The evening world. Newspaper, December 16, 1915, Page 21

up from Go and X, have just feeling to Ie merely patern Yorws_on earth wh ‘ran. break fara tier and. more charactor tothe Capital to och Loner, Hlacarda bes. him ia i seyret. to Catal remy 00 oth to» ma,” a ah it, “then proceeda wel jo avo Diacara’s life, Jaber at om Arareek Club, mh a se a to the wioing room, CHAPTER VI. (Comtinved.) In the House of Rimmon. E broke into a senile, weak sobbing. And from all over the room rose a confused whispering, a rustle, an in- definable electric thrill. Women whose escorts had led them ‘to the door halted and looked back in craas interest. Men glanced at one an- other, muttering queries that found no answer, Even Dillingham forgot at last his faint hope of restoring the shattered function to its forme: banal calm, Pair by pair, all eyes slowly fo- cussed on Caleb Conover, But the most imaginative gazer could not des- ery emotion—whether of surprise, eehagrin or fear—on the heavy mask of the Fighter's face, For a moment there was a hush. The old man on the floor still sobbed in maudlin fash- jon, But no one heeded him, Then Caine arose, think,” he began, his pleasant, Jow-pitched voice breaking in like a dash of cool water on his hearers’ rgetoe em neg think there is sno need for any of us to magnify this trifling break in our jolly eve- ning; nor to allow it to mar in any way our spirit of good-fellowship. May I propose that we"—— “Hold on!" interposed Caleb, quiet- ly, He got to his feet and laid a ning hand on Caine’s arm, ‘You mean well," he said, thank you, But I think this is where I Ive do the talkin’, an’ not you. never made a speech here befor he went on, raising his voice, “an' [ never expected to, But I'll ask you people to have patience with mo for @ minute or two, use there’ got .to be I'm the one Never be- He ) fore in the Arareek Club had orator need about him, pnts so rapt an audience, The Beavy voice; the brute mag notism of the man, no less than curl- osity a@ to how he would handle so impossible @ situation, had already caught every one's attention, His wholly masterful manner, his latent ot r own to t on: that man doubled up on the floor there 19 my father—I didn't know til! five minutes that he was still alive. [ hadn't seen nor heard of him in near twenty-five years; ll he came in here, cragy drunk, just now, an’ broke up your party. I'm sorry for what hee done, If I could make any kind of rep’ration to you for the bother he's caused, I'd do it, I*guess you know that. But I can't, All [ can do ts to try to make you look at him leas Mike he was a mangy dog in a fit, an’ more as if he was a human MMe yourwelves, That's why I'm tak- in’ the liberty to speak to you now. ‘WUl you hear me?" The unconscious buzz and murmur that all at once swept the room served him for answer, and he continued: “My father.” with another nod to- ward the mumbling figure on the floor, “was a risin’, hard-workin’ man, He come of devent people, an’ he was a promisin’ young chap that evrybody liked, That’ Was — the trouble, Too many folks liked him; which is pretty near as bad as bein’ liked by nobody. Nothin’ pers'nal in- When the Civil War broke tended, out he went to the front, There he learned to starve, to loaf, to fori hia business trainin’, An he wasn the only one, 1 guess, ‘There's where » he learned to drink, too, When men have to go supperless to bed on the “wet ground after an all-day march, a awig of Whiskey's 4 blessin’, [Us a Dleesin’, too, when it duis the moms ‘ry of the comrade at your side t was blowed ta piecee by a shell or ripped open by a bay'net. Can you blame the soldiers if they let the whiskey bless gets to be MA ‘en en that it ao habit? the wa 1 wo ofte my father coine ms to call hi ier they a lot of hot-air marched off in their blou uniforms to the war, When the slouchin' back, footsore, ragged so thin they looked like walkin’ em- balmer advertisements, there wasn't quite so much cheerin’. My father'd gone away a brisk, fine set-up lid, Teayin' good work behind him, He come back like @ good many thou- sand others, none ‘the better for a in shiftlessness, four-year cour Jar works. booze an’ no F “The folks who'd cheer he went to fight for ‘em away a