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Show If The Fruijof roily I Copyright, 1915, by Patho Bxchsuiire, Inc. All movlnjr picture riphts and All M foreirn oopyrichta strictly reserved. B '(CONTINUED FBOU YESTERDAY.) "Hello. Clay, this you? Well, hurry flown while you have been dallyinc p.t home we have gone under we're ruined completely smashed." This was the message that had i startled Clay at his late breakfast: I this was the message that had sent I him hurriedly downtown, his head- ' ache increasing with every step to 1 I the curb, his burning temples throb- 1 i bJncr in,u"oji with the engine of his I car. I Irwin wasted no time In prelimi- rarles when Clay hurriedly entered the firm's luxuriously furnished prl-I prl-I vatc offlcas. ft "Fine business," he shouted, angrily Bhoving tho letter at his Junior part- "I came to get some money, Edgar." Ed-gar." "But your allowance, child?" interposed in-terposed the father. "You've drawn It In advance now." A scarlet flush slowly overspread the young matron's features as sho hung her head. "I know, father, but I lost It. I played at Cora's at Mrs. Blako's, ond now,-unIess I can got some money at once, my name will be ruined. I simply must pay my gambling debts. They are debts of honor and must b met." Perhaps if Isabelle had made her demand at a more opportune time; perhaps if Clay had been less harsh. In his refusal, old King Folly might have been foiled; might have lost two promising victims, and what follows M "YES 1 KNOW YOUR WEAKNESS. YOU WERE DRUNK ; ' AND WE ARE RUINED." fier. "Fine business this, missing an JH7 appointment of such Importance; H" ( Neglecting to secure the extension of jHo that note; fine business." Br Clay, confused and ashamed, an- ' ewerod nothing. - I. "Oh. Edgar, Edgar, I trusted you," JH continued, tho older man. "My only jH folly has been that I placed any re- xm sponslbllity In you. And this Is the re- 1 suit, Why didn't you get the exten- r A eion on that not?" Ji I "I forgot." began Clay In schoolboy j fashion. "I forgot I meant to at- l tend to It. To tell you the truth I started for Neal's office, but I met 1 ome of the boys there and. I I I, . "well, I made a night of It. I forgot a business and everything- else. T ell. you know my weakness, Rus-a Rus-a ell." J ' U k "Yes. I know your weakness. I f. H A S-"'Wt. too, that you Inherited it from 'r n vL Vour Por dead father. PerhapB you are not entirely to blame. I -Hould a have known better than to have left t; i F bo important a detail to you. i J "I might have known, what the re- c k SlJLtT,vouW be; J micht have known. l Z0TJ WERE DRUNK AND "WE ARE j c RUINED." S . C . Earnestly but without passion the I ; J two men entered into a discussion of :. f ways and means, Irwin emphatic and T Ad; Clay penitent and agitated. , ' The more they talked and figured and ; Planned, the worse things seemed to .. t look. Thelr's was a cloud apparently . il without the proverbial silver lining. i K So earnestly wero they engaged In m conversation that neither heard the J ft entrance of Isabelle. Her manner was i . still nervous and the agitated state of j U her mind was betraj'ed, if in no other M way, by the rostloss flash In her eye ;I and the quick, sharp jerk of her m J words: jlr "I hop I'm Tiot Intruding, gcntle- mM I men." I Thoy both started. Hli ne lk at Isabelle's frankly open ! countenance assured them that she H. I ad not overheard their discussion W nd both men breathed .more easily. I ft v they nad any doubts as to their " belief, th.ey were quickly dispelled by MM hr next remark. might never have, been written. Such is the weakness of man, however, such Is the frailty of human nature, that forgetting entirely for the moment that his own folly of the day before had plunged his firm into virtual bankruptcy; forgetting that more than half of his wife's folly might Justly be laid at his own door; forgetting for-getting everything but his boiling, unreasoning un-reasoning rage. Edgar lashed himself into a blind fury. "I can't glvo you a cent Isabelle," he shouted, "and if you foolishly gamble again, I'll repudiate your debts." "Very well, Edgar," she answered coldly, "what follows will be on your own head." And haughtily, majestically majestic-ally like a queen of tragedy she swept from the room, leaving the two men still more depressed to wrestle with their problem a problem that seemed without answer. And there we, too, will leave them "for the present, pres-ent, CHAPTER III. Peter West lay dying. And 'the secret that was dying with him grew heavy on his conscience. At the very time thai; Edgar Clay and his partner wore seeking to pierce the black pall of ruin that was slowly pressing down on them, he was seeking to penetrate tho still blacker curtain of the future seeking to know his fate. "I didn't do it; I didn't have anything any-thing to do with it. God knows I'm Innocent," he mumbled over and over to himself. The nurse leaned over him. "Did you call?" she asked. "It wai nothing." he feebly answered, an-swered, "I was talking to myself. "I didn't do it. God knows it's nothing noth-ing on my soul I'm innocent Innocent Inno-cent Innocent." But the still small voice could not be silenced. And . so Peter West hesitated hesi-tated at the door of eternity. His laden soul refused to cross the border with Its weight of guilty knowledge Again the nurse leaned over him. "Send for Edgar Clay," he whispered. whis-pered. 1 (COHTIKUED TOMOEKOW.), - |