Evening Star Newspaper, December 3, 1923, Page 30

“PAWNED” An Unisugl Romance of Peanle Whoss Very Being I " O dged to Do the Bidding of Others. - * By FRANK L. PACKARD Author of “The Miracle Man. . by Publ {3 Jo an. he; (Continued from Yesterday's Star.) ON'T! Copyright. 192 Don't ery, Clair bruce w laid his hand where it crushed hn d TS, the letter In her lap. “1 believed it,” There is no forgiveness that wron. for “there is no there Is nothing only another hound's cunn 1 did not after in thought he the letter bull bility for Larn thought that you." She had not but her face for a moment tween them. “lajre voice, “the nich said that, rathe promise to m, come to be Can you sti lifted the b stained, swid. T use was worth Jealous had satd ness a nothi given but even th, h meanness of soul = « John Bruce answered gently, | ing upward, brushed the halr back was ¢ it all g0 a en 1 she said. “I did you s that.” forgiveness—because to forgive. 1t W ece of that mi that tricked us to vou. trying to make plau iy et-proof in its mon's benefit. 1 he would show to her hand away, dden; an draws st w wirs there silence be it T left vou ot tha rry O lad” you 1y that her fac wn eves the wet lashes m zlad 1 know now that nr, many tim had it. you, nady you arter d the right to f red at “What—whit Claire!™ was not lai all that now conf. ssed I was a st bought my glad, not 1 ever could as yours, to make you_car “You kn he cri strange were vibra tell you o todny Mm. Yes it was to sav promise; You held d. over now! He was b two hands Bis neck No, Fou must ne “Must 1o challenge to was pounding his vein h, You ur she sobbed, child finding him in & ac your love. onately. It bu { am past would not have sold everything But it is He aised T ar r ns 1 back rispered, | her “From Now On,” etc. Ledger Company. jupon his shoulder and there. | “Clatre! | that spoke. kissed the silken d i, and kissed th and his cheek lay against was in his arn ight clasp or go agal W time sh , @ r hand, ifting, wee and touched it gently, and, lay hidden Claire! It was his soul fght ne And a rom hix forehead—and then she su | him with all her drew his head down until met his e was no worl was non-exis Cla at last who put his m her in & wistful, linkering never | e m -thing seem within Joh i that, C “You do not {this, you win orrow mornin brave little effort at u smile ® had our hour, Joh E ours and mine. It can mev e taken from us, and I shall lve In it 1l my life; but it is over now. Ye heil go through with it tomorrow 20 There is no other way. I st keep my promis > he erled out \. It shall sver he! Claire, you cannot mean 1t you are saying! A promise like It was forced upon vou Inhu ¥, horribly. He would I laughed “Alive, an: walk rest, and taik, and smile honey out of 1ife, while pald for it with a tortured you shall no That man wait! There ix elf. Ho d me a sniveling hypocrite. You know the worst of me before vou know the worst of him. There is not much to tell—because he has told you. I am a gambler. All my fe I ible As far back as I 1 been rolling has been useles: But 1 was neve w any reason My life waorthless 1 neve until o sald this to wlad fe tell you 1 loved A of what your life w But I had faith in yo 1 always shall have. 8o the brave little smile this s & reward, e and great, to d worth while the ared at her. across his ¢ e seemed to be yond—b: He sw his med— sald desperatel him—but ¥ He is the 1 @ gang He held me r dirty lair, a hidde over in the wlums y were. He is a criminal, of into ms | | bootheels. W and a dangerous one—while he mas. querades with his medicine. God alone knows the crimes, If there are any, that he has not committed. He foul, unclean and filthy thing, de- ed and Alssolute, w moral lepes aire, do you understand all this. at his 1 s pollution and defile- ment, that e to him i lust, that your Wit stoppe 3 And again he stared at her. Sh did not speak but in her eyes he rea the torment of a far greater and | fuller appreciation of the price than he, he knew, though it turned his, soul sick within hiy, could ever have. And suddenly he covered his face with his hands “Hought ag. “Oh, me!” He felt his hands drawn away, and her two palms laid vpbn his eks. He looked at her. How white she was! “Help me, John, Don't—don’t m: She rcached Iken, plteous cry, Clatre d brokenly in his my God, this has bought she sald steadily. it harder.” out and touched the bell button beside his seat. In a subconscious ay he remembered that was the slgnal for Huwkins to bring the traveling pawnshop to the end of its eircuit around the block in It