lot of thelr spare him when al cheered vtrittisin by that time, There wa pouch of it left in Granite to give my father a fuir start in the world again, Be- cause he'd learned to drink, to loaf, to be uneasy an’ unreliable when he worked, they forgot he'd picked up those tricks while he was defendin’ their country, Heroes was a drug in the market, If any of you feller know how it fecls to get down work the day after your fortnight’s vacation, maybe you ean understand what it meant to him to settle down to a Job after four years in the open Conover glanced again ath father. The old man had ceased to ind was trying to follow the mum Fighter's specch, The slack Jaw had tightened, and the huddled form was struggling slowly to its feet, Y “He tried to work,” resumed Con- over, “but younger, sinarter folks, with steadier business trainin’, wa grabbin’ all the good Jobs, Yet he got what he could, an’ for awhtle he did the best he knew how, ‘Then he saw oo chon muke things easier for my mother ant me, He'd been used to seein’ hig officers in the army PORPOCRRCOnseceseaserecesesanecnseoeenes: THE FIGHTER A Romance With a Strange Hero of the Battling Breed ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE POV ETII EO TIONNS paddin’ expense accounts an’ gettin’ graft on fodder bills an’ such, He'd seen contractors grow rich by selll the Gov'ment. shoddy blankets ai rotten food. Was it any worse for him to scamp weights on the coal scales, That's what he done. Not in big quantities, as if he was financier; but a few cents a day he got the chance, "That was his mistake, If he'd stole a million he'd a’ been a big man in Granite, But he hadn't the brain to do more'n foller, a long way off, ; the example of the men he'd been taught to obey for four years, Be- cause he stole go little an’ #0 stoo- pidly, they found him out, They didn't @top to ask if he'd used the miser’ble — sums of pilfered money to make his home happier an' buy things for his sick wife, Those argu: ments don’t cut much fee in law. was Just a common thief. An’ they sent him to State prison, Me an’ my mother could starve, for all the law cared, The bread-winner was locked up. That was all holy Justice asked for, We could die of hunger if wo wanted to, now that the law had taken away the man who had stole to keep us alive, “I guess you folks has read “of the way men get treated in those places where the State gives ‘em a chance to repent of their eins, For five years my father lived tn a stone cubby- hole an’ had for chums a choice c'lection of the Devil's Own Brigade, Not a soul in all that time to speak a decent word to him—to say ‘Please,’ in givin’ him his orders. It sounds like a small thing to have no one say ‘Please’ to you. But try it some time. “after five years’ of herdin’ with deasts—only bein’ treated worse'n the S. P. C. A. would let any beast be treated—they turned my father loose, They'd set the prison mark on him; they'd taught him to keep ‘comp'ny with biackguards; they'd made him callous to everything de- cent, an’ taken away his citizenship. Havin’ done which, they gen'rously sets him free an’ gives him a chance to be a God-fearin’, upright man in future. Who'll hire a convict? Who'll give him a show? No one. You know that as well as Ido, How can he hold up his head among men who haven't had the bad luck to be aught? What was left for my father to do? To 'sociate with the only clase tiat'd take him as an equal, To turn to the drink that made him forget they'd branded him as an outcast. That's what he did. 1 ain't sayin’ It's right. T ain't sayin’ that Raul Conover’s a noble jo ‘in’ work of God os he slinks against 1. him go long has knocked out his hood. The hard luck an’ starvt turned him old and ugly an’ bad- shaped. In short, he's what S'clety an’ a lovin’ Paternal Gov'ment has made him, An'—he's my father, God help him! An’ the man who says I'm asnamed of him, lies!” Amid the oppressed silence, Caleb Conover crossed over to where his father stood cowed and halt-sobered, As gently as a woman, he put hia arm about the old man's twisted shoulders and drew him toward the door, A lane was made for their pass. From somewhere in the crowd came the sound of a woman's atified sob, Jack Hawarden