The evening world. Newspaper, May 11, 1916, Page 16

j Story No. “THE TIGHT The second of « series of and real responsibility. (Copsright, 1916, by Mrs, Watson when be was five years old, In this half century of tireless toil, he had bartered for it almost everything tha worth while. hundred less fortunate people. @@ an emperor—in his home, in his great silk word was law, Square-bullt, heavy-jawed, massive, wearing a long beard and no mustache, than that his father, fifty years earlier, had @randfather before him. When he atill was the pushingly @ggressive superintendent of the mill he afterward owned, Jeremiah Mc- Call had committed the one weak folly of his life—a folly for which he Was much ashamed, then and ever after, He had fallen in love with a pretty operative in the mill and he had married her, he “The “t's wages the oth @ hard cept Bhe was a gentle, timid ttle girl, Give. this wife the future emperor had — "4 wi hosen, And she lived in eternal ter- I of her domineering husband. my lad ¥ven after he carried her on to wealth and social leadership, she was @till terrified and unhappy. At last she had the good luck to die, leaving one child, a son named Jock, Jock McCall inherited his mothe od looks and charm of mann le inherited, too, some of her timid- ity. And this quality had nine Th tensifiel, in boyhood, by his father’s yon bullying. Jeremiah had great hopes for this son of his. He wanted the boy to become a leader of men, like him- self. He wanted him fitted to rule the McCall dynasty, some day, and to carry on the work his father had begun. Above all, he dreaded lest the lad should fall into the idleness end dissipation that beset rich men's sons. With ¢his in view, he put Jock through a course of training that might well have broken the spirit of an army mule. Apart from the rigid home discipline, he made the boy w#tart at the verv bottom of the silk business and work long hours, six days a week, for fifty-two weeks a year. And he paid him not one cent in wages lest money might prove a temptation to lure him away from ‘the joys of labor and from rectitude. Jeremiah gave Jock his board, fodging and thes, and an occa- Juxur r was simply “Buy were self. richest to buy. he’ — and co! sional badly-grudged Pye or as apending money. And with this the youth was forced to be content, Mag F Young Mcall proved himself a good worker—inteliigent, quick, industri. ous. He hated the mill routine, but be stuck to It, because he dared not cross his father’s wishes by doing anything else. But at last a gleam of sunlight flashed into the drab monotony of his life. That was the day Amy Prentice came to work in the McCall yes, ani “T dal “Do dealing with the commission of crimes, inviting judgment upon both actual guilt Give me wages for my work." minated blazoned “The Wages of Sin 1s Death! 1 mean that my only son shall live poor try to make up to t children for what have suffere yon crony, Peter Jordan, for example. de was a poor Scotch boy, like your- Next to you, he is perhaps the ‘Gertrude 1s @ fine, worthy girl interrupted Jeremiah, wonted burst of approbation, kind of girl a man might be proud wealthiest single woman in Silk Cit 8 2 REIN” separate stories in Woodrow.) EREMIAT M'CALL came to America from his Loch Leven moors He came by steerage. fifty-five he could easily have bought the ship that had brought him: to the land of the free and the home of the dollars, When he was had gained much money and t most men would consider Me was a strong man In the community, a monument of stony respeciability, a leader in local finance and politics, an employer of many The years that had made him rich had also made him hard and uncom. Promising and as seif-willed as any Roman emperor. And he ao mill, in his social circle, Hy ruled His affected the old fashion of This he did for no better reason done the same thing and his n try to do it less often,” counselled his father. not right!" pusued Jock, sul- lenly. “Why don't you pay me fair for the work 1 do? You pay er employes, They say you're man, but that you're square, Why not be square to your own son? I'm a hard worker, I do my work deserve at least as much pay as the shirkers who nevor lift a finger when the foreman is around. It not!” rasped Jeremiah, “And e told you that for the last tme, |. 1 support you in dec t com- fort, and I charge you not one cent for your keep. 1 call that very gener- ous for @ man of my means, If you want money to squander you'll get none of it from n © you in spite of yourself, Look Do L live like a spendthrift? 