ld-time trips to Persla H made n ffort tu stop her. Ther was somethiug ultimate finality in her face and ecyes that a red, ! before It was uttered, the question| tumbled on his lips lajre! Clai: he plead 11 nothing cf ke ¥ g ‘here is no other " she sald. He stret rd out his ms to draw her to him again, to lay her head once more upon Lis shoulder—but now she held him back “No,” she whispered. John—my strensth is almost gonet there was something in her that held him from the act “Be merciful, | wilaly. | And he stared at the face, stared for a time without recognition. And thten as he sm.led and the face In the mirror smiled with him in & alatorted movement of the lips he swept his hand across his eyes. “John Bruce,” he sald. It seemed to arouse him from mome | mental absorption in which his physi- | cal entity had been lost. It was 5 o'clock, and he was John Bruce. 11 o'clock—or was it 12 had left Hawkins stunding by the door of the travellng pawnshop, and sinece then He stared around him. somewhere downtown. e did not know where. He began to walk in an_uptown direction. Something had been born in those hours-—something cataclysmic. What | was 1t? i “Or him!" The words came again— aloud—without apparent volition, l He was What did that mean? Tt had some- thing to do with Hawkins; with whut Hawkins had sald, standing there by the traveling pawnshop. What was it | Hawkins had sald? Yes; he rémem- | bered: “I'd rather see her dead.” “Or him!" With coid judictal precision now tha unrolled themselves before him. him!” us golng to kill Cran. s of mental strife, of tor- ugh whi he had jus the memory of som: which his soul had been | to torture. They came buck vive now, those hours—every minute the a lving eternity. His soul shrunk back aghast at first, and lied it murder; but it was not mur- or, If 1t wan it Wiy impera- the life of a foul viper It was the life of un unclean thing that mocked #nd dese- crated all decency. that flung its sor- did challenge at every law, both hu- man and divine—or the life of a pure, clean soul made the plaything ot this beast, gnd dragged Into the mire of i i e car stopped, And then, the door was opened 1 she stood up, suddenly she leaned - nd pressed her-lips from the car, | roped his way out of | b hed at his arn, i band was trembling viele: Slowly his eves met Hawkins' He xhook his hy ' 1d lined the m lamp “I'd rather see her dead,” said the old cab driver brok. Joht Bruce made no answer. Then Hawkins, gulping his words, ! spoke again “I—where'll 1 drive you?" John Bruce started biindly on past Hawkins down the stree “Nowhere,” he said. CHAPTER XXIL Through the Night. A gaunt and haggard figure stalked through the night; around him only| shuttered windows, darkened hous: and desert The pavements | & hollow npact of his way lay open | walked, ! pause, 1 streets, to the re the But alw incessantly, nowhe he went valiked he without nd his hands, ungloved. as they | ig_at his sides, were blue with cold. Bnt sweat in g t beads stood | out upon his forehead. At times his: lips moved and he spoke It was a_hoarse sound. ( ‘Or him! he sald. “Or him! On! Always on! There was no rest It was ceaseless. The gray came {nto the east And then at last the figure halted. There was a large window with wire rating, d a light burned within. In the window was a plate mirror, and a timepiece. It was a jeweler's window. The man looked at the timeplece. | It was o o'clock He looked at the ror. reflected the face of a '3 grown old The eyes burned in their sockets; the! without softness; drawn across the man deep hard, { was going to do, but he must w unutterable abomination to suffocate 1 Str in its noxlous sur- roundings und die. And that soul was in jeopardy be- cause at this moment he, John Bruce, had the power of r ent in his 1hs, ke of sight, the ability X his hand and feel it p-post there, and, if he aloud and designate | for what it was—a lamp- | had bought him these | lfe. Should she die ed back through hours si midnight, when his ul bad still faltered before the tak- !ing of human life, how it had sought | some other way, some alternativ l any alternative. A jail sentence for Crang. There was enough, more than enough now with the evidence of Crang s double life, to convict the m.un 10r the robbery of that safe. But Claire had anawered that in the long ago: “I will marry him when he comes out.” Oh, then, to get Crang agaln like this afternoon—no, rday afternoon. It was this morning, in a few hours, that they were to be married. There was RO time left In which to attempt any- thing lke that; but, even {f there he knew now at it but post- ned the day of reckoning. Claire would w Crang would come back. He was going to kill Crang. 