tm- pulaively clapped hia hands together. There was an instant's shocked silence, Then—no one could after- ward explain why—the lad's example was followed from all quarters of the dining hall, and a rattle of incon- gruous : pplause re-echoed through r, half-le: porting the | wizened neared the door, young n barred his path. With ro- worship shining in his ¢ his hand, Caleb ripped it in atlence and passed on, out into the darkness, None followed the strange pair as they left the clubhouse, Nelther father nor son spoke a word until they were alone in the star- lit road, far beyond earshot of the club. Then Caleb stopped, glancing back as though fearful lest some in- quisitive guest might have come out to witness the sequel to the banquet hall scene, The night air had still further cleared the drink-fog from the old man’s brain, Clutching his son by the sleeve, and tremblingly patting the Fighter's big handy he whimpered: “Gawd bloss you, boy! man Tam. this night. ashamed of your poor what worked so hard for yi you so an’ With © gesture of loathing, Caleb k off the weak clasp. vou measly old crook It's a proud You're not old father wan’ loves dirty nds usting a of billy upon him, “Take thix an’ get out of town hy ihe next train, Write me where to forward money an' I'll see you get enough to keep you drunk til you die, But if you ever set foot in Granite again Tl have you railroaded to jail for life, An’, after this, don't spring that Civil War yarn again, Civil War hard-luck stories are plaved out, Besides, you were never within two hundred miles of the war; and you know you weren't Don't lie when vou don't have to, Tt spoils your skill for nee'ssary Hes. Now, get away from here! Chase!” CHAPTER VIL. Into an Unknown Land. The Evening World Da ly Magazine, Thursday, Decem er 16. WHAT sHati | Give_To BILLY FoR XMAS WHAT sate! Give To BILLY For XMAS 2 WHAT sxate # Give_7O Biter FoR XMAS D When Providence gives a man @ great tenor voice, He gives him nothing else. Perhaps, though, he needs nothing else,” But an avalanche of trite sayings could not have halted Caleb, He lis- toned with ponderous deference to Caine; then glanced about the table and cleared his voice. “Speakin’ of ‘needin’ nothin’ else,” satd he, “reminds me of Old Man gence, you look just a little like one, A trition, “it was rotten of me! To very pretty one, of course,” he sup- think of my snorin’ out loud an’ mak- plemented, with mammoth gallantry. In’ everybody rubber at you while they Her eyes, this time, hoisted the dis. £&V@ me the laugh! An’ you never troas signal so perceptibly that Caine, batted an eye! You sat there lookin skilled to read the signs, broke off in 80 friendly an’ cool, the midst of a eentence to hia right- like nothin’ had happened! 1 could hand neighbor and engaged Caleb in 4 knelt down and kissed both your momentary conversation, Letty, in feet. I kep’ a’ thinkin’ all evenin’ the interval stared appealingly about that you'd moat likely tako it out on the board, But, thanks to her own ™Me When we was alone, It'd a’ been Wetherwolks who used to live at success in drawing Conover into tete only hooman nature if you had. Pompton when 1 was a kid. He used a tete, the others were not, at the That's why I came hore now. To to get Jagged as reg'lar as pay-day instant, noticing ether of them, take my medicine. An’ you ain't even came ‘round, Had a battin’ av'rage Thrown upon herself for comfort, she disgusted with me. AGE amy ase of seven nights 4 week. Then, when decided the rough guest had intended you?" he added, tn he'd blowed his last nickel, he'd make his asinine remark aa a compliment. reassurance, us boys pilot him home.’ It wasn't The thought did much to console her, “Would you have been ‘disgusted’ any cinch, etther, For his wife was She glanced, sideways, at him, with with me,” she asked, “if it had been a new interest; and Caine, relieved, saw the ‘Falr Weather atandard fly- ing once more, But Conover, subtly aware of her emotion, knew he had somenow blun- dered. He saw how far he had de- flected from his ortinal plan of stony welf-control. He knew {It was the few always waitin’ at the door. An’ the chunks of language she'd hand out to Us would a’ fried an iceberg, One night, I remember, we brought the ol’ sot home worse'n usual, Sho was right there with the tongue-loshin'’. She told him what swine he was to spend all his fum'ly’s cash on booze, and how he was a disgrace to his I instead of you that “You know blame well I wouldn't!” he declared. "An' I'd a’ licked ev'l man tn the place that fared to lau or look aneerin’, I'd a “That's Just what I wanted to do,” said Desiree, “If I was cross inside, it wasn't at you, dear boy ‘ glasses of wine he had drunk which, — «f: rf town, an’ other nicer comfortin’ tile in norway pefuddling hia brainy Gorey out on vom yet.’ erowiled things like th ound up by had given his tongue an undue loose- Tm aghamed of it. The only feller nornechin’: ‘A ta single news, A wave of self-contempt pansod who's never ashamed of his mistakes ts a loonatic, An: [ain't a loonatic, by a long shot, I'm ashamed. But [il win, “Lasten to me," “it redeemin’ tralt, y eas drunk ard!’ That waa too much for Weth~ erwolks. He ¢'lapsed on the bottom step and began to ery, ‘You're right, over him; sharp, unaccustomed, t bent to fill one of his . Caleb, recalling the etl. book maxim, clapped hie hand quot she demanded, m' rv! he whines. y'ry word you hastily over the top of the goblet, = be say is true, I haven't a single re- ‘The gesture was sudden and carried spare en amen deemin’ trait. But,'—an' here he with jt an unintended for The x foing to play with children who adn't the sense to see how fine he was and what good company he could be, {t wouldn't make you angry at throws his chest out an’ looks stern the thin Venetian an’ noble—but in ev'ry other respect’ Tm a dam’ fine mant’" wrought stem of glass snapped. Conover, purple with angry mortif\- The anecdote somehow did not * ion, surveyed the wreck he had him, would it. if he got faughed at for as well as when Conover had tol night, ‘Then, pulling bimeel? to- not’ understanding their stiff, set in the hack room of Kerrigan's aa- r, he looked about the board, the ways? Of course not. [ut when he'd loon, But if there wax constraint in hind Mis forced grin challeng- jad his lesson and had burned hia ita reception, he did not observe It und every eye that might dare ing any poor stubby fingers, wouldn't it make Letty, dropping her volce, to slut him to show derisior 4 you Just the loust bit impatient if he out of the general talk, inquired: “it doesn’t matter, Mr, Standish!" began right away to plan to try his “Where Is Pompton? TL don't think he called down the table to Ms host, juck with those same horrid ohildren Lever heard of it. Did T! Are our “Ti ave the plecos and send you ® again? Wouldn't you be tempted to Pompton Avenue and the Pompton fot like it to-morrow, Where'd gpank him or’—— Club named for It? se it?” , “You're dead right, ittle girl,” he “L don't think * he answered. I've got, more cash than the whole admitted. "An’ you're a lot cleverer “tvs a little place, "way Lip in the crowd of tem put toy c © told than Lam. [''- North Jersey hil! § with himself flercely, "1 “Then you will give it up?" she Amrita bY : At the ensuing musicale Desiree urged, to live there for a whil took him under ler wing. In the "Tf ean't, Dey! Honest, I ean't. 1 1 was learnin’ railroad Thero'a a midst of a tenor solo he went to sleep couldn't look mynelf in the face again lake, with the soft hills all and snored ff 1 let those gold-shirtera beat ma closin’ down around it like they loved ba hd * a * * out, see how it ts, don't you? it, The sun used to set ‘bout a mile After the musicale he went home I'm tn to win, If I ev waa to give from our house, It turn the b » With Desires They halted a moment up a fight. I could never win another all gold color, An’ then a blue ad on the r niit veranda of her home. It'd take the win’ out of 1 of twilight would roll up through the . De- Please don't make me valley. An’ the hills would seem to fell to Ho right!" who. stich sh out like they was goin’ to air, "It's only for y kind o' pretty place,” he ended, she cried, because I care for you, Tamely, > punished ull you're — “If {t's goin’ to make you unhappy WHAT SHALL! Give TS BILLY FoR X MAS WHAT SHALL I GIVE TO BILLY For XMAS D in’ talkin’ to me #h as ho started to think of Miss Standish ? “Why,” she “I