1 do not. My home is plain and simple. only ornament I allow here is motto” (pointing to an illu. text on the wall, whereon the grim quotation, 2 "And nd plainly, too, like his fore- fathers, other men whose forefathers they themselves argued Jock. millowner in Silk Gity. And look how much money he spends on his daughter, Gertrude! make her happy and to give her the things his own sisters were too poor He loves to He told mo so, hims \f- And with an un. “The intent to have for a wife—or for a daughter-in-law, as I've hinted before now. And one day, er father's gone, she'll be the id perhaps in all New Jersey. A grand girl, Jock!" re say!" yawned his son, turn- ing to go. you call at Peter Jordan's house often?” queried the older man, craftily, with Gertrude every week, as 1 told “Do you spend an evening eilk mill. you to?” “No,” eaid Jock. “I don't.” G 80 eer ye? a Pag With wits’ fowerstace and, "And why not?” roughly demanded great dark eyes and a halo of sunny Jeremiah. : hair. Jock thought she was quite the "She bores me. I bore her, Neither most lovely and adorable person on earth. Perhaps he was right. At any rate, he was fore er finding himself near’ her loom in his few spare minutes throughox:t the day, or snatching the opportunity for a father angrily. If you're such a born fool as not to of us 1s interested in the other, And we never will be, till doomsday. I'm sorry, but we're not. She"—— “Not ‘Interested?’ " ecoffed his "Not ‘interested’ hey? hat with her when he could be ‘Interested’ in the biggest heiress Beer Coat Wie ber waar be could to gilk Cliy—when her tather aps ané from work. prov the match, too!—why, you ‘Once or twice, when he could gain her consent, he called cn her invalid mother and herself at their bright little flat in the operatives’ quarter of Silk City. And, bit by bit, he could see that Amy was beginning to re- turn his fondness for her. One morning in early spring Jock stopped at his father's office on the way to his own department of the mill, Jeremiah MeCall was at his deak, He had been there since su rise working harder, in his own way, than any of his seven hundred em- ployees, He believed it was a sin for a business man to stay In bed later than half-past five in the morn- ing. Jeremiah looked up with a curt nod as his son in. “Morning, Jock,” he said “What do you want now?” “I'd like a little cash,” sald the boy, with some hesitation. “L gave you three dollars last week.” reproved Jeremiah, “Have you wasted it all?” “Yes, sir.” returned Jock a grin. "That was seven I ted’ sixty cents of it ‘Another forty went into the collection plate last Sunday. | don't suppose you want an itemized account of the rest.” more a busy ¢t work!" He sp our of the sha: hesitate lar bill To x01 Amy fF briefly. stifling ays W om car “Sixty cents on car ! com plained Jeremiah, “when we live barely three miles from the mill! What's 4 three-mile walk, twice a ; day, 16 a strong young man like you?" i “It's six miles a day." answe 1 Jock. Or, at four miles an hour, it's un hour and a half of time, I thought T could find more value for my tin here at the mill, than by walking it away at six and one-third cents an { hour.” This answer (which Jock had care fully thought out in order to play on his father's craze efficieney) ‘ teemed to please the older man, He nodded approval, and took ft | metal box in a desk dr a shea’ of bills of large denomination, Jock's eyes lighted at the prospect of a change of some real spending money Carefully going through the hand ful of currenc however, Jeremiah @t last discovered in it, among the twenties and fifties, a solitary two dollar bill, He separated this from the rest and passed it over to his chestfallen son don't squander it foolishly." he exhorted. “A penny saved is a penny broke out Jock, stung to revolt, “I hate to come begging to pd very time I want a cent. It's ting, I"——~ aren't worth arguing with. We'll talk bout this later on, hie morning. Get I'm too to your poke as though ordering a dog the room, Jack fought back rp retort he longed to mako— d, then pocketed the two-dol- and left the room, othe his ruffied spirit, he made a detour on the way to his own de- partment, moment in order beside the Prentice was to linger machine at work, for a Where Ne WALKING DIRECTLY TO THE SAFE. JOCK TWIRLED THE KNOB, PRESENTLY THERE WAS A CLICK AND THE IRON DOOR SWUNG WIDE. DODDHVDOGO tC GEDOTGOSS in godless THE EVENING WORLD, THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1916. DODODOOOAGS DDI DOGO EGOS S e S GUILTY? » OCOGE heeded something to palliate the re- cent interview, A foreman was beside her and she Was pointing out to him that the lever which stopped and started bee machine had become jammed, ‘The