The true northerner., 1901-02-01
CHAPTER III.
tcontinued from last week.

"Is he ill?" / asked, as carried
chair to the window.
"IllT The young man coughed af-
fectedly.
"Do you believe it possible for him
to come in this afternOonY
ut is quite possible. One does not
use the word impossible in regard TO
Hillars. 1t is possible that he may be
in st. Petersburg by this time, for all
know. You see" with an explanatory
wave Of the hand, hes very uncertain
in his movements. For the last six
months he has been playing all over
the table, to use the parlance Of the
roulette player. have had 10 do most
of the work and take care Of him into
the bargain. If l may take you into
my confidence with some hesitancy.
Certainly" said l. II want you to
tell me all about him. He was my
roommate at college. Perhaps l can
straighten him up"
"The truth is, the trouble began last
September He came back from the
continent, where he had been on an
errand, a changed man. Hillars al
ways drank. but never TO an alarming
extent On his return, however, he
was in a bad shape. 1t was nearly
November before l got him sobered
up. and then he went under on an
average of three times Il week. | asked
him bluntly what he meant by it, and
he frankly replied that if he wanted
to drink himself TO death that was his
business. When he isn't half seas
over, he is gloomy and morose. From
the first | knew that something had
gone wrong on the mainland, but |
couldn't trap him for n farthing No
man at his age drinks himself to death
without cause; | told him so, but he
only laughed at me. I'd give n good
deal to know what the truth is; not
from curiosity, mind you, but TO find
the disease in order to apply n rem
edy. Dams father died of drink"
'No," said l coldly; she was shot"
ooh. | know that" was the reply,
"but give a conditioned man the same
wound and he will recover nine times
out of ten. The elder Hillars was 50
enervated by drink that he had no
on top Of the bullet hole Something
happened over there. and it's pounds
\ TO pence there's n woman back of the
curtain. 1t is some one worth while.
Hillars is not man to fall in love
with n barInaid."
l began to respect the young mans
wisdom.
ssC,o V-nr1 hoIinvo 70 ho a xuornap
Eyes; the wind blows from one point
at a time. There are four points to
the vane Of destiny-there is ambition
for glory, ambition for power. ambition
for wealth and ambition for love. In
Hillars' case, since the wind does not
blow from the first three. it must nee
essarily blow from the fourth. You
know him better than ! do, so you
must certainly know that Hillars is not
a man to drink because glory or power
or wealth refused to visit him"
You are a very discerning young
man." said |, whereat he laughed.
did he get my cableY
mo; | thought that ii was some or
der from headquarters and opened it
myself. | put it in his desk. | spoke
to him, but he was too drunk TO pay
any heed to what | said Well. | must
be going. | am getting out a sympo-
sium Of editorials from the morning
papers on the possibility OF a Franco
Russian alliance. 1t must be at the
cable office in half an hour. If you are
going to wait. you'll find the Berlin
and Paris files in the next room. I'll
see you later" and he departed.
1t was B of the clock. The Strand
was choked. Here and there saw the
color of martial attire. Save for this
and that the buildings were low and
solid and that most of the people walk
cd slower. might have been looking
down upon Broadway for all the
change of place l saw. There is not
much difference between New York
and London except in the matter of To-
comotion. The American gets around
with more rapidity than does his Eng
lish cousin. but I'm the long run he ac-
complishes no more. IL Is only when
one steps on to the continent that the
real difference i'm the human races is
discerned. Strange as this may seem,
itan city. Suddenly my rowing eyes
rested upon a familiar face. 1t was
Hillars, and he was pushing rapidly
across the street. Any one would have
instantly marked him for an American
by the nervous stride, the impatience
at Bhing obstructed. | went into the
fireffom. intending to give him little
surprise. l did not have long to wait.
The door to the main office opened. and
he came in singing a snatch from a
drinking song we used to sing at col
lege. The rich baritone that had once
made the old glee club famous was a
bit husky and throaty.
"Dickv' he called. "Hi, Dicki Well,
I'm hangedl" Evidently he had dis
covered my cable.
"Dick isn't in," said 1, crossing the
threshold.
In n moment our hands were welded
together. and we were gazing into each
others eyes.
lyon old rpprobafefv I crfed "Not