Show it was x as out tit nt last and the boss poor ioor little house of vaid raids that I 1 knew I 1 he e lind had been building ill all these thee months biad ad got its knock down in ill just those four quietly spoken wol voids As dellaq well as I 1 knew him I 1 couldn coulden t bezin begin to gue gues what hat lie io would I 1 lid do or sa 13 rut but lie he was such a 1 splendid 1 edid idid lighter that I haic hae known 1 11 I heard hear no bonger lr L ago than this afternoon that you were not eliat dour our husband huband was nas still living lie s said aid speaking nor oi gently 1 I bell believe it not fully though ii I 1 saw that those might easily lie he loom for tit the belief it makes inake no difference din sheila you are in friend ant and 11 ll an blameless lut but lieffie we ne go my any farther fart lier I 1 want ant nou to belie bebee e that I 1 have been een siut brutal a ellou enough 11 to give noll that lit bit of paper it I 1 bad ad suspected that coelln collingwood nood was nas the man she make apy any answer to dint and sifter after a while mille lie alil aid I laing told nie so 0 o much cant 3 oil tell tile ine a little more there much to tell and een cen the little is ig and and disgraceful she he le te plied with a of we anness that hiis dahly heartbreaking dont tk ask me why by we i ei e I 1 cant explain that simple because I 1 dont knora iii elf it was arranged arian ged beleen le be tween teen the two mo families and I 1 suppose and 1 I aln always a is took it for granted I 1 cant eve even 1 i plead ignorance for I 1 liae hae known him all my life go on said lid the lie boss still speaking as gently as a brother might liae Ill was ins it a spoiled child tin an only son all and lie is a spoiled polled man I 1 stood it as long is as I 1 could I 1 hope you will believe that but there use aie some things that it a woman t annot stand and I 1 t ti know lie aiole in ill so you cami out hole to be fice it is four bear since we have lived together slie she went on anti and for a long on time I 1 hoped lie would never find out I 1 was there was ab no divorce I 1 had taken my mothers name ind and only cousin couin I 1 basil aqil and ills his wife knew that I 1 was wa not what nhat perhaps every one else ele took tile me to be a widow with a dead husband instead of a 11 1 immig ing one did Polling wooi try to find nou no I 1 think not rut but when lie was ai here last spring with his uncle breck enredge earl dge lie he saw me and found out that 1 I was living hert here nith w ath cousin basil did lie try to perie pere cute oua ou no not then I 1 was afraid or of only one tiling thing that lie might too much and and talk part of the fear ww w is rea realized realised reali lived sed ue he saw me that sunday night in fit the bullard that was why he was trying bryin to light the hotel people because they let him come upstairs up stairs I 1 saw aw what aou lid did ind and I 1 was sori serij I 1 help feeling that in some way it would prove to he be the beginning of a tr aged you saw no more of him then 11 no iso I 1 neither sin saw him nor heard of him until about a month ago ni alien lien lie came west with a man named a new york atto intS I 1 know why eliy lie came but I 1 thought it was to annoy me and lip be has annoyed you until tills this night lie he lias has lie nier er missed an of doing so when lie he could dodge cousin basil babil it was ills his taunting boast yesterday at the capital that led me to telegraph cousin basil and upton van britt about to Stra throna theona he knew that you were going to the gold camp ind and lie he declared ared to mo me that never come back alive but tonight the boss persisted what lid did ile he want tonight ile he wanted to to use me lie he said eliat lie he had put acids CIO for 1 his I s uncle that lie had biad gotten into brou trou trouble ble 1 it and that to use his own phra phrase phrae e again you were the man who would try to get lila ills goat and ali ills object is tolling telling you this was entirely worthy of the man he fie asked me or rather I 1 should say commanded me to choke ou off on and of course he be added tie he said I 1 was the one who could do it NIt without bout intending to you hae tied my hands ban the boss said gravely Kr avely 1 I meaning to spare collier wood if there were any way in alch I 1 could use him as a club to knock hatch out of the tame game 1 I avent Ii asked aked you to spare him no I 1 know you but the fact re remains remain maln that lie he Is your husband husban band I 1 I 1 the interruption was wa the opening and an closing of the front door and the heavy tread road of tw the major in the liall hall in a flash fla ai mrs mis sheila as up and petting rady r ady to 0 o vanish through the door that led lei to the dining mom with bior liand hand on the doorknob door knob sue shot a aulk ane llon at the boss bos itow much ill oi 01 tell cousin rip r IP norlilla vora ini of wl nl it ou oil have told rne thank aou on lio alii back aiu are is as hn b in ili bour friendship as rou roll irp lit in coffier ways and with that hat she vm was gone it as is light along lit in the same half anute while tile the io boss was standing anding qt with V ith ills bad back 0 to o the fire and the major was nias going in ili to talk to him that I 1 lost maisie