foreman took hold of the lever and tried to manipulate it, It was stuck, and he tugged harder at it. At that moment he c of Jack, who was but a step or away, Resting one hand on the rack, she rose to greet hi did so, the foreman whose ba toward her, gave the lever a final savage wrench ‘The obstruction yielded to his tug With a noisy whirr, the machinery started, Jack saw the girl's peril, but his ery of warning and his forward spring was too late, Down swept wet of needies onto the rack, Ov of them drove its way through the side of the girl's hand, near the wrist. Amy tore herself free, with a asp of pain, and reeled, half swooning. Jack caught her in his arma. Still supporting and almost carrying the kirl, he bore her to a bench at one end of the loom-loft There, with the help of one of + girls, Ne washed out the ragged wound and bound jt up as best he could. Amy refused to allow him to call an ambulance, or even to aend for a carringe, Weak and shaken as she was, she insisted on walking home, Jock put on his hat and coat and, despite her protests, declared he was going to seo her to her own door, On the way, he mado her stop at the office of the McCall physician and have the hurt properly dressed. Then, leaving her with her mother, he started back to work. Passing a provision store on the way, he spent his only two dollars on a basket of fruit, which he himself carried to the injured Amy, It was the first time he had ever been able to buy a present for a girl and the experience delighted him He returned to the mill to learn his father wished to sea him at once. With sinking heart Jock went to Jeremiah McCall's private office. He found the great man stamping back and forth on tho carpetless floor, his hands behind his back and his face purple with wrath. “What's this 1 letting a girl out hear about your of the mill, after she's been awkward enough to get herself hurt?” he snarled “Her machine was unsafe," de- clared Jock. "The lever was defec- tive, To save money you bought a lot of cheap stuff last time the looms and the other hines were over- hauled, And this was part of it. If the machine had been in proper con- dition she wouldn't been hurt. She has a clear case, under the Ein ployers’ Liability Act, And'"'—- “A clear case!" snorted Jeremtah. “Hear the numbskull talk! =F many ‘clear cases’ did you ever hear of my having to settle—Kvployers’ Liability Act or no Employers’ Li- ability Act? Not a single one. My hurt employees have to sign general building. I have ways of making ‘em do it, as you know—except when my idiot son lets them escapo the nearest lawye got us int “Wh yours, anyhow “Sho wus a Woman and she was suffering,” faltered Jock. “So you want to make me suffer, too, hey? Well, the suffering will not be all mine.” If that girl brings suit, you're going to pay the costs of it.” Remember that Jock laughed mirthlessly. “What am I going to pay them out of?” ho asked, “Out of my high wages here or out of the fat Tolls of you dole out to me? “You'll pay, in longer work hours in one meal less at home; in the cut ting off of any money from you retorted his father, hotly. "And, to start with, hand me that two-dollar yo you this morning.” ‘said Jock, uneasily, "I "t got it.” u've spent two dollars in this t time?” shrilled Jeremiah, his thrifty soul shocked to. the very foundations at thought of such ex- travagance Jock nodded, eyes downeast. | “What did you spend it on?” de- manded his father, Jock hesitated, re magnificent trait he had from his Scotch ancestors breakable habit of truth tellin had always received scant credit home for thiy virtue; and his lu to A pretty mess you've business was it of have Th was one inherited the un- He less veracity had forever gotten him into trouble with his father. Ho was sorely tempted to Ne now to avoid the outburst the truth must bring As he still ated with @ down upon bim. her repr t.did you spend It on? "was Jock’s sulky answer. girl.” silo of genuine gratification | Cou smeared Itself over Jeremiah McCall's rugged face. “You might a’ he vouchsafed done worse, laddie,” “Little gifts 1 of courtship, Not too ny gifts, nor too costly, mind you. Just @ suitable offering, now and then —like fruit, for ins ce—in token of ur devotion, You've more sense nT credited you with, The money was well spent. I'll say that. It wisely invested, And ll warra Gertrude Jordan will be a happy girl when she gets ft." “Gertrude J ? in sheer perplexity, repeated Jock, ‘What has Ger- tru Jordan got to do with it?” ‘What—what hasn't. she to do with?" snapped his father, “Wasn't it to Gertrude Jordan you sent the fruit? 