1f be didn't crang would kill him. knew that, too. But his decisio uot actuated, or even swayed, ¥ nsideration of self-preserv n. He had no thought of his future his safety. That was already set t With his decision irrev- ably coupied the forfeiting ‘of his wn life. Not his own life! It be- longed to Claire. Claire had bought it. He was only giving it back that the abysmal price she had agreed to pay should not be extorted from her. | Ouce he had accomplished his pur- | pose, he would give himself up to the police. ! He was going to kill Crang. | That was what had been born out of the travail of those hours of the night. But there were other thing: to do first. He walked briskly new. The dacision in itself no longer occu- pied his thoughts. The decision was absolute; it was final. It was those “othter things" that he must consider row. There was Larmon. He could not tell Larmon what he, John Bruce, T Larmon to be on his guard against | any past or present connection with - If you followed their active feet just for a day -Yowd know why we measure the wear of «U.S.” Rubbers before they leave the factory Racing and tearing — dancing, scuffing—children’s feet are active every minute of the day. No won- der they wear out rubbers! In the remarkable machine shown below, the wear of “U. S.” Rubbers and Arctics is actually measured and tested to the finest fraction of an inch. ‘This is only one of the many machines for measuring wear used in our testing laboratories. These tests regulate every step in the manufacture of “U. S.” Rubbers for men and women as well as for children. This is one of the reasons why you can be sure of longer wear and The construction of “U.S.” Rub- bers is the result of 75 years of ex- perience—from the first successful rubbers ever turned out down to the manufacture of the ] master-brand that bearsthe “U.S.” trademark today. “U.S.” Rubbers and Arctics are made of the over such a wide variety of lasts that where—across is made by our Whether you they insure smooth, perfect fit every- the toe, at the ankle, at instep and heel. Each year a careful study of all styles of shoes on the market designers. want Rubbers or Arctics for men, women, or children, you’ll find just the type and style you want in the big “U. 8.” line. They cost no more and wear longer. It will pay you to look for the “U.S.” j s John Bruce coming to light. Fortu- nately, Larmon had come to New York , Y and registered as Peters. He must!stl make Larmon understand that Lar- |k fonight, even if prison mon and John Bruce had never met,|u th penalty were not about to Sven it he couiA: ol | nullify that bond far more effectively apecific reasons or explanat Lar- | than efhdgfhe or Larmon ever could mon would probably refuse at first]that tif thing and attribute it as an attempt to & break, for some ulterfor reason, the bond ‘they hud signed together (hat night on the beach at Apla John Bruce smiled gravely. bond would be broken in any o John Bruce nodded his head sharpl., that was better! But there something else—that bond neel that agreems=nt whieh | typieal of what his 1ife up to | ent time had Tways and In Its cancellatihn, for time was left, to hav ad a finer man . nonitive, grim In fts p Krened to hold up before him mirror where no iince were s where only the blunt, Ho walls | fo litti. | inst wh it typify ymise = in he | Faustus was at the end of the play. A few months in prison, the electric chair—how apt had been hix whis- tling of that arfa In his youth! Youth' Yes, he was dld now; he had been young that night on the beach at Apla. He took his hat and let the sharp alr sweep his head. He was not thinking clearly. Al this did not exp what b mean There ue Larmon's safety. He must take care of that; see to it, first of all, thit Lar- mon could not be implicated, held by law as an accomplice through fore- knowledge of what was to happen; then, almost of as great fmportance for Larmon's sake and future, the in- timacy betweon them, thelr business relations of the past, must never he subjected to the probe of the trial wus to come, Convenient and Moderate Terms on All Machines Will Buy Desirable Gasoline Stations or Locations for Same Chas. W. Morris Evans Bldg. M. 5328-9 Cur Own Personal Iron- Clad Guarantee as Well as Victor Co. Guarantee Goes $ 100 With Each Machine. HugoWorch e MO G PIANOS Pianos ForRent Emerson BeckerBros. 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