The evening world. Newspaper, April 5, 1916, Page 15

ome * bac (oprright, 1814, by Street & Amith.) OTNOPEIS OF PRECEDING CHAPT™AS. Armald Hastings (s meretary to John, MM Oh a LO a far feven Has:ings tivther com! mua tua Inge Teeolvag” tocune hie satire ville. forty Geifeeneereak, “Vita ad Menon” utd CHAPTER Y. (Continned.) The Ladder Is Kicked From Under. ARSLAND'S big face was white and quivering, and an active animosity showed in hin eyes. In silence he arose and put on hat and coat. “Mr. Forbes,” he said deliberately, turning at the door, “your unfortun- ate family affairs have become @& miisance and have led you into say- ing things I cann overlook, In view of your youth and tnexpertence 1 might forgive your attitude as ap- plied to me personally, but I cannot oondone the insult to my daughter. If you are not afraid to hear the truth then let us have it by all means! The truth te that you've acted like a cad and a coward! It is you who have wronged us, not we you, for don't fmagine I believe for a moment you only learned last night, and in that highly improbable manner, of your father’s crime or that the name you bore was none of your choosing. As for assuming © financial standing you never owned, that's a matter which reste entirely with your own con- science and never concerned me or mine remotely. But it offers another unpleasant footnote to your true @haracter. “I would have spared you all thie if you hadn't added ult to injury and tried to sioulder the blame of your own misconduct and deceit on an innocent young girl whom you pro- fessed to love “In the future, Mr. Forbes, you and I meet solely as employer and em- ployee. I hope you will bear that tn mind. Good night, sir.” Forbes remained for some moments staring at the closed door in the same dazed, heavy manner with which he had received Marsiand’s words. Forbes walked home that night, the flux of his thoughts demanding phy cal expre He did n Speaking out his mind to Marsinnd; the latter never had a true friend, but @ purely mercenary character with a hitherto unsuspected fund of hypoc- risy and cunning. Yet there was a coarse streak in John Marsland—in fact, the whole family whi Forbes aa yet was 5 wholly aclous. Forbes had loved Dorothy with th sincerity, passion and supertict of youth's first romance, and now was as hard hit as one in such a position ean be. He saw no compensations tn the situation, nor could he imagine re- motely that the t t come when he mix tht erush He forp night, ar woda at night, first thie he le tention to ¢ question, ai itter of private ndtul of old ct Supported by made a protra column of the result cheering. wenty-five thou. @and left after investing the other half of bis inheritan Malet tetaar hy Mines Company more tl tanding bil thousan twenty-tis r had be v t of seven oF @lght thousand, draws heedle on his The twon must be wr id urned over t an woe H vision ssvult on th leave ft 1 thon longs would it ta ve ing tw off this sum? Obvions lay mie On how | ¢ Forbes consic man ca © mus He was sing nd_owith ne one to ipport f. Nay } : live on fifteen the ¢ teen hundred That meant the debt wo even year count of pald on the a i} of i paying through thing he had nev an alluring prospee nd courage rose w ry would not rem had it in himself tationary, He be capable of arning almost yearly w! would soon wipe out the entt were architects ear thousand @ year; y+ ven fifty was only twenty-one: he had healt ength, courage, hnore could a man ask? He taken his professt very in fact, he had not iived up to tha high promise shown at college, but now——= Forbes had another drink and hia ’ THE SON By W. B. M. Ferguson Bi Ri AAR RAAB ARR ARTI AAAI ARAMA AAR amen 37 The Mystery Romance of : . | A Sealed Box and a Strange Heritage courage soared still higher, Yes, he | would show the stuff that was fn him; | show Dorothy and her father the sort | of man they had spurned, When he was top dog of his profession, known from ocean to ocean, earning as much In a month as Marsiand did ina year well, he would show them; they would see. THe would pay off every cent of the debt to the Second Na- tiona), every cent of interest, too; ho would remove the blot from his father's memory so far as he was able. Yes, he would pay if off if he starved for it! There is no time like the present, and Forbes began composing a rough draft of the letter he would send to ihe President of the Chicago Second National. He must, too, begin cur. | talling expenses right away; the first thing was to give up the apartment with {ts yearly rental of nine hun- dred; luckily the lease expired at the end of the month and was paid up. | He would notify the agents, Part- | ridge & Stone, in the morning. Young Forbes had another Scotch | highball on this resolution, and finaily went to bed quite fuddled, his troubles | seen through a dancing, rosy mist. | CHAPTER VI. The Inevitable Happens. JURING the ensuing week) Arnold Forbes found that| matters looked quite differ. j ent by the cold, practical light of day. His position with the Empire Con- | struction Company had altered mi terfally; he had no longer the inside