0. Then,” shouted Jeremiah, “In the name of all that’s idiotic, who did you send It to?" Jock swallowed back a sudden lump in hia throat; then blurted out: ‘o Amy Prentice.” His father sank back Into his chair as though from a blow in the face He fairly gurgled for breath. His eyes popped out. His face darkened in something very like apoplexy. “Amy — Prentice he babbled brokenly. “Amy Prentice? The op- erative who was hurt to-day? ¥ sent her a present? You? Wh “Hecause,” said Jock, summoning all his waning courage, “because I love her. For a full minute Jeremiah McCall sald not a word, but sat gaping and gasping apeechlessly for all the world like a fish out of water. Slowly his mind and his voice returned to him And his unwonted excitement was re- Py Pe ‘ An Interesting Series of Pathe Now Being Presented at the Leading Motion Picture Theatres in Greater New York. PEPEEDEGOTGOGEGPTEGOGEGIGDOOEGITOOSHOGOOSHOTSGHOES job? Jil vouch for her in every way, noon, when he was leaving the mill Will you give her work?” for the day. A group of girls wer “Why, of course,” came the hearty answer, “send her along; we're short+ handed in two departinents, inyhow. I'll be giad to have any one you people praise so, ‘That's good enough recommendation for me.” Jock hurried back to Amy with the glad news, Her white face flushed with gratitude and happiness, “Oh, thank vou a million times! A million times!" sho cried, ecstatically, “It is aplendid of vou to come to my heip Ike this! I'll never forget it as long as T live. Why are you so good to an unlueky girl? “IT think you know why," he an- ewered tenderly, ber hand in his. “If you don't, I'm going to tell you some day, 1 have no right to tell you now. But, as soon as I can make my father or some other employer pay me a liv- ing wage, I'll have the right to speak. And then"—- Their eyes met in a long, long look of understanding and trust. Then Amy's glance fell before his arderit gaze. Sha blushed in embarrassment and gently drew her hand from his clasp “When the day comes,” she whis- pered, “I shall be walting—Jock.” Two days later, Peter Jordan chanced to meet his friend Jeremiah Metall at luncheon and balled bin with the announcement: “Well, your little protegee, Amy Prentiss, takes hold finely, Her fore- man telis ma she's a wonder, I'm glad you sent her over to me. But why on earth did you let such a treas- usa go?" “I don't know what you're talking about, man,” said Jeremiah, stiffly. passing out of the em sen trance just ahead of him. Unaware of his presence, they were talking and laughing Joudly, Presently, a few words caught his ear and roused him in an instant from spiritiess glum- ness to feverish interest, A gitl ahead of him was saying to another: —And who do you suppose it was? Why, Amy Prentice! You remember her?” She"—- The girl broke off with a cry of astonishment, as Jock McCall gripped her shoulder and swung her around. “Tell me!" he ordered, his voice harsh with excitement, ell me about Amy Prentice! Where is she? —I was only telling Lulette,” stammered the scared girl, “Il was only telling Lulette, sir, that my ais- ter was in New York yesterday and she saw Amy Prentice, a girl who used to work here, That's all I said, Mr, McCall." “Where did she see her? Is Miss Prentice living in New York? Where. persisted Jock. My sister don't know where she lives, there," hesitated the girl, “she Just met her coming out a theatre, And she asked Amy, ‘Don't you re- member me? and Amy looked kind of embarrassed-like and said ‘Yes,’ And my sister asked her ‘Are you living in New York, now? Amy sald yes she was. And then they got sep- arated in the crowd that was coming out of the theatre.” Jock waited for no more, He start- ed for home, on a run, His heart was beating high, with the first hope that had entered it for months. Not until he had almost reachod NRA SN A 58 EARS ALANA } BY STARK FORCE OF WILL AMY PRENTICE DRAGGED HERSELF TO WHERE JOCK LAY. i eceearoeaeaaenaaeamaenaaaaaamaanaanaand placed by @ certain deadly calm. ck to your work,” he or- dered—his customary formula for closing an office interview with Jock. The boy departed, more frightened his father’s strange calm than he id have been by a volley of rage, Next morning, her injured hand bound up, Amy Prentice reported as usual at the mill for work, The fore- man of her room caught sight of her as she caine in. “Go to the pay window,” he said in a tone far less unkind than his words, “and get your time.” “I'm—I'm surely not discharged?” ehe asked in dismay. “That's the answei n, turning away. You're a good girl, And you're one of the best workers in the room, But - “But what have I done?" she