The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-12-03

knocking blur across the picture. A month
went by. She heard that Kirke had left
| town. There was no one to upbraid her
for her ficRleness, for she was without
relatives, ard neld her friends proudly
aloof. The voice of her heart she would
not listen to-
The package of papers still lay I'M
| touched, when one day an advertisement
in the morning paper claimed her notice.
She read and re-read, the idea taking al
most visible grip on her:
1 'Wanted-Party with IS 900 to invest
in strictly legitimate business. Security
given and 25 per cent dividends guaran-
| teed. Call on or address ]. Cresco, 400
Blank Bldg, Chicago"
Linda devoted. several minutes to ex-
| cited calculation. Her bonds bore only
per cent; they could easily be con-
verified into cash. Under Kirke's man.
agement her income, though reliable as
! the sunrise, had never gone above eight
| per cent. Here was a chance to more
| than treble it.
Linda investigated the matter, palpi-
| tating with freedom that hurt while it
exhilarated. She found J. Cresco all that
| could be desired at least in deferential
! courtesy and bland confidence She left
/ his office wrapped in dreams of luxury,
bat extremely misty as to her concep-
| lions of the business" whose returns
were to realize them.
! Dur ing the following three months she
| reveled-or tried TON reflections over
| her shrewdness. At the end of that time,
| her promised profits did not appear She
waited two weeks, when a suave letter
/ came, expressing regret at the delay, and
promising a payment directly. Six
weeks passed, filled with growing fore
holdings. She had put all her available
cash into the scheme, and began now to
! be decidedly cramped to meet her bills.
At exactly the end of the half-year, she
wrote very decided demand for remit
| lance.
The answer delayed Then, one morn
Ing. Linda took up her paper, to
read under staring headlines an ac-
count of "Get-rich-quicll" institutions
raided, and prominent among them the
name of her Golden Vision.
| There seemed to be no way but to
swallow her pride, and face the ignominy
of having been victimized. She went to
a lawyer. who in turn referred her to
well-known legal firm in the city. In this
! thinly-veiled superciliousness Linda
read her doom; and it is to be hoped
a more frightened and desolate soul new
er set out on that journey
In the luxurious private offices of Gay,
Overman e Co, the second-named gen.
tleman was donning hat and gloves. He
turned back at the last minute, address,
ing the firms latest acquisition in a
junior partner:
Gay said there'd be a woman in at
Nlree, to see something about that Cresco
business. She'd invested all she had. l
believe. Gay said to tell her she might
as well try to pump up the bed of the
Pacific, and that we couldn't undertake
suit"
He went out. The matter had half
slipped the new partners mind, when an
office boy laid card on his desk. He
had barely glanced at it when the door
opened, and his client was admitted
She stood transixed, as he rose; hot
flush ran up to her forehead, and then
she grew pale as lay.
'Kirle!" she gasped.
'Linda!" he cried, coming quickly
forward. Good Lord, dear! 1t wasn't
you who got caught in that beastly
scheme?"
Linda drew back Her lips quivered,
and her lashes dropped heavily. Kirke
stopped, but only for an instant. The
sight of her misery was sending the old
protective tenderness thrilling through
him, to the obliteration of his wrongs.
He followed persistently, and took pos
session of her hands.
you'll have to let me take care of YOU,
now, darling" he declared, with sudden,
mischievous triumph. Every cent Of
your money is gone!"
Linda tried to pull away, and failed.
Back of the crushing shame that her hui
initiation lay bare before the last eyes
she desired should see it, something else
was working havoc within her.
81 can starve, then" she retorted an
grily. Let go my hands Kirke Morris!
What would Helen Ritter say?"
He loosed his hold, staring
Helen Ritter?" he repeated, in aston
ishment; Helen Morris, you mean. She
and Cousin Dick were married five
months ago Good Heavens,"-as light
burst suddenly upon him-"It can't be
you were jealous, dear, because l escorted
Helen to a few places? She was my
aunt's guest, you know, and Dick was
confined to the store"
Kirke's arm was around her, but she
slipped out of it and hid her face.
IF am so poor" she began, but
! Kirke gathered her resolutely to him
again.
"And since you are" he finished for
her, with happy laugh, I'm going to
make it the business of my life to prove
! the scriptures true, in that l have the
! moor ALWAYS with mo