ann I 1 dont know where lie wont went or how she lind had lot let go of tit rny vist vis t ind and when I 1 groped for her she lie aias wa gone since I 1 see any good acason IC wh I 1 should stay ind and spy py upon the lie ho boss asid and the major I 1 slipped lipped out ont to tit the hill hall anti and culled up on the hig big attee beyond the coat rack ack curled tried up ill anti and after aate lis listening a while lille to the lie drone of N voices diee lit in the alie farther room ent edt to sleep it was it away deep in ili the night when the hie boss took hold of tile me ind and shook rue me awake the long lom tall talk was as just getting it itself elf finished and ili the major had come to the door with nith its ills guest we must iiii t manage to pull collingwood out of if it in ili some way the major was ais saying 1 I dont loe ione the llie 1 d I n scoundrel any bettell betteli than you to do Gi gialias Gia liam almin but a reason a fam ay iy reason as lou aou iiii alit say then ili lie sIt pitched ched on off quickly you lia ent at ked me net et why I 1 ran away from home ionic till tins q evenin when mien I 1 was on no said the bo boss shella sheila told tile me that hat aou ou hall a telephone call to the bulland Bul laid 1 I the old kentuckian chuckled yes suit and III oud nevell guess gues in ili a shots thousand and ealis who sent the call or what was wint anted cd it was ouli friend hatch and no othell and he had the lie face to boffeli me ten tell thousand dollaus dol lalis a yeah to act as consulting counsel for him against the alie railroad company of course ou accepted said the boss meaning just the opposite the major chuckled again 1 I talked him long enough to find out about here lie he stood ile he thinks thin hes heh got ou by the neck I 1 but ll 11 like ike III most ost men of ili his breed lie t b a paltry ca cow at aid suli suit at heart the boss laughed what Is he afraid of he is afraid of his life he told tile me anith ills his ee ees baggin out that chah was inas one mail heals in portal C city I 1 ty who would woul d ki kill I 1 1 him to get po pos of certain capelis that were nere locked lip in tile la lah ali a li h of the lie security national the boss bos was nias pulling on oil lilt lils aloes 1 I gle gie him an reason to think that I 1 was anious to minder him lie said oh no my dealt deah boy it ou at all its howle howie coll int N oud where we ve lanil land aftab all is said bald ind and done bouli hands tie aie tied an and weve got ot this lacall oung maniac to deal with iab if collingwood gets about three fingelt fingers of red dundei ills belt why thaes s one duider in ili prospect pro hect arid and if hatch lias has any reason reabon to think thin that alint you can still get the on him why another im glad youve seen fit to take raple Rl ples s advice at last and got you a bodyguard that queried the boss but the query was answered a minute later inter when we no lilt hit bie sidewall sidewalk for the tramp back to town and tarbell tell fell in to walk valk three steps behind us all the way to the door of the railroad club it quie did look as if things bilings were just about as bad as they could eier eer ile be now hatch once wore more on oil top tile lie whole bottom knocked out of ahe rall railroad road experiment out our good name for politimi polI kal honesty gone glimmering ind and boist of all perhaps pei haps the hois boss big heart broken right in two over thoa e four little woid voids i that nothing could rub out lie is my hubband I 1 wonder that the hoss boss bald neer a word in ili all that lo 10 long walk alk downtown down dmn town ton or that he forgot to tell roe me goodnight good night when lie locked himself up in his room at the club CHAPTER XV the dipsomaniac in a day ihen bunched money however arrogant it may ile be lias has been taught to go bort of softly the tina hatch people berc careful not dot to make any public announcement of the things they mere ere doing or going to do put but bad nes has ning inga of its own mr Nor crosh gs as still till in the lie aidt of ills his mail dictation to me the morning after the bottom all the different bottoms fell out ailien han mr heinack came bulging in what all this ahls fire heen been sprung about 1 a I new elzator trust lie he demanded dieling dieting Llie Ning on oil bl bh cigar ns as if it were onn lie trying to cat its all over ton that C S W has lu ia w been ca ceciel reorganized with tile ilith ilat li h crowd in ill control cont iol im haillie it a perfect cyclone c clone of telephone calls call asking what ind anil how lio anil and w hy ohp alip iriss feln ig ignored the details were in ili for it again lie announced hripp the boqi local companies I 1 hold on to a I 1 good tiling thing lian tile y lind ind it the stock tw k has leon been swept sv ept up lip first into little lacap li eap and then into big olneq anti and now the hatch people ciuc foicey a practical consolidation Is that the fact ov or only the way you nio aio doping it out queried the traffic manager it is the fact hatch came licie last slight to tell ell me about it also to tell me where we were to gut get off hot heinack nack bit off a piece of the chei chewed ed cigar and took a flesh algid on it doe doc he think for one holy half minute that were