wailed, If it's because I took the off yesterday, I was not able to k. Iwas injured. You can take the ‘8 wages out of my week's pay en- velope If you like. But, oh, please don’t discharge m Mother and I need the money so! She's been ill so long and it took all our savings. I'll work for less wages if no use,” cut in the foreman. “You've got to go. Boss's orders,” Jock, crossing hallway in the mill, ten minutes later, almost ran into Amy, The girl, her eyes glisten- ing with tears, was hurrying toward the street door, She had on her hat a he asked tn 8 3 the matter? alarm as he sought to stop her, the poor nd worse? Are you ill?! “I'm discharged,” she ‘answered, fighting back the tears. “Discharged? Nonsense! ‘There must be some mistake. If--——"* “There isn’t any mistake,” she de- nied, unhappily, “The foreman satd Mr. MeCall had ordered me dis- charged, I went to see Mr. McCall myself, just now, to ask why, But he wouldn't listen to me, He’ told me to get out of his office, and he said he'd have me driven out of Silk City, too, hefore he's done with me. He wouldn't even give me a reference, Oh, what do you suppose makes him treat me so?” Jock could not answer, but the truth flashed into his mind, even as she spoke. He knew now why his father had said no more to him about » gift of fruit, He knew, too, the d vengefulness of Jeremiah Me- I's temper, n't see why,” she went on “ I don't ask favors of him or of anybody. All I ask is a chanee to do a good day's work and to support my mother and mygolf. And, with- erence from him, how cap “I ean solve that problem for you, anyhow," he answered brightening a little as an idea came to him, "Walt here a mow vl a0,"" He ran to a telephone in the ad- joining room and called up the silk- mill of Jordan & Co,, giving the of- fice boy his name and asking for Mr Peter Jordan, his father's old friend, “Mr. Jordan,” he sald, as the other's voles called a cheery good morning to him over the wire, “Will you do me a big favor?" Anything short of wy last nickel," replied Jordan, who was sincerely fond of his old friend's son. eis a girl ® Miss Amy who ix a led op est emple Her work sittisfaction, ter Pr ative ee us always and her as high as your vn daughter's, lor reasons that T won't take your time by explaining over the Wire, she is leaving us. As ry vor to me, will you give ber a f it’s meant for a joke, let me tell you" “Wh: replied Jordan in perplex- ity. m talking about the little Prentice girl, to be sure. The girl Jock phoned to me about. The one he said was leaving you people. He bespoke a fob for her from me. IL supposed he was speaking in your name. “He was not!" growled Jeremiah, black in the face. “The hypocritical young liar! I discharged her because she had designs on him. And, Peter, if you're a friend of mine, you'll do me the favor of discharging her from your own employ, as soon as you get back from lunch. I ask it, as friend to friend.” That afternoon Amy Prentice, hum- ming joyously as she toiled at her loom, received the too-familiar order to “go to the pay window and get her time.—Boss's orders.” Nor could she obtain a word of explanation, Bravely, that day and for days thereafter, the bewildered girl went from mill to mill, seeking work. For some unknown reason, she met curt refusal, everywhere—perhaps because the mills were full and times were slack; perhaps because she could ehow no referen perhaps—because the deadly “black-list" had been used effectively against her, At last, with starvation ever creep- ing nearer and nearer to her, she re- solved to leave the city where a ban seemed to have been placed upon her services and look for work in New York, Surely, in the metropolis there must be some place for a strong and capable toiler, She longed to see Jock McCall once more, to explain to him why she was going away, and to tell him again that she would be waiting for him whenever he should be able to claim her. But she knew how unhappy he would be at thought of her wandering alone and friendless in New York. And she resolved not to let him know anything about it until she could write that she had a well-paying po- sition in the metropolis. Sha installed her invalid mother with a@ relative, in the suburbs, who promised to look after the lonely Woman until Amy could send for her, Then, with a pitifully small sum of money in her pocket, the girl set forth gall to seek her fortune. And the miglity city swallowed her Nearly three months passed before Jock McCall could gain any inkling as to What had befallen the girl he loved so dearly, A rush order at the mill kept him at work, both day and evening, for a fortnight