| Show cow V Fu lICHER B byrone robert abad 1 Y kitchener and other poems f yi j mafi mN fi CHAPTER XII 18 conward paused to speak to irene before leaving the tha house bouse 1 I owe you my good wishes he said and I 1 give them most frankly although perhaps with more difficulty than you suppose you are very good mr conward she acknowledged 1 I could not wish you anything but happiness he returned and had I 1 been so BO fortunate as elden in making your acquaintance first I 1 might have hoped to contribute to your happiness more directly than I 1 can under the present circumstances ile he was speaking in his low sedulous notes and his words sent the girls blood rustling rushing in a strange mixture of gratification fi and anger the tribute he implied that he be himself would have been glad to have been her suitor was mas skillfully planned to appeal to her vanity and her anger was due to its success she told herself she should not listen to such words she should hate to hear such words and yet she listened to them and was not sure that she hated them she could only say you are very good mr conward ile he pressed her hand at the door and again that strange mixture of emotions surged through her conward proceeded to the business section of the town well pleased with the evenings events ue lie found his way impeded by crowds in front of the newspaper offices ile he had paid little attention to the progress of the war scare attributing it to the skillful publicity of interests connected with the manufacture of armaments to the last he had not believed that war was possible nobody wants to fight he had bad assured his business acquaintances even the armament people dont want to fight all they want Is to frighten more money out of the taxpayers of europe to conward this explanation seemed very complete it covered the whole ground and left nothing to be said but tonight he was aware of a keener tension in the crowd atmosphere they were good natured crowds to be sure laughing and cheering and milking making sallies of heavy wit but they were in some way more intense than ho he had ever seen before there was no fear of war there was rather an adventurous spirit which seemed to feard hat the affair blow over as bad so many affairs in the past and all the excitement so go for nothing that war if it came to war could last no one dreamed it would be a matter of a few weeks a few months at the most until a thoroughly whipped germany would retire behind the rhine to plan ways of raising the indemnity which outraged civilization liza tion would demand conward elbowed his way through the crowds smiling in his superior knowledge over aver their excitement newspapers must have headlines at his office conward used a telephone then he walked to a restaurant where after a few minutes he was joined by a young woman they took a table in a box supper was disposed of and the young woman began to grow impatient well you brought me here she said at last youve fed me and you dont feed anybody conward without a purpose the consideration im pulling off a little joke and I 1 want you to help me you know elden dave elden 7 sure ive known him ever since that jolt put him out of business up in your rooms ever so many years ago ile he was too rural for that mixture 1 I want you to get him down to your place some night to be agreed upon ill fix the date later and keep him there until I 1 call tor for him with his fiancee some joke she said and there was disgust in her voice who Is it on E iden elden me or tho the girl naver mind who its on conward returned im paying for it heres something on account and it if you make a good job of it I 1 wont be stingy ho he handed her a bill which she kissed and put in her purse 1 I need the money Co colward award or I 1 take it this part of his trap set conward awaited a suitable opportunity to spring it in the meantime he be took sirs mrs hardy partially into his conal confidence he allowed her to believe however that eldens habits would stand correction and he be imd had merely arranged to trap him in one of his favorite haunts she was very much shocked and thought it was very dreadful but of course we must save irene but concerning another part of his program conward was even less frank with mrs hardy haidy ile he was clever enough enoah to know that he must observe bertah limitations at length all ills bis plans appeared to be complete the city was in a tumult of excitement over the war but for conwald a deeper interest centered in the plot biot ho he was hatching under the unsuspecting noses of irene and elden it if he could trap dave the rest would be easy it if he failed in this he had bad another plan to give failure at least tho of success the fact that the nation was now at war probably had bad an influence in speeding up the plot everything was under high tension powerful currents of thought were hearing bearing the masses along unaccustomed channels society itself was in a state of flux if he were to strike at ull all let the mow blow fall all at once on this early august night he ascer talked that dave was working alone in his office then he called a number on a telephone this Is the night he explained you will find him alone in his office I 1 will be waiting to hear from you yon at he quoted mrs Il ardys telephone number then lie drove hs car to the hardy homo home exchanged a few words with irene and sat down to a hand of cribbage with her mother poring over his correspondence dave with ills ear cocked for the cry of the latest extra spent the evening hours in a vallant valiant effort at concentration there came a timid knock at the door come in he called no one entered but presently he heard the knock again he rose and walked to the door outside stood a young woman if you please sho she said bald excuse me but you are mr elden arent you yes can I 1 help you in any way the woman uttered tittered a moment but resumed soberly you will wonder at me coming to you but im from the country did you think thail 1 I suspected it said dave with IL a smile you knocked he paused yes like a country girl he said boldly she uttered tittered again well im lost she confessed 1 I got oft off the train a short time ago my aunt was to meet me but there are such crowds in the street I 1 must have missed her asid aad I 1 saw your name on the window and nd I 1 had heard of you so I 1 just thought that id ask it if you yon mind showing me to this address she fumbled in her pocket and dave invited her into the office there she bhe produced a torn