going to sit down quietly and ct him bim undo all the good work been donel done lie rasped ile he does just that lies iles putting u us 11 in the nine liole hole Hor hornack Dack and up to the present moment I 1 found the way to climb out of it put but the ground leases florzack flor nack hegan began why cant we pull them on him we might if we been shot dead in our tracks by the ery cry men I 1 who ought to be backing backfill us to win ad the boss soberly and then lie went on to tell about the new grip hatch lind had on us of cour coure coulee e blow blew up lip it at that lind and what lie he sald said for publication for a minute or so io the air of tile office was iri blue when lie ile pot got down to common ordin ordinal aty y english again lip lie was ns mining between betwee li cusses but ou cant let it tand stand at that norcross you simply cant 1 I dont intend to was the even toned rejoinder hut but anything we e tin can in do will always alway lack the element clement of finality vaille wall street owns own us ive said it a hundred times and ill ny it again the only hope for the public demice fen ice corporation today lies in ili it a distribution dai of its lid act among tit ans pl 5 ale it actually ly 11 ser frenes es teeth met in the middle of the cheked dieted cigar excellent logic bully good logic if ann anybody body should ask iou but were figh fighting tinz a condition not a theory nobody wants P S L Co ninion ien een at thirty two you advise your worst enemy to buy it at diat figuir aigul c 1 I know said the ho boss bos s kind of musingly forgetting tile the water na ter been put into it aloni time to time by the speculators and leor ganders ga there lias has been a good deal of that firt first and last ne value for value you knox know and I 1 know knol that the property pro propel petty ty Is worth nicie than thil thirty ty two including tile lie bonds what I 1 mean Is that if anybody would buy the control at that figure the control mind you ind and not merely a minority and handle the load purely as a dividend earning business proposition ll 11 ha lose money hed make money a lot of it all of which get us an anywhere y where in the present pinch returned the lie traffic manager 1 I suppose well have to wait until hatch makes ills first move and le ine still got fight enough left in rue me to hope that hell make it suddenly punch the button for me if anything new dew develops im going bock back to swing on to my telephone following this his talk with hornack there was n tryout try out with nith willoughby and juneann but as tills three cor conference confuo nce was as held in the private room of tile the suite quite I 1 dont know what was aid A little farther along J when lien the bos was as once more whittling at the dictation mr van britt strolled in mr norcross told me to take my bunch of notes to may ind and then lie he gave mr van britt ills inning ecart ing off with well liow how Is tile the general superintendent tills this fine morning mr van britt wrinkled ills his it ose nose tile the general superintendent I 1 Is I 1 wondering ing one more time adie under the flu ataro tar rN lie Is out liete in n tills country that god has forgotten for a living on this one olle hoi horse ze railroad of yours when lie might he be in little old new york living IV easy and clip clipping clappin pin coupons coupon in tile safety af ety deposit room of it a broad street I 1 hank the hos lus laughed at that aud im telling yon right llo now nl that iwas I was glad clad to know that lie ft a as still able to lati 1 I you TOU ne neer seen the day when ou in ranted to renege upton tini and you know it lie lilt hit hack back think of the perfectly perfect IN good technical edi education tation you wei e wit wasting sting wian I 1 took hold or of you and jerked you out licie hull huh said aid our millionaire ive just had two engi nemen on oil the carpet for running avei ili an old ranch mans pet cow they sald they help tell it hut but I 1 told them that under tile the public be pleased policy got TV to help it it the boss chuckled 1 I bellene believe von joke at nour our own funeral apt upton on you come here to tell me about the rarie ranch limans mans pet co not kot exactly I 1 came to tell I 1 ou that storage Wai elioue e is due to lune bane a strike on oil its hands fiands the management which comb to liane hae got itself consolidated in some way shot out a lot of new bosses all along the line on the through train orjin last night und and till this morning the entire works eleNa elevators tors pac kerles coal maids aids lumber mills ind and everything are posted notices of a blanket cut in wage twenty per cent lint flat for everybody the news has been trickling in over the flip wires sill nil morning tind and the last word is that a general strike of all C S f W employees will go on lit at noon tomorrow that is move number one aid the boss and then you have hear aicard that tile the lintell hatch people have i cached out and taken lit in the 0 S W Hoin tick was telling me something about t lt it yes es ill it is iq true lind and the fight ls is on you bee what nhat hatch Is doing at one stroke lie he get gelt rid ii of nil tile lie 1011 loil ein plo ees ee of C S W who hae ha aie e been drawing good pay lilt and nho might make |