The evening world. Newspaper, May 19, 1914, Page 19

“THE PRINCE e . . And in thie bleak world they stood silent and motionless while eons rolled by. Betty was the first to speak. * “I'm late,” she said. John searched in hia brain for words, and came empty away. He shook hie hpad dumbly. * “Shall we sit down?" said Betty. John indicated silently the sand- stone rock on which he had been communing with himself. They sat down. A sense of being preposterously and indecently big ob- gessed John. There seemed no end to him. Wherever he looked, there were hands and feet and legs. He was & vast blot on the face of the earth. janced out of the corner of his Betty. She was gazi a He dived into his brain again. It was absurd! There must be something to say. And then he realised that a worse thing had befallen. He had no voice. It had gone. He knew that, try h never so hard to apeak, he would not be able to utter I spoken? Had but sit dumbly on that rock, at those sea gulls out in the water? He shot r swift glance at thrill went through him. There were tears in her eyes. The next moment—the action wi almost automatic—his left hand wa: clasping her right, and he was moving along the rock to her sid She snatched her hand away E intl Ylelded @ single word yi" She got up quickly. In the confused state of his mind, John found it necessary, if he were to speak at all, to say the essential thing in the shortest possible way. Polished periods are not for the man who is feeling deeply. He blurted out, huskily, 1 you!” and finding that this was all that he could say was silent. Even to himself the words, as he spoke them, sounded beld and mean- (Ooutinmed. -y Mr. Scobell Is Frank. " UNT MARION, suspending r operations on the sook, went ‘ on with tact at the point Je where ber brother's inter- ruption had forced her to leave off. “I'm gure he's a very nice young man, I have not seen him, but every- body says eo. You like him, Bennie, don’t you?” “Bure, I ike him. He's a corker. Walt till you see him, Betty. No- body's asking you to marry him be- fore lumch, You'll have plenty of time to get acquainted. It beats me what you're kicking at. You give me a pain in the neck, Be reasonabl Betty sought for arguments to clinch her refusal. “ “It's ridioulous,” she said. “You ™ talk as if you bad just to wave your hand. Why should your prince want to marry a girl he has never seen?” " " . Seobell con- He will,” eald Mr. Sco ingles. To Betty, shaken by her en- Adently. counter with Mr. Scobell, they sounded “How do you know?” “Because I know he's a sensible young skeesicks. That's how. See here, Betty, you've got hold of wrong ideas about this place. You aee't understand the position of af- “faire, Your aunt didn’t till I put ber wise. “He bit my head off, my dea .piurmured Miss Scobell, knitting pI artificial, as if he were forcing him- self to repeat a lesson They jarred upon her. “Oh, she said sharply ‘olce stabbed him. It could not red him more if she had ut- a cry of physical pain. ow. I've been told.” tered “Don't!” 1 “Been told? She went on quickly. “T know all about tt. My atep- father has just told He saii—he sald you were his"—she choked— ‘his hired man; that he paid you to stay here and advertise the Casino. Oh, It's too horrible! That it should ordinary stat ‘4 one of those Independent, <off-with-his-darned-head ful + wee read about In the best 766 el], you've got another gues# com- be you! You, who have heen—you fe. If you want to know who's ‘he can't understand what you—have .g noise here, it's me—me! IS been to me—ever since we met; you in my hired man. See? Who sent for him? I did. Wrne Fes » bi on the throne? I did. ho eopays hin his si jae do, from the profits of the Now do you understand? He kno’ his job. He wows on which side his bread’s but- ++ sored, When I tell him about this » taarriage, do you know what he'll sa. Nien say ‘Thank Ar ¢nat's how things are in this Betty shuddered. Her face was white with humiliation, She raised her hands with an impulsive movement to hide it. “L won't! L won't! jasped. . Mr. Scobell was pacing the room in an ecstasy of triumphant rhetoric, “There's another thing,” he said, swinging round suddenly and causing his sister to drop ther stitch. “Maybe you think he's some kind of a dago, this guy? Maybe that’s 3 biting you. Let me tell you * t he's an American—pretty neur * as much an American a8 you are prince guy couldn't understand. I can't tell you ~a sort of help—something—some- thing that—I can’t put it into words. Only it used to help me just to think of you. It was almost impersonal. 