track with the President, and he be- gan to find the going very rough. Marsland treated him strictly as an employee, an inconsequential earvant, | one of the many. He no longer had ntree to the other's private office; | tn fact, never saw Marsland except! { the hi and elevator, when the er would bestow @ curt nod or nore him entirely, according us his| humor dictated, | The rank and file of the oMfee staft | were quick to note the sudden col-} lapse of the favorite, and old jeal-| ousies, long treesured, now found set- tlement. Carker, head of the design- ng room, and an able, ambitious, but | small-minded individual, bitterly Jevlous of his little authority, had niways silently raved against Forbos's | intimacy with the President and the cons sway it gave the former, Perhaps Forbes too had uncon- actously taken advantage of it, but| more often than not Marsland him- self had been to blame, never hesi- tating to call the oth away from} er Was having his innings, and he 1 equal to the occasion. Forbes found Ltwself shouldered with all the “dirty” work, the sort of thankless routine stuff he considered himself above, which hither d been re the most juventle 1 nt member of the tested Cark he didn't Ike om outdoors, the about Carker seemed to be at his elbow every min- ute of the day It-finding, nagging, browbeating; a@ nan impossible to rority of which he x bitterly Jealous, whieh Forbes y ‘ unconsciously set became an unrestrained tort n now that tt had an ou A t It deemed to Forbes as i word had been passed to Carker er up to go as far es he Mk this w ne Marsland an but mpression re- nee had he seen Marsland tn turn of the money tnveste the Sterling Mines Company. Mars- land miled coldty and in a way that brought the bl face Um not asking this beeause of t that's happened," said H ou know why [want to Forbes's t isn’t m but must » you Mr Vorbe sked the other curtly. “T nothing to de with your affairs, pris vate or otherwise nost advlea T n the Stert tood you w mean by ‘inter- were back of it ina T had no tat him, "Mr. Mars e ome to understand erence, if not in so you were you ' vi oby many words, t n the Bterling vMmpany- back of Ie nderstand nothing f th " pe 1 the othe You are mn statement that's abso and T owarn you to bo ‘ful! If you gathered that m I from what ‘8 your 1 small ty precise ike your. ‘ ve absolutely no other In- terest In the concern, no voice tn ite min T inves in ft Just n't come to t xo tot ont if 1 other me about t important things I've Marland wheeled around 1 senting a broad, tmp nd Fort vad not his able ing to do dently he patd a visit to the {Nees of the Sterling Mines nd had an intervi with asurer, Mr. reen, a vusible and presentable ners of mining property Ca 1 nd Mr, ¢ Ket to buy Gack their own stock The Evening World Daily Magazine, Wednesday, April 5, Can You Beat It? By Maurice Ketten \EXCAVATING: DONE EXCAVATING! co jand all PIFFLE MANOR BEAUTIFUL ESTATE ALL MODERN PROVEMENTS lo 3 BATHS ELECTRICITY GAS CONSTRUCTION CO secret — as the heroine of story you have read. It while to read it. stood It as long as he humanly could |unt!l, @uddeniy, the explosion came. A harsh and totally unjust eriticiam |from Carker brought an angry re« tort, an exchange of hot words fol- lowed, and then a slur from Carker. And then the designing room came to its feet, for the long-suffering “goat” had suddenly turned, flinging himself on Carker, and, big man though the other was, pinning him by the throat to the wail. A pair of heedle-pointed, heavy compasses was in Forbes’s right hand, and, for a breathless moment, it look as tt murder would he done. Then Forbes, very white and shaking, slowly re- leased the other and flung the com- Passes on hin desk. Carker, tugging at his rumpled col- swallowed once or twice, still King over his narrow escape; he to speak, then rushed from the m, A moment later word came that Mr, Marslind wished to see Mr, Forbes, The latter obeyed mechanteally; the awift going of his passion had left him weal and dazed. Carker was in the President's room and Marsiand was wearing his most uncompromising, formidable manner, “What's the meaning of this, Mr, Forbes?" he demanded courtly, “What have you to say?” “Nothing,” replied the other apa- thetically. "1 tell have m exeite ou, Mr. Marstand, he would ed me!" burst out Carker “He would have Killed me, roause L criticised some slo! enly work of his, [ refuse to work with a man like that; he's dangerous, The men are half afraid of him and his ugly temper, and T can't keep dis~ cipline when the least tmportant member of the staff dares to resent my authority and in such a way, This isn't the first time, and I've had enough! It's got to be elther him or me, for I won't stand tt any longer, He wos almost tn tears with fright and rage, Marsiand turned to Forbes and mads a curt gesture of dismissal, “Go to the cashier for your week's salary and then take your things and get t! he sald, with an almost atudied prutality Mixa Willoughby came in from the outer office, took one look, and with. drew ae blood came up under Forbes's collar, and he glared at Marsland’s ct set