Show SE F M AVENUE J t WYNDHAM MARTYN COPYRIGHT in 17 SA the fan UNITED STATES CHAPTER IX continued 18 because exhibit B will cause you considerable distress and I 1 lave have I 1 known men of your type to see red in such moments 11 baxon balanced a square envelope in his thin hands it if its blackmail you are thinking of in connection with me said mc ble kimber scornfully you are wasting time its you who aho are using old fashioned stupid stuff not me I 1 tell you my life is an open book with one uncut page baxon remarked ive cut that page it cost time and money but it was the best investment I 1 eer made think back a bit over this life of yours that Is an open book Is there anything in it that might hurt you it if it got out not a thing cried lIc Mc KImber defiantly fi but there was lacking that ring of confidence he be had previously shown fear was mastering him there was no madness about this steady eyed man opposite very well said bald baxon briskly you force we me to speak you talk of yourself as a self made roan man who rose from being a machinist to the ownership of a vast organization true in chos who its written for all the world to see but there are certain omissions I 1 can supply them why you are here BIc Kimber to listen to the writing between the lines when you were twenty you left utica utoca tor for st lorils and got a job in the davis foundry there you studied drafting and three years later having made good entered the employ of william graham mrs uncle who owned the rochester steel and iron mills later you married his niece well said raid Mc Kimber his throat constricting what about it your employer singled her out of all his relatives and left his fortune to her on condition she married you he had bad confidence in you lie ile had bad read the open book and liked the contents if he had had access to that uncut page he be would have known that your first wife was still living 1 I divorced her cried 1 I can prove it the decree was not made absolute abo lute until three months after you married your employers niece its a nice legal point and ive no doubt his other nephews and nieces would be quite ready to fight it it if the condition of getting the fortune was your marriage to grahams niece you did not it because you did not marry her A bigamous union Is not marriage in the eyes of the law you must have bare known that or you have gone through a second ceremony the first marriage was by a justice of the peace the second was at a new york church you obtained grahams fortune under false pretenses and you were a bigamist its no good denying 10 it it was all done innocently mc ble elmber protested As god Is my witness I 1 thought I 1 wab free to marry in the divorce suit abre was nothing that reflected on me personally what has that to do with it baxon asked cynically it may be that you thought thou glit you were tree free to marry but that makes no difference the world wont think thin that westfield wont think that thal nor kor will the big papers that are supporting him youre through Mc Kimber all never hold public office again it if this gets out not all you are going to help me into the senate and your friends are going to help if your friends try and knife me m you are the one who will bleed Mc Kimber bat motionless baxon cared nothing about his hl innocence guilty or innocent was wag the loser ile he turned dull eyes toward the envelope braxon held up in this Is the entry of your first marriage someone cut a page out of the register and offered it to me tor for sale I 1 bought it there are also some come letters you wrote to your first wife when you found she was wag a secret drinker dri nier her son by a second mar tinge sold them to my agent pathetic letters in their way but you know how the modern yellow nevis newspaper paper laughs at pathetic things especially when they affect political opponents I 1 hope the need for publication may never come some day they may be yours what do you want for that envelope it if it contains what you say never haie hae halt half enough money to buy it why do you yon persist in underestimating me realize here and now that you are beaten you will never go to the senate it if I 1 dont go then westfield wins and you will be the traitor to your party no further dISCUS Is necessary what la is it to be absolute obedience or do these things go to westfield lead head dropped there was a consciousness of physical feebleness about him a which bei h had never before experienced it was curious lie he reflected that the sense of anger had bad left him it was the measure of his d defeat 11 1 I cant talk now tomorrow my brain will be clearer unsteadily he rose to his feet and walked to the door paul rason watched him go out a broken man oriental in his absence of pity he enjoyed humiliating one of Mc Kimbers domineering sort to bring low such gave him en an increased sense of power ile he disliked big arrogant men with loud voices and assured gestures rason was aroused from his pleasing reflections by a noise on the door it was alfred the dark footman who entered and told him that he be was wanted on the long distance telephone braxon shut the pre prec cloua loue envelope in his wall safe and passed ow oo 00 s not even glancing at the man who stood respectfully fully at the door when leming fleming F bradney was assured that baxon had gone cone lie he hurried back into the room then lie he did a curious thing lie ile kneeled down by one of the ar as good as a fired said barnes bookcases and pried back a board with a screwdriver screw driver then he peered into