1 didn't mind if I never saw you again. I didn’t expect ever to see you again. It was just being able to think of you. It helped—you were something 1 could trust. Something strong—solid.” She laughed bitterly. “I suppose I made a hero of you. Girla are fools, But it helped me to feel that there was one man alive who—who put his honor above I won't!" she She broke off. John stood motion- less, starirgy at the ground. For the first time in his easygoing life he knew shame. Even now he had not grasped to the full the purport of her words. The scales were falling from his eyes, but as yet he saw but dimly. She began to speak again, in a low, monotonous voice, almost as if she were talking to herself. She was bbe rare looking past him, at the gulls that parr, stares Ot Mint swooped and skimmed above the glit- tering water. “lm so. tired of money—money— money. Everything's money. Isn't there a man in the world who won't I thought that you—I ppose I'm stupid, It’s business, I suppose, One expects too much.’ She looked at him wearily. “Goodby,” she said. “I'm going.” He did not move. She turned and went slowly up the path. Still he made no movement. A spell seemed to be on him. His eyes never left her as she passed into the shadow of the trees. For a mo- ment her white dress stood out clearly, She had stopped. With his whole soul he prayed that she would jook back. But she moved on once more and was go And suddenly a strange weakness came upon John. He trembled, The hillside flickered before his eyes for an instant, lutched at the sandstone rock to steady him: . Then his brain cleared and he found himself thinking swiftly. He could not let her go like this, He must overtake her. He must stop her, He must speak to her. 0 “Don't believe-it, eh? Well, let me tell you that his mother was born and raised in Jersey and tha he hae lived all his life in the State: He's no little runt of a dago. No, He's a mervens man, Ba , weighs ths vert of man he is. I guess that’ not American, man enough for you, m= on do shout so, Bennie!” mur- mured Miss Scobell. “I'm sure there ” Something tered a cry. iy who he was, this Ha ‘man who had sold himself. That spec! th sense which lies un- developed - the back of our minds uriag the ordinary happenin: of a sometimes in moments of Hype At its highest, it ts ‘at ite lowest, a vague pre- It woke in Betty now. no particular reason why yhould have connected her step- father’s words with John. The term he had used was an elastic ons, Among the visitors to the inane there were probably several Harvar He must men. But somehow she knew, t say—he did not know what it was “Who is he?” she cried. "Wie. that he would say—anything, so that wes his name before a 7” said Mr, Scobell. my eet, Maude was his moth- She was a Miss Weatley. are you going?” walking slowly toward Something in her face he spoke to her again. He raced up the path, calling her name, No answer came to his cries. Above him Hillside, dozing in below, the Medi- without a y te door. ~-wcked Mr. Scobell. “(want to think,” 7m gome Jat.” 3 she said quietly. In days of old, in the age of legend, ame is ‘varned heroes of impending doom, But to-day the gods have + grown weary and we rush unsuspect- ‘ng on our fate. No owl hooted, no thunder rolled from the blue sky as John wert up the path to meet th dress that gleamod between the rees. His heart was singing within him. e had come. She had not forgot- te or changed her mind or wilfully abandoned him. His mood lightened ©ewiftly. Humility vanished. He was “not such an outcast, af all, He ‘was some one. He was the man Betsy Silvey had come to meet. ht of her face came “reaction. Her face was pale and cold and hard She did no* <peak or smile. As she Geew near whe leked at him, and there was that in her look which set 4 chill wind blowing through the world and cast a veil across the sun, terranean, ripple. He silence and sleep. CHAPTER VI. An Ultimatum from the Throne. T half-past twelve that morn- ing business took Mr, Ben- Jamin Scobell to the royal palace. Arriving at the palace, he was In- formed that His Highness had gone out shortly after breakfast and had not returned, The majordomo gave the information with a tinkle of dis- approval in his volce. Before taking up his duties at Mervo he had held a similar position in the household of a German prince, where rigid cere- monial obtained, and John’s cheerful disregard of formalities frankly shocked him, To take the present case for instance: When His High- ness of Swartsheim had felt inclined NEXT WEEK’S COMPLETE NO a ieee Oe brain, ransacked for the third and 4 LITY AND B to enjoy the air of a morning, it had been a domestic event full of stir and