piece of paper with an address why just a few bloc blocks kal I 1 said dave ill walk around with you he turned tor for his bis hat but at that moment there was another timid knock on the door he opened it A boy of eight or ten years stood outside what Is it son the lad looked shyly about th theat a if flee dee it was evident eviden the he was impre impressed ed d with its magnificence are you yon mr elden that sells lots yes les were you thinking of buying a few lots did you sell lots to my father well it if I 1 knew your fathers name perhaps I 1 could tell you who to Is your father hes mr merton im his son and he said to me before he be got a BO 0 bad he be said theres just one honest man in this city and mr elden Is that you mr elden well I 1 hope it Is but I 1 we wont nt claim such a distinction I 1 remember your father very well did lat h wend send you yo u to meza me no sir air iles too sick ile he dont know anybody now lie he know me tonight the boys volca voice went thick and he stopped and swallowed I 1 owed and then I 1 remembered what he ha said about you and I 1 just came have you help it a doctor a nurse no sir we any money my father spent it all tor for the lots that he be bought from you dave winced then turning to the young woman im afraid this Is a more urgent case than yours I 1 ill call a taxi to take you to your address to his surprise his visitor broke out in a ribald laugh she had seated herself on a desk and was swinging one foot jauntily its all off she said say davo dave you lose me to in this burg you tou dont remember me do you well all the better im rather glad I 1 broke down on this job I 1 used to be something of an actress and id have put it over if it been for the kid the fact Is dave she continued 1 I was nas sent up here to decoy you it fair fighting and I 1 like it but money lias has been mighty slow of late I 1 wonder how much give to know who sent me dave pulled some bills from hla his pocket and held them before her she took them from ills his hand conward slie she said daves blood went to his head the scoundrel undrell 1 he cried the lowdown low down dog I 1 theres more inore in this than appears on oil the surface 11 sure there la Is she bhe said theres another woman there always Is elden walked to his desk from a drawer he took a revolver toyed with it a moment in his hands broke it open crushed it full of cartridges and thrust it in ills his pocket the girl watched with friendly interest believe mp me dave she said if conward turns up missing I 1 vont know a thing not a d thing for a moment he be stood irresolute lie he could only guess what Con wards plan had been but that it hart had been diabolical and cowardly and that it concerned irene he had no doubt his impulse was to immediately confront conward force a confession and deal with him as tile tho occasion might seem to require nut but his eye fell on the boy w with ith his shock of brown hair anil and wistful half frightened face TU go with ith you iou erst 11 ho he said with quick decision then to the girl gill sorry I 1 in must 11 st turn you sou out but this case la Is urgen urgent t 11 all right sho she said im used to being turned out and before he be knew it she was as in tile the street all right son said dave taking up the I 1 matter now in hand band your name your our first name camel charlie and your address the boy mentioned a distant subdivision that Is out it well well take the car I 1 guess id better call a doctor at once ile he went ent to the telephone and gave some directions then he and the boy walked to a garage and in a few moments were humming along the by streets into the country dave had already become engrossed in his errand of mercy and ills rage at conward it if not forgotten was temporarily dismissed from his mind ile he chatted with the boy you go to school not this year father has been too sick of course these are holidays and lie he says hell bo be all right before over dave smiled grimly the incurable optimism of it he murmured to himself then outwardly or of course ho he will well fix him up in no time almo with a rood doctor and a good nurse they drove on through the calm night leaving the city streets behind and following what was little more than a country trail here and there they bumped over pieces of graded street infinitely rougher than the natural prairie once dave dae dropped his front wheels into a collapsing water kiench once he just grazed an isolated hydrant and this Is one of 0 our choice residential ident ial subdivisions 11 said dave to himself fins fine busi business nessi 1 fine business 1 As the journey continued the sense of self reproach which had been static la in him tor for many months became 11 L W daves dave blood bleed went to his hl head th scoundrels Seo undrell he cried mor more insistent the intrusion of conward w a rd into his mind sent the blood to ills his head bead but at that moment his bis reflections were cut short by the boy we W will have bars to get out here he lid ald the bridge Is down investigation proved him to be b right A bridge over a small stream had collapsed and was slowly disintegrating te amid its own wreckage dive dave ran the car a little to one side 0 of f the road locked the switch and walked on with the boy fine busi business 1 dave repeated to himself an and d this Is how our big success bucce as was ma made de well the success has vanished as quickly as it ca came me I 1 suppose there Is a law somewhere that Is not mocked they were passing through a settlement of 0 crude houses dimly visible in the starlight and by occasional yellow blurs from their windows before one of the meanest of these the boy at last stopped pulled the door open and dave entered at first he was conscious of a very small and stuffy room with a peculiar odor which lie he attributed to an oil lamp burning on a her box he walked over and turned tin the lamp up but the oil was consumed a red sullen smoking wick wits was its only response then lie he felt in his pocket and struck a match the light revealed the dinginess of the little room there was a bed covered with musty ragged clothing a table littered with broken and dirty dishes and pieces of stale food a stove cracked and greasy and one or two bare boxes serving as articles of furniture but it was to the bed dave turned and with another match beat over the shrunken form that lay almost concealed amid the coarse coverings ho he brought his face down close then straightened up and steadied himself for a moment TO HE BE CONTINUED |
