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Show I STORY j fj THE GIRlI Lf. from HIS TOWN Ey MARIE VAN VORST Ulmtrationi by M. G. KETTNER Efc.. , m (Cuiiyrwlu, lull), by Tliu Uubba-Men-111 Co.) 20 SYNOPSIS. J'lin ninlr. the 22-yenrrolfi son nt the riny-nilllton-dollar copper liln of Blalr-ovn, Blalr-ovn, Mont.. I.s a Biu-st at the English iorn of Lady Onlorey. Dan's father had l n couitoou.H to Lord Galoroy during his visit tp (,he United Stales and the -onr!i-sy 8 ntuv being returned to the young man. The youth has an Idea girl In hla mind. He moots Lily. Duchess of Hrrakwator, a beautiful widow, who Is lit! acted by his immense fortune and takes a liking to her. When Dan was a hoy a Kir! sans a solo at a church, and he had never forgotten her. The Oa-loreys. Oa-loreys. Lily and Dan attend a London thriller where one Lettv Lane is the slar. I'.in recot;nlZes her as the girl from Ills "town, and going behind the scenes intro- otlcep himself nn1 . He iearns that Prince I'nnlotowsky Is -suitor and escort to Lettv. Lord Ga-Jorey Ga-Jorey a nil a friend named Ruggles determine deter-mine to protect the westerner from Lilv and oilier fortune hunters. Young Blair goes lo see Lily; he can talk of nothing hut Lelty and this angers the Duchess. The westerner finds Lettv 111 from hard work, hut she recovers and Ruggles and Dan Invite her to supper. She asks Dan to build a home for disappointed thorn tho-rn rlcal people. Dun visits Lilv. for the time forgetting Lettv. and later announces an-nounces ills engagement io the duchess, letty refuses to sing for an entertnln-ivcnt entertnln-ivcnt given by Lily.- Galorey tells Dan i.i;Lt all Lily cares for Is his money, and It is disclosed that he and the duchess have been mutually in love for years, l.elty sings at an arlstoreratic function, Dan escorting Iter home. CHAPTER XIX. Continued. 'The hoy walked briskly back of the scenes toward the little door, behind which, ns he tapped, he hoped with all his heart to hear her voice bid him conic in. But there were other voices in the room. He rattled the door knob ! and Lettv Lane herself called to him i without opening the door: "Will you go, please, Mr. Blair? I ! can't see anyone tonight." lie had nothing to do but to go to grind his heel as he turned to swear deeply against Poniotowsky. His late ecstasy was turned to gall. The theater seemed horrible to him: V:e chattering of the chorus girls, thrir giggles, their laughter as lie parsed the little groups, all seemed weird and infernal, and everything became be-came an object of irritation. As he went blindly out of the theater the-ater he struck his arm against a piece of stage fittings and the blow was sharp and stinging, but he was glad of the hurt. Without, in the street, Dan took his place with the other men and waited, a bitter taste in his mouth and anger in his breast, waited until Letty Lane fluttered down, followed by Poniotowsky. Poniotow-sky. and the two drove away. . The young man could have gone after, running behind the motor, but their was a taxicab at hand; he jumped in it, ordering the man to follow the car to the Savoy. There -the boy had the pleasure of seeing Miss Lane enter the hotel, Poniotow sky with her had the anguish of seeing see-ing them both go up in the lift to her apartments. , When Dan came to himseli he heard the chimes of St. Martin's ring out eleven. He then remembered foi the first time that he had promised to dine alone at homs with the Duchess of Breakwater. "Gosh, Lily will be wild!" In spite of the lateness of the hour he hurried to Park lane. The familiar face of the man servant who let him in blurred before the young man's pyes.j'a Her grace was out at the theater?,!,' the-ater?,!,' Blair would wait then, and he went,)' into the small drawing room, quie' empty, reposeful, with a fire ' acrosjfc the andirons, for the evening was an-,p and cool. Still dazed by his "Dan. I Really Don't Care a Pin for ( the Money I Don't." j"e1oi.'S. passionate (.motions. he jeMjfced about the room, chose a long ,-h,-r sola, ard stretching out his 1 ;'';-h, fell ash p. There in the v l.'iMow he slept profoundly, waking (.offh-nlv to Uml that he was not Across the room the Duchess of i:r:.kBtcr stood by the table; she V.....P in evening dress, her cloak and pluvrs op the chair lit her side. She rj .r,r'ly am' he man lo whom she laughed, on Whom ehe smiled, was Lord Galorey. Blair raised himself up op the sofa without making any noise,' and he saw Galorey take the woman in his arms. The sight didn't make the fiance angry. He realized instantly that he wanted to believe that.lt was true, and 'as there was nothing - theatrical in .the young westerner he sprang up, slang so much, a part of his nature that the .first words that came-to his lips was a phrase In vogue. . "Look who's here!" he cried, and came blithely forward, his head clear, his lips smiling. The duchess gave a little scream and Dan lounged up to the two people and held his hand frankly out to the lady. "That's all right, Lily! Go right on, Gordon, please. Only I had to let you know when I waked up! Only fair. I guess I must have been asleep quite a while." The duchess of Breakwater shrugged. "I don't know what you dreamed," she said acidly, "if you were asleep." "Well, it was a very pretty dream," the boy returned, "and showed what a stupid ass I've been to think I couldn't have dreamed it when I was awake " VI think you are crazy," the duchess exclaimed. But Blair repeated: "That's all right. I mean to say as far as I am concerned con-cerned " And, Galorey, in order to stand by his lady, murmured: "My dear chap, you have