the darkness where he be had recently been mistaken for a rat bradney reached into this space and pulled out nita head bead first she wore tiding riding breeches and golf stockings and at first could hardly stand upright the constraint of the position had become torture in hands bands was a notebook several pencils and a flashlight eiery word which had bad passed was taken down it was her task now to go to her room and transcribe it tor for peter mil mans benefit it was not until the two had passed the danger zone tl at they spoke well bradney demanded did you get anything 1 I got everything she an answered sered he wondered why there was no exultation in her voice bradney resumed his duties which consisted mainly in handing banding refreshments to thirsty dancers for a little while he be stood by barnes its all right bradney whispered she says she has everything she must be tickled to death at getting it eh on the contrary she looked depressed I 1 understand it at the time of course there was physical discomfort and constraint and the possibility lot being found out shell be all right tomorrow said barnes gleefully later he had the opportunity to talk it over with viscount do de guillain Gull Guill lain aln well said the sculptor eagerly what happened he listened to what barnes had to say has hag nita shown you anything betl yet no none of us COD can go to her room because ashes supposed to I 1 be out for the evening and its ifa locked bradney says gays slie she wast lit as cheerful as a she might have been I 1 wonder why she might bare heard something damaging to Alc Kimber 1 I why should that distress her 11 avent you yet seen that your girt and robin are in love with one another my god millet malet went on I 1 passionately siona slona tely to barnes extreme surprise are you so blind floyd malet had witnessed the whole affair lie he was more sensitive to it than his companions because he had fallen hopelessly in love with her himself it was one of those charming and romantic attachments which come to men of middle years and bring them at first an agony that time transmutes to the truest of friendships never wholly separated from the love which brought it to flower 1 alta would do nothing to upset our plans barnes said it if she has one quality aboe others that I 1 admire it Is a loyalty oya ty shell stick by us 1 I doubt her loyalty malet said quietly there Is something which brings in its train great suffering I 1 leave tomorrow iva im afraid I 1 have not been much use as good as fired said gald barnes barnea gertrude baxon fights her all the time I 1 shall be glad to get out of it ive been talking to the swedish maids about it they seeni seem certain ashes going and dont want her generous wage scale to be cut down barnes was presently called into mr radons presence it appears said gald braxon that you told the other man to fetch me to the telephone for a long distance call central tells me there have been no long distance calls since luncheon how did that happen he looked keenly at itt enry central said enry with lofty scorn if I 1 was you sir id complain about that young woman ive ad to speak to her very severe myself but she dont care with your permission id like to call er up and give er a piece of my mind it would not be a valuable present baxon said 1 I will see that this does not cot occur again anything else sir enry asked atlace a trace of insolence in his voice CHAPTER X mrs It cHimber was only concerned that the girl her son chose should be sufficiently in love with him she loved beauty and had bad been attracted to agatha at first sight mrs birs mckim her ber was prepared to help her son she realized that it would not be easy vo 0 o bring her husband to agree with her had bad learned that a senator even from the empire state does not ex officio find the doors open to him that shelter the great names in american society lie he wished robin to marry into a family which had entree to the best when robin had gladly made the sacrifice he be found the girl put obstacles in the way she did not flutter to his arms she was no begg beggar armald maid to his king gloomily be wondered it if she was fond of some other man the viscount was good looking lie he had poise and breeding agatha had been brought up in europe where disparity in age Is less a bar to marriage than in the united states they had bad met before they had bad common acquaintances and the de Gull Guil lains he was told were all rich robin smoked many cigarettes over the problem he was surprised to hear bear a knock at his door it was his fabber who carne came in why father be cried Is there anything the matter mr air Bic Kimber was stooped ills his bold resolute car ilage was gone lie he looked as one might who had undergone severe mental or physical strain not a thing said the elder with an effort at smiling ive been thinking robbie and I 1 see I 1 have made a great many mistakes in my life robin listened in silence never before had he heard his father in anything but an assured and contented mood 1 I tried to dictate to you awhile ago said Bic Kimber and I 1 tried to dictate to the girl youre fond of I 1 told you it if you marry a girl I 1 approved of we should pull apart I 1 told her that if anyone knowing what money you would inherit thought she could get it by marrying you without my consent there be any money robins face hardened you had bad no right to do that we may as well understand one another ive asked miss bliss brown to marry me I 1 your social ambitions if I 1 she wont marry me nobody else will be asked TO BE CONTINUED |