pomp. He had not merely cram- med a soft hat over his eyes and strolied out with his hands in bis pockets, but without a word to his household staff as to where he was , going or when he might bo expected to return. Mr. Scobell received the news equa- bly and directed his chauffeur to re- turn to the villa, He could not have done better, for on his arrival he was met with the information that His Highness had called to see him shortly after he had left and was now waiting In the morning room. came to Mr, Scobell's ears as he approached the room. His Highness appeared to be pacing the floor like a caged animal luncheon hour. The resem- was heightened by the expres- sion in the royal eye as His High- ness swung round at the opening of the door and faced the financier, “Why, y, Prince,” said Mr. Sco- bell, is lucky. I been looking for you. I just been to the palace and the main y there told me you had gone out. “I did, And I met your stepdaugh- ter, Mr. Scobell w: astonished. Fate Was certainly smoothing his way If it arranged meetings between Betty and the Prince before he had time to do it himself. There might be no need for the fron hand after all. “You did?" he said. “Si Heck did you come to do th a you know about Betty “Miss Silver and I bad met before in America when I was in college.” Mr. Scobell slapped his thigh joy- iy. ‘Gee, n it’s all working out like a fic- to. “Ie it?’ for the matter of that, what” Mr. Scobell answered question with question. “Say, Prince, you and Betty were pretty good friends in the old days, T guess?" John looked at him coldly. “We won't discuss that, if you don't mind,” he said. His tone annoyed Mr. Scobeli. Off came the velvet glove and the fron hand displayed itself. His green eyes glowed dully and the tip of his nose wriggled as was ite habit in times of emotion. “Is that so?” he cried, regarding John with disfavor. “Well, T guess! Won't discuss it! You gotta discuss it, Your Royal Texas League High- ness! You want maki Ly hh my bucko, You' John’s demeanor had become s0 rous that he broke off abruptly ment, as of a man strolling carelessly about his private sanctum, put him- self within easy reach of the door has hen became satirical. laybe Your Serene Imperial Two- by-Fourness would care to suggest & subject we can discuss John took a st “Yes, I will,” he teeth. “You were talking to Miss Sil- ver about me this morning. She told ‘one or two of the things you sald, and they opened my eyes. Until I heard them, I had not quite under- od my position [ do now, You 4, among other things, that T was your hired man,” “It wasn't intended for vou to hear,” said Mr. Scobell, slightly mol- ified, “and Betty shouldn't oughter have handed it to you. I don't won- der you feel raw. I wouldn't say that to a guy's face. Sure, no. ‘s my middie name, But, ince you have heard it, well!""—— “Don't apologize. You were quite right, I was a fool not to neo It be- fore. No description could have been fairer, You might have said much ded that as nothing more than a steerer for rambling hell.” ih, come, Prince!" There was a knock at the door, A footman entered, bearing, with a de- tached air, as if he disclaimed all re- sponsibility, a letter on a silver tray. Mr. Scobell slit the envelope and began to read. As he did so his eyes grew round, and his mouth slowly opened ill his ct stump, after hanging for a moment from his lower lip, dropped off like an exhansted bi- valve and rolled along the carpet. poe. You might have was clean and fine, and s bitter con~ tempt filled him. Outside the window, a blase of col- or, Mervo smiled up at him, and sud- denly he found himself loathing its xotic beauty. He felt stifled. This no place for a man. A vision of winds and wide spaces came to And just then, at the foot of the hi hill, the dome of the Casino caught the sun and flashed out In e blaze if gold. te. swung sround and faced Mr. H mind. get busy. John looked at bim. “IL intend t he said “Good boy! id the financier “To begin with, I shall run you out of this place, Mr. Scobell. up,” John went on. out. There will be no more gambling in Mervo. = : “You' crasy with the heat! gasped Mr. Scobell. “Abolish gam- bling? You can't.’ “I can, That concession of yours isn't worth the paper It's written on. The Republic gave It to you. The Republic's finished. If you want to conduct a casino In Mervo, there's only one man who can give you per- mission, and th: myself. The acts of the Republic are not binding on me. For a week you have been gambling on this island without @ concession and now It's going to sto) Do you understand?” it, Prins 1k sense.” bell’s voice was almost tearful. you who don't understand. Do, for the love of Mike, come down off the roof and talk sense. Do you suppose that these guys here will stand for this? Not on your life. Not for a minute, See here. I'm not blaming you. I know you don't know what ow're saying. But listen here. You tnust cut ‘oat this kind of thing. You mustn't get these ideas in your head. You stick to your job and don't butt in on other folks’. Do you know how long you'd stay Prince of this joint if you started in to monkey with my casino? Just about long enough to let you pack a collar-stud and a toothbrush into your grip. And after that there wouldn't me any more Prince, sonnie. You stick to your job and I'll stick to mine. You're a mighty good Prince for all that’s r he gasped, “she's gone. What do you mean?” it. She's half way to Ww, Gee, and | saw rned boat going out!” “She's gone!” “This is from her. Listen what ehe By the time you read this I shall be gone. | am going back to Ameri yas lcan. I am giving this to take to you directly the boat has started, Please quired of you, You're ornamental to bring mo back. I ' and you've got get-up in you. You die than marry the Prin just keep right on being a good boy John started violently and don’t start trying stunts off your ‘and you'll do fine. I'm the big noise here. yback from ‘way back in Mervo. See! I've only to twiddle my fingers and there'll be a revolution, and you for the Down. Out Club’ Don't you forget it, sonn John shrugged his shoulders. “1've sald all I have to say, You've had your notice to quit. After to- night the casino Is clone “But don't I tell you that the people won't stand for. it?” “phat's for them to decide. ‘They may have some self-respect.” “They'll fire you! “Very well. ‘That will prove that they have not.” “Prince, talk sense! You can't mean that you'll throw away a hundred thousand dollars a year as if it was dirt!” “it is dirt when it's made that way. We needn't discuss it any more.” “But, Prince!’ “L's finishes “What!” he cried Mr. Scobell nodded sympathy “That's what she says. She sure has it in bad for you. What does she mean? Seeing you and she are old friends’ “I don’t say that to you? think that you kn her to marry me “Eh? cried Mr. asked her to marry you? And she turned you down! Prince, this beats the band. Say, you and I must get together and ‘do something he girl's mad! See here, you aren't wixe to what's been happening. 1 been fixing this thing up. I fetched you er here, and then [ fetched Betty, d I was going to have you two marry. I told Betty all about It this morning.” John cut through his explanations with @ sudden sharp cry. A blind- ing blaze of understanding had flashed upon him. It was as if he had been groping his way in a dark cavern and had stumbled unexpect- edly into brilliant sunlight. He un- derstood everything now. Every word that Betty had spoken, every gesture that she had made, had become amazingly clear. He saw now why she had shrunk back from him, why understand. Why does she Why should she that I had asked Scobell. "You “But, say! John had left the room. He had been gone several minutes before the financier recovered full porsession of his faculties. When he did his remarks were brief and to the pe it “Bughoure!" sped. “Abao- her eyes had worn that look, He jute Ri dared not face the ploture of him- utely bughouse! self as he must have appeared in those eyes, the man whom Mr, Ben- CHAPTER Vil. jamin Scobell's Casino was paying to = marry her, the hired man earning hia Mervo Changes Its Constitu- wages by speaking words of love. A feeling of physical sickness came over him. Ho held to the table for support as he had held to the sand- stone rock, And then came rage, rage such as he had never felt be- fore, rage that he had not thought himself capable of feeling. It swept over him in a wave, pouring through his veins and blinding him, and he clung to the table till his knuckles whitened under the strain, for he knew that he was very near to mur- der. A minute passed. He walked to the window, and stood there, looking ovt. Vaguely he heard Mr. Scobell's voice at Ils back, talking on, but the worde had no meaning for him, ik tion. UMOR, {if one looka into it, is principally a matter of retrospect. In after years John was wont to look back with amusement on the revolution which ejected him from the throne of his apcestors, But at the time its mirthfulness did not appear to him. He was in a frenzy of restlessness. He wanted Betty. ' He wanted to ave her and explain. Explanations could not restore him to the place he had held in her mind, but at least they would show her that he was not