Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1900-10-18
cisArFERsxx1I.

In vain GRACE sfroXe stQ think THU Is, She
could only foaltw the monntonous sound
which recordSa that the, time for which
she had prayxa was swiftly .llyinsg. &,
She pressed a fhanas TO Her eyes TO
strive for ca1n and thought. At. last
allowed her se ss Is FEST FEST upon the man
whose dark sses:ha q roeest,es,. an .insthnt
been withdraVh ff from her FACE. 81 "a
She had fe their glance burn even
while her owA eyes Had beer hidden
-.'You speak of proof" she said. "'what
u. l ss;s; s Szss''' 'es.fs'; !; vas
The momehts for = ETh1ch she hadd'
pleaded with sHarvey Barclay had not
been lost to Aip#a .lRFed ahis
which opened the battle-the battle
life and honor. They were high stakes
and not to be lightly. forfeited. 49,
Nor had the fire failed of its aim
The shot had sped straight to it's mark.
Grace quivered conyulsively as it tore
its way through her poor armor and
buried itself In her Shrinking flesh - :.
"Harry's confessional ,+sheurepeated.: d
1t could not .be,l: argued her reason.
Why should he make confession? This
was but new sruse to extort the truth
from her. -".. >"
Her Indignation lent her .nioouentary
strength. She proudly threw, back her
head. '''
(, II tell Iyou5that Tssigned the note, Mr.
Barclay. What,,then, could Harry con-
fess?" h, ..rss.. e,i,a a.t.. a.
Her listener smiled. ~ sl'.' 81, i
Poor child! How poor were the wea-
pons she had, at, her lGifoImmandi; Only
her innocence, and youth; and candor
against experience, apd sub.ttelty, and
guile. -, - ,....,.:
wooden sword against ID blade of. Da-
mascus steel,sahd hope to win the day. .,
"Let me t3tella'yeuY the story, Miss
Grace he slid: Hs.Perlraps therr you
will judge me- more faifly;tahd will give
me the confidence Tshalr esteem so high
4 gift. I havs. not been, am; not, a
saintly man.. i ,,haNe, led.e,assi perhaps
you know, a somewhat t.. wild: and Rissi-
pated life. Thaaree, has, been. iperha pss,
Tome little excuset:fo this. ip the. alb
eence Of home ties. AND ,woman's 81 inf1u-
ence.
But let Hiatt. pass. --, zs1a not mere
make excuses for my fau4Es, only bold
~ avow thaqs, llttetss far teas saoY, .Grace, to
awell, areons iheh; FIST aHd u 55re j.
most. was the vice ofSSgsaahhHhst1 iris.{s Fqfss
I played fo11 smaH ,stakes, but i lost and
got heavily il. dsbt--:so hsaXily that I
saw no way to escape from its conse.
Quences and entailed, disgm9eY =; 81,
"At last, one night I grew desperate,
and determined ttod; ;haE Eaaii,d e$rl 1t win
all or lose alt f played; more. reGklessly
than had ever played 'bsfbre; but luck
had turneds, Every card IT TOUCHED
turned into goid..i 8''''' ~ 9'''' ~ l'''s' ga
Beside me stood a man who lost as
I won. 1t was THE .manf bf whom we
have been speaking It'' WAS ISL Harry
Reynolds. He.ZZas. No stranger, at the,
gaming table. I had met him often be-
1 1ias m But - B'a s np 4sss es4
abandon which proved some strong ne
cessity.
AS the pile of gold grew at my place,
from time to time he drew upon it, I
signifying my consent by nod. I did
not fear him as creditor. rose from
the table ten thousand dollars richer.
He was my debtor half that amount.
Next day he, sent me check for the en-
tire sum-
M Grace involuntarily moaned.
Piece by piece the proof was fitting
into place, and forcing out the doubt
which made so brave fight against it.
J. eco ont" she said. KS
II will make the story short" hesspEars
tinued. "My, luck, from that niEGE
turned for the better-his for the wo1&g.
From time to time he borrowed mofSy
from me until he owed me ten thousa5s
1 dollars. >'s~s,e
"once my debtor, he seemed to-
most dislike and avoid me. bore With
this, for reasons, Grace perhaps YOU
can understand. At last my luck, too:
changed, and lost-lost-lost. I nes.
ed the money had loaned him. I Whss'
1 forced to ask him for it. He put me
off, until threatened to demand it Of
y that same night. @.w,
Again he played, and again he lost.
He rose owing the bank large sum- IT
was then that he drew this note from
his pocketbook and rendered it In pay
ment Of the; amount. He was well
z known to tie bank off1riaas, ard they
had no hesitation in acekptingSit. We
were both somewhat under the ipflu-
ence Of WING and at ths5sam9e tirAe the
whole transaction seeSped xIattufa IT, TO
s. me; but, as(ke walked OIL etIhaF into
the open aiSE the cold SSjp ere
sobered hin and diSshpats6 kki uI1aes
: Sof alcohol and tobAtsS 3 lssssSM
sS.l01itjef7 N rShrain ttaEHst6 ~