him by Carker. Now the| needed every cent for development If I derstood; this was Nan Willoughby, he earnestly advised Mr. Forbes not to sell. “Have you any fault to find with the investment?” he asked And Forbes said no. quarterly dividends had been paid , ten per cent., inside ten years—perhaps five. promised himself solomniy not to buy may venture to offer you a piece of the little overworked stenographer and purely disinterested advice—think it ‘Dringing in three year—not to mention pos- sible increased dividends and a Jump value—is hard to beat Remember Standard Ot} a hundred others; started and where they finished” Forbes promised to think it over, personal re- She herself had and knew when others suffered. Tt was not long before the inevitable happened, and it came on the Fri of that samo week. was not doing the kind of work worth to the Empire Company. twenty-five hundred per year; would have been more like It. fore he was not very much surprised when, that evening, Carker informed him curtly that, beginn! following Monday, his salary would be twenty-five dollars « when Forbes CHAPTER VII. The Coward’s Way Out. OMMENCING with the fol- lowing week, Forbes began privately applying for an- other position; he would not put up with the ruthless cut In salary and conditions in signing room that were becoming un- He would show Maraland upable of earning twenty-five over before | It was true: Forbes knew he and an extra reen then displayed a map of twelve hundred the property. sand technical data which, very flatteringly, he as- sumed for granted the other under- stood perfectly. gerd for Mr. « with the tremely frank, sincere, There was sense in what he hai pay the Chicago bank the three thot sand a year income, and, when the princtpal had doubled, turn over the entire proce In that way the debt cou half the time! and wholly und common said, Why not rbes nodded, at the proper time, putting in a question here and » did understand p Carker re- 1) cut down ex- all you're worth, , and you needn't talk to me about ous to say that that salary vas undeserved, had been d ‘The Empire Company, thank Heaven! wasn't the only one of its kind in existence ell out and diseriminate miliar with mining prop- could not bring himself pride in pocket, the second time, sought Marsiand for It was possible the president did not know how Carker was running things, Marsland listened with {!l-concealed “I can only refer back to Mr. Carker,” he said, “That's his business, not mine Forbes had @ struggle with his tem- per before he spoke. it in for me,” he said, expect justice from him. give me the sort of work t the salary I was earning. and he could get most sane and logical, He was gind he had had the interview with He would write the Chicago bank guaranteeing to thousand a year towar ia father’s defalcation; tn five yeans that would mean Then tn five years or so the value of his stock would have doubled; mean fifty thousand! made seventy—almost He beran to feel 1 respect for his financial ea. of the subject, and, in fact, to his second rather bazy about finance In gen- garding total abstinence, and set out the quest with renewed courage. Tho result was prompt and crush- * ing; budding young architects did not in great domand, there were a hundred claimants for It wes a bad year y, say, four itlement of babe toratr After his sudden loss of caste with the Empire Company and the humble yn to which le bad been rele- gated, this reception by such a man r a of Gilead to Mr. Carker has as Mr. Green every vacancy, for finding work of any kind, Moreover, he discovered that twon- ty-five hundred dollars was an un- d-of salary for one of his years resumable experience, and that id consider himself lucky with i He met men twice age and experience who were only ving that; others who would have He found thers market for prom- 1 not mattor what prizes he n to feel that he familiar with Forbes,” he said, deliberately, “do you know that Mr. ceives but three thousand? You nev: earned your former sulary, and If yc doubt that statement go to any other firm in the city and find out facts for that fateful night, with the situation, re Construction Com- de tt Forbes w: fon in other wa explanation the cause of somehow become himself ‘re. ‘ been thankful f to foe! his 7 I never earned {t?" “No, you never earned tt of earning ¢ and you received tt tn th stance simply through my heeaune T wanted te and thought you could hoid I've found, however, I was very much mistaken in your ability.” “orbes flushed painfully. ing his new name tive men like When conser hat had he actually And Forbes had to admit that, 1 done nothing but vis- not capabl this to a soure Marsland an inju asonably cert Kuspiclons, the President ar self heing the only ones who knew. designing room and among his enemies nothin: created nothing himself, and his rep- ulation was till before him x bock in the home to him that, as no young flaming genius; ability, perhaps, was no more average, and that only by asing study and labor « win to anything in the past few developed a about the mouth and in the eyes that nan of affair lasn't