the vith cur. with ® cur” thing he had appeared. was one of those rare Mervo had become a prison. He moments in & man's lite when, ffOM ached for America. But, before he through a breach in that xcuses and self-deception been at such pains to jooks at himself impartially. The sight that John saw the wall was not comforting. It was not a heroic soul that, stripped of its defenses, shivered beneath the scru- tiny, In another mood he would have mended the breach, excusing and ex- tenuating, but not now. He looked at himself without pity, and saw him- self weak, slothful, devold of all that could go, this matter of the Casino must be settled. It was obvious that it could only be settlod in one way. He did not credit his subjecta with the high-mindedneas that puts ideals firat ond money after. That military and civilians alike would rally to « man round Mr, Scobell and the Casino he was well aware, But this did not affect his determination to remain till Are You Going Away for the Summer? When you go out of town for the summer you may find ft: is difficult and costly to provide yourself with the right sort of reading matter. Why send to the city for novels at $1.25 or $1.50 each or buy them at a fancy price in some country store? You can supply yourself with the best, most delightful summer reading for six cents a week. oy subscribing to The Evening World for the summer months you will secure a complete novel each week. Not some old book a country dealer has not been able to sell, birt the finest up-to-date fiction by the foremost living authors, Bear this in mind, not only for yourself but for any of your friends who expect to spend the summer in the country, the last. If he went now, lke @ echoolboy who makes a ru away ring at the doorbell. Untti ehould receive formal notice of dis- miasal he must stay, although every day bad forty it hours évery hour twice ite complement of weary minutes. So he waited, chafing, while Mervo examined the situation, turned it over in ite mind, discussed it, slept upon it, discussed it again, and displayed generally that ponderous leisureliness which is the Mervian's birthright. Indeed, the earliest demonstration was not Mervian at all. It came from the visitors to the island, and con- sisted of a deputation of four, headed by the wisened little man, who had frowned at John in the Dutch room on the occasion of his meeting with Betty, tolid Individual with a ion was, from the first, querulous. The wizened man bad constituted himself spokes- man. He introduced the party—the walrus as Col. Finch, the others aa Herr von Mandelbaum and Mr. Archer-Cleev His own name was Pugh, and the whole party, like the other visitors whom they represented, had, it seemed, come to Mervo, at nd expense, to patron- only to find these sud- denly, without a word of warning, withdrawn from their patronage. And what the deputation wished to know was, What did {t all mean? guess we'll call this conference ed," said John. “Do what you bout It. The one thing you may take as @ solid fact—and you can id it around the town as much ‘OU please—is that the Casino and je not going to be re- opened while I'm ruler here.” The deputation then withdrew, re- luctantly, On the following morning there came a note from Mr. Scobell. It was brief. "Come on down before the ae sad begins,” it ran. John tore It was on the same evening that definite hostilities may be anid to have begun. Between the palace and the mar- ket place there was a narrow street of flagged stone, which was busy dur- ing the early part of the day, but de- erted after sundown. Along this Street, at about 7 o'clock, John was strolling with a cigarette, when he wan aware of a man crouching, with his back toward him. So absorbed was the man in something which he was writing on stones that he did not hear John's approach, and the latter, coming up from behind, was enabled to see over his shoulder. In large let- ters of chalk he read the words, “Conapues le Prince.” John's knowledge of French was not profound, but he could understand this, and it annoyed him. As he looked, the man, squatting on his heels, bent forward to touch up one of the letters, If he had been de- ately posing, he could not have umed a more convenient attitude. John had been a footballer before he was a prince, The temptation was Loa much for him. He drew back his root— There was a how! and a thud, and John resumed his stroll. The firat gun from Fort Sumter had been fired. Karly next morning a window at the rear of the palace wan broken by a stone, and toward noon one of the soldiers on guard in front of the Casino was narrowly mianed by an anonymous