Show vie to 1 A hurs 1 years of conservatism and impeccable ethics in ills dealings with men had finally succeeded in grinding into thomas mares con consciousness one bitter outstanding conclusion tile the alleged law of compensation coro pensa tion was no law at all men alen who practiced ruthless tactics with their fellow men seemed to be the ones who succeeded women who defied the cardinal virtues which in the recesses of ills his old fashioned heart thomas still held sacred seemed to be the ones who reaped more usually than not the wages of sin bin seemed to be not death but more of life As he grew older and more bitter and more awre resigned to the disillusionment of the twenty years since he had been on his bis own in the struggle for existence thomas found himself more and more frequently airing some of his bitterness in n the presence of adalla adalia his big wife who was part of the reason for the sullen resentment sen sent ment truent that tugged at his heart like a tide no more that than in his own case did J there seem any reason for the sul len kind of fate that dogged at the life of Ada adalia lift she was a go good d wife store more than that she was a good mother and it ever a woman played her game of life fairly roll anil squarely with due regard tor for others with fidelity toward her husband and nd adoration toward her children that women woman was wag adalla Adi ilia and yet here was tile the fifteenth christmas since thomas had bad married tier her and only y the annual heartbreak ol of inadequate holiday spirit anade aviate funds and fear of fl facing acla her christmas morning t to confront children on C her in the way of holiday anthel pation the slow anger that had bad been lying embers to in the heart of thomas throughout hout the years of their marriage bwl to catch ore bre tills this time what laid 1 adalla adalea dune done except be sweet sac lifie tug tolerant and godly to dee alerre the insistently drab fate that lugged cad at her footsteps tofit steps since tier her marm NO to thomas Th ornus what aliat liat had bad thomas himsl himself alf done ex etoi conscientiously as f is a olin man try ry a as how to fulfill his obligations 10 lo children and tile his fatuity family and and why was lie he at forty live five un bit tile ladder of 10 lo get footing fooling on beyond his wretched role of stant gardener in the household boll behold of all street magnate who lived on 00 UZ long lland ahland deep within the rebelling rebell lus heart ot of thomas mare rancor against his employer against the little littie girl daughter ot of his employer against the whole scheme of society that made his big state of 0 oppression possible began to burn and rage and finally sweep through his being another christmas at hand another period of beholding adalla adalia scraping and pinching to afford her children the minimum joy of this season another christmas day dreaded because it would expose the disappointment and yearning concealed by the valiant little faces of his youngsters another christmas of being obliged to face the denied face of his big wife across the loan dinner table and of trying to ig nore the fact that life was persistently cruelly passing them by the plan to improve upon the scheme of his universe and somehow obtain for his brood some of the compensations which had all of their lifetime been denied them began to grow in the heart ot of thomas mare blare the third month after he had obtained his position as assistant gardener on the longman estate in long island for a man to reconcile himself to a society that was vas built on foul undergrowth wasl was folly months of that secret mental fodder succeeded in rous ing within thomas mare the impulse and the courage to carry out an act that two or three years before would have seemed to him to be the act of a mad man thomas hare blare had reason to know that to in a drawer of a desk in the room in which bich theodore longman slept there usually reposed a roll of 0 bank notes sufficient to keep mares blares family in luxury oer a period of years to longman this sum represented merely the running funds of a vast household to mare this sun sum represented escape a fresh start in another part of the world with adalla adalia opportunity for his children and curiously stubbornly almost insanely to in the mind of thomas stare mare was the determination that this year there would he be no little frustrated faces around his christmas table no scheming on the part of adalla adalia to cover up heartache the mares blares were going to have their first real and in ili his desperation thomas even said to blin himself self tile the mares blares were going to have their first real christmas even if a ly fly by night promoter named theodore longman was going to be found dead in bis big bed on christmas christinas day secretly cautiously subtly and with a finesse that amazed himself the plans of thomas mare took shape so clever these plans that even in the eventuality of having to use force once he found himself in the apartment of 0 theodore longman it would be impossible to truce tile crime to the innocuous second gardener the family of mare blare was about to be emancipated tapa papa am I 1 going golub to get a sled for christmas here it came again the innocent and authentic desires of his hii innocent of calill dren that frig frightened d look in the face of attalla adalla that hear heartache tache look the plans of tho thomas as stare mure took shape aud and there was within film neither fear nr nor indecision with it tile the christmas eve cunie came and rounding up of plans he hail had been carefully making over a of nine weeks nothing falling failing ill him ut at senen seen thirty oclo ck in tile evL evening nIng Thor thomas 9 are had find F laron ranion to kaw that repos right hand band drawer in I 1 ing ng in the upper the bedroom of 1 theodore I IOng 1 mao of bank notes bundle would be a 11 amounting to six thousand three hundred and fifty dollars at e eight of that christmas eve thomas mare blare had reason to know that most of 0 the household would be asse assembled milled in the great lower hall helping to prepare a great christmas iree for little miss alsa matilda longman age alesen en at eleven eleen according to custom theodore longman would retire io to his bedroom turn on his reading lamp for an hour or t two 0 before he fell asleep at one the watchman of the grounds a good natured irishman named curry would be down at the third gardeners little cottage for a tweak of midnight eggnog that wag waa the hour upon which thomas mare blare staked and staked hard ironically every move on the chessboard was precisely as thomas mare had planned not a up not a break in the chain of events the christmas tree stood bright and magnificent ent in the hallway hall way decorated and shimmering by ten at eleven theodore longman was stretched out in his bed his night lamp burning and a stack of magazines under his fingers at twelve that night land lamp clicked out at one curry with the good natured air of indulging in fruit was sitting in the third gardeners cottage drinking eggnog at ten minutes past one thomas mare blare with a flashlight 44 in his hand and his cap pulled down over ills his face was standing be side an open draw er in the bedroom of theodore long man who was wag snoring there was the bundle of bank notes with a rubber I 1 band around it precisely as belied he had known it would bet bel and tor for the life of him to his bis degradation to ills hum humiliation illation to his a self Is I 1 f loathing thomas mure mare could not lift out that bundle of bunk notes not for the life of him not fur for the soul of 0 him film and so impotently impudently blinded with willi rage stilling with humiliation the figure of thomas mare blare leaving the bank roll turned and tiptoed from the chamber chanthi r of theodore Longi longman nall it was long about breakfast time oo on christmas christinas lay day just hea thomas mare blare sunk lo in the abjectness and shame of 0 lie knew not what was wai beginning to dread the little breakfast table circle of the frustrated faces of his wife end and children that the summons came theodore longman waiting in tile the panelled panel led study of his georgian house on the hill informed him that at triple arli le his salary stare mare was to become general superintendent over the lie pret premises ulses wint longman did not add was as that at one that morning lie he had watched a man with a cup cap pulled down over bis big face and a flashlight in his big hand bund stand beside un an open drawer containing six thousand three hundred and fifty dollars and shuddering turu turn away leaving it untouched 40 0 by mcclure newspaper syndicate I r |