never thought much al She'a very niceo—and pretty, she?” he ventured, The girl's quick laugh Mashed out and sho clasped her hands together, “Reautiful!” she erted, you ever think of it?” “Struck me her,” “Caled! You didn’t!” Pie 1 aiai" he “What aid she say?” "0! sort o' red, an’ grinned, [ liked it, Her'n me didn't bad together, takin’ 1 fuess we'll pull together when we're better acquainte, “You acem pretty certain of being { she mocked, al- etter acomainted,” belt there was a little tug at “I am,” he answered, coolly, fact 1s, Dey, I'm thinkin’ of a case of marry,” For a moment she did not answer. ¢n, The footfalls of a pedestrian rhythmically distinot in the silence that fell between the man and the rl. Then Desiree observe girl. elight restraint that sat upon her: “I don't think that is a Joke.” “'Tign't a joke at all,” sured her. “I mean tt. I'd it over with you before, onl: never caine clear t Here's how 1 is’ ~ “You—you care for her?” @iree, very quictly, Caleb, wan of hia own how dull and lifeless her all at once grown, “what do you answered, Pernlene’, Looks @ Uttle like a rabbit, don’t the first time 1 saw he replied, flattered, “{ told her about it to-night at dinner.” reiterated, she didn't seem to inind. Got all into account, me till to-night, ~ALLIONN, “You must be ‘any, ohild! saw you like”—— “Re still! she commanded, silver voice ringing harah. "I forbid | I never ee to speak to me, now or any time, her A man who can plan what you are Planning, and who can boast of it, Isn't fit to apeak to any woman, You went to the house as a guest—and you asked men's the smoking room" he dreasin’ room, Dey," he n’ it was only me an’ opinions in “You ask men’s opinion,” blazed on heeding, “as to whether you are likely to gain anything in a social way by wrecking an innocent girl's life, Yousit by herat dinner. at her own father’s table—and plan in amug complacency how to separate her from a man ahe really loves—and to compel her to marry you. Why, you aren't fit to marry her chamber- maid. There isn’t @ groom in her etadle that hasn't higher, holler ideals, Now go! This ia the last time I want to see you as long I tive!” A swirl of soft skirts, the sharp slam of @ door, and Caleb Conover, aghast, wordiena with dismay, stood alone on the little moonlit porch, For a full minute he stood there, dumfounded. Then, from somewhere in the darkness beyond the closed door came faintly the sound of sobbing, Rending, heart-broken sobs, that brought a lump to his own throat. “Now what in blazes could a’ made Der act like that?" he pondered, halt- aloud, “Gee! but I'd rather be horse. yitoree. sae make that kid ery! An’ Ta’pose, . on he passed out of the ga' ‘pose ‘bout this time Letty fists coe Cains are ‘sayin’ good-night, a slusbly like, an’ grin- nin’ af each other, like a couple of measly love-birds,’ CHAPTER VIII. Caleb Conover Takesan After- noon Off. = HE Mghtor made life a bur- don, next day, for the office ataft of the C.G. & X, An electric aura of uneasiness pervaded the big statton— the Indefinable, wordless something that gives warning to the most remot donizens of every office when tho “boss” {a out of temper, Early in the afternoon a note was handed td him, It was from Desiree, He read it, half aloud: “Pleas, i'm good now, { don't think I'm BVER going to be bad again. Wouldn't it be fine if you should come and take me for a walk this after- noon? D. 8." “Ian't sho the dandiest ever?” Ca- feb asked himself gico fully as he straightened his tie before the office mirror and jammed his felt hat down over his forehead, “Why can’t the Letty girl be like her? Thon there'd be some pleasure in gettin’ married, ish ye she and Dey" be friends, If they ain't’ He strode through the outor oMtes, looking so human that his expression, combined with the far more Important fact that he was evidently departing for the day, put the whole staff into the utmost good humor for the rest of the afternoon. It was a very natural, self-con- trolled Desiree who met Conover on the porch of the Shevlin cottage, It hora had been the muffled sobs that out her, too; isn't ] had sent him home with a tmp in ‘How did oii, throat—If ahe had lain wite-eyod, tortured, till broad daylight-—there was