orange. For Mervo thin was practically equivalent to the at- tack on the Bastille, and John, when the report of the atrocities was brought to him, became hopeful. But the effort seemed temporarily to have exhausted the fury of the mob, The rest of that day and the whole of the next passed without sensation, The third morning, as John wan talking with Crump and en. Poilneau. a crowd gathered in the square outaide the palace, As John pHed out on a balcony a how! of rage burst from the mob, John stood looking down on them, resting his arms on the parapet. The howl was repeated, and from some- where at the back of the crowd came the sharp crack of a rifle, and a shot, the first and last of the campaign, clipped a strip of flannel from the collar of his coat and splashed against the wall, A broad amile spread over his face. If he had studied for a year he 4 not have hit on a awifter or more eVective method of quieting the mob. There wan something so engag- ing and friendly in his smile that the howling died away and fists that had been shaken unclenched themaelven and fell. There was an expectant ai- lence tn the square, John beckoned to Crump, who came on to the baleony with some reluc- tance, being mistrustful of the unseen sportsman with the rifle. “Tell ‘em it's all right, Crump, and that there's no call for any ‘fuss, From their manner T gather that I am no longer needed on this throne. Anak them if that's right.” A small man, who appeared to be in command of the crowd, stepped forward ax the secretary’ finished speaking, and shouted some words which drew a murmur of approval from his followers. “He wante to know,” Interpreted Mr. Crump, “if you will allow the Casino to open again “Tell him ne, but add thar T shall be tickled to death to abdicate, if that's what they want. Speed them up, old man. Tell them to make up their minds on the jump, because T want to catch to-day's boat, Don't let them get to discussing It or they'll stand there talking till sunset, Yer or no. That's the idea.” There was a moment's surprised silence when Mr. Crump had spoken. The Mervian mind was unused to be- ing huatled in this way. Then a voice shouted, as it were tentatively, “Vive la Republique!” and at once the cry was taken up on all sides. John beamed down on them. “That's right,” he said. “Bully! T knew you could get a move on as quick as any one else if you gave your minds to it. Thin is what I call some- thing like a revolution. T every countey In the woed, But I kuesn we must close down the enter- talnment now er IT shall be missing the boat. Will you tell them, Crump, @ would be that any eitisen who cares for a driak anda will find it in the Palace? Tell the -_ hold staff to stand we dry work revol! = must etep lively.” CHAPTER VIII. Mra. Oakley. ETTY, when che stepped on board the boat for Mar- eellles, had had no = plan of action. an overmastering desire for that left no room in her mind thoughts of the morrow. It was till the train wae roaring ite way across southern France that she found hereelf aufficiently composed to re- view her position and make plans, She would not go back. She could not. The worda ehe had used in her letter to Mr, Scobell were no melo- dramatic rhetoric. They were a plain and literal statement of the truth. Death would be infinitely preferable to life at Mervo on her etepfather'e conditions. Retty faced the problem. What had she? What was her market value? What could she do? She looked back at her life, and eaw that she had dabbied. She had a little of most thinga—enough of nothing. She T really must be ge- heart. initiated bell’a lei may “A wicl could etch a little, play @ little, sing critics: @ little, write @ little, Also—and, as ahe remembered it, she felt for the frat time a tremor of hope—she could use a typewriter reasonably well, That one accomplishment atood out in the welter of her thoughts, solid and com- forting, like a rock in a quicksand. It bcd was eomething definite, something marketable, something of value for which persons paid. Then she remembered the exist- ence of Socobell’e aunt, Mra. Oakley the multi-millionairess who lived on $500 a year in a Btal nd jaken place nearly twelve years ago. The figure that remained in her memory was of & pale-oyed, grenadier-like old lady, almost entirely surrounded ty cloc! It was these clocks that had tf Dressed her most. Mrs. Oakley was one of two chil- dren, a son and a di ter, of a Ver- mont farmer. Of early life no records remain. Her public history begins when she was twenty-two and came to New York. After two years’ struggling, she found a position in the firm of one Redgrave. Poor