very favorable reports of he says you are hardly quallfi n the kind of work gty In short, you will ha a brace ff you expert vour present posit vou understood wrong.” sail ldryly. "My business is the « Construction. Company her, If L advised you t beenus: tt e's in pretty had heard of what happened to Adolph : 5 with this firm Forbes cane of ab stock and had never actually ous disposition mw had dven thought He realized that his salary heen jumped but because of Mara- Phat was the reuit remarks from flying ab for your own won't be wasted” And young Forbes went home that heartsick and weary increasing had Always honest with self and others in so he detected Marsland had said; Sev y might be a good aving a “pu s of what his labo rh was nothing but @ species of The truth was humilfating. Arnold. Forbes for werd actually crete examp! thoughtless unload some Intentionally crue! would have Good prope 1 at sight of meantng of the te togetwor with his own value in fighting shy of be nsciously and Owing portly Vous tension under which his hand was losin ning and {t was true that Carker In President's Pet,” been dubbed, of the hour, and It was take @ surreptitious fi 48 Forbes had sore employers, auch ag all the difference tn was brought sound and paying in- to pull out the fashion to eed the engh." f what the 4 present siti nig off scores he was playing Into rsd beat, [Kr ved thin refresh- any brokerage ve day's bitter Al himaelf te nstantly at bis the end of a i ft was becomi: rybody seam broad’ back; he seemed as if about !to speak and then, as if realizing the utter futility, turned on his heel and lett In the bell, on the way back to the designing room, he met Adolph Bergstrom. Since the little episode at the Marsiands’ over a week had passed and It was the first time Kerg- strom had seen Forbes or been able to pay his customary strict attention to business, A broad strip of plaster still decorated his nose, which had suffered severely. At sight of his enemy Bergstrom paled, clenched his hands and as- sam highly intinidating attitude, but Forbes passed in silence and as if unseecing. In the designing room not an eve met his; an exemplary silence and industry’ relgned over all. ‘They sensed that the “goat had been dis- charged, and wero ashamed of them- selves, knowing the part they had played, each man vaguely consotous for perhaps the first time of what he had added to Forbes's burden, But none spoke a word of apology or regret, and Forbes passed out amid the same silence ‘The rest of the week was devoted to further attempts at finding another position, but a malign influence seemed to pursue Arnold Forbes, and promising beginnings ended tn fatl- ure, When he did succeed tn finding @ vacancy and tn passing the initial Interview, the inevitable dialogue fol- lowed: "Where were you last em- ployed?” “The Empire Construction Company." “Why did you leave?" And 1t did not matter what answer was made to this; sometimes Forbes tried to explain the whole affair, sometimes ne said merely that he had heen dissatisfed. ‘The result, how- ever, was always (he sume; he never d the promised notification of employment He began to realize the sinister sim- nificance, the almost hopeless handi- cap imposed by his summary dia- charge; always the place of one's last employment is demanded, and always it is communicated with, The m- pire ¢ iny had given him a black eve @ continuing to do #0 trade. Whatever prospective employers learned from !t concerning his character was enough to deter th from em This he felt Just as he felt that John rsland had become an_ active s once he had been his puta These were very days for Arnold | ing for work that never came, He vis absolutely for his former eny circle of fr a off apend with ¢ : had ceased to be a "ood fellow" and was now poor company. Alsi t his scintillating prospects had “gone wal lop,” and that his father had been nothing but a thieving cashier. In short, he Was on the skids, booked fi a long ride to the Down-and-Out Club, and therefore precisely the sort of person to cut away from, It would not be long before he was be money, telling a long, sad x proving @ general nuisar Those Who might have proved true friends had no opportunity of devel- rowing oping, fo: after his de n by the bid. mer yer nd for this re Mr. Grave fered one That ge Dad reaened ! that h 1 ty could come t that If you should find a scrap of amber in a snowdrift— And if you should find it was the clue to a terrible You would find yourself in the same odd position THE SECRET IN THE SNOW By MILDRED VAN INWEGEN Next Week’s Complete Novel in The Evening World This is not quite like any other “love-and-mystery” is more than worth your his tongue at Hard Luck and tell tt to go as far as it Hked. He was mi taken again, for there ts nothing #0 ad that it cannot be worse, The final fest of fate was the sud- don and complete collapse of the Sterling Mines Company and with {¢ Forbes's $25,000, which, according ta the amianie secretary-treasurer, had been aa “safe as an old women’s home.” ‘The plausible, sincere wholly likable Mr. Green had quietly folded his