The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-12-04
The Discovery.

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He had given her all all the love hi
heart contained, all theidolizing worship
of which he was peculiarly capable. Ill
would have declared that he had heve
felt very hopeful of gaining her, knowing
her too well, but he had desired to do st
with an intensity which had often burnt
up his fears for time, at any rate, Sc
that he had lived whole days in blisstu
contemplate of the improbable, haG
gone whole months with eyes shut It
the inevitable, the fast approaching
Thus the news of her engagement to hel
employer found him almost unprcpared
after all, and for a time those who cared
for him watched him anxiously since it
seemed so likely that the blow was
greater than he could bear.
They were friends, Michael Richards
and the man for whom he worked, the
man she married, and they had been
much together in her company. There
"CIC lIlNlSC NIitl SGtlNl littb (lllpSCll lHG
employer rather than the employed Just
because he was the richer nan-just be-
cause an assured position, fine house,
appealed to all that was strongest in her
but that her heart, what there was OF
it, would have led her to a different
choice, if she would have allowed her
I,o- i7.,f1 t,N1 ,rto4o fol ,,,-
She had the pretty, childish ways that SO
often tlrapc q nature inherently selfish,
and it was notable that those who knew
her best, as rule, Judged her most severe
~.
But Michael was not among her de-
tractors. He made his trust in heaven
conditional on his wholly trusting the
woman he loved to do no wrong, and,
by sublime disregard OF common sense
he kept his faith in heaven, conformity
with his faith i'll Mary, in spite of all the
bitterness of spirit he passed through.
Some wondered how he did it. and others
why he thought it necessary thing to
do, for men hareloved the faulty tcndcrly
and well, and heavens seal is set upon
such tolerance; yet it helped him; undeni-
ably it strengthened him. For, soft was
said again, i'll his nature was this ore
streak Of idealism, needing an outlet all
the more, perhaps. because the rest of
the man was sternly set in an iron mould;
because, except that he turned involun-
tarily aside, as it were, to love Mary,
love was hardly allowed for in his plan of
life
Work was his passion, the idol to which
he offered everything sacrifice, and when
he at last lost hope Of Mary it became his
all. He worked now unremittingly, to
tire himself to WOO iorgetfuness, as we'll
as for sheer love of hard labor. 1t was
nothing to him that his unceasing energy
was expended on his rivals business, that
his life was given to help Il man to
further riches who had already robbed
him of his one ewe-lamb. He had to
work not with any definite end in view,
but for works sakc-and because there
was nothing else left for him to do.
And, quite in the ordinary course of
things, his alert, inventive brain hit on
means of superseding the business to
which he was devoting himself so entire
IL.
He was always striving to do things,
or to get them done, in the best possible
manner. Incidentally, with the least ex-
peuse the smallest waste of labor, in the
shortest time, but, before and beyond
al things, he had set excellence as his
goal Mary's husband was a manufact-
urer of the bands used in machinery.
Mary'S old lover, while giving his
thoughts as undoubtedly as the memory
of her would let him, and all his time, to
the turning out of these bands in the
greatest perfection and number, was sud-
denly arrested by an idea which made
their use no longer necessary.
1t was a simple and clever invention;
so obviously better, cheaper and morecx-
pedient than the old-fashioned bands
that it seemed wonderful to its discov-
crcr that no one had thought oft before.
He tested it in his usual thoroughgoing
fashion, making absolutely sure he was
not mistaken i'll his own estimate of the
Importance of the change he was about
to bring in the making ofmachinery, and
then he set as cnergctically to work to
turn his invention to account. 1t was
nothing to him that in doing so he must
sweep aside a prosperous business, must
inevitably ruin Mary's husband the very
man he had been helping on to wealth.
He would he giving touch offinish, of
completeness, to the method in which
the worlds work is accomplished. He
hoped to do still more forit before he was
done but here was, at least, something
definite to begin with. Stree lie might
not have Maya wife to cherish and
protect-he had extended his protection
over the great, whirling world of ma
chinery. He promised himself the pleas
ure of setting thousands of machines go
ing in an easier, more nearly perfect man
ner, as lover promises himself to per
feet his lady's charms with ropes of
pearls.
When his employer and former friend
came to him, demonstrating, agitating,
he found him utterly immovablc. Mary
husband offered him the largest sum at
his command for the suppression of his
discovery; but money was nothing to him,
his discovery was everything, and he was
not to be bribcd. He was offered Il partner
ship i'll the business and its entire man.
agement Chat, indeed, he had already,
except in acknowledgement in return for