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Show hA.G.GREOTODpci aW- y 2 mWJ CAN'T PAY, und 'vT "IT there's an end of it," I 1 growled Jim' Heath-A Heath-A pl M cot;e' "Talie wllat" j&zJS ever steps you s-rp please " M-Sp The llttle money" &f?Wi lender sucked his teeth and blinked. -NK" "You spoke of an ljEs'St neiress na(l niiir-riage," niiir-riage," he said softly. g- . "I've waited six f$Z fS'J months, because you iaa Jifn .irfiir. gpiared you'd marry her and pay me off. Then there's your cousin, Sir Kenneth the hero of Heathcote hall, -won't he assist you?" "Kenneth's a beggar. His father mortgaged the estates to the hilt," answered an-swered Jim. "He hasn't two brass farthings to rub together. Besides, if he were Croesus I couldn't approach him. We're not on good terms " "Yet you dine at the hall tonight." Jim Heathcote looked astonished, then laughed as he glanced over his shoulder at Kenneth's invitation card stuck in the mirror. "You're a sly fox, Morris," he observed. ob-served. "Yes, he asked me and I accepted. ac-cepted. He had to ask me. I'm his only near relation. The Hall was once my home. It's his coming-of-age dinner. He's holding it today Chris-mas Chris-mas day because on his real birthday in early December he was in the hospital. hos-pital. I'm going for one reason and for one reason orrfy. The heiress I spoke of will be there. She is a near neighbor. I'm going to try again." He spoke bitterly and laughed. "I've little chance. Kenneth got a commission, behaved gallantly, and was severely wounded at Ypres," he added. "He comes home with all the glamour of a wounded soldier " "And this young woman cares for him?" Jim nodded. "She's known us both since we were boys. At one time Kenneth and she were great pals. When he came to understand un-derstand the wreck his father had made of the property that he was a pauper pau-per he began to sheer off. That was my -opportunity. At one-time my chances were good excellent." He spoke regretfully, as a fisherman will speak of a great fish he has failed to land. "Then came the news of Kenneth's heroism " "A moment," broke in Morris. "Mr. Heathcote, you" may wonder at my dunning you on Christmas morning. To be candid, I came with a proposal. When you speak of your cousin's heroism hero-ism you mean his saving four guns at Ypres the story with which the papers pa-pers rang in November?" Jim nodded, z "I came," added the little man slow-ly. slow-ly. ."to suggest your going to see your cousin. I didn't know then, as you inform in-form me, that he was not a rich man. I've found out this, Mr. James Heathcote, Heath-cote, Sir Kenneth, your cousin, did not save the guns." Jim Heathcote leaped up, his eyebrows eye-brows arched, his lean, hatchet-shaped face working with excitement. "What? What's that?" he cried. Abel Morris explained. He had been to visit a nephew lying wounded at the London hospital. The nephew, a cor- "Won't He Assist You?" porul, had asked liis money-lending uncle for financial assistance. Morris, in explaining the utter impossibility of raising the wind, had mentioned Jim Heutlioote's name. His nephe..-had nephe..-had then told a pretty story. "The boy's an honest boy a bit rough, hut straight." Abel Morris said. "He swears this, Sir Kenneth was shot, lying unconscious at the beginning of the affair. My nephew saved the guns. He was the only unwounded man " "But," began Jim, in objection. "He was shot just as re-enforcements arrived. For two days he was unconscious. He was packed off to a base hospital and lay there between life and death. He never heard till he got to England of the fuss that had been made of Sir Kenneth. Now, It occurred to me, that if you took my nephew Bob, to Heathcote hall and interviewed Sir Kenneth, he might well be willing to aid the two of you rather rath-er than have my nephew's story made public. Bob may be difficult to deal with. We should have had to be careful. He calls Sir Kenneth's action ac-tion 'a blinking shame.' But he wouldn't have a hand in " "Blackmail, eh?" said Jim bluntly. "A precious lot of good blackmailing a pauper!" "Exactly. That's why I was disappointed disap-pointed at hearing that Sir Kenneth wasn't the rich man I'd heard he was," returned Morris. "Still the information's informa-tion's valuable. It ought to be turned to good account. For a man in Sir Saved the Guns. Kenneth's position to receive a lot of honor ami glory for an act he never did" "Scurvy," observed Jim. "More especially espe-cially as it tends to infatuate Miss Wilson with him." Little Morris started. "Does she dine with Sir Kenneth tonight?" "Certainly," said Jim. "I told you so. That's why I'm going." Then take Bob down. Let him appear ap-pear at the end of the dinner suddenly. sud-denly. Let him give Sir Kenneth away before them all. What should she think of him then. It's' a low-down bit o' work he's done. Would she forgive for-give that? I guess no woman would to steal another man's credit. It'll revolt her, sure. That's your chance." The lean, wicked little face was working with excitement. "It's a better way than the other. Bob need be told nothing, except that he's to give Sir Kenneth away. You needn't tell him twice. Bob's bitter, very bitter, Bob is, and no wonder." Jim Heathcote strode up and down his room, asking questions. Could Bob be trusted? Was his story true? Was Morris convinced? "I'll do it," he said suddenly. "The cur deserves it," he saMd suddenly. "To filch another man's glory ! It's low, Morris. It deserves showing up." "More especially," commented Abel Morris, dryly, "when It pays." A chapter of accidents