tent and stolen away in the night, and when Forbes, follow- ing the expose in the press, hurried panto stricken to the ornate offices in lower Broadway, !t was to find the post office Inspectors In charge and host of clamoring fellow victims, They fay there ts one born every minute and though by far the majority the Sterling Company’s investors were from out of town enough met- ropolitan ones remained to ke Forbes from feeling lonely, From all he could gather the mining company had been little better than @ rank swindle and Mr. Green had left his innocent and unsuspecting employees: to pay the piper. Coming up Broadway that evenin from the defunct mining company’s offices, Forbes suddenly came face to face, eye to eye with Dorothy Mars- land and her aunt. They out him dead, looking through the top of hia hat as if he were the most absolute stranger. This was the last straw. Dorothy's memory had not been easy to efface and now at sight of her all bie old passion awoke; what did it signify that reason told him she was un- worthy when his heart clamored for her? Love Is not a matter of reason. That night Forbes deliberately threw all his good resolutions into the gutter, tippied until midnight in & neighboring cafe, and took home a quart of his favorite beverage. Ho was tired trying to be good. What was the use? Nobody cared, and, anyway, the result was the same, was all very well to preach of m courage, the never-say-die spirit, and similar inspiring platitudes, but they were absolutely no good for practical {lls such as a broken heart and empty pocket; he had tried them to the bit- ter end. Like his mother, he was face to face with uncompromising facts, not theory, And they had ‘beaten him; he had sense enough to under- stand when the odds were hopeless Better enjoy himself while he could, for the time would scon come whi he would not be able to afford a bottle of this comforter. There was exactly three thousand dollars be- tween him and the poorhouse; three thousand that belonged rightly to the National Rank of Chicago. It wns late afternoon of the follow- ing day when Forbes awoke; the bot~ tle of Scotch stood empty on the desk, and the room was tn’ disorder; at some pertod after midnight he had fallen out of his chair and lain ever since sprawled on the floor tn ao drunken stupor, a proceeding not cal- chlated to Improve the neglected cold that had been hanging on him for the past two weeks The wintry twilight found him cow- ering in the library, in the grip of a high and with his nerves shot to pieces; he was half poisoned, and al the inevitable results attendant upon aleoholic excess engulfed him, Revulsion, self-loathing, were upon him: he had reached the depths, the lowest mental and gpiritual level, and the future arose before him ‘black, terrifying and horrible, Memory of the preceding night's degrading de~ hauch waa Insupportable: he had tain all night on the floor like the most confirmed and shameless drunken not; he had finished of whiskey at one sttting, he whose twenty-first dirthday was but two weeks past, The sweat broke out on him, and he cowered further back tn the chair, Latterly he had been think! Kreatly of his father’s tragic end, an now as ho sat there alone tn the twillght, the idea appealed to him with curious fascination and, foree. Some nameless tmpulse appeared to be working within him, an tmpulse he felt that, sooner or later, he must obey, After all, why not? What did life hold that he should wish to Itve? His father had known when to die, An utter loneliness, a poignant long- ing {0 see his mother possessed him, and he began to sob, weakly and spasmodically, like a sick child This passed, and after another hour's brooding young Forbes arose, quite calm and almost hapr De- spite the singing in his. ears, the throbbing of bis temples, his palsted hands, and blurred vision, he set about his preparations with a certa and precision, First ed his shattered nerves to hold ar control a pen, and with Infinite labor wrote the long-deferred letter to the Chicago bank: he inclosed a check for three thousand—his total asseta—and stated that he was sorry {* was the utmost he could do toward the settlement of his father's th Next a short note to Messrs. Part- ridge & Stone, apologizing for the i convenience attaching to his action, For sutetde does not help the reputa- tion of a house, The third and last letter was to Mr. Graves, and he smiled weartly as he thought that, of all his numerous “friend: this neighbor, whom he had known for so brief a time, was the only person to whom he felt Nke making the few simpie quests concerning burial. These let ters he sealed, addressed and left on the desi Being the was the lo) and he pu under the to the latt the small | smallest room, the library al place for writing fink d out the sofa, placed it irge central chandelier, and «i the tubing from as stove, He had rations when the until tts #um- mons demanded his attention; then he ite plans might be . \uly at the last mo. iment if this visitor were not attended to and sent about his business, ! Y the front door i o x oe QTe eget: Sa ade eae