The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-02-06

when VII n ! / get work, I can pay it back
Il will keep Them =. 81 81
Ralph Denvers stood up and slipped
the chain in his pocket. a
Il will keep then1,'' he said again, "and
you can go home and tell Dick. that he
must come into my room at the bank to-
morrow" I
What made him do it, he, Ralph Der
vers, cynical man of the world, given to
testing doubt over such vague words as
faith and charity, given to denying the
hope that has led men to stumble on 50
long? What made him do it? 1t may
be that he knew even then. And when
she was gone he stood and called himself
azfool for his pains, and it was perhaps
as we'll: he did not see the girl he had
hefriended sink down before an empty
chair in an empty room and weep hef
heart out because Dick was already gone.
Ralph took up the invitations on his
mantel shelf. He had all that evening
before him-Where should he got: HI
put them down again and paced thu
room: What was this thing he had just
heard? 1t had sounded simple enough,
but it may be that it meant a big thing.
Those men outside sounded ominous,
what if they were also going to England
tonight? -:~. =. a. -
Hastily snatching up a list of sailing
steamers he saw that steamer was due
to leave Boston at dawn. His mind flew
to ways and means; to get down there
tonight man must 60 by the 10 o'clock
from the, Grand Central He looked At
his watch and found, to his relief, that
he had time and to spare. Why should
he not do it? Why should he not profit
BY the information he had received to be
his own detective? And if only Dick.
Tempest were there why should he not
bring him back to the sister whose heart
he was going to break? She must not
be allowed to weep any more-that pref.
ty child who had come to him in her dark
hour.
It promised a little more excitement
than an evening spent in listening to
singer whose repertoire he knew by
heart. He went upstairs and changed
into lounge suit, and, with a coat over
his arm, he walked quietly out of the
house in West Seventy street and
had himself driven to the Forty second
street station.
He knew who they were now. They
were Richard Tempest's children; and
he remembered that old Senator Mande.
vile had said something to him about
looking after the lad. But when one is
good looking, popular and 80, what time
is there for looking after stray boys:
Ralph had seen young Tempest once, and
and had not waited to hear his answer,
and straightway had gone away and for
gotten that he was in the world. He
wondered if he should know him again.
as his cab pulled up at the main entrance
of the railroad station.
It was early yet, and the platform was
not overcrowded. Ralph walked the
length of the train and saw no one who
was likely to be Dick Tempest. He went
to the ticket office and got himself i
ticket, it might be necessary to go to
Boston, it was just possible he had caught
all earlier train. He walked up and down
scanning the faces of those who passed
him with keen, leisurely glance. The
time sped, the moment of farewells came,
and Ralph was wondering if he had
thrown his evening away, when suddenly
he saw him. Dick Tempest came quickly
down the platform, small handbag for
all his luggage, surely a poor outfit for
trip to Europe. The train was on the
point of starting, and Ralph was the last
person in the world to desire "a scene"
He stepped out to meet the lad coming
toward him.
"Ah, Tespest," he said, pleasantly, II
thought you We're not coming. I have a
sta teroom."
Dick Tempest looked into the *;>~o Of
the man he had robbed, and knew t::at
his story was told. He hesitated, but
the others glance was compelling, and
in answer to it he got into the train and
took his place in Ralph Denver's state
room.
The journey to New Haven and back
is not a long one; but there is time in it
for pitiful tale of weakness and temp
tation and too late repentance to be
told; there is time in it for forgiveness
to be sought and not denied. It was
early morning when these two strange
travelling companions arrived again in
New York. Ralph Denvers put his hand
on the shoulder of the younger man.
go home" he said. Remember that 4
sister waits for you, and that you are
to come to the bank as if nothing had
happened"
He drove home himself in the keen
morning air, and almost for the first
time in his thirty three years of life he
realized how pleasant it is to be rich
man. There was big check drawn on
his account that morning, and the firm
of Denvers, Brandon & Denvers never
knew how it had been swindled to the
extent of nearly $25. 900.
It was shortly after this that hostesses
began to complain that Ralph Denvers
was never available for even the most
attractive of their parties. And it was
nearly year later when one morning
there was a quiet wedding in a little
church round the corner-a wedding to
which the world was not invited, a we'd
ding at which only three happy young
people were present.
They left Dick standing on the steps
OF the church, and as they drove to the
station Ralph slipped his arm round his
wife's shoulders and dropped something
into her lap.
my first present to you,'' he said.
IL have given you nothing YETI