no hint of such excess In her flower face, nor in the girlish vigor of her pose, Conover, doubttu' how ho might best refer to the quarrel of the previous night, for once did an absolutely wise and tactful thing, Ho made no mention whatever of the affair, ‘They walked out to the Ara- guess BO reeK Club, and found seats at a table get_ON 0 Where eat Caino, Jack Hawarden and Tatty Standish. firet rate 0), “iy wood to be In the country as a day like this!” ald Desires, after had chatted for a time, “I'll be in the country for the aum~ mer this time next month,” sald Ha- her heart, “TN® Warden, “Mother's taken the same inakin’ It Cottage at the Antlers we had last Sear. It will be nice to get back to old Adirondacks again. “L wish I could go there—-or any- where at in the Adirondacks,” sighed Desires, wistfully, “I read once”— eb noted the longing inflection and made quick mental memorandum very nice o¢ jt “How ble's your cottage, Tack?” he asked he boy mur ro} the hotel, “Oh, nothin’ unded with « strangely Caleb as- aw’ talked jy the idee Wo get our meals at Why?" Continuing with ele- phantine humor, “Thought maybe 1 might 4 in ‘on you some time He y of you gain’ to be there” can only stay a month this that there will be only THa you really think w asked De- full as he noticed volce had ‘athe year, Aft mother and I "You're tired gut!” he cried, all re. of joining w ho ever #0 glad, morse, Here | keep you up, listenin’ There's extra room,” to my fool talk, when you ought to be "Mi “opttie I've never took sound aa Nico sort of guardian vacation yet, an’ [ guess I'm a ttt Tam! I'm goin’ "—- hit too old to bewin. T don't biti No. Wait!” she ordered, with @ in vacations, Notther would you if pitiful shadow of her wonted dainty you could see how my olerks look fmperiousness, "I'm not tired, Tell when they get back from ‘om. The first day back you'd think they was me. Are you in love with her 2 te A Pt iPad “In love with her?" scoffed Caleb, besinnin’ a life sentht prtnon. “With that Httle rabbit-faced bunch Tt costa fom ue snantie’ a e of silliness? Not me! But she comes «row a bunch of callous, s of about the bigkest fam'ly here, thetr hands an’ ' She's poplar ev'irywhere, If L waa to that they could a’ ot free marry her, I'd get with tho best crowd workin’ in Ty, Saleh Tee in Granite, My place'd bo ag sure as you expect to Ko ta tie Coulee youra'll be when you marry that gold. Miss Standish?” he broke off, remem- bering belatedly nis new-chosen role red-haired f 1s “You're a poet!” the girt assured going to. It's all Now stop or ashamed of me, I'll give it up, #hirt chap-—-whoever he turns out to Hp pecshalred MBB! WOe with guanine uneasiness, “"T hed Delne unhappy? Ae wild, with slow resignation, he—that wo wan talkin’ about the of attentive swain, and guening on fighting, no idea you looked at nature through , “You aren't so he asked, — "No," she forbade, “You needn't other day. I was speakin’ of the Idee expectedly upon Tetly bit the aloof. He had always been Such roseate lasses,” in lingering doubt fool that way about ft. It doem’t to Calne only to-night, an’ he an opportunity to resume the nid chting, But toenight he “Neither I do," he replied, ashamed, pilly!_ Why should 1 bet” make me unhappy, except on your si ness which she had Just discarded as wiuak wield we ne oe talthen T Govt he neplied, aahamed _“—1—made awful small of you the account, And I couldn't be ‘ashamed’ "Oh unnecessary, . a a must wield weapons whord> eed oF te way I acted,” he confessed, of you if f tried all day, You know The furlous monoasyllable snapped 1—1 don't quite know yet.” she of he had no experton unaisilled, Was only ebin you bow. i ues ae If Tecan stand {t, you ought to," she I couldn't.” through his rambling talk like @ pis- made reply, “We shall probably atay he must meet deft opponents on their [iq Kine Fhe lado KCN halt-baked retorted, “Now be friends and stop "You're the dandlest, littlest, pret tol shot, Caleb paused in amaze, ‘The In town rather Tate this your.” sen amatnds “Tha though. Chrilled Leike That rvaTtowe ail the bnacte of t test girl there Is!” he said, gratefully, girl had risen, Her uUny fists were “Good!” approved Calch, | “I hope no ground. h vin nes Eee athe Bank © mire you ain't mad," he “An’ those big eves of yours kind of clinched, her face was hard as @ we'll see a lot of ach other him with the Joy of the born fighter, gettin’ enthoosed over measly lan still in doubt, make me feel like T was in church. #tatue’s, » moonlight gave back And, looking into his light, maa. He was now midway through tho #c@Pes. They don't mean anything Not one amidgin! Now I'll chase home an’ ive you a cold fire from her great eyes. terful eyes, the irl knew all at once orden} of the Standish dinner party; 4 oT oo r read one, neither, Oh, Dey," he interrupted, all eon- chance to do some sleepin’, Bay"— — “How dare you?” she panted. “How that sho would not nave the wit nor 1 t h arty; could lielp it, Guess you was a a. a. Mie darn yout Vou speak ‘of marrying the force to avold him, ‘The know! seated next to Letty; and drinking n’ me, weren't you?" Letty Standish as you would speak of edge turned her sick, Her round, more champagne than was his wont, rtholosn he was inwardly fat- buying a horse! — You even talk it helpless gaze shifted involuntarily to At first, he had sat taciturn, now, the nd heen te 120k The True Yuletide Spirit over with the man she has promised Desiree, ax the nearest woman to her 4 9 to marry! But [ suppose ye uckled And, under the genuine fright behind looxen his tongue, was never brought out so beantifully ip any other story as In to yourself over your barroom cun- that appeal, the steel glint that had ofness moments Caine, ho alous ‘of his it in now with a complete change of subject, “LT wonder.” he conjectured, address- Ing no one in particular, “why tenors invariably are born without intelli~ far different from th of the evening's lie 1 his every word, - ment, to social ac might do far worse than choose this comely, quivering- 1 damsel at. his aide. ‘ond of rabbits?" he unintentionally as irrelevant "What an odd question!” Hie oried. her round eyes raising incipient dis- | tress signals, “Is it a Joke?” “No,” he answered, floundering, “II just happened to say it Your| A CHRISTMAS CAROL By Charles Dickens This classic should be read or reread by every one at the present season, So The Evening World is going to reprint it complete during Christmas week, Read it for your own sake and for the sake of those whose Christ- mas you may be led to make happier by reading it. pened as | ning In getting an opinion without letting him know 1 heart you planned to bunch of ailliness,’ and your wife, not only thought, but you are inaultl; apenking fo in my presence?” "Deyi" gasped the bewildered man, Or at, her asa ‘rabbit-faced Mtl ae you speak in the same breath of making her Do you realize y insulting her by euch a of a sudden hardened Destree's bie eyes softened unacconntadly, A qulek sentence that had risen to her Ups died unborn, For a moment, before convention could tower the veil, the two women read each other to the very aoul, At what the brief glance told her, Letty drew her breath with a sharp intake that made Conover glance at her In- auiringly, from him it was pu 1 are ng me by * berth, to the 1915 saying over and over to herself in a rapturous sing: song: “She won't let him make love to me, She won't! She won't CHAPTER IX, On Top of the World. JONOVER woke from a quaint dream of being buried alive in an {li-fitting coffin, And dawning consciousness proved the dream to have been but a mild exnggeration. For he was ensconced in @ sleeping car Gray light wan peeping through the lowered shade, Much- breathed alr mingled with black dust pressed down upon the Fighter's lungs, From @ nearby section came the fretful whine of a baby. The stiff berth-curtains swished awk- wardly inward and out to the ewing of the car, He had arranged privately and at a big price that Mrs. Hawarden should take Desires, as her guest, to the Ad- irondack cottage at the Antlers, on Racquetto Lake, For the past two months the girl had been there, And now, at hor imperative order, - over was on his way thither for 4 fee vacation—tho first of his 6. Caleb performed with ease born of long practixe that contortionist feat known as “dressing in the ‘Then scrambling out, he lurched down the narrow dark aisle toward the washroom at the rear, The place was