorite be up to the hustle and bustle ot your of his that he knew long passages by country." i heart. "O. you'll learn. We'll teach you." tFinHdln 'hcu lT'l The eves were dancing now. cloaed .he book snd handed It to her I , with a corner turned down. "Anyhow." was Archdale s next re- ,.Rea(j tnat wlll you?.. And mark. Til never live another week goon hfi (,f( bor gojn(J tQ gee hl8 8tew. : like this has been never Life can t arJ about 8maU bafr5age, j hold two such weeks of freedom and CyDfbia wlth a n,tie shrug of the completeness I never lived before. shoulders, carelessly opened tho book. Ob. memory! what of the matron aDd, reading down the page, came to even at this moment. In far-off Simla. words that sent the blood mantling tho going in to dinner on tho arm of a i whiteness of her neck and brow Mko military star of the first magnitude? sunrise on the anow-llne: "To llvo "Wbv. now. that's lovely of you to i out of doora with tho woman a man say so, Mr Archdale; but but why j loves Is of all lives the most comploto "freedom and completeness'?" and free " I For answer, be took up a little book I And that was how he told her. I |