almost upset the Morris-Heathcote plot. In the first place Corporal- Bob went to the wrong house, and the original train to Heathcote Heath-cote Junction was missed. Then a fog descended and the taxicab, crawling through the gloomy streets, was the cause of their missing the next. The junction reached, the two men climbed, shivering, from the train to find a heavy fall of snow lying thick and crisp about the station, and no sign of any conveyance. The Hall carriages and motors sent to fetch the visitors from the junction had long since returned. The only hired fly had lost a wheel that same night in a snow-hidden ditch. "We'll have to walk," said Jim despairingly. de-spairingly. It was ten o'clock before they reached the hall. As they walked down the drive Jim noticed that the French windows were uncurtained. With muffled muf-fled steps they drew near to the great windows. "There he is!" whispered Jim at the corporal's elbow. "D'you recognize him?" Bob could only see Kenneth's profile. He stared at it. "Yes," he breathed slowly. "I'm sure dead sure." Jim's heart hammered. There arose from within the strains of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," and cheering and laughter. Jim Heathcote stretched out his frozen hand and rapped sharply on the window. Simultaneously he thrust the soldier forward. Bob Morris stumbled stum-bled Into the silver path of light. Jim Heathcote drew back in the shadows. In alarm and amazement the diners stared at the lumbering corporal. Blinking in the glare, he fetched up by Sir Kenneth's chair. He had a confused con-fused glimpse of holly and mistletoe, of little flags, of gleaming silver and fruit piled high, nnd then, as though instinctively he divined who she was, he turned to Molly Winton and, staring star-ing at her blurted out: "I'm Bob Morris, wot saved them guns. I'm " She sprang up. To his consternation she seized his hand in both of hers. He found himself gazing Into her blue, admiring eyes, aghast at what she was saying. "Sir Kenneth has just been telling us of your bravery ; Cow he lay wounded wound-ed unable to m'Ove and watched you. He heard- someone call you Morris, and has been tryingvto trace you ever since. He told us the whole story, and we've been thrilling thrilling. Hcs said it was awful lying there, useless, like a dog, and seeing you work that gun so heroically." A hand fell on Bob's shoulder, and Sir Kenneth's right hand seized his left and gripped it. "I recognize you, though you don't look so terrifying as you did then," he declared. "It wasn't a face I was likely to forget the face of the hero I watched all those hours. I've been in communication with the war office about you, Morris." "About me?" stuttered the dum-founded dum-founded corporal. "Yes, and I wrote to all the papers denying their picturesque tale of my gallantry. They thrust a little paragraph para-graph in among the advertisements. I've heard you're going to get the Distinguished Dis-tinguished Conduct niStlal. And you deserve it; you deserve the V. C." It was a nightmare to Bob Morris. They were drinking his health all these pretty girls. Their gay eyes fixed on his sheepish face in admiration. Hang it, they were singing I They were proclaiming pro-claiming that he was a Jolly good fellow. fel-low. Bob Morris longed for the earth to open and swallow him up. He sat there feeling a traitor, a spy, a Judas, a cheat. He had come to hurt, and stayed to be honored. How they'd loathe and despise him if they knew the truth. They were sitting down. Someone had raised a shout of "speech speech." "Say a few words, Morris," whispered whis-pered Sir Kenneth. "Don't be shy." "I'd rather face them 'Uns," groaned Bob. He found himself on his feet. "You're wonderin' 'ow I came and; why 'oppin in like Santa Claus, ladies la-dies and gent " he stuttered. '"Twas, this way, I'll be 'oppin' out quick when I've done, an' properly too, but it's 'hup to me to tell the truth, thai 'ole truth, and nothin' but the truth, s'welp me an' I mean to do it." And straightway in halting language, wtih much going back for incidents he had forgotten, he let them all into his secret, the secret of his coming. When he mentioned Jim Heathcote accompanying accom-panying him, Sir Kenneth leaped up and ran to the window. He flung it open and called loudly. "Jim Jim 1" Only the wind answered. In the distance dis-tance where the moon shone on the1 snowdrifts in the park, he saw a has-i tening figure. He shouted again. The figure broke into a run and vanished among the trees. Sir Kenneth shut the window and came slowly, frowning back to his chair. "It weren't," Bob Morris was saying, say-ing, "it weren't till we was nearly 'ere that 'e told me what 'is gime IllPliilJ II T a. Hi "You're Wonderin' 'Ow I Came, and Why" was. 'Twas Miss Winton, says 'e I was to show Sir Kenneth up. I was to come between 'im and Miss Winton." He took a step back, then swung his chair behind him. "Well, I'm not between 'em now," he added. Sir Kenneth's cheeks were darkly flushed. Blushing Molly held out her hand to Kenneth. lie hesitated, took it, and bent over and kissed it. '"Ere's to 'em both God bless 'em," pried Corporal Bob. Kenneth Heathccte's dreams that night were invaded by a strange Santa San-ta Claus who wore, beneath his conventional con-ventional red robe with its ermine trimmings, ammunition, boots and puttees, and whose face instead of being be-ing old and white, was young and scarlet, scar-let, Corporal Santa Claus, who brought him a gift for which he dared not ask he a pauper she an heiress, the heart of Molly Winton I (Copvripht.) ttf |