The Irish standard., 1902-09-20
/ A Knave Of
{ Con
BY FRANCIS LYNDE.
(Copyrigit 1900, by Francis Lynde.)
CHAPTER XIII.

- CHAPTER XIII.
Putting this and that together, it
was the Griswold of his earlier New
York days-the days of the slender
patrimony - who presented himself
at the counter of the Hotel Marlbor-
.ough. The clerk was graciously af-
fable.
"Glad to have you with us, Mr..
Griswold. Will you have a room?"
Griswold thought not; not in any
case if he could get a late train to
his destination. This brought on
question and answer There was a
: train, and the clerk did know some
thing of Wahaska; knew much, in
fact, since he had lived there.
Griswold pumped the man dry, and
at the end of the pumping process
knew as much about the Minnesota
town as he could have CLEANED from
a six months residence therein. Aft
'erward, he went to supper in the
cafe, meaning to go thence to thu.
waiting Pullman at the Terminal.
He was scarcely out of sight be-
fore the diminutive Irishman who
had driven him came to the counter
and made cautious inquiries of the
clerk, touching the nalpe, address
and intentions of his late fare; all
this on the pretext that the fare had
overpaid him.
The clerk knew his man and in
dulged him, even going so far as to
write Griswold's name and intended
olJ Il f,,r
upon, instead of waiting for Girls
wold's emergencc from the cafe, as
he promised to, the cabman disap-
peared.
Griswold had quarter of an hour
of purely philistine contentment
while he was waiting for his supper.
At last the difficulties were all in the
past. He would resume his name
and his plans; and these last took
on all the roseate hues of their
birthday.
He would go to Wahaska, settle
down to his work, study the people,
be helpful and generous and brother
loving, using the money he had won
for the betterment of his kind And
in time he would meet Miss Farnham
on her own ground, and she would
see the demonstration of his theory
see and be convinced. But Just
here he remembered that he could
never convince her, because she could
never know; and from this he passed
to many curious questions touching
his own feelings for this young wom-
an who had been thrown in his way.
He had been calling her a faultless
authors model; was she only that
to him? Assuredly she was much
more, and when he had gotten that
far, it was only a step to the admis-
sion that he was frankly in love with
her. The admission opened up a
prospect for which there was no word
save grievous. For since he could
never stoop to win her under false
pretenses, she might never be won.
He knew well enough that all the
good deeds he could ever do with
the stolen money would not atone;
that in the moment of fruition her
conscience would condemn him and
cast him out
Perhaps it was this thought, as
much as the threat of coming ill
ness, that made him lose his appetite
as soon as his supper appeared. But
lose it he did, and nothing the wait
er could bring su1iced to tempt him.
He forced himself to eat Il little in
sheer desperation, and afterward
went to the, great rotunda to smoke
cigar. TO his great disgust, the
tobacco brought on n return of the
vertigo which had assailed him on
the levee; whereupon he paid his
score and took a cab for the train,
effect Of forgctfulness.
The experiment was a success, tenn
porarily. at least, and he was asleep
before the Pullman porter came to
adjust the screen in the window at
his feet
The train was made up ready to
leave when hawll-faccd man sa,ln-
tered up to the steps of the Pullman
and pecked at the porter.
"Much of a load tonight, George"
mo, sab; mighty light. Nobody
yet but dc gen''man from the MARI
borough
IN gentleman from the Marlbor-
ough? When did he come down?'
Yhc porter knew the hawkfaced
one only by intuition; but Griswold's
tip was warming in his pocket, and
he lied at random and on general
principles.
'Been hcah all de cvcnin'; come
down right soon after supper and
went to bald like he was tarr'd"
''What sort of looking man is
hep"
"Little, smooth-faced, narr' enlisted
genl'man; looks like he might be-
But the wheels began to move, and
the hawk-faccd one had turned away
Whereupon the porter cut his smili-
tude in the midst, picked up his car
pet-covered step, and climbed aboard
CHAPTER XIV.
In the day of its beginnings, Wa.
haska was a trading post on the In
RI A.