been dreaming." But Blair met the Englishman's gray eyes with his blue ones. "I did have a bottle of champagne, Gordon, that's UltriflMllHIftrTai IftriH"'"" mrtrjMJHraillgflHrM ' Jtt, 'All V 411' v, II Letty Lane Fluttered Down, Followed by PonlotowBky. a fact, but it couldn't mt-ke me see what I did see." "Dan," the duchess of Breakwater broke in, "let Gordon take you home, like a dear. You're really ragging in a ridiculous way." Blair looked at her steadily, and as he did so he repeated: "That's all right, Lily, Gordon cares a lot, and the truth of the matter is that I do not." She grew very pale'. "I would have stuck to my word, of course." he went on, "but we'd have been infernally unhappy and ended up in the divorce, courts. Now, this little scene here of yours lets me out, and I don't lay It up against either of you." "Gordon!" she appealed to her lover, "why, in heaven's name, don't you speak!" The Englishman realized that while he was glad at heart, he regretted that he had been the means of her losing the chance of her life. "What do you want me to say, Lily?" he exclaimed with a desperate gesture. "I can't tell him I don't love you. I have loved you, God help me, for ten years."- She could have killed him for it. "I can tell you, Dan, if you want me to," Galorey went on, "that I don't believe she cares a penny for any one on the face of the earth, for you or me." Old Dan Blair's son showed his business training. His one idea was to "get out," and as he didn't care who the duchess of Breakwater loved or didn't love, he wanted to break away as fast as he could. He sat down at the table under the light of the lamp and drew out his wallet with its compact, com-pact, thick little check book, the millionaire's mil-lionaire's pass to most of the things that he wants. "You've taught me a lot," he said to the duchess of Breakwater, "and mv father sent me over here for that. I have been awfully fond of you, too. 1 thought 1 was fonder than I am, I guess. At any rate 1 want to stand by one of my promises: That old place of yours Stalner court now that's got to be fixed up." He made a few computations on paper, pa-per, lifted; -the pad to her with the figures on it, round, generous and full. "At home," he said, "In Blalrtown, j we have what we call 'engagement' parties, when each fellow ; brings a present to the" girl, but this is what we might call a 'broken engagement party.' Now, I can't," the; boy went on, "give this money to you very well; it won't look right. We will have to fix that up some way or other. You will have to say you got an unexpected unexpect-ed inheritance from some uncle In Australia." He smiled at Galorey: I "We'll fix it up together." His candor, his simplicity, were so charming, he stood before the two so young, so clear, so clean, that a Budden tenderness for him, and a sense of what she had lost, what she never had had, made her exclaim: "Dan, I really don't care a pin for the money I don't" but the hand she held out was seized by the other man and held fast. Galorey said: "Very well, let it go at that. You don't care for the money, but you will take It just the same. Now, don't for God's sake, tell him that you care for him." He made her meet his eyes this time: stronger than she, Galorey forced her to be sincere. She set Dan free and he turned and left them standing there facing each other. He softly crossed the room, and looking back, he saw them, tall, distinguished, both of them under the lamplight enemies, and yet the closest friends bound by the strongest tie In the world. As Dan went out through the curtains cur-tains of the room and they fell behind him the duchess of Breakwater sank An , ' down in the chair by the side of th table; she buried her face. Gordon Galorey bent over her and again took her in his arms, and sheNguffered It. CHAPTER XX. A Hand Clasp. It was one o'clock. Blair called a hansom and told the driver to take him to the Carlton, and leaning back in the vehicle he breathed a long sigh. He looked like his father, but he didn't know it. He felt old. He was a man and a tired one and a free one, and the sense of this liberty began to refresh him like a breeze over parched sand. He thought over what he had left for a second, stopped longest in pitying Galorey, then went into the Carlton restaurant to order some supper, sup-per, for he began to feel the need of food. He had not time to drink his wine and partake of the cold pheasant before he saw that opposite him the two people who had taken their table were Letty Lane and Poniotowsky. The woman's slender back was turned to Blair, and his heart gave a leap of pain at the sight of the man with her, and the cruel suffering began again. Dan gave up the idea of eating: drank a whole bottle of champagne, then pushed it away from him violently. vio-lently. "Hold up," he told himself, "you're getting dangerous; this drinking drink-ing won't do." So he sat drumming on tho table looking into the air. When those two got up to go, however, how-ever, he would go with them; that was sure. He could never see them go out together again; no no no! As his brain grew a bit clearer he saw that they were having a heated discussion dis-cussion between them, and as the room emptied finally, save for themselves, them-selves, Dan, though he could not hear what Poniotowsky said, understood that he was urging something which the girl did not wish to grant. When they left he rose as well, and at the door of the restaurant the actress and her companion paused, and Dan Baw her face, deadly pale. There were tears in her eyes. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |