El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-24

~ hat did yOu say that mans name tss''
ne ,LSked.
tell her? No; she wouldn't. couldn't
know; that was so long ago and for
gotten.
And your father? Go on; l am in
terested.''
"He might have had the things. the
money. to have put me in your friend
Berries position IL luck had been his
way and IL he hadn't been cheated
Il never can thin.S of you as a man
like Bertie' Miss Wolverton said de-
cisively with that calm confidence In
her eyes. The eyes may have been
rather more expressive because this
was the last day of all and he would
slip out of her life so soon. She was
fair TO look upon. clever. accomplished.
charming. This fence of the sexes
was her delight. She could no more
avoid IL than she could breathing Our
unsophisticatcd young man failed to
understand her. Later common sense
was TO reach ont from the grim. matter
of fact depths of his nature and grasp
his sentimentality until il hurt him.
"Oh, it's little story of what might
have been years ago in Red Nugget
g,Ilch. California My father was out
there after gold. like the rest, and he
fell In with a man with whom he made
a partnI rship in a general store. Some
times in exchange for goods they took
claims. At first they made a lot OF
money. and then they lost nearly every
penny in trying to develop n claim that
failed. Well. each blamed the other.
and they decided to separate. They
cut the cards. So they sat down one
day and cut. and some things fell to
my father and some to his partner
And the papers We're drawn up and the
division made. \ week after that
claim which had gone To my fathers
partner began to develop. 1t proved a
find My fathers partner made the
beginning of great fortune that
way"
'-Well?" said the girl
Now, the shanty that served for the
store had fallen TO my father. not the
stock. which went to pay the firms
debts. Three weeks after this my IA
Their sat talking with Il mining expert,
who spoke OF the big find on my IA
Tiers former partners lucky claim.
and he stated boastfully. to show his
value as an expert probably. that he
had told my fathers partner-we will
call him Smith-that the claim was ex
tremely valuable This set my father
to thinking. Smith believed the claim
to be valuable. But my father could
but acknowledge that the man had Civ
en- him n chance. even IL he had dishon-
estly hidden his notion OF the claim.
That day my father happened in the
abandoned store. On the table were
the two packs of dirty cards Just as
they had been left the day of the divi-
sion. They had cut in the bare inner
room. which hadn't been disturbed
since. My father picked up these in
struments of his bad luck. and he saw
that the pack Smith had used had been
marked"
How awfulr' the listener said. "And
you might have had money if IL hadn't
been
IF 1t hadn't been for Smiths dis
yes. Miss Wolverton. But To
return To the story. My father went TO
Smith. whom he accused. but Smith
looked him in the face and laughed:
You are crazy. man. And you haven't |
any proof. Who'd believe your"
WAS that the end OF IL" the girl !
asked gently.
NO. not the end OF il. My father !
rould prove nothing indeed. His affairs
went from bad To worse. He left Cali |
fornia penniless. Later in the east he !
accumulated the little money he was =,
able TO leave me. But IL was always a |
hard struggle for him and my mother. |
who died shortly after / was born
And Smith? That's not the name"
Melville hesitated.
NO; that's not the name. It's a well
known name. but we will let II remain :
Smith. Everything Smith touched be- !
came money. He was accused of dis
honesty many times In the course Of