Mr. ‘ave bad not had a chance from the start. She married him within year. Two years later, catching the bulls in an unguarded moment, Mr, Redgrave despotled them of trifle over three mililon dollars, and died the same day of an apoplectic stroke caused by the excitement of victory. His widow, after a tour in Europe, returned to the United States and visited Pittsburgh. Groping through the smoke, she welsed and carried off no less a quarry than Alexander Baynes Oak- ley, a widower, whose income was one of the seven wonders of the world, In the fulness of time he, too, died, and Jane Oakley was left with the sole control of two vast fortunes. It was a curious life that she led, this woman who could have bought kingdoms if she had willed it. A Swedish maid-of-all-work wae her only companion, By day she would walk In her little garden, or dust, ar- range and wind up her clocks. At night she would knit or read one of the frequent reports that arrived at the cottage from charity workers on the ea ide. Those were her two hobbies, and her only extravagances— clocks and charity. It was to this somewhat unpromia- ing haven of refuge that Betty's mind now turned in her trouble. She did not expect great thines. She could not have said ctly what she did expect. But, at | the cot! Staten Inland offered er journey, even if it could not from Mervo ceased to be objectiess. It led somewhere. CHAPTER IX, A Letter of Introduction. N hour after she landed in A New York Betty was at the door of the Oakley cottage. é It did not take her long to pass the customs, A emall grip con- stituted her entire baggage. Having left this in the keeping of the amiable proprietor of @ nearby delicatessen store, ahe made her way to the ferry. The Swede servant received her stolidly, Mrs. Oakley was dusting her clocks. “Aak her tf she can eee me,” aid Betty. “I'm"—great-niece sounded too ridiculous—"I’m her niece,” she aald. Like #0 many scenes of childhood, the room of the clocks was sharply stamped on Betty's memory, and as she came into it now it seemed to her that nothing had changed. were the clocks, all round the walla, of every shape and alse, the big clocks with the human faces and the small, perky clocks, There was the dingy, medium a@ised clock that held the trumpeter, And there, looking at her with Just the old sandy-cat expres- sion in her pale eyes, was Mra, Oak- ley. Even the poaseasion of an income of eighteen million dollars and @ unique collection of clocks cannot place a woman above the making of the obvious remark. end. Her mad dash bi There Pi petty handed eck the cable. chin, emblem of war, ar, was tilted net h every poke the thought of J: afresh, She omitted imu > ah do's marriage with oa she did not—ahe hesitated at the word—did not respect, she conc , Mrs, Oakley regarded her 11 . ably for a while before replying. ss. ti" she said at-last. have never met a man in if them! “I loved cried Betty. loved him!’ her, but she could not stop. The noise died away with metallic It was a changed voice that Betty looked "R. and saw that eyes that met were very ly to the old wom- She had quicl le. + aa ‘Honey, I'm going to tell you some — thing about myself that y dreams of. Betty, when I was F age, I ran away from a man I loved him. It was just a litt lage tr was and her folks were the t of the place, and he married 2 oy é T ran away, like you, and wea! Betty pressed ber band. It wag | trembling. Br wanted to kill my heart, And it, There's only one wa; Work! Work!" She was as it atanding dark on the brink of an abyss. The old woman began to again. Te “Chil ‘a the same with you, Your heart's tearing you. Don't let it! It will get worse and worse Che 2 are afraid of it, Fight it! Mall it! ae stopped , clenching oning LY aera ae were ing some ing 5 ‘There, ‘wan allence for a long moment. can I do?” she l. ‘Can you use a typewri! oo tty, promptly. be Bey - recommendation. ter to him. He ts the editor of a weekly paper. TI don't know ew much he will offer you, but take | and work- You'll find him pleasan’ (4 I have met him at charity meetin — on the east side. He's useful at th” entertainmente—does conjuring trick upid, but ¢t! 2 NH % She had been writing the letter, or Introduction during the course of thas remarks. At the last word she blot. ted it a ge yer it in an envelope. “That address. she said. |”. Brabason Rensha, Office of P ped ents. Take it to him now. tt It was as if she were ashamed of her tote SaaS ema’: She spoke abruptly an eyes were omy reasioniess. Betty thanked her Aa” urned 0. “Tell me how you get on,” Mra. Coker, en,” sald Betty. “And work. on working!™ (To Be Continued.)