or more, after he got Amy the job at Peter Jordan's mill, So he was not able to call on her. On his first free evening he has- tened to the tiny flat where she and her mother lived, ‘There (from kreasy and unbelievably fat janitress smelled of bad) whiskey) he arned that Amy and Mrs, Prentice had left on the preceding day, ly a They had left an address whither | might be sent, But the jani- unfortunately, had lost the bit of paper on which ‘Amy had written it, And she had not bothered to memorize either the street or tho number. Jock, in desperation, spent every evening roaming the streeis on the chance of catching a glimpse of the girl, He made inquiries everywhere Rut as he knew her family friends, even by name questions availed hi nothing at 4 Ho settled down to a sullen misery yearning unspeakably for sight. or word of Amy, He did his work dog gedly, And daily his resentment against his father grew hotter and hotter So mattera stood, late one after- . the house, did it occur to him that the miligirl had spoken with an odd reluctance and had seemed to be carefully holding back some sort of information. But Jock dismissed this fancy as absurd, He was in no mood to ponder over triffes, now that the end of, his long quest was perhaps ia sight. Betore his informant had finished speaking, his plan had been formed. On the morrow he would go to New York. He would search high and low, He would hire detectives, if need be. He would visit every em- ployment agency, every factory, every big store, for news of her. He would find her, One thougat could not be He must find her, consoled him—Amy in actual want or she could not have afforded to visit a theatre. And the mill-girl’s sister had seen her coming out of one. Jock'’s campaign required moncy. Without money he could do nothing. Straight to his father he went, on ering the house. have come to ask you for $500," he said abruptly. “It is a matter of life or death for me, Will you let me have it?) For heaven's sake, sir, don't refuse! It means everything! Every- thing!” Jeremiah McCall looked up coldly from the paper he was reading. “Have you gone daft?” be queried sourly. “Five hundred dollars! Not five hundred pennies shall you have to throw away on some new light o° love, That's final. When you calm down, you can come in to dinier.” Jock McCall sivod very still for an instant, And in the nt his whole life changed, Jeremiah McCall had strained his son's principles once too often, Without a word the lad turned and left the house, At nervous speed he retraced his way to the mill, Nodding to the watchman, he strode through the empty buildings until he reached his father's office, Walking directly tg, the safe he twirled the knobs, Presently there was a click and the iron door swung wide. On a shelf lay a packet ot money. he ‘had collected for his father trom a customer firm that day, From the pile he counted out what ho needed, pocketed it and closed the safe door, Then, sitting at the desk, he scrawled on a loose sheet of paper: ‘ather: T have taken $500, At the lowest wages re paid by you, | have earned this sum ten times over, I have never had the money or the in- dependence of your poorest mill hand, 1 am off to win my own way and live my own life,” He folded the scrawled note, en- veloped and directed it, and laid it on the desk, Then he glanced around the dingy office in a mute farewell to all his old existence. His wandering eye fell on the framed text on the wall: The Wages of Sin Is Dea “Is the sin mine?’ he asked him- set, as he left the room, “Or is it his? God alone can judge us both." In less than half an hour he was boarding a train for New York. For @ solid week he searched the metropolis. He spent a goodly slice of his stolen money on detectiv who could discover nothing for him, He advertised in the newspapers. Ho made a round of stores and factories and agencies—all in vain. a One hot night, feeling as though his brain would burst from utter fatigue and disappointment, he resolved. to » to the theat After the perform ance he let himself drift aimlessly along in the stream of gaily clad pleasure-seekers who were bound for cabarets and rathskellars. Jock had heard of cabarets, al- thougb he had never set fot in one. Novelization B Mrs. Wilson Woodrow 3 aeaesaat Jeremiah McCall, next morning, read the account of what the newspaper termed the “death pact’’ of Jock and Amy. Shivering with ague, the stricken old man lifted his eyes. And, in the motion, his glance fell with a new terror on the motto ne had so smugly placed on his office wall: “The Wages of Sin Is Death!” Moved by Idle curiosity, he turned in “You still want me!" she asked, At a garishly illuminated set of Unbelteving. “You want to marry in the wake of a party of om me women who were in evening dress. I have wanted to ever since I first Once inside, he stood for a moment saw you—aontis and montis age confused by the lights and music and “But,” she stamuered, “you dom't Jolly din ‘of the place, His gaze understand.” roved in wonder over the acre or so “ET think Lf undersiand everything,” of tables, with their in daring decollette en-faced men, ups of women he said, soothingly n't nd their wood- matter, There noting L wo Know, exeept thar you sull love me. And it de ask if ry | And, all at once, his idle glance was Hur there is sumecuag L aust tell riveted at a table near the doorway you where he was standing. Four people ~ And briefly ie related the story were seated at it-two w. of the $suy theft, At its cluse she their escorts. One of the wo large and flumboyantly made up and was flirting ponderously with a cal- drew his face down to lips, met in theve tiest kis “You took What was your due from low youth who leaned aero h * ¢ be him,” si! wid Verna our to lovingly, to cateh her every we horvity me, But it dy it you The other couple were a Y van stand the wenory of what | have beer haired, puffy-faced wealth and a slender young wom. of evident nan n “Hush, my sweethe: he said, in black evening dress. The gray- jaying fis. | 1 4 s hand ge acro haired man sat facing the door. The mouth, “lec us “Loree aria | girl's back was turned toward Jock. 4 The poise of her dainty head and the high piled yellow hair brought a strange thrill to the outcast lad. Scarce realizing what he did, he took an impulsive step or two forward and halted at her side. The giri looked up. “Amy!” gasped Jock from between ashen lips. “Amy!” She was dressed in the extreme fashion affected by women of « cer- tain class, And there were jewels on her fingers and at her throat. But in “Id give my life to forget it,” she broke out in sudden vehemence, “But I'll never be able to forget, Oh, Jock, what was I to do? 1 tried so hard to keep straight, to find honest work. But the terrible city was too much for me. If I had had only myself to think of, I'd have ended it in the riv But I couldn't let mother starve, She is an invalid, She needs sv many luxuries and comforts to make her sick room life bearable. spite of such amazing disguise he Without the right care she would die. knew her, And his heart cried out She needed what only money could & a in the incoherently spoken give fh And—I supply ber with the vords. mon’ ‘ oe by of pt eager, wondering "Amy! I” : A face bending above her the girl went She doesn't know. Sh deathly pale. Summoning all her never know She thinks T havea self control, she succeeded in mur- muring: “I—you— know you.” “Don't know me?" he crte, wilderment. “Why, Amy, ['— My name Is not’ Amy,” she inter- rupted, her trightened voice growing steadier. “I don't know you. ['—— With a quick motion he snatched her right wrist and lifted it On the outer side of the hand was a ragged white scar, “Amy!” he repeated. “Am With a little heartbroken ery the girl snatched away her wrist and buried her face In her hands, shud- dering from head to foot. Position here, A girl from Silk City iet mo lust week as 1 was coming from a matinee, She spoke to me, “y | and I could see she~she suspected, I | is a mistake. I don't In be- Was so afraid i “Listen, "he interposed, } “thy past is dead—for both of us. We're going to forget It all, you and 1, To-morrow morning you are going to marry me; to-night, if we can get @ license as late as this. I am golng to find work, and we are going to start a new life—a—glorious new life, together, my darling.” Again her lips sought his, and for & space the lovers clung together like Her escort, the big gray halreg tWo little children who are frightened \ . sprang Violently to his f and seek to comfort ~ich other, | don't know who you are,” he "Tell the chauffeur to drive to my snarled at Jock, “but you're break- apartment,” she said presently, giv- ing up my Y and scaring my ing him the address. am going sweetheart. Gev out of here or I'll there to take off this jewelry and this have you thrown out!" gown, and leave them there, And [ll ‘Soaring your’“your sweetheart?” put on the clothes | wore when [ muttered Jocic in horror, “Your” came to New York. We'll start afresh, with nothing to remind us of p Please go! What's happened. Oh, Jock, 1 didn't e he assented fiercely, “I will 4 think there were such me et fo. And you will go with me, dear, jeft in this rotten old Moral? one ‘ome del ; dock called the address t Clear out, you