The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-02-06
ONE TOUCH
OF NATURE
BY Martha
Cullo ch Williams

f~SV~VVV~VVVVVV
"No. Can't do it. dear boy! Sorry,
but pom my i;fp simply can't Ridge
ley said nodding solemnly and blink
ing like 81 owl. Ridge!Py was forty
dive. bibulous, dubious. with fortune
swollen to match his bulk and 4 fond
hess for spending his money in strictly
his own ways.
The room was deadly still. Trenwick
started a little ut the click of coal
tracking in the CRATE. He got up, stood
with his back to the fire, so its telltale
light could not reach his face as he
said. with the least little shrug:
That must be as you please. | won
der. though, if you quite realize what
YOUR refusal must mean TO me-
For moment Ridgeley sat silent;
then his hand went to the bell. and he
said half ENORMOUSLY: Say what, my
boy? You must have bracer-two
bracers-beforc you go down to the
street. Beastly place anyway! It's
it's Il shame you ever went into 1t.
1T will be Il blacker shame my get
ting out of it, Trenwick said grimly.
Then. his voice shaking with passion:
"Ridg2lcy, surely you-you don't un-
dcrstund it. lit is all true. every
word told you. TO save myself from
beggary | used another mans money
without his knowledge. Cnless-unless
| replace it before he does know | shall
70 behind the bars is, If let my
self live. You know l would never do
that
cut the whole wrctched mess! I'll
lend YOU five hundred" Ridgcley be-
gan.
Trpnwick's face got gray. Something
seemed to clutch his throat. lnvolun-
tarily he stood i thought straighter
"A Trenwick never yet ran away from
anything he began, then dropped his
face in his hands. saying huskily. nor
stole until | disgraccd the blood.
Cheer up. Iou-you make me
nervous" RidSeley said, nodding
again and settling the biz diamond
upon his shirt front where it would
catch Il brighter CLEAN of freight.
Ridgcley was given to purple and fine
linen. Upon the least occasion his raj
ment was positively riotous. y ruby,
almost priceless, glimmered upon his
hand. He turned the stone, glanced
cOmplacently at it and called to his
man. who came noiselessly through
the door, Two tiZZy ones, Jenkins, and
make 'em good and long Then rs
the door closed behind Jenkins: "'Pon
me soul, dear boy, I'd ike TO see you
through, but twenty thousand! 1t
would be downright immoral to risk so
much money. Why, that would keep
Il Yacht in commission almost IL sea
son through
Trenwick turned to the window. Ont
side the tide of life in the avenue was
at flood. 1t was turning IL o'clock.
lie had until 3 to make good his bal
anccS. II only he could make good. he
was sure the very next day would find
him In the flood tide Of fortune. There
was Il tickle, semipanicky market. lie
stood to win the stake of his life II
only he could keep above water until
the tide turned. Nothing short of that
imminent hazard would have brought
him to Ridgeley.
Ridgcley had seemed to him these
twenty years past. ever since he came
suddenly into great riches, us not much
more than n human clot, wholly unlike
the slow witted yet gallant lad who
had been his chum at college. Because
Of that SemicontemptuOus regard he
had never sought to profit by old time
intimacy with the bachelor millionaire.
Trenwick wondered duly rs he looked
ut him how it came about that he was
Il bachelor. 1t could not be that old
boy and girl affair with his sister May.
May had been dead this twenty
years and more. She had died indeed
before her wedding gown was out of
fashion. Judge Barton, her rich old
husband. had mourned her deeply, but
not enough tn keep him from eXacting
,usurious interest for every loan he
made Trcnwick nor from turning him
outdoors when the debts and the inter
est ate up the family estate. The
judges widow lived there now, with
her healthy young son to come after
her. Mays child had not lived. Some
how Trenwick felt that as sort Of
special punishment to himself. He bad