already full of halft-clad, fos eyed touseiled men. Some jreghing, others painfully woreplag lather from their jaws with safety razors; still others or sult-cage for clean linen. early bird had completed his toilet and was lounging in a leather-and- wicker chair, trying to translate a pink tine table, meanwhile indus- triously filling the semi-airtight com. partment with cigarette smoke, Conover surveyed his ¢aciturn fel- low-wufferers, glanced over the too- populous room from the rack~ of heatly triangular-folded towels to the ash-and-cuapldor-strewn carpet; then he slouched out into the rela- tively fresh air of the aisle. He looked at his watch, The hour was, six-thirty, At seven they at Raquette Station, was last of the tfnin. It uceurred to Caleb to take his first glimpse of the Adirondacks. Ho walked to the tear door and looked out, Behind him wound the single track of the little epur road, On either eld was lined by dark ever- green at atretched awny in an end- less vista of monochrome until the ailver mist that ny low over evi ching blotted them from vision, "The train seemed to be ploughing Its way straight into the untrodden wilder- ness; to be the first alien that ever had intruded upon the Bg mystic solitudes of green and gf Caleb looked long and” without atir- ring. ‘Then, as the negto — porter chanced to come near, the watcher's pent-up volume of emotion found vont In one pregnant sentence: “Here, you!" he hailed. “I'll give you a dollar if you can rustle me a cup of hot coffee!" o 8 © © © @© «© Out Into the clinging mist, onto a long wooden platform, tumbled the travellers, Caleb in the first rank. There, drawn up to halt their onset, comle opera chorus-like, vovlferating lake's varte balsi camps. ir bit to Con- Inctively he t, drinking in great gulps of strange ozone. From out of the swirling mist before him rose of a sudden a slight, girlish figure that ran forward with a glad little éry and caught both his hands, “Oh, you're here! You're here!” rejolced Desiree, careless of by- atanders, ‘Mrs. Hawarden sald [a catch my death if I was on the so early. But I got up at the screech of dawn and came, Isn't it all won- derful? ‘This mist will burn up ia a little while and then you'll see! And slo Ailly and Aunt Mary atill like farm life? Come. ‘The Antlers launch ts around the other side of the station,” Clinging gleefully to one of his big arms, the girl piloted him through the scurrying groups and the | heaps, to a nearby dock where ‘hare re of waiting launches panted, From one of the largest fluttered a dark blue flag with the name “Ant- lera” picked out on It In whit Into the launch they piled, Desiree still talking In pretty, eager excitement. “This is the south end of the Inige,” ashe was explaining, “There's the store over yonder—that farthest red building—and there's the Raqnette Lake House, We had a dance there one night, And out the -with a wave toward the wall of shining “is where we're going. It's a mi We'll start as soon as the rest can get aboard, Oh, I wish the mist was gone ao you could see the islands, and old Blue Mountain keeping guard over"—— “ft's pi imp on the water for ou, ain’ he interrupted, draw- her mackintosh closer about her shou fog’s wet," “Nobody ever catches cold up here of the workl!" sho dis And it isn't fom, It's just tain mist, In another will rise, little mov uit hour it pointing to the docked ror bouts, © launches clust ing about them, “are the ‘carriagen’ of the Adirondacks. Why, except for the white trunk-chariot steed at the Antlers, there probably isn't a horse within three miles of here, It's Venice all over again, In that, Aren't you at all glad to see me tinued, dropping her voice and noting the man’s puszled, unenthusiaatie For an instant some of the happy light ebbed in the eyes that had been so brimful of Joyous welcome, Caleb roused himself with an im- patient shake at his own eecming apathy, “Glad to see you!" he ee! “Glad? Well any, you little girl it's the gladdest thing that's happened to me since the day you lett An’ I'd be just av glad even If It was in some worse place than @ wet all stalled up with mist. Gee! but tan makes you lo prettier’n @ whole ploture album (To Be Continued) \ as Sa 5 ee Bs]