measly rube!” chauffeur, A little later the. Aah yelled the gray-haired man, who had stopped in front of an antow, evidently been drinking considerably MORE Reuben lib ws ' n apart. more than he actually pe euAl eral tal emai ET | Jock followed the girl indoors, into an elevator and thence to a fourth fivor apartment which she opened with » latchkey, “You're annoying this lady.” “This lady,” retorted Jock, “is go- ing to be my wife, Come, little Sweetheart,” he added, his hand on the girl's quivering arm, “Wait here,” she said, leading him» “Your wife, eh?" sneered the man, ‘to @ flashily furnished little recep- €¥/ “Not this trip, sonny, There ara “ON room, “It won't taker other orders ahead of yours, and’*— minutes to change inty the He got no further. Jock MeCall clothes.” leaped at him with a wild-beast yeil, | Jock. looking about the place, wit overturning tho table as he charged. its display of tast and b ‘The other met his assault with a wild blow which Jock easily blocked. Then McCall's fist caught him flush in the throat, just beneath the jaw. And the man crashed to the floor, athwart tables and chairs—falling like an axed bullock. At the same moment Jock was aware of a horde of waiters bearing down upon him; of shouts and a con- babel of exclamations from tables; of a hand gripping his People all over the room were standing, some of them on chai In another moment the police might extravagance, could shudder, timidly: “I know how you feel about it, dear. But we'll be away from it in a few minutes, You can't hate it all worse than I do. Or worse than I have hated it every hou: y not repres Aimy noted it and a wald you? his arms, taking her her into Amy, 1 love you “I'm safe here in your des she said, blissfully, r arms,” don't" The reception room break in or the waiters might throw On the threshold stat, LON Open him out. In either case he would haired man dock 5 cee had knocked cr with drink and jen oe he glared mutcly at them for ; ‘or A mo- ment, his face working grotesquely, his fat lips writhing bac : yellowed teeth, es a Then before either of them oul ) coul guess his intent, he whipped out A Pistol. and levelled it at them my threw herself in front of And as ehe did 90 thomen lose the girl be had just found. He had no time to waste, Amy had sprung up and had caught his bleed- ing left hand ia both of hers, heedless of the battered and bioody knuckles. Jock put his arm around her. “Come!” he said, Incisively, He shook off the head’ wai grasp from his collar, piloting the unresisting Amy toward the door, None barred their passage. At the entrance, a taxicab had just disem- barked a supper party. Jock helped Ainy into the cab and jumped in af- ter her, calling to the chauffeur as he slammed the door, “Take us to—to Street subway station, Hur He had given the destination at random, anxious only to get Amy and himself clear of pursuit, jous tury, With a choking ery of “Jock! @arling!" she sank to the nose Wound above the heart te Jock, insane now as whs his fo rushed blindly at the murderer” fet nd bullet stopped him, midway, reeled, straightened himself. '« look of drowsy wonder in his face” \ then collapsed eles: t 5 There would ft mee IRSIOR: BE tila slnecte the Ninety-sixth be time later to decide where to go he murderer glanced per: and what to do, about him as if waking from a wy he taxi set off at good speed in drea r at mound of dant} its northward flight. For a few min- running fect, he thrust the vigilant utes neither of its occupants spoke. Jock's dead hand. turned tg! Mo The girl was weeping uncontrollably, down the hallwac, @ and ‘dea Jock was staring at her in blank de- Amy Prentice raised her head and She looked across By stark force of wed herself to where he spair, At last she sobbed; dh, I hoped you would nev with glazing eyes at her dead lover, will she dra hope r find me 80 much “Bug, Amy." he protested dul lay ought—1 thought you loved me, ‘Thus the house's ot found them, US°% other tenant That's Jeremiads MeCa ext . why I hoped you'd never know. read in his office the ascatny memnine “All I know or care, darling,” he the newspaper termed. the muna’ answered, his arm around “ia of Jock and Amy, Shivering that we love other “and ‘that With ague, the stricken old man {itr © together again; and that you his eves to heaven, And inthe d are going to be my wife, Nothing tion his glance fell with a new temo else matters,” on the moito he had so snugly peeee She lifted her tear-streaked face on his office wall er plseea and looked at him in open-eyed won- der. THE THIRD “Wi0’S GUILTY” STORY “THE TANGLED WEB” WILL BE PUBLISHED THURSDAY, MAY 18